Year: 2020

Trackside’s Aidan Rodley speaks with trainer Murray Baker about Sweet Anna ahead of the Gr.2 Jamieson Park Eight Carat Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

While most people are busy gorging themselves on festive fodder, Christmas can be a challenging time for jockeys, particularly those that count every gram. With Boxing Day one of the premier days of racing on the New Zealand calendar, jockeys are prepared to forgo what others enjoy as they ply their trade the day after Christmas. One of the many going the extra mile is 21-year-old Ryan Elliot, one of the rising stars of the jockeys’ ranks. The Hamilton-based rider is tall for a jockey and has to closely watch…

For 18 months veteran jockey Darryl Bradley was stuck on 99 career black type victories, wondering if the century would ever come up. Now, he’s won three of them in seven weeks, all while maintaining his job as the track manager at Foxton racecourse. It was Mohaka who finally gave Bradley his 100th black type win when leading all the way in the Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) on October 31, and since then he’s guided veteran Hunta Pence to victories in the Listed Wanganui Cup (2040m) on November 20 and…

While many northern trainers will have their attention focussed on Ellerslie on Boxing Day, Daniel Miller’s sights will be centred further south. The Matamata conditioner has sent three horses to Wingatui for their Saturday meeting, including Group Three winner Sheezallmine (NZ) (Super Easy), and he has the added bonus of some local knowledge in the form of stable foreman Mason Stevens. “We are really happy with how Sheezallmine has travelled down. She travelled down there last week with my foreman, Mason Stevens,” Miller said. “He was born and raised in…

Last start Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m) winner In A Twinkling (Fastnet Rock) will be vying for Group One glory at Ellerslie on Boxing Day when he lines-up in the Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic (2000m). The Jamie Richards-trained gelding finished runner-up in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) behind Crown Prosecutor (Medaglia d’Oro) last year, and he has subsequently added back-to-back Counties Cup victories to his record, however, a victory at elite level still eludes the five-year-old. Richards is happy with his charge in the lead-up to Saturday’s feature, where he…