Month: July 2023

The Melbourne Cup has often captured the imagination of young racing fans and for newly established Canterbury race caller Daniel Fogarty, he was no exception. While Fogarty, 20, doesn’t hail from a racing family, he was immersed in the sport from a young age through his parents and was just five-years-old when his interest in becoming a race caller was piqued. “It was a dream of mine since I first watched the Melbourne Cup in 2008 when I was five-years-old,” Fogarty said. “In our family sweepstake I drew Viewed (winner),…

Te Akau Racing are hoping to put the last start disappointment behind them with Millefiori (NZ) (Iffraaj) when they head to Ruakaka on Saturday. The Mark Walker-trained four-year-old went into the Listed Tauranga Classic (1400m) in winning form, however, she found the tempo too hot in the transferred Hastings feature, finishing sixth. “She was a touch disappointing at Hawke’s Bay,” Te Akau Racing’s assistant trainer Sam Bergerson said. “We are thinking that she is a bit better right-handed, so it was a pity that it was moved away from Tauranga because…

New Zealand’s leading stable, Te Akau Racing, begun their march towards spring racing with the return of several of their big hitters at the trials on Cambridge’s synthetic surface on Tuesday morning. The seven competitors in Heat 9, the 800m open handicap, all carried the tangerine and blue silks of the Matamata operation, with Maven Belle (NZ) (Burgundy) just getting the better of On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau) on the line. Te Akau Racing assistant trainer Sam Bergerson was pleased with what he saw from the stable runners, particularly Group…

It will be a while before Aaron Laing ventures interstate again with Sir Rockford (NZ) (Shocking). The Cranbourne-based trainer is content to stay at home and hopefully pick up a second city midweek victory with the galloper in the Ladbroke It! Handicap (2100m) at Sandown on Wednesday. Sir Rockford provided Laing with his maiden city success at Sandown on June 14 before the pair travelled to Rosehill for a race over 1800m on July 1. The trip did not turn out as expected with Sir Rockford beating only two horses to…

Lessons learned from La Crique’s (NZ) (Vadamos) last spring campaign will be strictly adhered to this time around with the Group One-winning mare. Trainers Katrina and Simon Alexander have already ruled out starting the daughter of Vadamos on unsuitable ground in any lead-up outings ahead of a trip to Sydney. La Crique is going through her early paces at their Matamata stable, which will also be represented at Thursday’s Cambridge meeting by a strong winning chance in Farrenc (NZ) (Dalghar), ahead of another overseas venture. “We’ve drawn a line in the…

The 2023 National Online Breeding Stock Sale, which is currently in progress on Gavelhouse Plus, gives buyers rare access to a number of young mares who have just reached the end of their quality racing careers. One of those is Cool Change (NZ) (Showcasing), who is catalogued as Lot 10. She is only four years old and finished her racing career with a record of 23 starts for five wins, seven placings and $152,095 in stakes. She was stakes-placed as a two-year-old, finishing third in the Listed FastTrack Insurance 2YO Stakes…