Riccarton Race 7 – 1200m Best Bet – HIVARI Caught the eye last week in a small field when steaming home late after giving the winner 4kg – a serious effort. Carries 60kg this time, but the engine’s there, and if the tempo suits, should be right in the thick of it. The one they all have to hold out. Main Danger – FLOWER MOON Drawn sweetly in gate 4 and a real fan of the Riccarton turf. Consistent stats and rarely far away – the type that sneaks under the radar. Keep very safe. Roughie – FOREVER BABE Loves this kind of going and knows how to win here. Same gate, same trip, and while it’s a step up, she’s shown enough at the grade below to warrant serious roughie respect. Not without a shake. Riccarton Race 8 – 1200m Best Bet – JUSTADANCE Last-start 6th better than it looks – ran on strongly and looks to be peaking second-up. Up in grade but trending the right way. One to follow this prep, and this could be the start of something. Back with confidence. Main Danger – BUOYANT Fresh off a strong win at the course and carries momentum. Sain Kirkland has them ticking over nicely – when this stable lines them up, they rarely miss. Genuine threat. Roughie – SPARTAN Gate’s awkward, but has the toe to offset that and should press on early. Light weight helps, and if he gets a soft sectional or two, he’ll dig in for the fight late. Not out of it. OTHERS TO WATCH R3 EL ULTIMO, unlucky on the grass 2 back, forget run in the wet last start.  R5 INTERLAGOS, ding best work late when 7th, watch R5 QEEN OF NAPLES, eye catching run when 4th, can win.  

I find it quite surprising the differing views from trainers at Awapuni on the synthetic track...some like it...some hate it and never use it...seems one size does not fit all. But from the ones using it they say since the maintenance was done on it recently it is riding extremely well...The key to the seems to be how and how often they are maintained. I personally find the racing on them quite boring.

As we now have no suitable mare (s) for Shocking and nothing in the future..... We are keen to sell our Shocking Stallion Share... As note Syndicate members do have pre-emptive rights prior to full confirmation of sale.... Link to Shocking below...... Keen to move on this ASAP so please message direct with all questions, interest and offers.....  https://www.richhillstud.co.nz/stallions/shocking

Tuesday 29th April  Punchestown Festival, Ireland The final big jump festival of the spring took place at Punchestown Racecourse in County Kildare. The meeting saw the final test of the season form with the Cheltenham and Aintree form under the microscope. A strong British raiding party came to take on the might of the Mullins and Elliott battallions in their own back yard. The opening day saw the ground Yielding but improving under dry conditions. Supreme winner KOPEK DES BORDES went off 3/10 to follow up in the KPMG Novices Hurdle over 3250m ina  race where Willie Mullins trained four of the six runners. You know how it is, if your top horse flops, one of the others steps up and that's what happened as IRANCY took full advantage of an uncharacteristically lacklustre effort by KOPEK DES BORDES to lead home a 1-2-3-4 for the master of Clonsutton. The small matter of a form reversal of over 40 lengths from Cheltenham raised a few eyebrows but IRANCY had won at Fairyhouse after failing at Cheltenham and is clearly on a steep upward curve. Mullins has a stranglehold over the novice hurdlers and it will be interesting to see where the likes of SALVATOR MUNDI and KARBAU go next season - will they stay over hurdles or switch to fences? BALLYBURN had cost me serious money when failing in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham and went off 11/8 for the Champion Novice Chase over 5000m. He faced a strong opponent in IMPAIRE ET PASSE who he had beaten ten lengths at Leopardstown at Christmas. However, the latter had won the Manifesto over 4000m at Aintree last time and came into the race in fine form. Mullins had five of the eight runners. The race changed at the fifth when IMPAIRE ET PASSE was brought down by his falling stablemate LECKY WATSON. You might have thought this would give BALLYBURN a real chance to atone for his Cheltenham failure but once again his jumping failed to convince and he was decisively outpointed by another stable companion, CHAMP KIELY, who scored at 22s and secured a 28 length form reversal from Christmas running with BALLYBURN. The feature of the opening day was the Champion Chase over 3250m which saw the Champion Chase winner from Cheltenham MARINE NATIONALE, up against Ryanair winner FACT OR FILE and the 2023 Arkle winner EL FABIOLO. Supporters of IL ETAIT TEMPS may disagree and they'd have a valid argument but MARINE NATIONALE has been the top speed chaser of the 2024-25 season and followed up his Cheltenham win but his success was facilitated by EL FABIOLO's departure at the second last. EL FABIOLO has now fallen in three of his last four runs so there's a problem. This was a brutal race and the only one on the card run faster than standard. MARINE NATIONALE jumps and travels at that speed and there are few speed chasers who can do that and he was far too good for CAPTAIN GUINNESS and SOLNESS.

We have the final declarations for Friday's card at York and just five go in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup over 2800m. Two stand out on the figures - REBEL'S ROMANCE is rated 123 and is a serious global racehorse. On his last run in Britain, he was third in the King George at Ascot last July behind GOLIATH. He won the Breeders Cup Turf, the Amir Trophy in Bahrain and last time was fourth in the Sheema Classic on World Cup night at Meydan. He has won over £10.5 million in win and place money which I don't imagine Godolphin or Sheikh Mohammed need but like to have. Here he is in a Group 2 over a new trip of 2800m - I think it may be they don't think he can quite cut it at 2400m with the very best but as there are only five and it's likely to be a steady gallop it may not matter. SWEET WILLIAM is from the other side of the fence - a confirmed stayer who was third in last year's Ascot Gold Cup, second in the Goodwood Cup and won the Doncaster Cup. The further basically the better for this one and I can't see him having the tactical speed to cope with REBEL'S ROMANCE at this trip. CONTINUOUS represents the hugely in-form Ballydoyle stable of Aidan O'Brien and this one won the 2023 Leger but hasn't really lived at the top table since. The trip is probably his optimum and they have put blinkers on for the first time which could spark improvement but they'll have to. We'll get the final runners for the Group 1 Lockinge tomorrow but it looks like a field of nine or ten with ROSALLION and NOTABLE SPEECH hugely interesting on their seasonal debuts as 4-y-o.

The $150,000 Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3) lures quick horses to Pimlico Race Course to race six furlongs. Two of the race favorites—Booth and Concrete Glory—are speedsters, highly effective when racing three-quarters of a mile.View the full article

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said he's not worried about the two-week turnaround for Preakness Stakes (G1) contender Sandman, but the uncertainty of track condition could be a concern.View the full article

Starting the wash up from the racing which took place while Mrs Stodge and I were cruising the Med. Saturday April 26th - Sandown - British Jumps Finale The end of the long winter season and the crowning of champions with JP McManus the top Owner and Sean Bowen the top Jockey but the top Trainer title went down to this final meeting. The day started with Dan Skelton holding a £58k lead over Willie Mullins but with the latter sending 21 runners to the Esher track it seemed improbable Skelton could hold on. And so it proved. The final nail in the Skelton coffin came in the Grade 1 Celebration Chase over 3150m where Mullins ran ENERGUMENE and IL ETAIT TEMPS but Skelton must have still hoped the near £100k winning prize would elude the Master of Clonsutton as Nicky Henderson had the race favourite in JONBON, a past winner of the race and unbeaten in five round Sandown.  The changing of the speed chaser division which began with MARINE NATIONALE's decisive defeat of JONBON at Cheltenham continued here as IL ETAIT TEMPS returned from nearly a year off to decisively defeat the Henderson favourite who had made most and jumped well albeit a tad to the left but in the end IL ETAIT TEMPS under Danny Mullins was just too good. I suspect we'll see JONBON run over further next season - could he be a King George contender? As for IL ETAIT TEMPS he had run third to GAELIC WARRIOR (of whom more in a moment) in the 2024 Arkle but had reversed places in the Barberstown at Punchestown but a knee problem had kept him off the track. To me, he's a horse who prefers better ground while MARINE NATIONALE looks like the one who would prefer it soft or heavy. I suspect IL ETAIT TEMPS will be back at Sandown for the Tingle Creek while MARINE NATIONALE heads to Leopardstown at Christmas via the Hilly Way.  ENERGUMENE and EDWARDSTONE have been championship level in the past but both are eleven and are probably past their peak. The win of IL ETAIT TEMPS secured the trainer's championship for Willie Mullins who won it for a second year. Skelton went down with all guns blazing but in the end he was about 10-15 quality horses short. Mullins had the first and second in the supporting Grade 2 Oaksey Chase over 4450m with GAELIC WARRIOR following up his fine Aintree success seeing off APPRECIATE IT who ran his best race for a while. The winner could be Gold Cup standard but will be see out the full 5200m at Prestbury Park? I have my doubts. The Grade 2 Select Hurdle over 4250m saw Paul Nicholls remind us he is still a force to be reckoned with and the 2023-24 champion Harry Cobden illustrate what a fine rider he is with an all the way success on BLUEKING D'OROUX who improved on his fourth in this race in 2024. The winner has been tried at 4800m over hurdles and found wanting and this is his optimum trip though opportunities at this distance are few and far between.    

An attorney for track operator Churchill Downs Inc. told the Louisiana Racing Commission May 13 that Fair Grounds Race Course would not proceed with its 2025-26 meet without legislative relief, according to published reports.View the full article

Due to unsafe track conditions caused by the inclement weather, Delaware Park has cancelled the opening day race card scheduled for May 14.View the full article

Journalism may be in the record books as the seventh straight beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby (G1), but that doesn't mean trainer Michael McCarthy has lost any faith in his grade 1-winning 3-year-old colt. View the full article

Trikari, a grade 1-winning millionaire by Oscar Performance, tries to end a three-race slide and return to the winner's circle in the $250,000 Dinner Party Stakes (G3T) May 17 at Pimlico Race Course.View the full article

A homebred for the family of the late Harvey Clarke, Gosger returns his family's bloodline to the Triple Crown when he races May 17 in the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course.View the full article

When the horses break from the starting gate for the May 17 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course there won't be more than nine runners. That's becoming a trend that hasn't been matched for the race in more than 30 years.View the full article

Following an allowance win over a sloppy track at Keeneland, trainer Brendan Walsh is confident that Godolphin's Paris Lily is reaching her best form ahead of the $300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) at Pimlico Race Course May 16.View the full article

With much of the weekend's racing action taking place at Pimlico Race Course, a field of six 3-year-old fillies clash on the lawn on the opposite coast in Santa Anita Park's $100,000 Honeymoon Stakes (G3T) May 18.View the full article

An attorney for track operator Churchill Downs Inc. told the Louisiana Racing Commission May 13 that Fair Grounds Race would not proceed with its 2025-26 meet without legislative relief, according to published reports.View the full article

The government sets aside a specific budget each year for Māori-related initiatives, often referred to as the "Māori Budget" or "Māori-focused funding." The Budget 2023 allocated $825 million to Māori-related programs, including education, media, and court programs.  Is this taxpayer's money Bloke I wonder what the court programs are?

Whilst it will be wet it won't be bottomless. Currently rated a Heavy 8 this morning, a bit of rain forecast for Friday but with some mild days and if we get little on Friday I could see it in the 7-8 zone.

Luxury skyscrapers, golf courses and cryptocurrency: The Trump family’s rapidly expanding Middle East businesses             Trump Middle East business deals have tripled since first term 03:21  CNN —  The Trump family’s business ties to the Middle East have more than tripled since the president’s first term in office, a CNN tally of the deals has found, including a slew of new projects announced since he reclaimed the White House. Amid the ongoing plans for luxury skyscrapers, golf courses and cryptocurrency deals in the region, Donald Trump is traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week not only as US president, but also as the patriarch of a family whose business empire continues to expand in that part of the world. His financial ties to the Middle East have prompted concerns among government ethicists who say it’s difficult to determine whether he’s acting in the best interest of the United States or his pocketbook.   “When the American people elect a president, they expect that person to work for them, not for profit,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group. Such financial links, Weissman and other watchdogs say, create an opportunity for foreign powers to seek to sway United States policy through those lucrative business deals. But Trump has moved full steam ahead, seemingly embracing the overlap of his personal interests and those of the nation. He’s shown he is comfortable boosting business ventures while in office – and doing so in public view. He set the tone by launching his own meme coin days before taking office, which spiked in value right after Trump offered a private dinner to its top investors last month. “I’ve always had an instinct for making money,” Trump said in February at a conference hosted by a group launched by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. During the event, Trump promoted the US as ripe for investment but also touted his personal business achievements. The Trump projects in the Middle East – many of which have been announced but not yet developed – largely involve licensing agreements with foreign developers that have partnered with the Trump Organization and paid to use the Trump name. Past presidents have divested their businesses or put them in so-called blind trusts to avoid appearances of self-dealing. Trump has taken a different approach. His assets are in a trust managed by his children, and his son Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, has said the business will be walled off from the office of the presidency to avoid any ethical conflicts. And while the Trump Organization in January pledged to make no new deals with foreign governments during the president’s second term, a recently announced deal for a Trump-branded golf course in Qatar includes a firm backed by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Qatari Diar. “Through this collaboration, we look forward to further strengthening Qatar’s position as a preferred destination,” the Qatari government minister who heads that firm said when announcing the venture earlier this month. Eric Trump said in a press release his organization is “incredibly proud” to expand the Trump brand into Qatar through Qatari Diar, and a separate real estate company, Dar Global. Eric Trump told the New York Times last month Dar Global purchased the land for the golf course from Qatari Diar. A Trump Organization spokesperson said the company has no affiliation, partnership or engagement with Qatari Diar or Qatar’s government and added that the company’s agreement to brand that project is with Dar Global. “The Trump Organization does not conduct business with any government entity,” spokesperson Kimberly Benza said     Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, in Doha, Qatar, in April.  Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images President Trump, who famously said “I want America to win,” has repeatedly sought financial boosts for the US from Gulf nations. His administration boasted about securing a UAE commitment to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over a decade, and Saudi Arabia announced in January plans to expand trade and investment with the US by $600 billion over four years. In March, Trump called for Saudi Arabia to spend $1 trillion in the US. Still, critics say the actions of Trump and his business in the first few months of his second term demonstrate a willingness to personally cash in on the presidency, and some fear foreign officials have helped him do so to advance their own agendas. During Friday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed a question about whether the president would conduct personal business meetings on his trip. “It’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” Leavitt said. “This White House holds ourselves to the highest of ethical standards.” ‘Believing in the Trump brand’ Immediately after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, following his election loss, Trump became a pariah in much of the American business community. Hunkered down at Mar-a-Lago, he was banned from some social media apps. A software company stopped processing payments for his campaign website. Prominent financial firms distanced themselves. Even the hotel bearing Trump’s name in the nation’s capital was virtually empty. “We live in the age of cancel culture,” Eric Trump said, reacting to those moves shortly after the Capitol riot. But some business leaders stood by Trump, such as his friends in the Middle East. “I would welcome the opportunity of expanding our relationship,” Hussain Sajwani, the head of DAMAC Properties, the developer of a Trump golf course in Dubai that opened in 2017, said a week after the January 6 insurrection. Soon, entities in the region offered new opportunities to the Trump family. After the PGA canceled its tournament at Trump’s New Jersey golf course, Trump partnered with LIV Golf, a new professional golf circuit backed by Saudi Arabia. The league hosts some of its tournaments at Trump properties, including one in April. In recent years, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS, invested $2 billion in a private equity firm launched by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner and MBS developed a close personal relationship when Kushner served as an adviser to Trump during his first term. Though Kushner said he would not return to the White House, multiple Trump officials and people close to Kushner say he has been informally advising US officials on negotiations with Arab leaders, CNN reported Friday. In the neighboring nation of Oman, the government’s tourism arm in 2022 partnered on plans to build a Trump-branded resort, along with villas and a golf club, near the capital city of Muscat. Last summer, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. commemorated the launch of the joint venture by dining with Oman’s crown prince near a stage emblazoned with the words, “The Ultimate Power Move.”     Trump during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in New Jersey in August 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)  Seth Wenig/AP While those deals materialized during Trump’s time out of office, his business’s expansion in the region appears to have been supercharged after his electoral win in November. Dar Global, the real estate firm developing the Oman project as well as other Trump-branded towers announced before the election, has since promoted plans for two additional projects in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh capital and the golf club in Qatar. Dar Global’s parent company, which is based in Riyadh, has committed to advancing Crown Prince MBS’ ambitious plan to modernize Saudi Arabia’s economy. “Don’t stop believing in the Trump brand,” Dar Global’s CEO, Ziad El Chaar, said in a speech posted online this month in which he touted one of the projects planned for Dubai. At that same event, Eric Trump referenced how his organization has done “so many projects” with Dar Global and added, “I’m not going to break any news, but I think there’s a few more to come.” He has separately commended Gulf nations for policies that favor development and reject what he has called “woke cancel culture.” Just Sunday, President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that his administration would accept a plane to replace its Air Force One as a “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE.” Two people familiar with the agreement told CNN the 747-8 was from the Qatari royal family. However, a Qatari official said the plane is technically being gifted from the Qatari Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon, which would retrofit the plane for the president’s use with security features. The plane will be donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump added that the plane will “go directly” to his presidential library after he leaves office. “I wouldn’t be using it,” he said. Companies in the region have also boosted Trump’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial. UAE-based DWF Labs announced in April the purchase of $25 million worth of the firm’s tokens. MGX, an Emirati-backed investment firm, agreed to use a cryptocurrency launched by the firm for a $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance, according to an announcement from World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff, whose father is Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. The chairman of MGX is the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and UAE national security adviser. That announcement from Witkoff prompted Democratic Sens. Jeffrey Merkley and Elizabeth Warren to press the US Office of Government Ethics to investigate the deal, which they stated could “open our government to a startling degree of foreign influence and the potential for a quid pro quo that could endanger national security,” according to a letter they sent last week. “These Gulf nations are very actively trying to advance their standing in the world and having the president of the United States both do business in their country and come in an official capacity conveys very significant respectability,” said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It may be a win-win for these Gulf countries and for the president and his businesses, but it’s less clear that it’s a win for the American people.” “This is a very delicate region of the world, where there are really important decisions that need to be made about where to deploy the military, how to engage in peace negotiations, and about economic agreements,” Bookbinder said. “You want the President making decisions based on what’s in the interest of the American people… not based on what’s going to be most helpful to his businesses.” ‘A real risk’ American presidents typically visit one of the country’s closest allies during their first major trip abroad. Since World War II, most presidents have traveled to Mexico, Canada or the United Kingdom, according to the State Department. Not Trump. In 2017, the newly minted president traveled to Saudi Arabia where he was greeted with a lavish reception. Then, he signed an arms deal with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Though Trump traveled to Italy for the pope’s funeral last month, his first official presidential trip during his second term is again to Saudi Arabia.     Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud welcomes President Trump during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2017.  Jonathan Ernst/Reuters The United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of diplomacy, mainly centered on a shared interest: oil. But Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia was particularly close during his first term, and the kingdom, which has faced allegations of human rights abuses, benefitted. When the journalist Jamal Khashoggi – a Saudi dissident and an American resident – was killed and dismembered at a Saudi consulate in Turkey after criticizing the Saudi kingdom, the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency reported that the crown prince was behind the assassination. Trump questioned his own government’s conclusion, instead backing MBS. “It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump wrote in a statement. The crown prince has denied involvement in Khashoggi’s killing. Ben Freeman, who directs a foreign policy program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, noted that geopolitics in the region are extraordinarily complicated and Gulf nations have an array of foreign policy positions that don’t align with those of the US. He said additional deals in the region, depending on the specifics, could create reputational risks for the US and even undermine national security. “There is seemingly this tit-for-tat where the Saudi regime, especially, makes investments in Trump… and Saudi Arabia is the first destination of his first state trip abroad,” said Freeman. “There’s a real risk that personal interests are trumping the national interest.”