Month: August 2024

With the stunning return to the winner’s list of rising nine-year-old Showmanship at Caulfield last Saturday, owner Bob Peters’ attention this week turns to yet another task that was also once thought just as improbable. Peters said on Tuesday that the two-year, drought-breaking win from Showmanship at Caulfield was a triumph for patience, as it will be on Sunday if jumping rookie Affluential can elevate himself as a Grand National Hurdle winner at Sandown. “He’s the sort of horse that we thought might be good at that (jumping) and so…

Pakenham trainers Emma-Lee and David Browne will be hoping for a rinse and repeat effort from smart four-year-old Le Zebra when he contests the VRC Season Premiere Race Day Plate (1620m) at Flemington on Saturday. The son of Rip Van Winkle was a dominant five length winner at the same track last start in three-year-old company and will take on older gallopers now that the new season has commenced.  “He’s really well,” David Browne told RSN. “He’s basically just repeated the same process again with him from his last start,…

The Ciaron Maher stable will kick off the campaign of Holymanz (NZ) (Almanzor) at Flemington in the hope that it may lead to richer spring purses.  Holymanz, and stablemate St Lawrence (NZ) (Redwood), run in the Flemington Kentucky Bluegrass Handicap (1410m) on Saturday.  Beaten just over 7-½ lengths behind stablemate Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) in the All-Star Mile (1600m) at his last appearance, Holymanz could be on trial for a start in the Gr.2 P B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 17.  Assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said Holymanz had prepared well for his return and is looking for a positive first-up showing with…

Winning New Zealand’s apprentice jockeys’ premiership wasn’t at the top of Lily Sutherland’s mind at the start of the 2023/24 season, but on Wednesday she welcomed the title she had worked so hard for. Sutherland finished the season on 52 wins, including four at stakes level, just two wins ahead of her nearest rival, Niranjan Parmar. Sutherland enjoyed the tight battle with the northern hoop and said it added some excitement to the final stages of the season. “Parmar was going well as well, which made it fun,” Sutherland said.…

As the eagerly anticipated auction of Prowess (NZ) (Proisir) gets underway on Gavelhouse Plus, Roger James has described the multiple Group One winner as one of the finest horses to grace his respected Cambridge stable. Trained by James in partnership with Robert Wellwood, Prowess recorded eight wins and three placings in a career that spanned only 12 starts. A nine-length win at Wanganui as an autumn two-year-old set the scene for a spectacular three-year-old campaign that included consecutive victories in the Group Two Auckland Guineas (1600m), the Karaka Million 3yo…

Michelle Bradley has found plenty of success of late on the road with Sulabella, and the capable mare will return to her home track at Ruakaka in search of a winning hattrick. Now a six-year-old, Sulabella has been a reliable member of Bradley’s barn, posting five wins in 23 starts, with the most recent pair coming on heavy track conditions at Rotorua and Counties through July. “It was a pretty hard run for her on a very testing track, but she’s come through it well otherwise I wouldn’t nominate her…

Peter and Jessica Brosnan are making the most of an exciting opportunity with up-and-coming steeplechaser Auld Jock during the Grand National Carnival in Christchurch over the next week. Auld Jock has come a long way in a short period of racing this year, winning a maiden hurdle and maiden steeplechase before a tidy performance for fourth in his first major test, the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m). The diminutive seven-year-old gave the Brosnans a big thrill finishing just a half-length from star jumper The Cossack in the Wellington Steeplechase (5500m), earning…

Racing has always been a family affair for Brooke Kincaid, and that will continue at Riccarton on Saturday when the Riverton horsewoman makes her training debut alongside her grandfather, Graham Eade. The 23-year-old grew up assisting Eade at his Southland stable where she fell in love with horses and racing, and was intent on following him into a career in the industry. “I have pretty much been working with the horses ever since I could walk and I have spent a lot of time staying with my grandparents so I…

Lisa Latta will attempt to become the most successful trainer in the history of the Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations Winter Cup (1600m) when she saddles the defending champion Belardo Boy in the 2024 edition of the time-honoured Riccarton feature on Saturday. Latta has won the Winter Cup on four previous occasions with Tuscany Warrior (2003), Mikki Street (2006), Platinum Command (2018) and Belardo Boy. According to statistics released by Riccarton Park this week, that makes her the equal most successful in the history of the race alongside fellow Awapuni trainer…