Author: NZRacingDesk

Talented three-year-old I’m All In (NZ) (Zoustar) will be tested in stakes company for the first time at Ruakaka on Saturday, lining up in the Gr.3 Cambridge Stud Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m). Prepared by Stephen Marsh at Cambridge, I’m All In has been successful in two of his five career starts, including most recently in a dead-heat with race-rival Chicago Jack (All Too Hard) at the course a fortnight ago. “We’ll take a dead heat, he didn’t jump from the gates well and it was a funnily run race,” Marsh…

Tony Dravitzki has only one nagging worry with Tobias (NZ) (Complacent) ahead of Saturday’s feature contest at New Plymouth. The Stratford trainer has his son of Complacent in prime order for the ITM New Plymouth Interprovincial (1600m), in which he will chase his fourth consecutive victory. “He’s in really good form and ready to go again, the only concern I have is that even with the four-kilo claim, he is still going to have to carry 57kg,” Dravitzki said. Tobias will be ridden by Elle Sole who partnered the gelding…

Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray scooped the major Cups last season with Mahrajaan (Kitten’s Joy), and with the ultimate two-mile contest now on their radar, he will appear for the first time this season at Ruakaka on Saturday. After being purchased out of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale in 2022, Mahrajaan more than proved himself on Kiwi soil last season, winning both the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) and Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m). His Cambridge trainers opted to contest the Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) after his phenomenal form…

Melbourne’s weather gods might have a strong hand to play if winning machine Rhapsody Chic (NZ) (Sacred Falls) is to extend his winning run to five straight at Caulfield on Saturday. Anthony and Sam Freedman’s galloper has won his past four starts and another victory would put him in select company. “I think Steel Prince might have been the last horse we’ve won five in a row with, it’s never easy,” Sam Freedman recalled. “The funny thing is he is a horse who requires luck too, because he is not…

Champion mare Imperatriz will be mated with emerging young sire Pierata this spring, Yulong has confirmed. In May, the breeding and racing giant won the battle to secure the world’s highest-rated sprinting mare at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for a Southern Hemisphere record of $6.6 million. The daughter of I Am Invincible won 10 Group 1 races and almost $7 million in prizemoney during a glittering career on the racetrack. Several of Yulong’s resident sires were under consideration to be the first to cover the mare but Pierata,…

A special milestone is beckoning for New Plymouth trainer Allan Sharrock and he hopes a strong team of representatives can deliver his 1000th domestic winner at his home track on Saturday.   Sharrock has been training since the late eighties and has continued to be a consistent, successful presence in the domestic scene, with his most recent of 18 Group One wins coming in the Livamol Classic (2050m) with Ladies Man last season.   Ladies Man will not appear at the Taranaki meeting, but another high-performing member of the stable in Justaskme has…

Cambridge trainer Maxim van Lierde dreamed of campaigning a horse in Melbourne when he spent time at Lindsay Park last year, and now that has turned into a reality. “Last year I took a horse called Henry Robin over to Lindsay Park and I spent over two weeks with them,” van Lierde said. “I got on quite well with Will (Hayes, co-trainer) especially because I did quite a lot of track work with him. We have become good friends over the last year and the knowledge that they have got…

Cambridge trainer Hollie Wynyard will attempt to turn the clock back 10 years on Saturday to maintain her perfect record at New Zealand’s most northern circuit.  Her hopes will rest with Full Force, who has enjoyed a trouble-free preparation ahead of his return to racing at Ruakaka in the Gr.3 Cambridge Stud Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m).  “It’s a nice race for him and I’ve only ever had one runner at Ruakaka before and that was Vespa and he won,” Wynyard said.  She formerly operated in partnership with Johno Benner, who…

The successful training partnership of Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray have kicked off the new season with an early milestone, earning their 100th domestic win as a combination at the Cambridge Synthetic on Wednesday. In his own right, Ritchie has been training for more than three decades with 538 domestic winners to his credit including eight at Group One level. Since joining Murray in partnership in 2020, the pair have accumulated six further stakes winners, including a sweep of last season’s Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) and Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m)…

New Zealand’s leading trainer Mark Walker is a strong advocate for jumps racing and hopes to see the sport continue and flourish. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing released a consultation document last week, proposing two options – the continuation of the jumps racing with a dedicated strategy and additional investment, or a managed wind-down and eventual closure of jumps racing. Walker, who trains in partnership with Sam Bergerson, won 169 races in New Zealand last season after a record-breaking 203 wins the season prior. The Te Akau conditioner, who also operates…