Author: NZRacingDesk

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) has announced several enhancements to the prizemoney for Jumps Racing, including immediate increases covering the remainder of the current season (May to July 2025), as well as the full 2025-26 racing calendar. NZTR’s total investment across 18 meetings and 57 Jumps races over this period will reach approximately $2.57 million. The increases highlight NZTR’s ongoing commitment to the development and promotion of Jumps racing throughout the country. Highlights of the revised stakes include: Uplift in stakes for Feature Steeplechases across the season, with increases ranging…

Group One winner Pier is set to make his raceday return at Trentham next week after nearly a year away from the track. The five-year-old gelding was a revelation in his three-year-old term, winning three and placing in two of his six starts, including victories in the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m). The son of Proisir has been plagued by issues in subsequent years, only having four starts last season, three of those in the spring, before returning to win over 1300m at…

Consistent galloper The Good Shepherd will aim to add to his career-best season at Ascot Park on Sunday, starting among the favourites in the Editor’s Cut Sports Bar Handicap (1200m). The Power seven-year-old is nearing the $100,000 mark in the current term, with three wins and a number of placings in good company across the South Island. He is trained by trainer-jockey Lee Callaway, but often the topweight, the gelding has established a successful partnership with rising apprentice Ruvanesh Muniandy, who will be back on board and decreasing his weight…

Malaysia continues to emerge as a leading racing jurisdiction, and the major racing club in Selangor Turf Club (STC), has had a long-standing relationship with NZB.  As a result of the partnership, STC announced a raft of bonus races for graduates of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale as well as incentives for their trainers to purchase at the leading sale of its kind. The first of that series takes place this Sunday 6 April 2025, with the staging of the RM150,000 NZB Ready To Run Cup containing a high quality field of 12 graduates from the 2023 Sale,…

Lindsay Park galloper Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) will ramp up his program towards a first international foray with a jump-out at Flemington.  The Ben, Will and Jd Hayes-trained galloper is booked to have an 800m jump-out on Friday.  He will then have another jump-out, possibly on Friday week, before he departs for Hong Kong to contest the Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on April 27.  The Hayes brothers are looking forward to travelling Mr Brightside to Hong Kong and will have the right person in their father David Hayes to bounce any ideas off in the lead-up to the…

Aidan Rodley made a trip out to Ciaron Maher’s Southern Highlands base in New South Wales where Willydoit is stabled in preparation for a shot at the ATC Derby on Saturday.

Allan Sharrock has designs on another feature prize for Islington Lass (NZ) (Proisir) before her season draws to a close, with Saturday’s Wanganui meeting a key lead-in to the Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m) later this month. The six-year-old by Proisir continued to add to a phenomenal race-record in the early summer, winning the Gr.3 Manawatu Cup (2300m) over Wolfgang (NZ) (Puccini) and Whangaehu (NZ) (Proisir), a pair who have gone on to win Group races in their own right. Whangaehu’s victory came in the Gr.3 Trentham Stakes (2100m), where Islington…

Malaysia continues to emerge as a leading racing jurisdiction, and the major racing club in Selangor Turf Club (STC), has had a long-standing relationship with NZB.  As a result of the partnership, STC announced a raft of bonus races for graduates of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale as well as incentives for their trainers to purchase at the leading sale of its kind. The first of that series takes place this Sunday 6 April 2025, with the staging of the RM150,000 NZB Ready To Run Cup containing a high quality field of 12 graduates from the 2023 Sale,…

Things haven’t gone quite to plan with Mustang Morgan (NZ) (Preferment) in the Australian leg of his preparation, but trainer Andrew Forsman is hopeful of a bold showing in Saturday’s Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick nonetheless.  Following his fourth placing in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) behind Willydoit (NZ) (Tarzino) last month, Mustang Morgan flew to Sydney with the plan of running in the Gr.2 Tulloch Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill last Saturday, a race Forsman has had plenty of success in the past, winning two editions (Jon Snow…

Six-time Group One winner Auguste Rodin will shuttle to Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge this spring in a coup for the New Zealand breeding industry. One of the world’s finest racehorses, Auguste Rodin enjoyed elite-level success at two, three and four. An impeccably-bred son of Deep Impact out of Galileo’s triple Group One winning daughter Rhododendron, Auguste Rodin boasts one of the most sought-after pedigrees in the world. Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Auguste Rodin made an immediate impact on the track, showcasing an exceptional turn of foot and versatility over…