Month: May 2025

Chris Waller will saddle up to five runners in his quest for a fourth win in the Listed Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) but in a rare position for the champion trainer, all are set to start at double-figure odds. Waller has First Light (Dubawai) ($101), Etna Rosso (Decorated Knight) ($26), Scarlet Oak (Kermadec) ($15), Medatsu (NZ) (Staphanos)($13) and Mr Waterville (Camelot) ($41) in Saturday’s 2100m feature and confirmed the market’s top pick of his quintet, Medatsu, would back up from his fourth in last Friday’s Listed Wagga Cup (2000m). The gelding settled worse than midfield in the country feature and made late ground, Waller hoping…

Barbara Kennedy was delighted to score her first winning double on New Zealand soil at Ellerslie on Wednesday, with her husband Warren guiding both Matzden and Hero Of War in consecutive races. In the fourth on the mid-week card, Matzden was among the favoured runners for the Auckland Co-Op Taxis 1400 after performing gamely on debut in heavy track conditions at Pukekohe. Back on an improving soft surface, the gelding still had to contend with the extreme outside draw, eventually forced to settle three-deep near the tail of the field.…

Well-related filly Paravane (Merchant Navy) broke through for her maiden win in pleasing fashion at Ellerslie on Wednesday when taking out the Join TAB Racing Club 1200 in the hands of senior hoop Vinnie Colgan. The daughter of Merchant Navy jumped well and was taken straight to the front by Colgan, who set a good tempo upfront, and the pair were never tested, with Paravane running out a comfortable 2-1/2 length victor for trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson. Out of Group Two performer In The Vanguard, Paravane is a…

It would be hard to find a bigger fan of Gavelhouse.com than Gavin Sharrock, with the Taranaki horseman producing yet another winning graduate of the online auction platform at Hawera on Tuesday. Sharrock purchased Spandeedo (NZ) (Ferrando) out of Rogerson Bloodstock’s 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock Online Yearling Sale draft on Gavelhouse Plus for $5,000, and he more than repaid his purchase price when taking out the Aquashield Roofing Two-Year-Old Maiden (1100m) on Tuesday. The two-year-old son of Ferrando has shown a lot of promise for Sharrock, however, it hasn’t been…

Well-performed mare Our Jumala (NZ) (Zed) is back to her best following a recent hiccup and is in the right order to add to her black-type record. The six-year-old will head north for the Listed Campbell Infrastructure Rotorua Cup (2200m) on Saturday with jockey Craig Grylls to continue his association with the Robbie Patterson-trained representative. Grylls guided Our Jumala to victory in the Gr.3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) three runs back before they finished in behind the major players in the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes (2050m) and Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m).…

Kelvin Tyler was unstoppable on his home track over the Easter weekend, and he’ll be hoping for more of the same with a big team lining up at Riverton on Friday. Tyler won six races across the two-day carnival, including four when combining with Central Districts apprentice jockey Amber Riddell. The rising hoop will travel to the deep south again to partner a number of Tyler’s representatives, including the ever-consistent mare Go Lotte in the Doug Horrell Contracting/Ricki Egerton Dagging Handicap (1600m). The pair won the Francolin Stakes (1400m) at…

It was a case of always the bridesmaid and never the bride for Riverton trainer Ebony Turner at her local Easter meeting, but she is hoping to turn those tables when she returns to her home track on Friday with a septet of runners. Whiny Meow and Tommy Perfect were two of those Easter placegetters, and they will be hoping to go one better in the Otautau Farmlands/Uncle Bucks Second Hand Shop Handicap (1400m). Turner has been particularly impressed with the form of Whiny Meow over the last few months,…