Month: July 2023

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD NEWSLETTER

An impressive jumpout at Cranbourne on Monday morning has Trent Busuttin optimistic Forgot You’s (NZ) (Savabeel) connections could be in for the lucrative spring they were denied by injury last year. The former promising staying three-year-old has not been to the races since finishing down the track in last year’s ATC Australian Derby owing to a suspensory injury sustained while being readied for his four-year-old spring. The son of Savabeel cruised to the line under little riding in an 800m jumpout, which impressed his Cranbourne conditioner. “He’s come back good…

The 26-year training career of Hong Kong conditioner Peter Ho came to an end on Sunday when his five runners in the season’s final meeting failed to deliver the two wins required for him to avoid receiving his third and final strike. The trainer of 634 winners since the Jockey Club licenced him ahead of the 1997-98 season, Ho said he would not appear before the licensing committee to plead for a stay of execution. “The rules are the rules. We have to respect the rules under which we play,”…

An extraordinary 2022/23 Hong Kong horse racing season ended in remarkable fashion on Sunday, 16 July at Sha Tin Racecourse and reinforced Hong Kong’s world-class racing with history-making performances of outstanding horses, trainers and jockeys.  With only 1,250 horses in training – or around 0.7 percent of the world’s horse population – Hong Kong’s racing once again displayed its world-class quality. Golden Sixty, the first horse in the history of Hong Kong racing to have secured three consecutive Horse of the Year crowns, and fellow G1 winners, Lucky Sweynesse and…

Promising juvenile Whiskey Lies continued his dominant run of form at Ruakaka on Saturday, recording his third consecutive win in the ITM/GIB 2YO Winter Championship Final (1200m). “It was great to see him win three in a row. He had even improved on his last run, so I was quite surprised in the way he kicked on at the end,” said Krystal Williams, who trains the gelding in partnership with her father Ken Rae. “We have had a bit of interest in him and it was great to get the…

It was a red-letter day for Lucy de Lautour at Trentham on Saturday, with the Hawke’s Bay trainer scoring a winning double at the feature jumps meeting courtesy of Metallo (Zoffany) and Ian’s Legacy (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle). Metallo was having just his second hurdle start when he took out the Welcome Wellington Bowlers Maiden Hurdle (2500m), while Ian’s Legacy also cleared maiden hurdle ranks when victorious in the Cody Singer Memorial Maiden Hurdle (2500m). The results were a tonic for de Lautour and her family, with the passing of her mother-in-law…

A stellar campaign in Hong Kong for Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse) has increased the focus on his New Zealand-based sire. The Manfred Man-trained son of Novara Park’s Sweynesse was named this season’s Champion Sprinter and Champion Four-Year-Old in the Asian racing jurisdiction. He advanced from his 98 rating to be a three-time elite level winner this term, triumphing in the Gr.1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m), Gr.1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) and Gr.1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m). He also matched Beauty Generation’s (NZ) (Road To Rock) Hong Kong record for the…