Month: July 2021

Utah Ghost’s Straight Track ‘Spirit’

Editor BOAY

Utah Ghost’s sensational transition to straight track racing has come as a huge relief to young Lara trainer Tim Britton. A wrist injury had made racing around bends problematic for Utah Ghost, a litter brother to Britton’s G1 Australian Cup finalist Utah Blues, but an expedition to Healesville has breathed new life into the superbly related son of Barcia Bale x Utah Miss’ career. Utah Ghost is unbeaten in two flying victories at Healesville and is the fastest qualifier for Sunday afternoon’s Victorian Straight Championship final (350m), where a mouth-watering…

HRNZ make Handicapping changes

NZHarnessNews

Harness Racing New Zealand has approved a number of changes to the Ratings Handicapping System. Some of the changes, approved by the HRNZ Board, will come into effect immediately, others will be introduced from January 1 2022. The biggest change is that when a horse assessed as a maiden wins its first race, its rating will move from MR to R for the level it was on. For example; MR50 will move to R50, MR46 to R46. Effectively the horse will start in the Ratings system at its current level.…

HRNZ Blue September Launch Dinner

NZHarnessNews

Come and join us at Addington Raceway on Friday 3 September as we host a special launch dinner for our HRNZ Blue September Campaign. The campaign will raise awareness and much needed funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation in New Zealand. For the month of September, 10 male ambassadors will race in Blue September silks to raise awareness and funds. The 10 ambassadors are: Blair Orange, Robbie Close, Korbyn Newman, Jonny Cox, Zachary Butcher, Todd Mitchell, Zev Meredith, Matty Williamson, Brent Barclay and Mark Hurrell. ********** HRNZ Blue September Launch…

‘Department of Youth’ has St Leger ‘power’

Editor BOAY

The G3 Warragul St Leger heats (460m) – featuring many of the state’s elite young sprinters on Friday night – are already giving off G1-like vibes! And among the ‘Department of Youth’ is recent G1 Maturity Classic winner Qwara Bale. But has the G1 Sapphire Crown and G2 Warrnambool Cup winner ‘got the power’ again? Qwara Bale (Box 7) – one of 10 heat runners for ‘Team Dailly’ – lines up in Heat 3 (Race 8, 9.33pm). Incredibly, she’s $4.20 on TAB fixed odds to win her heat and $6.50…

Victorian greyhound racing to benefit from landmark US commingling deal

Editor BOAY

Broadcasting of Australian greyhound races into America is set to become more financially beneficial, thanks to new commingling arrangements brokered by Tabcorp and Sky Racing. Victorian greyhound races and those from other Australian jurisdictions have been broadcast into North America via Tabcorp’s international broadcasting channel, Sky Racing World, since June last year, and this new arrangement will now see American punters betting directly into Tabcorp’s Australian pools from this week. According to Tabcorp, the new deal is expected to further enhance the popularity of Australian greyhound racing with North American…

Daily Mail: Gwen looks good at The Meadows!

Editor BOAY

Five-time Group finalist Aston Gwen is the headline act at The Meadows on Wednesday afternoon, while at Ballarat’s meeting Interrogate will put the ‘hard questions’ to prolific speedster Zipping Zarbo. Versatile G2 Laurels heroine Aston Gwen (18 from 63 – 5 from 13 Trk/Dst) has been mixing distances at The Meadows with great effect and after finding star speedster Fernando Bluey too slippery last week  today’s assignment looks ideal. Talented youngster Curator (2 from 5) will make his first appearance at The Meadows, having sped around Sandown Park in 29.30sec…

Tsunami Sam heading for Australia

NZRacingDesk

Promising juvenile Tsunami Sam will continue his racing career in Australia after being sold to clients of Lindsay Park this week. The Anthony Burton-trained colt had shown plenty of ability early on, winning two trials before winning on debut over 1100m at Ruakaka earlier this month. Being in his first season of training, Burton has mixed emotions about the sale. “He has just got so much raw ability, he wasn’t really asked a question,” Burton said. “It was a catch-22. I would have loved to have kept him, but he…

Cambridge double for Phelans

NZRacingDesk

Craig and Shaun Phelan went home from Cambridge Jockey Club’s Wednesday meeting happy men after recording a double on the synthetic track, which was officially opened by former Racing Minister Winston Peters earlier in the day. Night ‘N’ Vegas opened the stable’s account in the Martin Collins New Zealand 1550, with stable apprentice Elen Nicholas guiding the Contributer filly to a 1-1/4length victory. She previously had two starts on the track for two placings and her trainers were delighted she was able to break her maiden in the $40,000 race.…

Ryder on Sharrock’s radar

NZRacingDesk

It’s already been one of Allan Sharrock’s most memorable seasons but the New Plymouth trainer is keen to add the icing on the cake at Otaki on Saturday. Sharrock has already set new personal benchmarks for wins in a season (54) and stakes earnings ($1.11 million) but he heads to Otaki with a formidable team of six, including a pair of two-year-olds who could provide him with an eighth stakes winner of the season, which would also be a new mark. As well as two-year-olds Yeaboi (NZ) (Belardo) and Catsacharmer…

Go You Good Thing looks to double-up

NZRacingDesk

Go You Good Thing (NZ) (Ghibellines) gave Daniel Cherry his first win as a trainer and the Matamata horseman is hoping the gelding can double his tally this weekend. The son of Ghibellines won on debut over 1230m at Rotorua earlier this month and Cherry was delighted with the result after four unplaced trial runs. “I broke him in and pre-trained him, so I had an inkling that he likes a bit of daylight and in his trials he had been going back to last in most of them,” Cherry…