Month: September 2023

Struggling for form and confidence, Benaud’s (Reliable Man) career was at the crossroads just six months ago but some meticulous attention to detail and a little faith has the classy stayer back in the Group One arena. Benaud lines up in Saturday’s Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick as one of the form horses having followed a Wyong Cup (2100m) victory two starts ago with a strong second to exciting import Just Fine (Sea The Stars) in the Kingston Town Stakes (2000m). It is a far cry from the autumn when he…

Cambridge trainer Andrew Forsman sees a simple equation for his classy mare Mustang Valley ahead of Saturday’s Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m), the wetter the better. The daughter of Vanbrugh resumed this campaign with an eye-catching sixth in the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) finishing less than two lengths from victor Dragon Leap, and produced a dominant winning performance at Taranaki a fortnight ago when Forsman elected to bypass the first of the Hastings features (Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy, 1400m) with the mare. “She’s improved a lot since Taranaki, she was only…

Peter McKay came close on Wednesday morning to trimming his Hawke’s Bay-bound team down before leaving all six of his runners in the mix for the trip south. The Matamata horseman, who trains with son Shaun, was happy to leave stable stalwart Sagunto and Strange Love in contention and following a conversation with Hastings track manager Richard Fenwick accepted with his other runners. “I was five minutes away from pulling most of them out and then I talked to Richard and he said the sun had popped out and it…

Hastings’ loss will be Te Rapa’s gain with the well-performed filly Impendabelle (Impending) to now stay closer to home for her next step toward a Group One target. Trainer Tony Pike ruled out a start in Saturday’s Gr.2 AHD Animal Health – Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) due to the weather with the focus now turned to a day earlier and the age group event at Te Rapa. Currently sharing the fourth line of betting at $12 for the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), Impendabelle will make her…

There has been plenty of intrigue on whether the A$20 million carrot of The Everest (1200m) would prove too enticing for Te Akau Racing with their star sprinter Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), but they have put the nail in the coffin of that idea this week. Te Akau principal David Ellis has confirmed once more that she will remain in Melbourne at their new Cranbourne base and target three Group One races, starting with Friday’s Moir Stakes (1000m) at The Valley. “It was an interesting decision, but we’d pretty much…