Author: NZRacingDesk

Brendan and Jo Lindsay celebrated a string of major results in the 2023/24 season from both the proven and promising members of their racing team.  Such was the extent of the Cambridge Stud principals on-track successes, the couple claimed the New Zealand Ownership Premiership with 27 winners of 40 races from 38 runners.  The winner is determined over the season, with points awarded according to the quality of the race and the individual shareholding.  Most importantly for the iconic Waikato nursery, they registered five Group victories, a brace at Listed…

Apprentice jockey Britney Wong has arrived in New Zealand for a short stint before she returns to her homeland in Hong Kong in time for the new season which begins on September 8. The 25-year-old has ridden in more than 600 races in Australia, notching 50 wins and 125 placings in her two-year development stint there and has been granted an apprentice jockey’s licence in Hong Kong, one of the most competitive racing jurisdictions in the world. She will be the first full-time female rider on the Hong Kong roster…

The CEO of NZTR, Bruce Sharrock, joined Michael Felgate on Racing Pulse to give an update on the state of jumps racing in New Zealand. 

Kiwi trainer Danny Walker joined RSN this morning to give an update on the talented gelding, Crocetti. 

Ken and Bev Kelso enjoyed plenty of success campaigning their former Group One star Bounding through her three-year-old spring campaign, and the Matamata trainers are set to follow that blueprint this season with another exciting filly. Alabama Lass (Alabama Express) garnered plenty of interest as a juvenile last season when winning on debut at Matamata by 9-1/2 lengths in February before finishing runner-up in the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) later that month. The daughter of Alabama Express enjoyed her spell over autumn and has returned with vigour, passing her…

It looks to be the end of the road of a long and distinguished career for top jumper The Cossack (NZ) (Mastercraftsman) after suffering a suspensory ligament injury. The 11-year-old gelding is down in Riccarton and was set to meet arch-rival West Coast in the Racecourse Hotel & Motor Lodge 149th Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) on Saturday before the untimely injury. “He was alright on Saturday and he worked on Sunday. He hasn’t shown any lameness, but he has got fill around the suspensory, we looked at the scan and it…

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s (NZTR) release of their consultation document on the future of jumps racing on Monday may have come as a surprise to many, but not leading jumps jockey Shaun Fannin. The Central Districts horseman has been a key figure in New Zealand jumps racing for more than a decade and has won multiple New Zealand Jumps Jockeys’ Premierships, but in the last couple of seasons he has been transitioning to a career a trainer and has been reducing his commitments in the saddle. Fannin is now committed…

Canterbury trainer Andrew Carston will be represented in two of the $100,000 synthetic races across the country this week, including the TAB 2000 at Cambridge on Thursday with Sincere (NZ) (Savabeel). Sincere has recorded each of his three career victories on the synthetic surface, with two coming in the current campaign giving Carston confidence to look further afield for a more lucrative stake. His final lead-in run was a sterling and luckless effort from last on the corner to run down all but Peecee Pussycat and Tomyturbo last month on…

Ryan Thistoll is looking forward to the inaugural Ripple Creek Equine Polytrack $100,000 (1200m) at his home course of Riccarton Park on Wednesday, where he will line-up synthetic specialist Strike Force (NZ) (Battle Paint). Strike Force has won four races over his favoured 1400m distance and two of them have come on the Riccarton Synthetic, most recently two starts back before finishing fifth behind race-rival Sorcha in mid-June. Thistoll considered a trip north to Awapuni for the 1400m equivalent race on Friday, but being based at Riccarton made the local…

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