Author: NZRacingDesk

Capable flat galloper Billy Boy (So You Think) made the perfect start to his jumping career at Woodville on Sunday, putting on a polished display to claim the Pat & The Late John Shannon (3000m). The son of So You Think had previously recorded three wins on the flat and most recently in an amateur riders contest in June, with his customary front-running style particularly efficient in heavy track conditions. Aided by former top jumps jockey Jo Rathbone as his trainer, Billy Boy had been preparing for a career over…

A huge crowd befitting the last running of the S$300,000 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m) got the results they wanted after Singapore’s best galloper, Lim’s Kosciuszko (Kermadec), won the elite race at Kranji on Saturday. Trelawney Stud bred Lim’s Kosciuszko was sent out the heavy favourite in the elite 11-horse field, while Lim’s Saltoro (NZ) (Shamexpress) and Golden Monkey were the equal second favourites. On jumping, the two Lim’s horses were prominent early before the race panned out as expected with Mr Black Back crossing from his wide gate 11…

Jockey Michael Dee will partner Warmonger (NZ) (War Decree) when the four-year-old makes his reappearance in at Flemington this Saturday. The Queensland Derby winner is set to resume in the Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) having had a trial and jump-out at Cranbourne in recent weeks. Warmonger is being aimed at the Gr.1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 19 and potentially the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 6, and trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr wanted to lock in a rider that could manage the gelding’s…

The Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival has been a happy hunting ground for Peter and Shaun McKay, who returned to Hastings on Saturday and pulled off a training masterstroke with the resuming Wolfgang (NZ) (Puccini) in the Livamol International Health Products Premier (1600m). The blue and gold colours of the Matamata stable have become a familiar sight at Hastings every spring, landing the Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) with Antonio Lombardo and Amarula, the Gr.3 Spring Sprint (1400m) with Antonio Lombardo, and numerous other bold performances by the likes of Sagunto,…

While top honours did not go the way of Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel) in Saturday’s Listed El Roca – Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m), Pam Gerard took plenty of positives from the performance of her colt as he heads towards loftier targets. The impressive colt was a Group Three-winning juvenile and has flourished early in his three-year-old campaign, winning the 3YO Colts and Geldings contest at Taupo before a storming run into second behind Poetic Champion in the Hastings three-year-old feature.   In a leader-dominated contest, Poetic Champion controlled a steady…

Progressive sprinter Navigator (NZ) (El Roca) produced one of the standout performances of the meeting at Hastings on Saturday, continuing his formidable fresh-up record in the Vet Services Equine Hawke’s Bay Premier (1200m). Navigator has been carefully placed throughout his light racing career by trainer Cody Cole and his record is a reflection of this, with the five-year-old never finishing further back then fourth in nine previous starts. Cole targeted the final meeting at the Hawke’s Bay carnival last year with the five-year-old and was duly rewarded with a lucrative…

Locally trained three-year-old filly Simsala (NZ) (Almanzor) dominated proceedings in the first race on the card at Ruakaka as she captured her first career victory at just her third start.  Prepared by Ken Rae, the daughter of Cambridge Stud stallion Almanzor had indicated a victory was close at hand when she finished runner-up in Rating 60 company on the Cambridge Synthetic surface ten days earlier.  Slowly away in her first two races, Simsala flipped that script as she went straight to the front in the Northland Business Systems (1400m) on…

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Matt Cartwright announced his arrival among the top echelon of New Zealand’s jockeys with a stunning treble on the opening day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival at Hastings on Saturday, culminating in a giant-killing Group One win with Grail Seeker in the Tarzino Trophy (1400m). Formerly a leading apprentice in Victoria, Cartwright decided at the beginning of the season to move across the Tasman in search of better opportunities as a senior rider. Barely a month later, the 22-year-old stole the show on one of New Zealand racing’s biggest…

Major Beel snapped a 17-month win drought that dated back to his triumph in last year’s Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) when he returned to Randwick and took out Saturday’s A$160,000 City Tattersalls Patrick Campion Handicap (1600m). The Savabeel gelding scored his fourth win from an 11-race career when he took out the Australian Derby in April of 2023, but his next eight starts produced a solitary placing in last spring’s Gr.2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m). Major Beel showed encouraging signs in two trials leading into his return to racing on Saturday,…