Taranaki galloper Herbert (NZ) (Sweet Orange) will be back on top of the book in open company at Tauranga on Saturday after starting his season competing at the elite level. The son of Sweet Orange went from a one-race winner in 12 starts to a six-race winner in 24 starts last season, racking up just shy of $360,000 in stakes with key victories in the Gr.3 Taranaki Cup (1800m) and lucrative $350,000 Wairere Falls Classic (1500m). That success was a reward for patience from his trainer John Wheeler, who never…
Year: 2025
Show time for promising miler at Ashburton
Rangiora galloper Show Pony (NZ) (Vespa) has been near-unbeatable so far in his four-year-old season and trainer John Blackadder is hoping his rise can continue up in grade at Ashburton on Friday. Showing promise early in his career, the Vespa gelding finished fourth in a Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m) at just his second start before placing behind southern star Pivotal Ten in the Listed Gore Guineas (1335m). He earned a trip to Trentham later in the season where he finished at the back end of the field in the…
Waller holds gun hand for Melbourne Cup
He may already have a Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) win to his name but New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame trainer Chris Waller says he still yearns to win the Flemington showpiece as much as anyone. Waller produced Kiwi-bred Zed mare Verry Elleegant to win the 2021 Melbourne Cup in the hands of New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame jockey James McDonald, the Sydney-based trainer looking to attack this year’s feature in numbers, with eight stayers among the remaining 40 in Cup contention. “The Melbourne Cup is everyone’s dream,” Waller…
Two more announcements for THE ASCENT and THE VELOCITY
And now there are eight. Four more trotters and pacers have been announced for the two big Show day slot races at Addington Raceway on Friday, November 14. Habibti Pat (Habibi Inta) and Rogue Hero (Ford Contracting) will join Tarragindi and Meant To Be in the field for the Majestic Horsefloats THE ASCENT while Fate Awaits (Solid Earth Pty Ltd) and Greased Lightnin (Diane Reilly) are the two latest additions to the Hill Lee and Scott THE VELOCITY alongside Got The Chocolates and Marketplace. Habibti Pat is a filly in…
Moves keep coming in latest Cup day rankings
The withdrawal of the two Keayangs has seen a reshuffle in this week’s rankings for the Renwick Farms Dominion trot, to be held at Addington Raceway on Tuesday, November 11. The firm favourite in the TAB market Keayang Zahara was withdrawn from the race by her Victorian trainers Margaret and Paddy Lee last week, as was stablemate Keayang Chucky. That has seen their stablemate Jilliby Ballerini go from seventh to sixth, the Greg and Ben Hope-trained Mr Love move up two places to seventh after his third in Monday’s Tactical…
Racing at RACE Awapuni Paused
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR), in conjunction with the Racing Integrity Board (RIB), has today confirmed that all trials and race meetings at the RACE Awapuni track will cease for the remainder of 2025, as RACE Inc. and NZTR work towards a long-term plan for the sustainability of the track. NZTR Chief Executive Officer Matt Ballesty said the decision followed extensive efforts to restore the track and careful consideration of its impact on participants. “NZTR acknowledges that the remediation process for the RACE Awapuni surface has placed a significant strain…
Kaikoura Cup through the years – Part 5
The Kaikoura Cup will celebrate its 100th running this year. To mark the occasion Kaikoura Trotting Club historian Phil Gourdie is looking back at the history of the great race. This is Part 5 – Driver/Trainer records By Phil Gourdie The five winningest drivers at Kaikoura are: Blair Orange 35, Colin DeFilippi 34, Maurice Holmes 23, John Dunn 21 and Mark Purdon 19. Blair drove his first winner at Kaikoura in 2000. He overtook DeFilippi when he landed a treble last year. He also won the Kaikoura Cup with Harnetts…
Hayes team eye dual-state riches
Trainers Ben, Will & JD Hayes will have one eye on Sydney and another on Melbourne as they prepare for one of the best week’s in racing. The Hayes camp will be chasing lucrative riches in Sydney this weekend, where Evaporate (NZ) (Per Incanto) contests the A$10 million Golden Eagle (1500m). “His run last start when second in the Toorak (Gr.1, 1600m) was excellent when beaten by Transatlantic who has since come out and won well,” Ben Hayes said. “The form is good and it has been done before. The…
Guineas plans on notice for Forsman pair
The rescheduling of Monday’s Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) to Saturday at Tauranga could rule both of Andrew Forsman’s pair out of a trip south for New Zealand Cup Week. Forsman was set to line-up stakes placegetter Quondo and the lightly-tried Virgo Viva at Te Rapa on Labour Day, but the meeting was abandoned after a horse slipped turning for home in race two. As for many of the Sarten contenders, it was a crucial final step towards the Guineas races at Riccarton, with the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm…
Rain, rain, go away
Rain, rain, go away – that’s the thoughts of many trainers around the country as the wet weather persists through the spring. One of those trainers is Barbara Kennedy, who has been holding out for better tracks for many of her team, and her patience is starting to wear thin, with the Byerley Park horsewoman set to be met by another Heavy track at Pukekohe on Wednesday. Kennedy was excited about the prospects of all three of her entrants, however, she said with the track unlikely to improve from its…