Year: 2022

New Zealand trainer Graeme Rogerson says nothing seems to faze Sharp ‘N’ Smart (NZ) (Redwood) who has arrived in Melbourne for his tilt at Group 1 Victoria Derby. The $3 favourite with TAB for Saturday’s Group One race over 2500m at Flemington arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Sharp ‘N’ Smart won the Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday and the gelding was on the float at 5pm on Monday to make his way to Flemington. Rogerson is not dismissing the task confronting the three-year-old…

Tuesday’s trial meeting at Avondale was called off after just one heat with underfoot conditions deemed unsuitable to continue. Cambridge trainer Tony Pike was among those affected with all nine of his stable representatives returning home without a run. “They let it get too firm, it was a Good 2 yesterday morning so they aerated it and put 2mls of water on and it got a bit shifty on top,” he said. A son of Zacinto trained by Danny Walker and Aaron Tata won the only heat to be run,…

Mighty Giant (NZ) (Power) makes his highly anticipated first start on dirt when he lines up in the HK$2.9 million Class 2 Kwok Shui Handicap (1650m) as the feature race at Sha Tin on Wednesday. A seven-time winner in Hong Kong, Mighty Giant’s biggest scalp came in the 2021 Gr2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m), one start after finishing third in the 2021 Gr.1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m). Ahead of tomorrow night’s assignment, trainer Ricky Yiu believes the Power gelding will suit the dirt course under race conditions after shuttling to…

A drop back in distance is now on the cards for Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) after his seventh placed run in the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley last weekend. Trainers Ben and JD Hayes have been pleased with the way he has come through the race but feel a mile is his pet distance moving forward. “He has pulled up well, we are very happy with the way he has pulled up,” Ben Hayes told SEN’s Giddyup. “We just want to see how he is over the next…

Roger James would love to start Cheaperthandivorce (NZ) (Savabeel) in Saturday’s Listed Mode Technology Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) at Awapuni, however, he has one major hurdle to overcome before being sure his mare makes the trip from Cambridge. “I need to find a jockey for Feilding. Unfortunately, it’s a big challenge,” he said. If Cheaperthandivorce makes it to Awapuni, she will be a leading chance if she recaptures her 2021-22 form. The five-year-old was one of the handicap stars of last summer, winning the Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m) and the…

Impendabelle (Impending) delivered exactly what was expected of her at Trentham where the highly regarded filly was untested to open her career in perfect style. The Tony Pike-trained two-year-old had won her lead-up trial at Te Awamutu and carried that form over to race day with a 4-1/2 length victory over 900m on Sunday in the hands of Michael McNab. “She is very smart and has impressed us all the way through and has really developed quite quickly since she first arrived in the stable,” Pike said. Consideration had been…

Beneath his normally calm demeanour, Andrew Forsman admits there were quite a few nerves as he set out to launch his solo training career in May this year. Forsman had been part of an enormously successful partnership with New Zealand Hall Of Fame mentor Murray Baker for 10 years prior to Baker retiring at the end of April, leaving Forsman to forge his own path after the pair had combined for more than 930 victories and recording his name on 25 Group One wins. Now approaching the six-month anniversary of…