Month: April 2022

Three-year-old filly Solstice (NZ) (Tavistock) has won her Australian debut, finishing strongly to win The Big Screen Company 3YO Maiden Plate (1100m) at Bendigo on Wednesday. The daughter of Tavistock wasn’t hampered by the Heavy9 track and took the length of the straight to reel in leader Baekdu to claim victory on the line by a nose.  JD Hayes, who trains Solstice in partnership with brother Ben, was impressed with the effort of the Kiwi private purchase and believes the filly will only improve with time and a step up…

Riccarton trainer Andrew Carston has long circled Saturday’s Gr.3 Coca Cola Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m) as the grand final for quality galloper Hasabro (NZ) (Savabeel).  The consistent six-year-old son of Savabeel has come accustomed to lumping hefty weights in handicaps but will relish getting back to weight-for-age conditions.  Sporting the colours of Albert Bosma’s Go Racing, Hasabro has won four races for Carston, including the Gr.3 White Robe Lodge Stakes (1600m) since transferring from retired trainer Stephen McKee’s stable last year.   While yet to win over 2000m, Hasabro warmed up…

Little Avondale Stud stallion Per Incanto has enjoyed a spectacular 2021/22 season with 14 stakes performers headed by the Group One winning exploits of memorable Newmarket Handicap (1200m) winner Roch ‘N’ Horse. Per Incanto’s son Justacanta was another to take big race spoils when winning down the Flemington straight in the Gr.2 Linlithgow Stakes (1200m).  A son of Street Cry, Per Incanto added four new Australian Group winners for the season, which also included Lost And Running, the third-highest rated New Zealand-bred on the Longines 2022 World Rankings.  The winner…

Hong Kong racing will offer record total prize money and incentives of HK$1.62 billion across the 2022/23 season with the overall purse bolstered by a record single-season increase of 11.5% (HK$167.2 million) and featuring an exciting range of innovations, including stunning increases in prize money across distance races and a new bonus system. In announcing this major investment, the Club has made a clear statement that it is looking beyond the current challenges created by the pandemic and reaffirming its long-term strategy of providing the right incentives structure to reward…

Paul Richards is ensuring the family name won’t be absent from the New Zealand training ranks now his premiership-winning son Jamie is moving to Hong Kong. Richards departed from Te Akau Racing at the end of March, just before his son did. He got his training licence back and will be back at the races at Pukekohe on Saturday with the improving winter galloper Seajetz, who contests the Rating 74 Benchmark VRC Trophy (1400m).  “The main reason I was at Te Akau was because of Jamie. When he first got…

Hoard The Bourbon (NZ) (Iffraaj) will have a chance to collect further travelling expenses for a planned trip to Brisbane when his staying qualities are put to the test for the first time on Saturday. The Stephen Marsh-prepared son of Iffraaj was a most recent winner in age group company at Awapuni and will step out over a middle distance for the first time in the Gr.2 Trelawney Stud Championship Stakes (2100m) at Pukekohe Park. “He certainly did what we had hoped last time out and he is a lovely…