Day: 5 October 2023

Matamata trainer Ken Kelso is taking inspiration from a turf legend as he prepares Group One-winning mare Legarto for Saturday’s Listed Team Wealleans Matamata Cup (1600m). Kelso, who trains in partnership with his wife Bev, opted to scratch Legarto on the morning of last Saturday’s Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) at Hastings, preferring not to risk the Proisir four-year-old mare on a heavy track. Instead, he revised his focus to this weekend’s hometrack feature for Legarto, who would join a sparkling honour roll of past winners if she was successful…

Matamata trainer Stephen Autridge has focussed on quality rather than quantity in his stable over the last few years, and it’s showing. The veteran horseman has just 15 horses in work, and a third of those are three-year-old fillies on target for the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm NZ 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton next month. Livid Sky well and truly added her name into the mix for a trip south when taking out the Gartshore Construction Maiden 3YO (1300m) at Tauranga on Wednesday. “She has come a long way in a…

Classy mare Aquacade was dominant in staying company last season and commences an exciting spring campaign in a competitive Listed Team Wealleans Matamata Cup (1600m) on Saturday. The daughter of Dundeel had a stellar four-year-old season, winning four of her eight starts including victories in the Gr.2 Avondale Cup (2400m) and the Dunstan Stayer’s Championship Final (2400m) for owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay of Cambridge Stud. “She’s good, she’s fresh-up over a mile which is a bit of a task for her, but we’ve got to kick her off somewhere…

A new training partnership will shoot for its first win at Timaru on Friday. Celebrated North Canterbury husband and wife duo John and Karen Parsons have been joined in partnership by former South Canterbury trainer Vicky Ramhit. Ramhit spent five years working for the Parsons before going into partnership with Timaru trainer Bruce Tapper for three years, winning 30 races including the Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m) at Ashburton and the Listed Dunedin Guineas (1500m) with Specialty. The Parsons and Ramhit had their first runners together at Riccarton last week…

New Zealand stud master and owner Luigi Muollo didn’t hesitate to pay the $2000 first acceptance fee for the Melbourne Cup for Medatsu, who has the distinction of being the only three-year-old among the 72 horses left in contention for the race. Muollo said he wasn’t being fanciful but cautious in paying up for his Chris Waller-trained gelding, who won a Kembla Grange Class 1 over 2000 metres at his Australian debut on September 23. “He’d have to win the Victoria Derby without too much pressure to even consider a…

Gr.1 Queensland Derby winner Kovalica (NZ) (Ocean Park) has dropped out of the Melbourne Cup nominations this week and the door was also shut on a run in the Golden Eagle (1500m) and Caulfield Cup (2400m) as trainer Chris Waller refined his campaign to target firstly the Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday week before a Cox Plate tilt. “We’ve been thinking Cox Plate with him all along and that’s the way he’ll go as long as he runs as we expect in the King Charles,”…

Blue Diamond winner Little Brose (Per Incanto) will push on to the Caulfield Guineas and look to become the first horse since Redoute’s Choice 24 years ago to complete the double. The son of Per Incanto stretched out to 1400 metres at his most recent start in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude but missed the start with blinkers on for the first time. Little Brose returned with a fourth placing in the Vain Stakes and closed well over 1200m in the McNeil Stakes second-up. “He’s just had bad luck,” co-trainer Ben…

Leading apprentice Zac Lloyd might be booked to ride Hezashocka (NZ) (Shocking) in Saturday’s Gr.2 Hill Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill, but the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained stayer isn’t guaranteed a start in the A$2 million contest. Currently sitting 15th as the first emergency in the order of entry, the stable says it’s elected to travel him up north regardless and wait on a possible scratching. On a Caulfield Cup path, the New Zealand-bred gelding bypasses a run in the Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington in order to…