Month: March 2024

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Promising up-and-comer Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto) added a fifth win to his record with a stylish come-from-behind performance in Saturday’s HKJC World Pool Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill. The four-year-old gelding has now had 11 starts for five wins and five placings, with his only unplaced finish being a fifth – and only 1.1 lengths from the winner – at Randwick in September. Gringotts was sent out as a $3.50 favourite for Saturday’s A$160,000 Benchmark 88 handicap, which was his first raceday appearance since November. He settled in the back half…

Emerging stayer Mark Twain (NZ) (Shocking) capped a dream day for Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood when he won Saturday’s Listed Lexus Roy Higgins (2600m) at Flemington and secured himself a ballot-free entry into the Melbourne Cup (Gr.1, 3200m). Mark Twain’s heroics in the A$500,000 staying feature came less than an hour after his superstar stablemate Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel) won the Gr.1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) in Sydney. That Savabeel filly will deservedly dominate headlines for her blockbuster performance at Rosehill, but Mark Twain’s supporting act was also…

A daughter of two-time Riverton Cup (2147m) winner Miss Three Stars (NZ) (Perfectly Ready) lined up on the same raceday on Saturday for the same trainer and jockey, delivering a major victory of her own in the Bupa Care Services Francolin Stakes (1400m). The fillies and mares’ feature was run over 1400m on Riverton’s biggest raceday of the year, and emerging five-year-old Miss Pearl (NZ) (Tavistock) rose to the occasion with an outstanding come-from-behind win. Miss Pearl is trained at Ascot Park by Tommy Beckett, who guided Miss Three Stars…

A year after winning the Gr.1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) with Prowess (NZ) (Proisir), Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood returned to Rosehill on Saturday and achieved a repeat result with another special filly. Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel) headed across the Tasman as one of the most-hyped New Zealand three-year-olds in recent memory. She had won all of her four previous starts in succession, including the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m), the Gr.2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) and a runaway victory in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m). The latter performance received…

Flemington’s ‘Straight Six’ has brought the very best out of Te Akau Racing’s Sans Doute (Not A Single Doubt), who improved her record at the venue to four-from-four with a valuable black-type win in the Listed ATA/Bob Hoysted Handicap (1000m) on Saturday. Previously a black-type placegetter in New Zealand with a second behind Group One performer Best Seller (NZ) (Wrote) in the Gr.3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), Sans Doute relocated to Te Akau’s Cranbourne base for the spring and kicked off her Australian career with a second at Moonee Valley,…

Race favourite Prince Alby (NZ) (Sacred Falls) carried the hopes of the locals in Saturday’s Kennedy Building Riverton Cup (2147m), and he didn’t let anyone down as he ground out a terrific victory in the feature event on the day. Prepared on the track by Kelvin Tyler, the five-year-old gelding rounded out his preparation for the contest with a narrow victory over 1500m at Wingatui a fortnight earlier. Tyler has made no secret of his admiration for the son of Scared Falls, and his charge looked the winner a long…