Month: April 2024

If ever a horse deserved a big race victory it is the consistent sprinter Imwonderfultonight, and the mare got that result at Otaki on Saturday when she took out the Listed City Of Napier Sprint (1200m). Raced by Windsor Park Stud and Ben Kwok, Imwonderfultonight has come a long way in a short time since joining trainer Sam Mynott’s Cambridge stable having gone from winning a 1200m maiden at Hasting just over a year ago to running fourth in the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) back in January. Imwonderfultonight had five top…

Underrated filly Epee Beel claimed her first career stakes victory in the Listed NZB Insurance Stakes (1600m) on Saturday, and in doing so brought up a special milestone for co-trainer Michael Pitman as she became winner number 2000 in New Zealand for the Riccarton maestro.  The three-year-old daughter of Epaulette had been a model of consistency of late without standing on the top step of the podium, but she delivered when it mattered for Pitman and son Matthew as she fought off the challenges of Cambridge visitor Nepheti and local…

The brand-new $350,000 TAB Southern Alps Challenge (1600m) was created with the goal of giving lower-profile southern stables their moment in the sun, and the inaugural running at Riccarton on Saturday could hardly have done that better. The race was won by the underrated local Matscot, whose trainer Sharon Robertson co-bred and part-owns the six-year-old with her partner Alan Reeves and fellow owner Ross Falloon. There are currently just six horses registered to Robertson’s Riccarton stable, which has been credited with a total of 44 winners since the 1994-95 season.…

New Plymouth trainer Janelle Millar secured the seventh black-type win of her career in Saturday’s Listed Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m) at Otaki, and this one meant more than most.  Millar also co-bred and part-owns the emerging stayer Testify Me, who added Saturday’s $120,000 feature to his last-start success in the New Zealand St Leger (2600m) at Trentham last month. In an even more special twist, Testify Me races in the colours of her late grandfather, the highly successful Stratford trainer Jack Taylor.  “It’s made me quite emotional, especially with those…

The in-form stable of Michael Freedman notched another stakes success during the Championships when Panic scored a narrow victory in the Listed South Pacific Classic (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday. Freedman sent out Manaal to win the Gr.1 Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and Ducasse to win the Gr.3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) on Day One of the Championships and was quick to claim further stakes glory on Day Two. A three-year-old son of Time Test, Panic was always prominent throughout under jockey Tommy Berry and dug in late to stave…

The Listed Riccarton Park Function Centre Welcome Stakes (1000m) has been moved to a new position on the South Island’s racing calendar, but its first autumn running at Riccarton on Saturday brought no change to Te Akau Racing’s dominance of the two-year-old feature.  The Welcome Stakes was previously run during the New Zealand Cup carnival in November, when Te Akau won it with Maroofity (2002), Xbert (2005), Encosta Diablo (2009), Bespoke (2010), Sassy ‘N’ Smart (2015), Al Hasa (2017), Avonallo (2020) and Sky On Fire (2022).  That trend was widely…