A brisk workout over 1000m between races at Tauranga on Saturday has quality sprinter Princess Kereru ready for her first-up assignment in the Gr.2 Valachi Downs Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa this coming Saturday. The Ken and Bev Kelso-trained mare has come on in leaps and bounds from her fourth placing behind Catalyst in an open 1100m trial at Taupo earlier in the month with Ken Kelso pleased with the progress she has made. “We’ve given her the two exhibition gallops and a trial to get her ready and…
Author: Editor BOAY
First stakes success for Belardo as Isabella Giles dominates at Goodwood
Haunui Farm shuttle stallion Belardo registered his first stakes success over the weekend with two-year-old filly Isabella Giles scoring in impressive fashion at Goodwood. Isabella Giles enhanced her position as the leading light from the maiden crop of Belardo as she provided him with his first stakes win in the G.3 Ladbrokes Prestige Stakes (1408m). The filly already boasted victories at Leicester and Newbury and had finished fourth to Santosha (Coulsty) in the Gr.3 Princess Margaret Stakes (1200m) at Ascot last time. This time rider Adam Kirby had the rest…
Jericho Cup aspirations for Junior
A never-say-die attitude from both horse and rider saw lightly raced stayer Junior pick up the biggest win of his career to date when he took out the Opal Kiwi Packaging Kiwifruit Cup (2100m) in the hands of Chelsea Burdan at Tauranga. The Craig and Shaun Phelan-trained six-year-old loves a good scrap in his races and demonstrated that once again when he got back up off the canvas to deliver a knockout blow to race favourite My Gift in the final 100m of the contest. Burdan, who was having just…
First winner for former champion apprentice
Former champion South African apprentice Kersley Ramsamy put his first win on the board in New Zealand when he guided promising three-year-old Sheza Jakkal to victory at Tauranga on Saturday. The well-travelled Mauritian-born rider has been in New Zealand since shortly before the first COVID-19 lockdown in March and recently moved to Te Aroha after initially being based in the South Island. Ramsamy works for Te Aroha local Gavin Opie and collected the first victory for the partnership with a heady ride aboard Sheza Jakkal, who started a $3.30 second…
Spittles looking forward to better things for promising stayer
Promising stayer Five Princes (NZ) (Red Giant) made it three wins from just five starts in his latest campaign when he produced a last-to-first performance to take out the rating 99 2000m event at Riccarton on Saturday. The former North Island galloper has been a revelation since racing returned in June after a COVID-19 enforced stand-down period, with trainer Centaine Spittle confident there is more to come from the five-year-old. Five Princes had his first start for Spittles in August last year after doing his initial racing from the Stephen Marsh…
Gravy pours on the pressure in classic Waterloo Cup
The 2020 Waterloo Cup was taken out by Making Gravy today in what could be described as the ultimate reward for consistency. After two consecutive days of coursing up the Lang Lang straight, the Adele Powell-trained greyhound emerged as the only undefeated contender throughout the time-honoured Waterloo Cup series. Pure Magic (red collar) and Making Gravy (white collar) battled it out in the final, with the latter the only one of the two with previous coursing experience under his belt, and he proved too strong. Handler Michael Ryan said Adele…
‘Pork’ and ‘Pilsner’
Rowsley trainer Anthony Azzopardi was celebrating with ‘Pork’ and ‘Pilsner’ at Healesville today. He now has a dual chance for back-to-back Group 3 TAB Healesville Cups (350m) courtesy of Short Pork and Aston Pilsner following their outstanding heat wins today. Azzopardi won last year’s Healesville Cup with Myrniong And All. Short Pork ($5.70) clocked 18.97sec, while Aston Pilsner ($2.80F) semaphored 19.06sec. A G1 Harrison-Dawson finalist, Short Pork recorded his 20th win from 46 starts. He has either won or been placed at his past eight starts. Aston Pilsner recorded his…
NZ Racing and Breeding News – 30 August 2020
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD NEWSLETTER
Sky Punch scores stakes win
Sky Punch (NZ) (Alamosa) upstaged odds-on favourite Dalasan (Dalakhani) at Morphettville Parks on Saturday to take out the feature event. The Listed Leon Macdonald Stakes (1400m), formerly known as the Penny Edition Stakes, saw Dalasan sent out $1.40 favourite for Leon Macdonald and his training partner Andrew Gluyas. However, the four-year-old Dalakhani entire settled in the second half of the field under Jason Holder and struggled to settle into a rhythm in the slowly run race. Sky Punch, ridden by apprentice Jessica Eaton, dictated the pace of the race and…
VGAs go ‘virtual’ on greyhound racing’s ‘Super Sunday’
Victorian greyhound racing’s night of nights – the Victorian Greyhound Awards – will be open to all racing fans on Sunday 30 August from 8pm in what will be a celebration of the 2019-20 Racing Year. The ‘virtual’ event will be compacted into a 75-minute production beamed into Greyhound Racing Victoria’s Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/GRVictoria Viewers are encouraged to refresh the page regularly throughout the coverage to share in the joy of announcements as they unfold, including: – Victorian Greyhound of the Year– Victorian Sprinter of the Year– Victorian Stayer of…