Author: NZRacingDesk

The retirement of Hong Kong megastar Golden Sixty has done nothing to slow the momentum of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale, with buyers from across Australasia and Asia converging on Karaka for the two-day sale on Wednesday and Thursday. Billed as the best sale of its kind anywhere in the world, the Ready to Run Sale has produced a long list of big-race performers headed by the great Golden Sixty. Bought for $300,000 from Riversley Park’s draft in 2017, he went on to win 26 of his 31 starts including…

Riccarton Park has become a happy hunting ground for graduates of Cambridge thoroughbred nursery Pencarrow Stud, which was further enhanced last week through the deeds of Mehzebeen. The daughter of Almanzor kicked off New Zealand Cup week with victory in the Listed Metropolitan Trophy (2600m) before backing up seven days later to take out Saturday’s Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m). “It was a real thrill to win a race like the New Zealand Cup, which is still one of the iconic races on the calendar,” Pencarrow Stud Manager Leon Casey…

Joe Pride is set to have a strong hand in the feature race at the stand-alone Kembla Grange meeting with up to three runners in the $1 million The Gong (1600m). The Warwick Farm horseman has nominated Little Dance (1600m) runner-up Estadio Mestalla (Galileo Gold), last start winner King Of The Castle (NZ) (Castledale) and proven stakes performer Lekvarte (NZ) (Reliable Man) for Saturday’s mile feature, which has attracted 33 entries. Lekvarte was a brilliant winner of the Gr.3 Angst Stakes (1600m) at Randwick two starts ago and was far from disgraced when sixth to Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel) in the Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m)…

Yaldi’s quest for further stakes honours gained momentum at Monday’s trials at Te Awamutu where the talented three-year-old enjoyed a good hit-out. The Andrew Forsman-prepared son of Ardrossan sat three wide near the pace and wasn’t pressured in the run home to finish third against the older horses in his 850m heat. “It was good to get him back and going and he seems to have returned bigger and stronger,” the Cambridge trainer said. Yaldi has been set for the Auckland age group feature on Karaka Millions evening on January…

The irresistible surge of Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress) towards Group 1 glory continued at Sha Tin on Sunday when David Hayes’ emerging champion sprinter powered to victory in the Gr.2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m), breaking Sacred Kingdom’s long-standing track record. Clocking 1m 07.43s despite being eased down over the last 100m by Zac Purton, Ka Ying Rising improved his overall record to eight wins and two seconds from 10 starts and took a stranglehold on the HK$26 million Gr.1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha…

Jim Wallace’s three-year-old pairing of Liberty Park (NZ) (Ocean Park) and Skippers Canyon (NZ) (Belardo) fought out a tight finish to the HB Farmers Transport Ltd (1600m) at Woodville on Sunday, with the former coming out on top in a stable quinella. Liberty Park was favoured over his stablemate narrowly in the market, which had Croix De Guerre favoured at $3.30. The favourite was quickly away from the gates and lead throughout the running, while Liberty Park and Skippers Canyon settled alongside each-other near the tail of the field. As…

Benefactor (NZ) (Contributer) bounced back into the winner’s circle at Woodville on Sunday with a strong victory in the Valley D’Vine Restaurant Waipukurau Cup (1600m).   The daughter of Contributer is trained at Awapuni by Lisa Latta, who had been searching for ideal track conditions, which she struck at the meeting with an improving Heavy 8 surface in play. In the hands of Lily Sutherland, Benefactor flew the gates and settled in the box-seat third, while Shelbyrock’n took the pacemaking role at a strong tempo. Benefactor began to loom up…

The Weigh In team look back on a fantastic final day at Riccarton, dissect the best action from Tauranga and Australia plus Guy catches up with injured jockey Lisa Allpress on her long road to recovery. Weigh In, November 17

A week has passed since Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) thrilling victory in the Gr.1 Champions Mile at Flemington and the Lindsay Park team are still beaming with pride in what he was able to achieve on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. In the midst of a freshen after a six-start campaign that notched two Group One wins – both at Flemington over 1600-metres – and three other placings at the highest level, the gelding has spent the last seven days at the Hayes’ farm where rest and relaxation has been mixed with…

Riccarton Park trainer Terri Rae capped off a successful New Zealand Cup Week with an impressive double on Saturday, courtesy of fast-improving pair Spot On Time (NZ) (Time Test) and Texas Dolly (NZ) (Ace High). A mare by Ace High, Texas Dolly had been the unlucky runner at the opening meeting, struggling to obtain clear running in the straight and powering home into third behind Hivari. On the seven-day back-up, Rae and jockey Michael McNab formulated a plan to avoid a repeat of that misfortune, and despite a low barrier…