Month: March 2023

Matamata trainers Ken & Bev Kelso won’t be retiring from racing anytime soon with their gun young filly Legarto earning a 2023 Cox Plate target following a brave effort to beat home the locals in the Group 1 $1 million Australian Guineas (1600m) on Saturday. 2022 Australian Guineas winner Legarto is likely to return to Melbourne in the spring to target the Cox Plate. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos. It was a marred 38th edition of the Australian Guineas at Flemington with a major fall seeing jockeys Ethan Brown (Maximillius) and…

Communist under Zac Purton claimed the Group 1 Randwick Guineas. It’s that man again. Zac Purton has ridden a Group 1 double on Saturday afternoon at Royal Randwick. After winning on Artorius in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes in the previous race; he then saw success aboard Communist in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas. It was another Zac Purton special when electing to take a mid-field sit as speed map followers would’ve been wondering why he didn’t lead them up like he did in the Hobartville Stakes last time out.…

Legarto (NZ) ridden by Michael Dee wins the Australian Guineas at Flemington Racecourse on March 04, 2023 in Flemington, Australia. (Photo by Reg Ryan/Racing Photos) The New Zealand raiders Ken & Bev Kelso have taken out the Group 1 Australian Guineas with Legarto who powered over the top of Attrition in the final 50m to record her second Group 1 success of her short career. After jumping nicely, Michael Dee had his filly midfield on the fence, with a lot of traffic in front of her, but as the field…

Artorius flashed home to claim the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes. It’s taken a superb ride from leading Hong Kong hoop Zac Purton, but Artorius is a winner again for the first time since the 2021 Blue Diamond Stakes, having claimed the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes. It was a weaving effort between horses from Artorius to nail the well fancied New Zealand raider, Imperatriz, who drifted slightly before the race. The amazing training performance by Anthony & Sam Freedman can’t be overstated, who elected to take the four-year-old overseas for a…

Benedetta ridden by Daniel Stackhouse wins the Inglis Sprint at Flemington. (Photo by George Sal/Racing Photos) After winning a Cranbourne maiden three starts back in December of 2022, Benedetta has gone through her grades very quickly to take out the $750,000 three-year-old restricted set weight Inglis Sprint over 1200m at Flemington. Jason Warren and Daniel Stackhouse have combined with this very talented daughter of Hellbent to take home the $412,000 winners cheque and tick off the Flemington straight along the way. After jumping with the rest of the field from…

Passive Aggressive gets her now down int time to claim the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Randwick. It was a ding-dong battle down the straight at Royal Randwick as Passive Aggressive got the verdict in a grandstand finish of the Group 2 Challenge Stakes. Trained by Graeme Begg and steered by jockey Jordan Childs for his only ride of the day on Saturday, the first-up mare produced an electric turn-of-foot to storm to line in a photo finish with multiple Challenge Stakes winner, Eduardo. It was the affectionately known ‘Special…