Author: NZRacingDesk

The Davison family and the team at Mapperley Stud are in mourning after the shock loss of their good friend and Group One-producing sire Contributer. The champion son of High Chaparral was starting his ninth season at the Matamata farm but sadly passed away on Sunday morning. A dual Group One winner on the racetrack, Contributer was crowned Champion Australian Middle-Distance Horse of the Year in 2015 following a brilliant autumn campaign where he won the Gr.2 Apollo Stakes (1400m), Gr.1 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) and the Gr.1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m)…

Levin trainer Josh Shaw is daring to dream with Faraglioni this spring following her eye-catching runner-up effort in Saturday’s Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings. The six-year-old daughter of El Roca was a bridesmaid at elite level for the second time after posting the same result in last year’s Gr.1 TAB Classic (1600m), and now Shaw is eyeing further Group One targets on either side of the Tasman. Faraglioni went into Saturday off the back of a pleasing trial win over 1100m at Taupo last month, but was out of…

Kelvin Tyler has plenty of travel ahead of him in the coming weeks and he was pleased to pick up a success closer to home at Wingatui on Sunday with Albatross. A daughter of Sacred Falls, Albatross has a tidy record on Heavy track conditions and returned to her favourite surface at the meeting, after tackling the Good 4 at Riccarton last month. Contesting the KB Contractors (1600m) in Rating 75 company, she was equal favourite alongside Smooth Operator at $4.30. Albatross was swiftly away from the inside barrier and…

Antipodean (NZ) (Derryn) fought hard to win the M$200,000 Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) at Selangor racecourse on the track and the stewards room on a special day for jockey Bernardo Pinheiro who rode six winners. Young guns Antipodean and Golden Pegasus were the only horses seriously backed to the win the Selangor Gold Cup this year and as expected dominated the finish of the race. The two horses had swept the Selangor Turf Club age group races this season, with Antipodean winning the three-year-old series and Golden Pegasus the four-year-old…

Girl power reigned supreme at the 2024 New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year awards in Hamilton on Sunday. Champion Matamata mare Imperatriz, as expected, was named Horse of the Year and all five flat racing categories were won by female gallopers. Imperatriz also took the sprinter-miler category, top filly Orchestral was named as both the champion three-year-old and champion stayer, Velocious earned the two-year-old title and Legarto topped the voting in the middle-distance category. The only male horse to triumph was West Coast, who is the jumper of the…

Defying history and testing track conditions, rising star Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress) continued an irrepressible advance through Hong Kong’s sprint ranks with record-breaking success in the HK$3.72 million Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. Illuminating gloomy conditions in front of a crowd of 42,556, Ka Ying Rising (135lb) set a weight-carrying record in the season-opening feature to cruise to his sixth victory from eight starts, clocking a slick 1m 08.03s in good-to-yielding conditions. Ridden confidently by Zac Purton, David Hayes’ four-year-old settled…

Join Guy Heveldt, Emily Bosson and Jayne Ivil as they celebrate all the big thoroughbred race meetings from, NZ, Australia and around the Globe. Weigh In, 8 September (youtube.com)

Victoria’s highest-earning maiden is winless no longer, as Tony and Calvin McEvoy’s Rue De Royale (NZ) (Per Incanto) posted an impressive all-the-way victory over 1300 metres at Bendigo on Sunday. By Per Incanto, Rue De Royale cost $180,000 at last year’s Inglis Classic Sale, and made a great start to his career, fourth on debut and second in the $1 million Inglis Golden Gift next time out. After a spell, he returned with another lucrative runner-up cheque, this time in the $2 million Inglis Golden Gift, comfortably eclipsing his purchase…

Trainer Symon Wildes says the move of The Archer to this Saturday at Flemington, and the golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup for the winner, couldn’t have been timed better for Dashing Duchess (NZ) (Tavistock). “She’s in form and up and running. She deserves a shot in a race like this,” the Warrnambool trainer said. Dashing Duchess has won her past two starts in comfortable fashion at The Valley, with her last one in a Quality Handicap over 2500 metres. “She’s tracking the right way. She’s got a nice profile…

Top jumps jockey Shaun Fannin hasn’t ridden in many races this season, but when he does, the result is often similar to what panned out at Woodville on Sunday. A four-time winner of the Jumps Jockey of the Year title, Fannin has won over 160 races in the saddle but more recently, he has turned his focus to training in partnership with Hazel Schofer, with the pair recording 13 winners last term from their base at Awapuni. However, Fannin has maintained his formidable partnership with Mark Oulaghan’s champion steeplechaser West…