Author: NZRacingDesk

Sunday’s Elsdon Park (1400m) at Pukekohe could be a stepping stone towards much bigger and better things for unbeaten three-year-old Dealt With. The Ace High gelding turned heads with a dominant debut victory at Te Aroha on January 4, and that performance did not go unnoticed in terms of fixed-odds markets for upcoming three-year-old features. The TAB currently rates him a $16 chance for next Saturday’s $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) at Ellerslie, with a $21 quote available for the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) slot race…

An exciting period for stakes racing in the South Island is looming and trainer John Blackadder hopes Saturday’s Wingatui meeting can be a springboard to some feature contests for a pair of his talented gallopers. The Rangiora horseman will travel south with his stable star Ears Back, a seven-win mare who added her most recent success in the Timaru Cup (1600m) last-start. With a view on targeting the Gr.3 White Robe Lodge WFA (1600m) on March 1, the mare will step back in distance in a competitive Brent Lucas Builders…

Admirers of Rich Hill Stud’s leading stallions Proisir and Satono Aladdin will be spoiled for choice at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale later this month. The pair will have their strongest ever representation at Karaka, a reflection of the growing success of the duo’s progeny on the racetracks and in auction rings. Champion sire Proisir will have 50 yearlings in Book 1 and 10 in Book 2 while Deep Impact’s son will have 40 and 16 respectively, making them the dominant pairing numbers wise in the catalogue. “It’s a…

The last time Leica Lucy tackled a three-year-old fillies mile at Trentham her rivals were no match, and she is looking to replicate that performance on Saturday when she contests the Gr.3 New Zealand Bloodstock Desert Gold Stakes (1600m). A filly by Derryn, Leica Lucy was a debut winner and then only narrowly beaten by Wingman at her following start, but once she stepped up to 1600m, she put over two lengths on the field in the Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m). Like the course and distance, her jockey Craig Grylls…

Wexford Stables’ red-hot form across a stable of talented three-year-olds in recent months has built widespread anticipation over which of their talented stars would emerge to represent the Matamata barn in the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m). Training partners Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott have ended speculation, making the decisive move to select hugely promising galloper Checkmate (NZ) to fill their slot in the inaugural running of the Southern Hemisphere’s richest three-year-old race. Checkmate has made a big impression in just five appearances to the races, notching three victories including…

While the win of Banker’s Choice (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) at Moonee Valley recently may have got under the guard of punters, it wasn’t totally unexpected by the gelding’s trainers.  Prepared by Mike Moroney and Glen Thompson, Banker’s Choice registered his first win in just over two years when successful on December 28 and will chase back-to-back wins in the TAB Australian Cup Race Day 29 March (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday.  “It was good to see him win again,” Thompson said.  “We had been really happy with him at home. All the way through he had been working…

It was perhaps inevitable once he had attained multiple champion status as a stallion, that Savabeel should join his sire Zabeel and grandsire Sir Tristram in the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Completing a sequence that is unique in this country, the Waikato Stud-based 23-year-old will be inducted at the 2025 Hall of Fame function in Hamilton in May, 11 years after his own sire was inducted and 17 years after the breed-shaping stallion who founded the dynasty half a century ago. Sir Tristram was an inspired choice by…

It was perhaps inevitable once he had attained multiple champion status as a stallion, that Savabeel should join his sire Zabeel and grandsire Sir Tristram in the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Completing a sequence that is unique in this country, the Waikato Stud-based 23-year-old will be inducted at the 2025 Hall of Fame function in Hamilton in May, 11 years after his own sire was inducted and 17 years after the breed-shaping stallion who founded the dynasty half a century ago. Sir Tristram was an inspired choice by…

It was perhaps inevitable once he had attained multiple champion status as a stallion, that Savabeel should join his sire Zabeel and grandsire Sir Tristram in the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Completing a sequence that is unique in this country, the Waikato Stud-based 23-year-old will be inducted at the 2025 Hall of Fame function in Hamilton in May, 11 years after his own sire was inducted and 17 years after the breed-shaping stallion who founded the dynasty half a century ago. Sir Tristram was an inspired choice by…

Swedish jockey Annie Lindahl has swiftly made her mark on the New Zealand racing scene, guiding home her first winner at Riccarton Park on Wednesday. Having just her seventh ride in the country, Lindahl partnered the John Blackadder-trained Quick Story in the Racecourse Hotel and Motor Lodge Rating 65 (2000m) at the midweek meeting, the mare rated a $30 hope despite a close-up second at her most recent start. From barrier eight, Lindahl found the one-one position aboard Quick Story and with plenty to offer in the home straight, the…