Author: NZRacingDesk

Dual Group One-winning mare La Crique (NZ) (Vadamos) bypassed the spring features this season, and looking to the summer period, Katrina and Simon Alexander are excited to get their star mare back on track at Tauranga on Saturday. Now a six-year-old, La Crique has had just 20 starts, with eight of those coming in her highly successful three-year-old term. Since then, the Alexanders have navigated a series of hoof issues with the mare, and despite this, she has still managed to pick up the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) and…

Trainer Caspar Fownes will cast a menacing Karma(NZ) (Turn Me Loose) into uncharted territory on Sunday (3 November) when the sizeable chestnut – outclassed on paper but in career-best form – contests the HK$4.2 million G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin.  Tipping the scale with a body weight of around 1,200lb, Karma has won three of his last four races – each over the mile at Sha Tin. The Turn Me Loose gelding goes beyond Class 2 and 1600m for the first time this weekend, doing…

Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos made the most of an opportunity to trial several of their well-performed horses locally on Thursday at Waipukurau. Among their representatives was the promising Bedtime Story(NZ) (Per Incanto), making her first public appearance as a four-year-old in an Open 1000m trial. The daughter of Per Incanto won three of her seven starts last term, alongside a fourth placing in the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m), won by subsequent Group One-winner Grail Seeker. “She was just having a maintenance trial to keep her up to…

Joe Pride says there’s something special about winning at Flemington during Melbourne Cup Week. And that’s why Derby Day in 2010 was a memorable day for the Sydney-based trainer when wet-track specialist Sacred Choice ploughed through the rain-sodden conditions to win the Group 1 Myer Classic, now known as the Empire Rose Stakes. “It was a crack field of mares,” Pride recalled. “I got on a plane thinking she was an outside chance of running a place. I got off the plane and got to Flemington, it started raining and…

Below is a link to the full New Zealand Bloodstock Breeze Up broadcast file on Vimeo (one big video of all lots): https://vimeo.com/1024493712?share=copy#t=0 Please note, if you are downloading this file, it is about 14GB in size and 3 hours, 40 minutes in length, so will need a good internet connection. For those who wish to watch the breeze ups on WeChat, please use the QR code below:

Arjay’s Flight(NZ) (Highly Recommended) will be out to keep his perfect record intact for new trainer Shaun Phelan when he heads to Trentham on Saturday to contest the Feilding Hotel 1600.  The six-year-old gelding has won both of his starts since transferring to the Cambridge horseman’s barn, winning first-up over 1400m at Taupo last month before repeating the result over a mile at Te Rapa.  He was set to return to the Hamilton track to shoot for a third successive win, however, those plans changed after the meeting was abandoned…

Lux Libertas(NZ) (Almanzor) kicked off her campaign in July as a maidener and on Saturday she will be given the opportunity to prove herself in Open company for the first time in the Financial Services 1300. The Almanzor four-year-old has powered through the grades this preparation, winning five of her last six starts over 1200m and 1400m, including a dominant display in MAAT company at Te Rapa’s feature meeting on October 12. Andrew Scott, who trains Lux Libertas in partnership with Lance O’Sullivan, is under no illusions that Saturday’s contest…

Lightly raced mare Bella Waters (NZ) (Sacred Falls) came a long way in a short time last preparation and has impressed ahead of her return at Tauranga on Saturday. The progressive daughter of the late Sacred Falls will resume in Saturday’s Financial Services Handicap (1300m) after missing her planned kick-off date on Labour Day. “We did have her in at Te Rapa so we had to change, it is 1300m and I would have preferred 1400m, but I think she will still give a good account of herself,” said Moira…

Malaysia continues to emerge as a leading racing jurisdiction, with many participants making the move to the growing region following the closure of Singapore and Macau. New Zealand Bloodstock has had a long-standing relationship with the major racing club in Malaysia, Selangor Turf Club (STC), and have worked closely with them again prior to the leading sale of two-year-olds, NZB’s Ready to Run Sale. As a result, STC have since announced another raft of bonus races for graduates of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale as well as incentives for their…

John O’Shea has provided James McDonald with seven of his 100 Group 1 victories and the trainer suspects those numbers can increase by one when McDonald rides for him in Saturday’s $2 million Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington. It has been more than eight years since the pair combined for a win at the elite level, when Hauraki took the Epsom Handicap at Randwick at a time when O’Shea was the head trainer for Godolphin Australia. “We’re due to have another nice race win,” O’Shea said on Tuesday. “We’re pleased…