Month: July 2022

Former Kiwi filly Unusual Culture is showing plenty of promise in Australia for trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. The daughter of Unusual Suspect ran third at Caulfield over 1200m in her Australian debut last month and she will return to the Melbourne track on Saturday to run over 1400m. While her trainers are expecting a bold run over further ground, they believe she is still one run away from hitting peak fitness. “We like her, I think she is one to follow,” Eustace told RacingHQ. “My gut feel is…

Bevan Wilson is treading carefully ahead of Lord Darci’s biggest test to date in Sunday’s Crombie And Price Oamaru Cup (1600m). The Ashburton trainer will assess the Darci Brahma four-year-old’s performance at Oamaru with a view to a possible late nomination for the Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton on August 6. But a combination of factors has told Wilson not to get too far ahead of himself with that target. “It’s all a bit of a wait-and-see scenario but if you don’t have a go, you…

Trainer Michael Moroney is getting very excited about the prospects of Tofane in the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield next month. The daughter of Ocean Park pleased Moroney with her jumpout at Flemington on Friday and he believes she will be cherry ripe for the Group One feature after a further two public outings. “I am really happy with her. This is probably the first of three of jumpouts she will have going into the Memsie,” Moroney said. “We are sort of following the same pattern as we did…

Saturday’s big race at New Plymouth will play a big part in letting local trainer Allan Sharrock know if he can get three horses into the field for the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa on August 27. Sharrock starts Justaskme and Darci La Bella in the Listed Opunake Cup (1400m), and the latter may need a victory to help her get a run at Te Rapa. Darci La Bella has returned to racing in style this winter, winning both her starts. She has now won seven of her…

Sam Collett has been pleasantly surprised by the pace of her success in Queensland since she decided to up sticks and ply her trade across the Tasman. The former champion New Zealand jockey relocated to the Sunshine State last October after a riding stint there during the 2021 winter and has quickly found her services in demand. “I’ve got no regrets about the move. There is less travelling there and the stake money is obviously a lot better,” Collett said. “To be fair, I thought it would take me a…