By Jonny Turner A familiar sight will be back at Ascot Park racecourse today, and it is not a horse or driver. It is the Koru Care Southland colours, which will return to Southland harness racing meetings starting with today’s quickfire action in Invercargill. The green and white Koru Care Southland silks were a familiar sight on Southland tracks for many seasons, especially when worn by champion reinsman Dexter Dunn. The silks were first worn by Dunn a decade ago, with a sponsor donating to Koru Care Southland at each…
Month: November 2023
Trot Slot confirmed for Cambridge
By Michael Guerin New Zealand’s first Trot Slot race is confirmed and already has its first slot filled. The TAB Trot Slot will be run as expected alongside the Race by Grins at Cambridge on April 12 next year for a stake of $575,000, making it the richest trot race ever held in Australasia. It will have eight slots, most of them purchased by the connections of leading trotters so will have an old fashioned sweepstakes race feel to it. The eight slots have been taken by: TAB NZ, Aldebaran…
Another record beckons for Golden Sixty
Breaking records seems to come quite easily for Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro) – Hong Kong’s superstar racehorse who has already gone where no other has been before. The Pride of Hong Kong – Golden Sixty – is the city’s all-time leading earner (HK$147.93 million), only three-straight Hong Kong Horse of the Year (2020/21, 2021/22 & 2022/23) recipient and only nine-time Group One winner. Across 29 starts, Golden Sixty, who was purchased as a Ready To Run 2yo in New Zealand, has won 25 times, remarkably ranging from 1200m to 2000m,…
Duo impress in Wanganui gallop
It’s nearing that time where the movie Love Actually finds its way onto television screens around the world, but it’s a mare by the same name that is getting Thomas Russell and his partner Pip D’Arcy-Brain excited this festive season. The Wanganui couple own the 11-year-old Swiss Ace mare and are enjoying plenty of thrills with her two progeny to date – King Of Hearts (NZ) (Jakkalberry) and Black Orlov (NZ) (Unusual Suspect). Bred by Westbury Stud principal Gerry Harvey, Love Actually was initially purchased as a yearling at Karaka…
Overpass headlines Winterbottom Stakes 2023 field
Joshua Parr will travel to Perth to link up with Overpass in the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes on Saturday. (Reg Ryan/Racing Photos) The Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes will headline the third day of The Pinnacles at Ascot Racecourse this Saturday afternoon. With 18 runners accepting for the $1.5 million feature, a full field of 16 is expected to compete in the 1200m contest. Overpass heads the field and will return to Ascot for the first time since his success in the $4 million The Quokka in April. The Bjorn Baker-trained…
The Follow Files: Jimmysstar on the rise with Cranbourne win
Last weekend, we had feature racing from Ascot as the Perth Summer Carnival held its first Group 1 weekend. It was also Cranbourne Cup Day on Melbourne’s south-western fringe. In this week’s edition of The Follow Files, we have picked out three runners from those two meetings that are worth following over the summer months in various states. Cranbourne Track rating: Soft 6 (up to Soft 5 after R7) Rail position: +3m entire circuit Race 10: Class 3 Set Weights (1500m) | Time: 1:32.67 Horse to follow: Jimmysstar (1st) Jimmysstar…
Next stop Addington for Group 1-winning Aussie trotter
By Duane Ranger (courtesy of Redcliffe Paceway) Queenslander Tony Veivers has already laughed terminal cancer in the face, and now the 60-year-old is keen to create Australasian harness racing history with his Group 1-winning trotter, Not As Promised. While all the big pacing guns are flocking to the Sunshine State to try and win Inter Dominion glory starting this Saturday (December 1), Veivers has paid up to $30,000 in international return flights to try and become the first Australian owner to win the coveted $110,000 New Zealand Trotting Derby on…
Deny Everything upsets in Timaru Summer Cup
By Mike Love Deny Everything scored a well-earned victory when he won Saturday’s Tyre General Timaru Summer Cup at Phar Lap Raceway. The Mark Jones-trained seven-year-old capitalised on his good manners, securing the trail with driver Samantha Ottley before peeling off the back of the pacemaker and third placegetter Heisenberg, to win by one and a quarter lengths from Tanzania. “It was awesome, very satisfying,” says Ottley. “We’ve all had to be so patient with him. Everyone is rapt.” Deny Everything has had an interrupted career, having three wind operations…
Another record beckons for fresh Golden Sixty in Hong Kong Mile
Golden Sixty heads to the barriers at Sha Tin to trial. Breaking records seems to come quite easily for Golden Sixty – Hong Kong’s superstar racehorse who has already gone where no other has been before. The Pride of Hong Kong – Golden Sixty – is the city’s all-time leading earner (HK$147.93 million), only three-straight Hong Kong Horse of the Year (2020/21, 2021/22 & 2022/23) recipient and only nine-time Group 1 winner. Across 29 starts, Golden Sixty has won 25 times, remarkably ranging from 1200m to 2000m, which includes a…
Kingsclere ready for big week ahead
Kingsclere Stables will have a slew of stakes representatives this week, with the first set to step out at Otaki on Thursday. Promising three-year-old Zabmanzor (NZ) (Zabmanzor) will lead the Cambridge stable’s charge in the Gr.3 Elsdon Park Wellington Stakes (1600m). The son of Almanzor takes an impressive 3-/14 length victory into the race, but Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood are well aware of the step up in company at Otaki this week. “It is a pretty handy race, there are some nice horses in there,” Wellwood said.…