Hours of analysis of New Zealand race replays have reaped rewards for Bluegrass Bloodstock director Leonard Russo, with Second Slip (NZ) (Alamosa) the latest addition to a long list of successes. An Alamosa gelding who won two of his 12 starts from the stable of Kevin Gray, Second Slip is unbeaten in two appearances since Russo recruited him for Australian trainer Will Clarken. The most recent of those wins came in metropolitan Melbourne last Saturday, where Second Slip scored stylishly in a $125,000 Benchmark 78 race over 1300m at Sandown.…
Month: January 2021
Century for Richards and Te Akau Racing
Trainer Jamie Richards became the fastest in the history of New Zealand racing to reach 100 wins in a season when Exaltation scored at Hastings on Thursday. Richards, who trains for Te Akau Racing, had looked certain to set a season’s best last year before the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to his progress as he attempted to chase down the national record of 143 wins set by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman in 2017-18. Along with racing to the 100-win mark in record time, Richards has also produced 23 stakes…
Hayden Cullen poised to open account with Amazing Dream
By Michael Guerin The man in harness racing’s hottest seat should finally start the dramatic new phase of his career in Group Two winning fashion at Addington. Hayden Cullen inherited the training of many of New Zealand’s best harness horses on New Years Day, when his former bosses Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen started a sabbatical from training, but with so many superstar horses comes pressure. Cullen had a luckless start to the new phase of his career (he has trained in partnership before) at Cambridge earlier this month but…
Life’s a beach for Ritchie as he gets set for Trentham features
Trainer Shaune Ritchie couldn’t wait to get his toes in the sand at Waitarere Beach as he went about putting the final touches on his four stable runners set to compete at the Wellington Cup meeting at Trentham this Saturday. Ritchie is a firm believer in the benefits that beach work can provide for travelling horses in the days leading up to their assignments, having utilised the opportunities presented at Ruakaka, Woodend Beach in Christchurch and for a number of years now, the pristine setting at Waitarere Beach south of…
Marsh keen on stakes success for honest mare
Trainer Stephen Marsh believes Belle Fascino (NZ) (Per Incanto) is deserving of success at black type level and will look to achieve that with the seven-year-old mare at Riccarton this weekend. The daughter of Per Incanto heads into Saturday’s Listed Speight’s Timaru Stakes (1400m) off the back of a last start victory at her favourite Riccarton venue, a track where she has won three times since relocating from Marsh’s Cambridge base at the start of the 2019 racing season. A change of tactics and the application of blinkers for her…
Majestic Man’s stocks soar after favourable draw
By Adam Hamilton Phil Williamson is hoping good things happen in threes. It’s been a good news week so far for the master Kiwi trotting trainer, firstly getting his star trotter Majestic Man across from Auckland to Melbourne and then drawing ideally (gate five) for Saturday night’s $50,000 Group 1 Dullard Trotters’ Cup (2240m). Now he’s just got to win the first of the big ones he’s crossed the Tasman to chase. Aussie punters have unleashed, backing Majestic Man from $1.80 into $1.40 favourite within moments of the market opening.…
American Me vying for gold
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk American Me took out the first qualifying race for the Cambridge Gold Cup and he will be vying for a clean sweep of the heats at Cambridge on Thursday when he lines-up in the Farrier Supplies Cambridge Gold Cup (Qual) Handicap Pace (2700m). The son of American Ideal has won his last two races, including the Otaki Cup (2000m), and trainer Doug Gale believes he can make it three wins on-end on Thursday. While American Me wasn’t in great form prior to those wins,…
Mackay racing tips, betting odds & quaddie numbers – 27/1/2021
What Mackay Races Where Mackay Turf Club – 9 Peak Downs Hwy, Ooralea QLD 4740 When Wednesday, January 27, 2021 First Race 1:38pm AEST Watch Live Streaming Live at Sportsbet Mackay horse racing preview – January 27, 2021 Eight races will be run and won at Mackay on Wednesday afternoon. The track is rated a Soft 5, with the rail in the true position for the entire course. Race 1 will jump at 1:38pm local time. Best Bet: Fanaar Trinity Bannon will send around one of the shortest-priced favourites of…
Solid Trade Continues Into First Session of Book 2
The opening day of Book 2 at New Zealand Bloodstock’s 95th National Yearling Sales Series, saw a positive outcome for vendors off the back of a competitive Book 1 Sale. The momentum from the last three days of selling has continued through into the first session of Book 2, with the average and median up on last year’s results, rising to $43,240 and $30,000 respectively. NZB’s Bloodstock Sales Manager Danny Rolston was encouraged by the strong day of trading. “Given the reduction of buyers physically on the ground, the atmosphere has…
Highline celebrate red letter day
Cam and Eva Heron of Highline Thoroughbreds were celebrating at Karaka on Wednesday after recording their best ever day at New Zealand Bloodstock’s annual sale. The Waikato couple sold lot 664, the Per Incanto colt out of stakes performer Special Draw, for $155,000 to Robin Tai on behalf of a Singapore client. While that was the farm’s biggest sale to date, that was blown out of the water later in the day when Cambridge trainer Alex Oliveira purchased lot 713, the Proisir colt, out of their draft for $180,000. The…