Spring prospects for a group of promising Dean Wiles-trained youngsters will become clearer with racing at Ellerslie on Saturday. Wiles, these days training out of Cambridge, has five runners slated for the two and three-year-old races alone at Ellerslie
Trainer Pam Gerard was delighted with the return of Tokarangi and Pinmedown at Hawke’s Bay on Saturday. Three-year-old filly Tokorangi was one of the runs of the day when finishing fourth in the Gr.3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), while Pinmedown was beaten
Alchemia could provide Katrina and Simon Alexander with a memorable milestone at Hastings on Saturday if she lives up to the promise she has shown her Matamata trainers. The daughter of Per Incanto is a one-race maiden set to take on the colts and gelding
Matamata trainer Peter McKay recites the old adage that it’s tough at the top as he prepares Group One winner The Mitigator for Saturday’s Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings. But he’s well aware that his Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) winner is him
The huge impression created by young unbeaten Sydney galloper Mo’unga with his Rosehill stakes win last Saturday highlighted a significant week for champion New Zealand sire Savabeel, one which also uncovered another two of his possible three-year-old s
Group One winner Tiptronic (NZ) (O’Reilly) was one of the eye-catching runs at Ellerslie on Saturday, with the O’Reilly seven-year-old lumping 60kgs into a close-up fourth in the Auckland Co-Op Taxis 1600 won by Codecracker (NZ) (Nadeem) and looks s
Trainer Tony Pike breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday morning as he watched Gr.1 New Zealand Derby winner Sherwood Forest moving freely after pulling up lame in his campaign opener at Ellerslie the previous day. The Fastnet Rock four-year-old failed to be
There was a familiar look to the results after racing was concluded at Riccarton on Saturday with the local training duo of Matthew and Michael Pitman racking up another winning double on the day. The Pitman-trained Carson River made it back-to-back wins
Meleka Belle has been named the 2020 Arion Pedigrees Eight Carat Broodmare of the Year. The award criteria states that the winner shall be the mare whose New Zealand-bred and/or New Zealand conceived progeny, anywhere in the world, in the season under rev
New Zealand-bred three-year-old Oceanography has booked his ticket for the Victoria Derby Trial (1800m) at Flemington in a fortnight after breaking maiden ranks at Sandown on Wednesday. The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained colt jumped away well from
Lance O’Sullivan, who trains in partnership with Andrew Scott, was pleased with the fresh-up run of quality four-year-old Dragon Leap (Pierro), who finished 8th in the Gr.2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday. The son of Pierro was only tw
Craig Grylls began the spring in the best possible fashion at Te Rapa on Saturday, riding a winning treble, including his first stakes victory for the season, to take him to the top of the New Zealand Jockeys’ Premiership. “It was a great day. It’s
Trainer Alan Sharrock had a smile on his face a mile wide despite being beaten in Saturday’s feature event at Te Rapa, the Gr.2 Valachi Downs Foxbridge Plate (1200m). Sharrock had just seen his underrated galloper Tavi Mac push quality mare Avantage all
Sweynesse filly Only Words has provided her Te Awamutu trainer Clint Isdale with the biggest victory of his fledgling training career after taking out the Listed HS Dyke Wanganui Guineas (1200m) on Saturday. Isdale has long had a good opinion of the Sweyn
Te Akau Racing’s annual southern spring sojourn begins in earnest at Timaru on Friday with trainer Jamie Richards unleashing five of his 12-strong first wave of travellers. Richards will produce Lethal, Bordeaux Le Rouge, Remington, Phantom Witness
Cambridge trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman have been given a free rein to develop promising three-year-olds Unition and Suffused as they see fit. That was the word from Forsman as he assessed the pair ahead of Saturday’s Gr.3 WRC Northland B
Semi-retired horseman Mark Lupton is encouraged by reports on his top-class staying mare Etah James, as the eight-year-old daughter of Raise The Flag gets ready for a spring campaign. The winner of the Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) in autumn, Etah James has rem
Stephen Marsh is hoping a treble at Riccarton on Saturday can be the springboard to boost numbers in his South Island barn. Though Marsh’s main training establishment is at Cambridge, he is focused on making his satellite stable at Riccarton a permanent
Former champion South African apprentice Kersley Ramsamy put his first win on the board in New Zealand when he guided promising three-year-old Sheza Jakkal to victory at Te Aroha on Saturday. The well-travelled Mauritian-born rider has been in New Zealand
A never-say-die attitude from both horse and rider saw lightly raced stayer Junior pick up the biggest win of his career to date when he took out the Opal Kiwi Packaging Kiwifruit Cup (2100m) in the hands of Chelsea Burdan at Tauranga. The Craig and Shaun