Author: NZRacingDesk

Flamin’ Romans (NZ) (Ghibellines) was scratched from a race at Cranbourne for a contest in Adelaide.The younger brother of Group 1 winner Smokin’ Romans (NZ) (Ghibellines) is bound for Adelaide in search of his first city victory.  Flamin’ Romans runs in the Sportsbet Handicap (1950m) on the Morphettville Parks tracks on Saturday, his third try at success on a city course.  Like his brother Smokin’ Romans, Flamin’ Romans has been a slow developer.  Smokin’ Romans won his first two starts on the Ballarat synthetic track and it took until start 13 for the gelding to gain…

2023 Blue Diamond winner Little Brose (NZ) (Per Incanto) has been retired due to a tendon injury, with news on a stud deal still to come. The son of Per Incanto was trained by Ben, Will and J.D. Hayes and won Victoria’s premiere juvenile contest before a consistent but winless three-year-old campaign. A shift to David Hayes’ Hong Kong base followed, where he debuted with an eighth placing at G1 level and then ran a respectable second down in class. However, disaster followed before he could get to the races…

Newly turned four-year-olds have a proud record of making early spring statements in the Gr.1 Westbury Stud Tarzino Trophy (1400m) in recent years, and one of New Zealand’s most exciting racehorses is poised to follow suit at Hastings on Saturday. Crocetti (NZ) (Zacinto) heads into the season-opening Group One feature with eight wins and a second to his name from just nine career starts, and the TAB rates him a $2.10 favourite to add the Tarzino to his outstanding record. He will attempt to become the 11th four-year-old to win the…

Nearly two decades following his first success in the Tarzino Trophy (1400m), Andrew Scott will be hunting for his third scalp in the Group One feature. Back in 2005, Scott was training in partnership with Michael Moroney when the pair produced one of the race’s most iconic wins with the formidable Xcellent, a memory the Matamata horseman looks back on fondly. “It’s like anything, you don’t really appreciate it at the time as you’re so focussed and involved with the process of preparing the horse, and worried about the result,”…

The Barneswood Farm team are waiting with bated breath as their Group One winner Desert Lightning (NZ) (Pride of Dubai) gets set to make his debut for new trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman at The Valley on Saturday. The Pride of Dubai gelding was a standout for former trainers Peter and Dawn Williams, who selected him as a yearling out of Little Avondale Stud’s 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft for Barneswood Farm’s Chris and Sarah Green and Ger Beemsterboer, and went to $150,000 to secure…

Group One performer Archaic Smile has taken significant benefit from her first-up outing and another top showing is expected from the filly at Hastings. The daughter of Saxon Warrior finished runner-up in her three-year-old debut last month and will bid to go one better in Saturday’s Gr.3 HBPB Thoroughbred Breeders’ Gold Trail Stakes (1200m). “I was happy with her return at Taupo where the track was against her, she wants a firm surface and from gate one she was caught in the worst part of it,” trainer Tony Pike said.…

TAB New Zealand is set to acquire the Raceform brand and magazine publication (Raceform) from Raceform Publications Limited. The agreement will see TAB NZ take ownership of Raceform, which distributes a weekly magazine providing previews, news, opinions, fields and tips on New Zealand thoroughbred and New Zealand harness racing, as well as coverage of major Australian metropolitan thoroughbred meetings. The transaction is expected to complete at the end of the month. TAB NZ will be taking up a business with a strong retail presence and loyal set of subscribers. “This…

Cliff Goss has many adoring words when describing Casino Princess(NZ) (Casino Prince), but there was only one to sum up her performance in the Robert Bruce Clothier Memorial (1600m) at Matamata on Wednesday, tough. Casino Princess has put the 93-year-old horseman’s name up in lights over recent months, with a streak of consistent displays culminating in the Listed Tauranga Classic (1400m) crown in June. She found 1200m a touch sharp in the start following, but Goss was confident a mile would be right up her alley and with a four-kilogram…

There is no time like early spring to start dreaming of Derby glory, and that is the case for connections of impressive Sandown winner Giddy Up Warrior. The son of Saxon Warrior is a graduate of last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale and has been widely promoted through media personality Gareth Hall’s SEN radio show Giddy Up, after which the gelding is named. Prepared by Ben, Will and JD Hayes, Giddy Up Warrior relished getting out to 1500m to prevail as the $2.25 favourite at his third…

Sydney trainer Joe Pride is eyeing some lucrative targets with last weekend’s impressive Rosehill winner Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock). The four-year-old gelding has returned from a Classic season which concluded with a runner-up finish in the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m), with Pride surprised by the new-found dash from the son of Tavistock. “I wasn’t expecting a performance like that on Saturday, given last preparation he was just grinding away. He’s been sharper in his work, and I thought his trials were very sharp,” Pride told RSN. “It was a little bit…