Month: January 2021

Central Districts apprentice jockey Sam O’Malley is currently sitting on 11 wins for the season and he is hoping to improve that at Reefton on Thursday where he has a handful of rides. O’Malley is just three wins shy of his best season tally, recorded in the 2018/19 term, and he is on track to well surpass that figure. The 22-year-old hoop has had a lifelong love of racing, and he was set on a career as a jockey the moment he put his feet in the irons at Mark…

Little Avondale Stud’s Sam Williams hopes a new enthusiasm he sees in local racing can fuel the upcoming National Yearling Sales at Karaka. Williams ventured from his Wairarapa base to see his promising mare Roch ‘N’ Horse win a Rating 65 event at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day, but he said it was the attitude of people he met during the day that gave him the most optimism ahead of New Zealand Bloodstock’s flagship sale. “I bumped into a crew of South Islanders, they said ‘I’ve got a horse up…

Classy mare Showoroses (NZ) (Showcasing) will be back at Ellerslie on January 23 where she will contest the Gr.2 Westbury Classic (1400m) on Karaka Million night. The Joanne Surgenor-trained four-year-old made it back-to-back Group Two victories after leading throughout to land the Rich Hill Mile (1600m) at the Auckland venue on New Year’s Day, having adopted similar tactics against her own sex when taking out the Gr.2 Cal Isuzu Stakes (1600m) at Te Rapa last month. The Ellerslie assignment is a precursor to the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at…

Impecunious (NZ) (Sacred Falls) may yet feature in some of the autumn’s premier races for fillies, despite being kicked by a rival horse and subsequently scratched at Caulfield on Saturday. Co-trainer Natalie Young reported that the daughter of Sacred Falls had not sustained any injury in the incident but would still be given a short freshen-up before returning to the track in February. The three-year-old burst onto the scene with a brilliant win at her Australian debut last month, prompting connections to set their sights on the Gr.1 ATC Oaks…

It’s not a surprise that trainer Colin Little has aimed Vassilator (NZ) (Zacinto) at a Flemington 1400m race, the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes, as he is the epitome of a track and distance specialist. Vassilator has the unique distinction of his four career wins all being over 1400m at Flemington, which is again the track and distance of his next assignment on Saturday. The son of Zacinto won at the track over 1400m at his last start and Little said Vassilator was a big scopey horse who was suited by…

Champion jockey Opie Bosson is appealing a suspension which has robbed him of two leading Group One rides and a chance of winning a fifth straight $1m Doubletree by Hilton Karaka Million 2YO (1200m). Bosson was suspended on careless riding charges stemming from his rides on third-placed Sword Of State in the Gr.2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) and on the unplaced Illusion Of Paris in the Gr.2 Royal Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on January 1. His suspension began after racing on January 4 and ends after racing on January 28. Bosson’s…

Joe and Max Smithies of Monovale Farm are looking forward to offering their 13-strong draft at New Zealand Bloodstocks’ National Yearling Sale at Karaka later this month. The Waikato brothers will offer 10 lots in the Book 1 Sale and they are particularly excited about the prospects of lot 544, the Savabeel filly out of Miss Opulence. She is a full-sister to the 2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run sale topper, who was purchased by Te Akau’s David Ellis out of Riversley Park’s draft for $700,000. The Smithies were…

Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood are still coming down from the high of winning the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic (2000m) with Concert Hall (NZ) (Savabeel) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, and they are now looking at international targets with the mare. The daughter of Savabeel has been in faultless form this season, winning three of her five starts, including the Zabeel Classic, Gr.2 Tauranga Stakes (1600m), and Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m), while she has placed in her two other starts, including the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m). Her trainers…