Month: January 2024

Mike Moroney’s classy filly Coeur Volante (NZ) (Proisir) will miss the early part of the autumn carnival as she takes time to recover from a busy schedule in 2023. Coeur Volante won three straight races last year, two of those at group level, before finishing fourth in the Gr.1 Thousand Guineas in the middle of November. The Melbourne Cup-winning trainer suggested that, more broadly, it would be a quiet start to the autumn for his Flemington stable. “We’re going to be more late autumn and into Queensland mainly,” Moroney said.…

Champion Sydney jockey James McDonald is set to return to his homeland to ride at the revamped TAB Karaka Millions meeting at Ellerslie on January 27. The expat Kiwi tasted success at the meeting in 2019 aboard the David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig-trained Long Leaf in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m) for a group of owners that included his good friend and supporter Sir Peter Vela. “This (Ellerslie) is one of my favourite tracks out of everywhere I have ridden,” said McDonald at the time. “I haven’t…

God Of Eros (Pierro) was never intended to be a long-term member of Shane Crawford’s stable, but the Cambridge horseman isn’t dwelling on the unexpected outcome. Originally purchased as a trade horse, he will attempt to complete consecutive wins when he runs in Friday’s Trigg Construction Northland Cup (2200m) at Ruakaka on Friday.   “He’s a typical Pierro and they take little bit of extra time and if you give them that you get rewarded,” Crawford said. “He’s lightly raced, he’s only had nine starts, and I’ve been dying to…

Never Look Back (NZ) (Shocking) has come a long way in a short time and he will bid for further black-type staying honours at Hastings. The lightly raced son of Shocking will take aim at the Listed Marton Jockey Club Marton Cup (2200m) on Saturday with Leah Hemi, who is unbeaten in two previous rides on the gelding, booked for the mount. Never Look Back has won three of his nine appearances for Foxton co-breeder, part-owner and trainer Gail Temperton, including consecutive Rating 75 contests before he acquitted himself well…

Stakes targets are in the offing for promising juvenile The Victress (Zousain) following her debut win in the Lindsay Goudie & Brian Hare Memorial 1000 at Te Aroha on Wednesday. Backed into $1.20 favouritism, The Victress began well for jockey Opie Bosson to take an early front-running role and the pair didn’t relinquish their advantage, holding out a fast-finishing Elegant Jazz (NZ) (Russian Revolution) to win by half a length. “It was a lovely ride by Opie, taking bad luck out of the equation, he controlled the speed, and she’ll…

After a mixed spring preparation, Illicit Dreams (NZ) (Vancouver) announced herself as a key figure in the upcoming southern Guineas series with a dominant Rating 75 victory at Omoto on Wednesday. The talented daughter of Vancouver was a Listed Champagne Stakes (1200m) winner as an autumn two-year-old and came off second-best to Te Akau filly Viva Vienna (NZ) (All Too Hard) in the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) in September. With the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) in the offing, trainers Ken Rae and Krystal Williams looked to step…