Author: NZRacingDesk

Little Avondale stallion Per Incanto’s outstanding season carried on in the Karaka sale ring on Thursday, where his weanling colt fetched a sale-topping $190,000 in the opening hour of the NZB National Weanling Sale. Catalogued as Lot 13, the colt is the second foal out of the Shamexpress mare London Express – the winner of seven races including the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) as a late-season two-year-old. The sale-topping colt was offered by Seaton Park and was bought by Australian bloodstock agent James Mitchell, who signed for his purchase in…

Little Avondale stallion Per Incanto’s outstanding season carried on in the Karaka sale ring on Thursday, where his weanling colt fetched a sale-topping $190,000 in the opening hour of the NZB National Weanling Sale. Catalogued as Lot 13, the colt is the second foal out of the Shamexpress mare London Express – the winner of seven races including the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) as a late-season two-year-old. The sale-topping colt was offered by Seaton Park and was bought by Australian bloodstock agent James Mitchell, who signed for his purchase in…

Little Avondale stallion Per Incanto’s outstanding season carried on in the Karaka sale ring on Thursday, where his weanling colt fetched a sale-topping $190,000 in the opening hour of the NZB National Weanling Sale. Catalogued as Lot 13, the colt is the second foal out of the Shamexpress mare London Express – the winner of seven races including the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) as a late-season two-year-old. The sale-topping colt was offered by Seaton Park and was bought by Australian bloodstock agent James Mitchell, who signed for his purchase in…

Little Avondale stallion Per Incanto’s outstanding season carried on in the Karaka sale ring on Thursday, where his weanling colt fetched a sale-topping $190,000 in the opening hour of the NZB National Weanling Sale. Catalogued as Lot 13, the colt is the second foal out of the Shamexpress mare London Express – the winner of seven races including the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) as a late-season two-year-old. The sale-topping colt was offered by Seaton Park and was bought by Australian bloodstock agent James Mitchell, who signed for his purchase in…

Successful pinhookers Kaha Nui Farm were to the fore at Karaka on Thursday, and were rewarded with the crown of leading buyer at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale. The boutique Waikato thoroughbred operation, operated by Nicky and Nick White, purchased three weanlings for a total spend of $300,000, and the couple were pleased with their acquisitions, who will return through the Karaka sales ring in next year’s National Yearling Sale. “It has been a really good sale and we have given it a nudge on a number of lots,…

Billy Boy was always going to require patient handling and those waiting tactics are being rewarded in the second phase of the strapping son of So You Think’s career. The seven-year-old is a three-time winner on the flat, but it is in a jumping role that the gelding is excelling and will put his perfect record on the line in Saturday’s Aztech Engineering Wellington Hurdle (3100m). He is prepared at Wanganui by former top jumps jockey Jo Rathbone, who numbered victory aboard the Kevin Myers’ Honey in the 2011 edition…

Pukekohe’s Wednesday meeting marked the end of an era for Auckland Thoroughbred Racing, as Ross Coles, a treasured figure in the industry, retired after 60 years as Clerk of the Course. Coles couldn’t have scripted his final day in the role, but despite a few theatrics, it was just another day at the office, and he didn’t have any last-minute reservations about retirement. “You take it as it comes, yesterday had it all, with young Sam McNab having his first winner,” he said. “I listen to George (Simon, commentator) very…

Paul Nelson will chase his eighth crown in Saturday’s Aztech Engineering Wellington Hurdle (3200m), and he’ll attempt to do so with a couple of horses that have done it all before. The Hastings horseman won two editions of the feature whilst training on his own, with Solid Steal (2010) and The Shackler (2017). In the following year, he was joined in partnership by long-time stable member Corrina McDougal, and since then the pair have won the race five times in a row, with four different horses. Their dominance began in…

Michelle Bradley will be looking to representatives from contrasting ends of the experience scale to lead the way for her stable at their home meeting on Saturday. The Ruakaka trainer leaned toward proven performers Bosch, No Plan Be, Shockatillatap and the debutante Iridescent as her leading hopes. Bosch and No Plan Be will clash in the ITM/GIB Whangarei Gold Cup Stayers’ Final (2100m) and both are accorded strong chances. The former has posted all four of his career wins on the course, with a pair of them over Saturday’s distance,…

Sam McNab will always remember his first winner, with the Cambridge hoop having to agonisingly wait to hear the verdict after a photo finish blunder at Pukekohe on Wednesday. The recently licenced apprentice was positive from the outset aboard the John Bell-trained Muscovado in the Sistema 2100, pushing his charge forward early from their wide gate, however, they failed to find the front and were parked out three-wide for the majority of the journey. McNab kept his cool and turning for home he guided his charge to the better footing…