Category: Featured

New Zealand is in the fortunate position of having an outstanding group of young stallions starting to make their mark, and the progeny of these exciting up-and-comers will be in demand at Karaka 2026.  ACE HIGH  Ace High Rich Hill Stud’s Ace High is the sire of 62 winners from 106 runners, with four individual stakes winners including Molly Bloom (NZ) in the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m). Molly Bloom came from Ace High’s first crop and was bought for $150,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2022. The current season has seen She’s…

Lindsay Park is rarely without a cult horse in the stable and the gelding who has put up his hand as potentially the Hayes family’s next crowd favourite will chase a fourth-straight win this Saturday at Flemington. Touchdown (NZ) (Almanzor) is set to start odds-on favourite in the $130,000 Honouring Our Jockeys Plate, which is the second race on the card. It will be the first start at 2000m for the four-year-old, who has put together a hat-trick of wins on the Caulfield Heath track, and Will Hayes can understand…

Damian Lane will head to New Zealand for the rich Karaka Millions meeting later this month. The star Australian jockey has secured several key bookings and will ride Torture for Lindsay Park in the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200 metres) on January 24. He’s also booked to ride Espionage (Zoustar) in the Group 1 Sistema Railway (1200 metres) for Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson. That name will be familiar for plenty of Australian racing fans, with Espionage a former highly-touted galloper in the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable. The horse…

Former classy youngster Super Photon returned to winning form at Tauranga on Thursday when taking care of a strong line-up in the Dane Crockford Ray White Greerton 1500. The four-year-old son of Super Seth had shown plenty of ability in his formative years, winning both of his starts as a juvenile, including the Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre 2YO Stakes (1400m). He continued to please as a three-year-old, adding a further two wins to his tally before undergoing a wind operation late last season. He failed to fire in his…

Regally-bred gelding Sarti (NZ) (Snitzel) has a long way to go to live up to his breeding, but he made the perfect start to his career when winning impressively on debut at Tauranga on Thursday. A son of champion sire Snitzel and Group One-winning mare Guiseppina, Sarti was bred by Sir Peter Vela, under his Pencarrow Thoroughbreds banner, and races in his familiar blue and white silks for trainers Ken and Bev Kelso. The Matamata couple have taken a patient approach with the four-year-old, who has had three trials prior…

Well-related mare Say Satono has earned a crack at black-type following her victory in the Birchfield Ross Mining Reefton Cup (1400m) on Wednesday. Given an economical run in the one-one throughout, the daughter of Satono Aladdin was presented perfectly at the top of the home straight by jockey Tina Comignaghi and went on to score a three-quarter of a length victory over dual stakes winner Illicit Dreams, with a further 2-1/4 lengths back to Zoulander in third. “It was a good win, she is a pretty handy mare. It was…

Knobelas (NZ) (Belardo) gets another crack at Roadcone (NZ) (Almanzor) this Saturday and Michael Kent Jnr is adamant the setting for the rematch is advantageous for his charge. The pair will clash in the $130,000 Henry Byron Moore BM84 Handicap at Flemington. The 1600-metre event will be run three weeks after their stoush over 1500m on the Caulfield Heath track, which Roadcone won narrowly after pinching a break turning for home, and Kent is confident Knobelas can gain revenge. “She’s obviously very progressive; six starts for three wins and three seconds and one more stride and…

With the release this week of nominations for the Gr.1 Trackside NZ Derby, the focus intensifies for stamina signs amongst the three-year-old crop ahead of the March 7 Ellerslie classic. Amongst the 90-odd entries for the Derby are the first three placegetters in the first black-type age-group race beyond 1600m, last week’s Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m), Ohope Wins (NZ) (Ocean Oark), Origin Of Love (Snitzel) and Born To Be Royal (King’s Legacy). All three fillies are also entered for the Gr. 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai NZ Oaks…

Trelawney Stud bred former Singapore star Lim’s Kosciuszko (Kermadec) will be out to claim his first victory in Australia when he lines up in the Group 3 Standish Handicap at Flemington on Saturday. The Dan Meagher-trained veteran heads into the summer sprinting feature third-up, having finished midfield in The Supernova at his previous start, an effort which Meagher was highly satisfied with, given the way the race panned out. “I think he probably needed that run the other day over 1400m,” Meagher said. “He’s just done so super here, his…

With a six-week gap between two of summer’s major weight-for-age middle-distance features, trainers of leading candidates have taken a variety of approaches to their preparations. The first of those races, the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic (2000m), was contested at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, and the second of them, the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes, is scheduled for Te Rapa on February 7. Last year’s Herbie Dyke Stakes winner El Vencedor (NZ) (Shocking) has been confirmed to run in the Gr.3 Powerworx Taranaki Cup (1800m) at New Plymouth on January 24, while 2024…