Author: NZRacingDesk

Roydon Bergerson will see a number of Central Districts racecourses over the coming week, with the busy period kicking off at Hawera’s rescheduled meeting on Tuesday. The Awapuni-based trainer had entered two runners for the card set to run last Saturday, but after heavy rain and surface water on the course, the races were pushed back three days. The guarantee of a soft surface will pose no issue for Farravallo, who will represent the stable in the Property Management Specialist @ Metcalfe Real Estate (1200m). In a compact field of…

New Zealand racing has lost a highly respected and popular administrator with the passing of Ian Boyland at the age of 81. He was a former long-serving Secretary of the Wanganui Jockey Club and came from an accounting background to take up the role in 1971. It was a notable and bold appointment as Boyland was then the youngest Secretary in the country and served until 1997. “I first met Ian at a secretaries’ conference at Ellerslie in 1977 and he was representing the Wanganui contingent,” long-time friend and colleague…

Tauranga’s race meeting on July 6 marked the beginning of an exciting new venture for Nick Kneebone. The Cambridge-based horseman saddled his first raceday runner, the appropriately named Nick Time, who finished sixth in the Container Co Maiden (1400m). Kneebone, son of long-time auctioneer and New Zealand Bloodstock’s Director of Business Development Mike Kneebone, has spent a large part of his 20s gaining international experience to set him up for his move into training. “It’s something that’s been a fair few years in the making,” he said. “I started off…

New Plymouth trainer Debbie Harris will head south to Hawera’s postponed meeting on Tuesday with just the one runner, but she is hoping that is enough to bring home a winner’s cheque. Harris had two runners initially entered for Saturday’s meeting, which was postponed due weather and track conditions, but she has been forced to withdraw debut placegetter Daysofbliss from the Sharna Caskey @ Metcalfe Real Estate (1200m) after she presented lame on Monday morning. That leaves four-win gelding Urenui as her sole representative, with the five-year-old son of Derryn…

On Saturday 26 July, the New Zealand thoroughbred breeding community will gather at the National Breeding Awards — not only to celebrate excellence, but to invest in the future of our people and our industry. At the heart of the evening is a fundraising effort supporting the Sunline Trust International Management Scholarship, which gives emerging Kiwi leaders a unique nine-month global experience to build the skills, confidence, and connections our industry needs to thrive. Over 20 past recipients have gone on to contribute significantly across the industry, here and abroad…

The horse who has provided Star Thoroughbreds with its most significant moment on the racetrack this season is just weeks away from her first barrier trial. All options are on the table for Australian Derby winner Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio) this spring, including a potential tilt at the country’s weight-for-age championship. The filly was among the stars of the Sydney autumn carnival, finishing a desperately unlucky second to Broadsiding in the Rosehill Guineas before thumping her rivals to claim the Derby by more than five lengths. Syndicator Denise Martin of Star…

The heartbreak of Trentham was well and truly healed for the connections of Smug (NZ) (Complacent) at Woodville on Sunday, when the rising star came out on top in a stirring edition of the Glenanthony Simmentals Stud Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m). The son of Complacent was initially capable hurdler and placed in the Hawke’s Bay Hurdle (3100m) last season, but when he switched into the steeplechasing role for the first time last month, he looked right at home. Smug made every post a winner in that debut, until disaster struck,…

Gail Temperton’s emerging talent Never Look Back (NZ) (Shocking) conquered two of the stars in New Zealand jumps racing when taking out Sunday’s Te Whangai Romneys Hawke’s Bay Hurdle (3000m) at Woodville. A winner of four flat races, Never Look Back had been a consummate professional in his jumping debut in mid-May, but had mixed his jumping in the Manawatu Hurdles (2500m) and Waikato Hurdle (3200m), albeit still finishing fifth in the latter. The market was a slight reflection of those results, with the son of Shocking drifting from $5.50…

Promising hurdler Quid (NZ) (Rios) delivered the result all the punters had anticipated at Woodville on Sunday when he powered away with the Gladiators and Eye Ota (3000m). A winner of three on the flat, Quid undoubtably brought the strongest form into the race, having finished a narrow second to Our Daymo when the pair went to war in a maiden hurdle at Trentham in late June. Despite that performance, the TAB opened the Kevin Myers-trained gelding at $4 during the week, which was swiftly snapped up, and he closed…

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