Author: NZRacingDesk

Fortuna Racing flagbearer Leaderboard has the opportunity to contest showpiece jumps races on both sides of the Tasman over the coming weeks, beginning with a shot at the A$400,000 Ecycle Solutions Grand National Steeplechase (4500m) at Ballarat on Sunday. The American-bred son of Street Cry has been an outstanding performer for Fortuna since his purchase for 70,000 guineas by De Burgh Equine at the 2018 Autumn Horses in Training Sale in Newmarket. Throughout the ensuing six years he has recorded eight wins in the Fortuna colours and banked more than…

A three-year-old race on the Riccarton Park synthetic track on Saturday will be used as a stepping stone towards spring stakes targets for highly talented local filly Diablo Blanco. The daughter of Super Seth goes into Saturday’s CJC Feature Nominations Close 27 August Three-Year-Old (1200m) as the winner of two of her five starts. After finishing fifth on a heavy track on debut last September, she scored a smart win in her second start at Riccarton on October 28 and then was runner-up on November 15. Those promising performances were…

Doing nothing doesn’t sit well with Lisa Allpress, but right now she has no option. Two weeks after suffering a bad fall just past the winning post on the Riccarton synthetic track, the four-time jockeys’ premiership winner is back home recovering from lower back injuries. That required surgery in Christchurch Hospital, inserting steel rods either side of her spine to aid the mending of a broken L1 vertebra. Doctor’s orders are to sit tight, do as little as possible for at least the next three months, and all going well…

Wexford Stables may be without their defending champion in Saturday’s Gr.2 Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate (1200m), but a returning Group One winner in Waitak will be out to retain the title for Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott. The Matamata operation were set to have both Waitak and stablemate Dragon Leap commencing their spring preparations in the Te Rapa feature, but the latter has been scratched, erring on the side of caution after trackwork on Thursday morning. “We gave him a stretch of his legs yesterday (Thursday) and he’s just pulled…

After winning at The Valley’s first race meeting of the season, New Zealand import Lincoln Rocks (NZ) (Road To Rock) is entered to head back there on Saturday aiming to make it back-to-back victories. The six-year-old gelding made it two wins from three Australian starts when he took out a 2040-metre Benchmark 70 on August 10 at The Valley and will run run over the same distance in Saturday’s Benchmark 78 on the Carlyon Stakes program. “He won there two weeks ago and he heads back,” co-trainer Annabel Neasham said.…

Local galloper Jack Morrison(NZ) (Darci Brahma) has found his feet racing on the Awapuni Synthetic surface this campaign and the gelding will shoot for a fourth straight success in the McMillan Equine Feeds 2140 on Friday. A five-year-old by Darci Brahma, Jack Morrison had failed to figure prominently in four starts on the turf and trainer Mark Oulaghan turned to the synthetic surface hoping that may be to his liking, which proved to be an understatement as he remains unbeaten in three attempts. Typically a frontrunner, the gelding dictated terms…

Kevin and Stephen Gray will have their first runners together in a quarter of a decade with two representatives at Friday’s Feilding meeting on the synthetic track at Awapuni. The father and son duo will kick-start their new partnership with Clickety Click in the Fiber Fresh Active Handicap (1000m) and Oscar in the Hygain Tracktorque Maiden (1200m) but are more hopeful than confident on a dream start. The former is a three-time winner who was a handy fifth when resuming at Otaki while Oscar will make his debut off the…

Go Racing’s multiple Group One winner Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel) will kick-off what they are hoping will be a lucrative spring preparation at Randwick on Saturday in the Gr.1 Winx Stakes (1400m). The daughter of Savabeel was a standout last spring, finishing runner-up in the Gr.2 Golden Pendant (1400m) and Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) before winning the Gr.1 Champions Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Champions Day. Following her autumn preparation, which included victory in the Gr.2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) and placings in the Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m) and Gr.1 Queen…

Often the Bridges Insurance Services Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4800m) acts as a prelude to the Great Northern Steeplechase three weeks’ later, but for Niall Quinn, Saturday’s event is the key target for his well-performed Country Bumpkin (NZ) (St Reims) . A son of St Reims, Country Bumpkin has won four races over fences, with a trio coming in his favoured steeplechasing role where he more recently was an eye-catching second behind West Coast in the Koral Steeplechase (4250m) at Riccarton Park earlier this month. Quinn pressed onto the Grand National…

Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson were pleased to see the successful return of What You Wish For (NZ) (Embellish) and Trobriand at Taupo on Wednesday as the four-year-old pair collected fresh-up victories on the competitive card. What You Wish For, a son of former Te Akau star colt Embellish, had shown his prowess over ground as a three-year-old with a close-up third in the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2000m), completing his preparation with a solid sixth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) in March. Resuming off the back of two…