Author: NZRacingDesk

Smart four-year-old Evaporate (NZ) (Per Incanto) is nearing a return to racing after winning a jump-out at Flemington on Monday morning. Prepared by Ben, Will and JD Hayes, Evaporate was a Group Two winner last season and coped admirably with a campaign that took in races in Melbourne, Auckland and Sydney.   Evaporate jumped out sporting earmuffs on Monday. “We were very happy with him,” Ben Hayes said. “He was in the same jump-out as Mr Brightside and having a harder hit-out. It was his second hit-out and we thought…

Bryce Newman is content on playing the long game with his talented filly Abbakiss (Microphone), who made a sharp return to the trials on Tuesday at Foxton. The Bulls horseman unveiled Abbakiss as an early two-year-old and she swiftly showed her talent, winning an open two-year-old event before going down by a narrow margin to To Cap It All in the Listed Wellesley Stakes (1100m). The daughter of Microphone earned her place in the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and did her connections proud in the million-dollar feature, finishing sixth in…

Emily Murphy brings you Winter Weigh In, your place for Thoroughbred racing news, reviews and insights throughout the colder months. The team look back at the first day of racing from the Grand National Carnival at Riccarton. Winter Weigh In, August 4

Lance Noble has his eye on a major early season prize with one of the few older members of his stable. The Karaka-based private trainer for Cambridge Stud has the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) on September 6 top of his wish list for the well-performed Habana (Zoustar). “He’s got a good record at Ellerslie, he likes going right-handed and it’s not far from home,” Noble said. “We’ll get him as fit as we can and try and see if we can maybe catch a few of the others a bit…

All eyes will be on the John and Karen Parsons-trained trio of Tumuch, La Bella Nera and Miss Brittany in Wednesday’s $100,000 Polytrack Championship (1200m) at Riccarton, but fellow local hope Gemma Flitz (NZ) (Telperion) will be out to spoil the party.  The Ross Beckett-trained mare sealed her berth into the race with victory over 1200m at the track last month. The now seven-year-old daughter of Telperion had been knocking on the door, placing in her previous four starts, and Beckett was pleased to finally get a winner’s cheque.  “We…

Riccarton trainer Lance Robinson is a big advocate for synthetic track racing, and he is looking forward to lining up a trio of runners in the country’s equal-richest polytrack race at his home track on Wednesday.  “It (Polytrack Championship) is great, especially for the lower grade horses,” Robinson said. “Getting a crack at being able to run for $100,000 at this time of year is excellent.  “I am a big fan of the polytrack, especially at this time of year. We wouldn’t have half of the horses in work if…

Classy mare Val Di Zoldo (NZ) (War Decree) will have the opportunity to test her talents at the highest level this term after resuming with a tidy trial at Taupo on Monday. In the care of Cambridge horseman Tony Pike, Val Di Zoldo broke a streak of poor luck when taking out the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders Stakes (2050m) and Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m) in the autumn, which lifted her rating up to 98. In her first outing since the Travis Stakes, Val Di Zoldo strode out comfortably in her 900m…

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Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) might be coming off the worst performance of his decorated career, but Ben Hayes is adamant the Lindsay Park flagbearer can again be a Spring Carnival force. The eight-year-old gelding made his first public appearance of the campaign on Monday morning when he took part in a course-proper jump-out at Flemington. The 800m workout, in which he finished fourth, was a stepping stone to a first-up run in the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m), where Hayes expects him to return to the form that carried him to a win in that…

Perennial bridesmaid Qali Al Farrasha headlined a strong contingent of trialists out of Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson’s stable at Taupo on Monday. The homebred Te Akau mare has placed in six of her seven Group assignments, including going down by a half-head to Provence in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) in January. Qali Al Farrasha has shown her proficiency well beyond a mile, but Bergerson said the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) is still on the table early in the season after cruising into third in her 900m heat. “It…