Month: February 2022

Four-time New Zealand Jockeys’ Premiership winner Lisa Allpress is poised to return to the saddle this week following an enforced spell on the side-line. Allpress has been out of action since she suffered multiple injuries in an accident at the Hawera jump-outs in mid-January and has tagged Friday’s meeting at New Plymouth to launch her comeback. “I went to the track on Saturday and I took my hunter out for a big ride on Sunday and I was back at the track again on Monday morning and looking forward to…

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Ballarat-based trainer Mitchell Freedman will chase a $100,000 bonus after his former Hong Kong-galloper Ho Ho Khan (NZ) (Makfi) took out the Gr.3 $250,000 Ladbrokes Hobart Cup (2400m) on Sunday. A last start winner at Caulfield over 2000 metres on 8 January, the seven-year-old claimed the first of Tasmania’s feature Cups double with Victorian apprentice Tahlia Hope in the saddle. Following the horse’s fourth start in Australia after transferring from Hong Kong, Freedman credited fellow trainer David Hall for the New Zealand-bred Ho Ho Khan ($5.50) making the successful transition.…

On a day that generally favoured well-backed runners, Manoel Nunes got two of them home on Sunday – favourites Sky Eye (NZ) (Per Incanto) and Fireworks (NZ) (Ekraar). The Brazilian ace proved again he seldom fluffs his lines when entrusted with a top fancy, giving both Sky Eye and Fireworks the well-judged steers he is known for. In the third event, the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1000m, Nunes could be seen scrubbing Sky Eye up from his wide alley to secure the lead, which once secured, would…

John O’Shea will chase Group One glory in Sydney rather than head to Melbourne with Lost And Running (NZ) (Per Incanto), following his win in Saturday’s Gr.3 Southern Cross Stakes (1200m). The son of Per Incanto was a dominant winner of the 1200m contest and provided O’Shea with the first part of his double at Randwick. “I’m very happy with the way he went,” O’Shea said on Sunday. “He pulled up well, so it’s a good start to the campaign.” Saturday’s victory took Lost And Running’s career tally to eight…

As preparations ramp up for the 2022 edition of the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales at Karaka in March, Curraghmore principal Gordon Cunningham was once again celebrating the success of a past graduate of his Te Awamutu-based operation. The popular Irishman bred outstanding Ocean Park mare Tofane (NZ) who added a fourth Group One victory to her impressive career record when she took out the Gr.1 C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday afternoon. Although initially entered in the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Select Yearling Sale, Cunningham elected to retain Tofane and send her to trainer Michael Moroney’s Matamata barn under the care of co-trainer…