Author: NZRacingDesk

Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) will travel to Hong Kong without another run in Australia after Lindsay Park secured a flight for the nine-time Group One winner to run on Champions Day next month. The Gr.1 Champions Mile – and a potential clash with local pin-ups Beauty Eternal, Voyage Bubble and Galaxy Patch – looms large for Mr Brightside, who ran a gallant second in the All-Star Mile at Caulfield earlier this month. The stable reported that the seven-year-old jarred up on the Good 3 track and emerged with a bruised…

Guy, Emily & Jayne review a massive day of racing. Robbie Patterson joins the show after his double stakes win including an emotion send off for Leica Lucy, and Dirk & Nicci Oberholster come on to chat about their breeding success at Trentham & Rosehill. Weigh In, March 23

Stephen Marsh has unveiled a number of promising two-year-old fillies this week and the latest in Lady Iris (NZ) (U S Navy Flag) stamped her authority with a strong win in the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series (1050m) at Matamata on Sunday. Marsh combined with jockey Wiremu Pinn to take out the juvenile event at Pukekohe Park on Friday with debutant Little Black Dress, with stablemate Mazino completing the quinella. Pinn also guided the Marsh-trained Glamour Tycoon to win Saturday’s Listed Lightning Handicap (1200m) at Trentham, the second of his two…

A last-gasp triumph in Saturday’s The Frac Club New Zealand St Leger (2500m) completed a rare Trentham double for Wolfgang (NZ) (Puccini), whose connections are now daring to dream of even bigger things next spring. Wolfgang is the 11th horse to win both the Wellington Cup (3200m) and the St Leger, and only the third to do the double in the same season – joining Concentrate (1930) and Waisake (2021). Saturday’s $110,000 St Leger was the final start of a remarkable campaign for Wolfgang, who has earned more than $490,000…

Former northerner Conor O’Ceirin (NZ) (Dial A Prayer) made an impressive start to his new campaign in the South Island, leading most of the way to win Saturday’s Johnny Fresh Darfield and Yaldhurst Open Handicap (1400m) at Riccarton Park. The eight-year-old son of Dial A Prayer had been a strong performer in the care of former trainer Robbie Patterson, winning eight races and over $200,000 in stakes before he sent him south to join Riccarton conditioner Anna Furlong.   Last seen during the Wellington Cup Carnival in January, Conor O’Ceirin…

Striking Riverton galloper Riviera Rebel (NZ) (Pure Champion) proved he is right up to the South Island’s top open-class stayers with an all-the-way win in Saturday’s Seaton Family Hororata Gold Cup (1800m) at Riccarton Park. The son of Pure Champion appeared last Sunday at Wingatui to finish fourth in the Beaumont Cup (1500m), and it was only a last-minute decision by Graham Eade and Brooke Kincaid to travel to Riccarton Park this week to take on the $50,000 contest. Carrying just 54kg under Jasmine Fawcett, Riviera Rebel closed a $4.50…

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Saturday’s A$5 million Gr.1 TAB Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill capped an extraordinary day for Grangewilliam Stud’s stallion roster. The world’s richest two-year-old race was won by the lightly raced filly Marhoona, who is by Snitzel out of the unraced Encosta de Lago mare Salma. Marhoona became the third individual stakes winner for that outstanding broodmare, who is also the dam of Grangewilliam Stud stallion Hilal. A son of the influential Fastnet Rock, Hilal won three races himself including the Gr.2 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m). He also placed in the…

Another powerhouse front-running performance by Grinzinger Belle in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.2 Packaging Needs Sunline Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley has earned her a Group One opportunity in Sydney. The fillies and mares’ feature was the fourth stakes win for the New Zealand-bred Shamexpress mare, who had previously won the Gr.2 Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m), Gr.3 The Vanity (1400m) and Gr.3 Ladies’ Day Vase (1600m). She is now in line for a shot at the Gr.1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on April 12. “We could potentially give…

Two hours after his close relative Vegas Queen won Saturday’s Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) at Trentham, quality New Zealand-bred gelding Gringotts took the family’s day to even greater heights with an Australian Group One triumph in the A$1 million George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill. Gringotts was bred by Totara Park Stud and is by Little Avondale Stud’s outstanding sire Per Incanto out of the Savabeel mare Miss Bluebell, whose half-sister Miss Vegas is the dam of Vegas Queen. Herself unraced, Miss Bluebell is a daughter of Operavega, a half-sister…