Month: April 2022

In what has been a stop-start autumn for Mo’Unga (NZ) (Savabeel), the Gr.1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) is shaping as a perfect campaign reboot, provided the Randwick track continues to dry out. The four-year-old missed a scheduled start in the George Ryder Stakes due to an elevated temperature and Saturday’s feature will be his first outing since his runner-up finish in the Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in February. Given the horse’s outstanding fresh record, the space between runs is no issue for Mo’unga’s connections and he has already proven…

Tofane will be vying to finish her racing career on a high on Saturday when she lines-up in the Gr.1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick. The daughter of Ocean Park won the race two years ago in the hands of Kiwi jockey Opie Bosson, her first at elite level. She was set to be offered in a broodmare sale last year, however, trainer Michael Moroney convinced her owners to have one final throw at the stumps at the Queensland Winter Carnival. His belief in the mare paid off, with…

The aptly named Hokkaido (NZ) credited Satono Aladdin with his second Southern Hemisphere winner from limited representatives when he made an impressive debut at Otaki on Thursday. Trained by co-breeder and part-owner Gary Vile, the two-year-old sat in the trail before rider Masa Hashizume angled off heels in the straight and, whilst avoiding a riderless horse, the gelding found the line strongly for the perfect start to his career. “He is a nice horse that has always shown plenty. He is a very professional horse and it was a brave…

A pair of talented stablemates are rated genuine prospects to add to their stakes records when they tackle feature events on their home turf on Saturday. The Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen-trained mares Can I Get An Amen (NZ) (Hallowed Crown) and Mohaka (NZ) (Nadeem) will front up on their home Hastings track with their respective targets the Listed Power Turf Sprint (1200m) and the Listed Power Farming Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m). “They are both strong black type chances, they are both very well,” Lowry said. Can I Get An…

The combination of a warm personality and a wide reach across thoroughbred racing made Stewart McGrail one of the best-known and well-liked members of the lower North Island racing fraternity. Reflections of the man known to everyone as Stu have been many these past few days in the wake of news that at age 85, he passed away last Saturday in Bundaberg on the Queensland coast. His death came after several years of poor health and, typical of so many of his ventures in life, was on his terms. “Stu…

Trainer Janelle Millar was aiming Zola Express (NZ) (Shamexpress) towards the Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa later this month, however, a lack of entrants for the Gr.1 Fiber Fresh NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) on Saturday convinced her to change tack. “I was bypassing the Breeders’ and heading to the Travis Stakes in a fortnight’s time because she is better suited to 2000m,” Millar said. “The Breeders’ hasn’t been on the radar. I looked at horses like Levante and I thought ‘I am not even going to try…