Day: 10 April 2025

Lekvarte (NZ) (Reliable Man) has already surprised her trainer once this campaign and Joe Pride is hoping she can take that to a whole new level by bowing out of racing as a Group One winner. The six-year-old will be auctioned as a breeding prospect at the upcoming Chairman’s Sale and Saturday’s Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick will be her final start for the stable. As the winner of 10 of her 36 starts, the grey mare has been a wonderful campaigner but even Pride was shocked to see her take out the Group…

Promising filly Mille Grazie (NZ) (Super Seth) has made an encouraging start to her career and another bold showing at Riccarton will earn her passage further afield. The well-related daughter of Super Seth made her way south without incident this week from Samantha Logan’s Cambridge base for a crack at Saturday’s Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1600m). “She is earmarked to go to Australia and if she runs really well that will definitely be the case,” Logan said. “It’s a good opportunity for some black type while she’s going so well.”…

Central Districts jockey Sam O’Malley has had a quiet last few years in the saddle but made a winning return at Waverley on Thursday when taking out the Pioneer – P8240 (1650m) aboard the Allan Sharrock-trained Fulla Grace (NZ) (Ocean Park).  It was O’Malley’s first win in three years, with weight issues derailing his riding career on the flat, and with no ambitions of riding over fences, he elected to take some time away from the sport.  “The weight was a problem on the flat and it was getting too…

Ahead of the anniversary of his imperious racetrack finale in the Gr. 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Day 2 of The Championships at Randwick in 2014, it’s fitting to announce Dundeel (NZ) (High Chaparral) as the latest inductee to the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Returning to the scene of his Spring Champion Stakes and Australian Derby victories as a three-year-old, Dundeel took his Group One tally to six with victory in the race that has become synonymous with the Sydney autumn carnival. The High Chaparral colt’s career had…

There will be plenty of New Zealand interest in FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin on April 27, headlined by Kiwi raider El Vencedor (NZ) (Shocking).  The multiple Group One winner was rated the 10th joint best galloper in the world in the latest LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, and the Stephen Marsh-trained gelding will head to the competitive racing jurisdiction to test his talent in the Gr.1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m).  He attracted plenty of interest from the international racing fraternity following his impressive run of form in New Zealand,…

Pam Gerard came close to picking up a three-year-old major across the Tasman this season with Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel), and the Matamata trainer is back with another rising star in pursuit of Saturday’s A$1 million Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick. Savaglee finished a close-up second to Feroce (NZ) (Super Seth) at Flemington in the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) last month, and on this occasion it will be the turn of Dubai Gold (NZ) (Pride Of Dubai), who pushed Leica Lucy (NZ) (Derryn) right to the wire in the Gr.1…