Month: June 2022

Lindsay Park’s best horse Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) is back in work and this spring will closely follow the blue-print of the extraordinary 1990 spring campaign of former stable star Better Loosen Up (Loosen Up). Better Loosen Up was named the 1990-91 Horse of the Year in Australia following a remarkable of seven straight wins that spring in races of the ilk of the Cox Plate and Mackinnon Stakes before the horse landed his biggest blow in the 1990 Japan Cup. Co-trainer J.D. Hayes said this week that the Doncaster…

Four-year-old mare Targhee broke maiden ranks second-up off a lengthy spell, when successful in the Dunstan Feeds 1200 at Pukekohe on Wednesday for trainers Michael Moroney and Pam Gerard. Admirably performed in good two-year-old fields, Targhee was off the racing scene for more than 12 months following her three-year-old campaign, but indicated readiness when wearing the leader down in resolute fashion to win a trial at Avondale in April. She resumed with a tough effort for third at Matamata last month. Gerard said the year-long break was highly beneficial for…

Don’t be surprised if Cherry Lane shows sharp improvement when she contests the feature at Tauranga on Saturday. The Redwood mare had her first race in six months in an open 1200m handicap at Te Rapa last weekend, looming up on the turn before running out of condition in the straight to finish seventh while conceding weight to most of the field. She backs up this weekend in the Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic ITM/GIB Sprinters’ Winter Championship (1400m), this time at weight-for-age for fillies and mares over 1400m. She…

Trainer Michael Moroney has welcomed back his multiple Group One winner Tofane to his Flemington barn for one final preparation. The expat Kiwi horseman thought he had lost the services of the mare following her sale on the Gold Coast, however, new owners Yulong Investments have elected to put her back in work with Moroney in the hopes of adding another Group One victory to her tally. “She had a nice break and looks terrific,” Moroney said. “The Memsie (Gr.1, 1400m) is the Group One before the breeding season starts,…

Taranaki racing has been given the green light for racing to return to New Plymouth Raceway next month. The track has been out of action since February following successive abandonments due to the slippery nature of the track. Subsequent remedial work has taken place to improve the surface and the track was given the tick of approval last Thursday following jumpouts from senior jockeys, including Craig Grylls, as well as Racing Integrity Board stipendiary steward Neil Goodwin and New Zealand Thoroughbred racing track convenor Todd Treweek. The club’s major winter…

Trainer Chloe Cumming was over the moon with the winning result of well-related three-year-old filly Crazy In Love when on debut in the Haunui Farm 1400m at Pukekohe Park on Wednesday. The daughter of Turn Me Loose won her sole trial over 1300m on the Cambridge Synthetic earlier this month, but Cumming had doubts about how she would handle the Heavy10 surface on debut. “The track was going to be a bit of an unknown, we didn’t know how she was going to go on a heavy track considering she…

Promising juvenile filly Wessex scored her second career win when taking out the NZB Insurance Pearl Series Race (1200m) at Pukekohe Park on Wednesday. The daughter of Turn Me Loose won on debut last September before two unplaced stakes runs and trainer Andrew Forsman was pleased to see her back in the winner’s stall. “It was a good win,” he said. “We know that she has got the ability there, we saw that in her first start. It was a matter of things working out for her and her getting…