Day: 15 November 2024

Former Kiwi galloper Jimmysstar(NZ) (Per Incanto) will step up to Group One company for the first time on Saturday when the lightly-raced son of Per Incanto contests the Gr.1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday. The winner of two of his three starts in New Zealand for Hastings trainer Guy Lowry, a majority share in Jimmysstar was sold to clients of Ciaron Maher in September of last year and the chestnut has continued on an upward trajectory for his new connections. Now the winner of seven of…

Riccarton racegoers could be in for a treat on Saturday when they get to witness one of the burgeoning rivalries in New Zealand racing come to a head. Exciting fillies Alabama Lass and Captured By Love will go head-to-head for just the third time in the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), with the ledger currently being one win apiece. The Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained Captured By Love asserted her dominance in their first meeting when taking out the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) last season, while…

New Zealand raider Dionysus(NZ) (Ocean Park) will attempt to secure stakes success for his connections when he heads to Newcastle on Saturday to contest the Listed The New Zealand Bloodstock Beauford (2300m). Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood had found it hard to place the seven-year-old gelding in New Zealand and looked offshore for potential targets and felt the Beauford presented as an ideal race. “He was getting to the stage where he was hard to place here. He was high up in the handicaps and he is possibly…

Andrew Forsman has won every Group One race for three-year-olds in New Zealand apart from the Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), and the Cambridge trainer hopes Kitty Flash(NZ) (Ace High) might be the filly to give him his missing piece at Riccarton on Saturday. During his highly successful partnership with Murray Baker, Forsman picked up three wins in the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) with Turn Me Loose (2014), Madison County (2018) and Aegon (2020). The pair won the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) on two occasions…

Well-bred filly Love Poem will take on some of the best of her generation for the second time in a week when she lines up in Saturday’s Gr.1 Barneswood Farm 52nd New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton. The daughter of Snitzel is backing up from last Saturday’s Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), in which she ran a gallant second behind standout colt Savaglee. “I thought it was a brilliant run,” trainer Stephen Marsh said. “She was just beaten by the season’s benchmark three-year-old. We went up and had a…