Author: NZRacingDesk

New Zealand-bred mare Grinzinger Belle (NZ) (Shamexpress) made a bold start to her spring campaign with a commanding front-running performance in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.2 Furphy Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m) at Flemington. The daughter of Shamexpress led all the way for a black-type win over the same course and distance in the Gr.3 Vanity Stakes (1400m) in her first-up run in the autumn, and trainer Danny O’Brien repeated the same formula fresh up in the fillies and mares’ feature on Saturday. Urged forward in the early stages by jockey Damian Lane,…

Experienced seven-year-old Perfect Scenario (NZ) (Iffraaj)  has accumulated plenty of travelling miles under his belt since making his raceday debut in December 2019 for owners, the Te Akau Perfection Syndicate. In that time though he has built an imposing record that he added to on Saturday with a win in the Pryde’s Easifeed Open Handicap (1600m), the tenth in a 38-race career to date. Allowed to start at the generous odds of $13.40 by punters, the Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained son of Iffraaj made a steady beginning from an…

New Zealand import Firestorm (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) made a perfect start to her four-year-old season with a strong-finishing success in Saturday’s A$160,000 NSW Thoroughbred Breeders Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill. The Benchmark 78 event was the third win of a 14-race career for Firestorm, who had previously shown promise in feature age-group company on both sides of the Tasman. The daughter of Satono Aladdin began her career in the Cambridge stable of Paul Mirabelli, for whom she won on debut in January of 2023 before running sixth in the Gr.3 Taranaki…

A hard-fought victory by Raziah (NZ) (Niagara0 in Saturday’s Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton Park provided trainer Tony Pike and jockey Matt Cartwright with a second feature three-year-old success within the space of a week. Pike and Cartwright teamed up seven days earlier at Hastings to take out the Listed El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) with all-the-way winner Poetic Champion (NZ) (Super Seth). Saturday’s Canterbury Belle brought a different style of win by Raziah, but it was a similar story of impressive development between…

Trainer Pat Keegan was a happy man after pulling the right rein with his gritty gelding Flaneur (NZ) (Highly Recommended) at New Plymouth on Saturday. Keegan, who prepares the five-year-old son of Highly Recommended as one of his three-strong team at Hawera, had pretty much convinced himself to scratch his charge with rain pouring down before the first event on the card making the track extremely heavy for racing. Having second-guessed himself in the past he took the plunge and left the horse in the race, which proved a masterstroke…

Bellatrix Star (Star Witness) was among the leading two-year-old fillies in New Zealand last season, and she showed in Saturday’s A$175,000 Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes (1100m) at Flemington that she has the class to compete on Melbourne’s spring carnival stage. The Cap D’Antibes Stakes was only the second Victorian start for Bellatrix Star, who had kicked off with a late-finishing fifth in the Gr.3 Quezette Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on August 17. As a two-year-old, she won on debut at Wanganui and later added the Gr.2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at…

Local trainer Andrew Carston was both relieved and excited for the rest of the spring after Jon Ol Rocco (NZ) (Time Test) returned to winning form in Saturday’s Martin Collins New Zealand Cup Trial (1800m) at Riccarton Park. The Time Test gelding was one of the brightest prospects in the South Island around this time last year, winning three of his first six starts last season including a dead-heat for first in the Timaru Cup (1600m) in December. Carston took a shot at big money in the North Island in…

Next month’s Gr.1 Metropolitan Handicap (2400m) is looming large on the horizon for Unusual Legacy (NZ) (Unusual Suspect), who enhanced his growing reputation with an outstanding last-to-first performance in Saturday’s A$160,000 Chandon Handicap (1800m) at Rosehill. The Benchmark 88 handicap was the fifth win from only an eight-start career for Unusual Legacy, who has earned A$252,945. Trainer Chris Waller shares ownership with his wife Stephanie, along with long-term stable clients the Muollo family. Unusual Legacy kicked off his five-year-old season with a strong finish for third over 1500m at Rosehill…

A talented team of four runners at Flemington on Saturday will try to add to the momentum that Te Akau Racing has built up through the first 12 months of its Victorian base. Te Akau’s Cranbourne stable opened in late September of last year, and by the end of the 2023-24 season, trainer Mark Walker had recorded 24 wins from just 124 runners on that side of the Tasman. Te Akau’s Australian stable banked a total of A$6.8 million in prizemoney during that season, with nine black-type victories including five…

Sunday’s eagerly anticipated Great Northern meeting at Te Rapa could provide a fitting end to a big week for Matamata trainer Jessica Brosnan. Brosnan and her husband Peter will saddle Auld Jock and Ima Wonder in the $150,000 Ben & Ryan Foote Racing Great Northern Steeplechase (6500m) on Sunday afternoon – just a few days after New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing announced Brosnan’s appointment to a jumps racing recommendation panel. The panel was formed after NZTR’s Future of Jumps Racing consultation process received 240 submissions. “The volume of submissions that we…