Month: June 2021

A filly who was no certainty to survive her first 24 hours of life is now a winner on the racetrack. After a luckless eighth on debut at Avondale and a strong-finishing second at Ellerslie, Bunkers (NZ) (Kermadec) made it third time lucky in Wednesday’s Alf Cole Memorial (1600m) at Pukekohe. Ridden by Ashvin Goindasamy for trainers Peter and Dawn Williams, she rounded the home turn in third place before angling out wide on the track, reeling in the leaders and surging to victory by a neck. The three-year-old became…

Two-year-old gelding Tympanist provided first season shuttle sire Belardo with his fourth southern hemisphere winner when successful in a 1400m maiden at Hawkesbury on Tuesday. The David Payne-trained youngster improved from his three previous unplaced efforts to score by one and a quarter lengths over Vyner and favourite Armour Force. Belardo’s first southern hemisphere crop include Listed winner Avonallo, who also placed in the Karaka Million (1200m), in addition to Group Two performer Fonsalette. A son of Lope de Vega, Belardo is the the sire of four northern hemisphere stakes…

The Government has announced that Wellington and neighbouring regions of Wairarapa and Kapiti (including Otaki) have been placed into Alert Level 2 from 6pm Wednesday June 23 until 11.59pm Sunday 27th June.  As a consequence, the Otaki race meeting on Friday 25 June will race under “NZTR Directive COVID-19 Alert Levels 1 and 2”. A race meeting held under Alert Level 2 may not host groups of more that 100 attendees, unless a safe operating plan to separate individual groups of up to 100 can be developed, approved by NZTR…

A tilt at the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) could be on the cards for Brandenburg in the spring. Trainer John Sargent is keen to head to Melbourne with the son of Burgundy to race in front of his ownership group, and he has put a big circle around the time-honoured race to be held at Moonee Valley in October. Brandenburg is currently spelling in Queensland after his campaign in the Sunshine State, which resulted in a third placing in the Gr.1 Doomben Cup (2000m) and fourth placing in the Gr.2…

It’s a busy life being a working mum, but the long hours paid off for Tegan Abel at Pukekohe on Wednesday. The apprentice jockey recently made the decision to return to raceday riding after giving birth to her daughter, Chloe, a couple of years ago, and she was pleased to get back on the winner’s board with Antigua in the Monarch Café 1200. “It was really good to get that monkey off my back again,” Abel said. “It’s been a couple of years since I was riding (on raceday), so…

Consistent mare Pop Star Princess will venture to Tauranga on Saturday to contest the Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic (1400m) as she looks to add further black-type to her record before her likely retirement in spring. The Fred and Lindsay Cornege-trained six-year-old has won nine of her 38 starts, with a further 11 placings, including the Gr.3 Rotorua Stakes (1400m) two-starts back. One of those rare times the game mare was out of the money was when finishing last when impeded at Ellerslie over 1100m and lumping 62kgs. “You can…

It may have been a wet winters day at Awapuni last Saturday, but that couldn’t dampen the spirits of local horseman David Jensen who experienced his biggest moment in racing when recording his first win as a trainer. The victory came courtesy of $2,500 gavelhouse.com purchase Eagle County, who had been knocking on the door of a maiden success for some time. Jensen, a former jumps jockey, was delighted with the win and said he got a lot more satisfaction from the victory than he did when he was riding.…

Cambridge Stud CEO Henry Plumptre joins Louis Herman-Watt on SENZ to talk about his career in the thoroughbred industry. CLICK TO PLAY