Category: Featured

The past few days have been a case of pinch me once, pinch me twice as Glen Massey couple Ian and Shelley Wright have celebrated Farag’s second consecutive win in Australasia’s longest flat race, the A$300,000 Jericho Cup. First run in 2018 to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand light horse involvement in World War l, the Jericho Cup is restricted to Australian and New Zealand-bred horses. Farag, by Sacred Falls out of a Yamanin Vital mare from the South Island’s famous ‘Flight’ family, won last year’s race by 20…

Allan Sharrock is balancing stronger opposition against the prospect of a rain-affected track as he weighs up Ladies Man’s chances of claiming back-to-back Gr.1 TAB Mufhasa Classics (1600m) on Saturday. Ladies Man won last year’s Trentham weight-for-age feature with a brilliant final burst to claim La Crique by a neck and will take a similar last-start formline into the race after finishing fourth in the Gr.2 Gartshore Construction Tauranga Stakes (1600m) three weeks ago. “He was good at Tauranga, I gave him a pass mark for that, but more importantly…

Saturday’s Gr.3 Concorde Stakes (1200m) at Pukekohe will be missing one of its headline acts after a temperature spike forced Crocetti to be withdrawn. The dual Group One winner has been off the scene since being unplaced in The Quokka (1200m) in Perth in late April, and he had been due to step out for his first start of the season in this season’s $120,000 sprint feature. A brilliant exhibition gallop at Ellerslie last Saturday stamped him as the one to beat. But Wednesday morning’s setback has put Crocetti’s racetrack…

Final Return has raced creditably in strong company at Ellerslie without major success and will be back there on New Year’s Day in a bid to break through. The New Plymouth-based stayer has regularly tripped north and collected four placings on the course, including a third in the Gr.3 Avondale Cup (2400m) earlier this year. Final Return has another visit on his immediate program for a crack at the Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2400m) on January 1 after finishing fourth in the 2025 edition of the event. “He hits…

Bill Thurlow and Sam O’Malley are setting their sights on a return to Group One competition with Whangaehu (NZ) (Proisir) after a pleasing trial at Woodville on Tuesday. The well-performed Proisir gelding was required to trial to the satisfaction of the stewards after his last-start eighth in the Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m) at Trentham in October, where he was slow to leave the starting gate and reluctant to hit out in the early stages of the race. Thurlow and O’Malley got what they were hoping for on Tuesday as Whangaehu…

Expat jockey Rory Hutchings has adopted his proven “have saddle, will travel” approach to another summer stint in New Zealand. Last summer the 30-year-old former champion apprentice made the most of his opportunities with 14 wins from 100 rides, including the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and Listed Fulton Family Stakes (1500m) on local star El Vencedor (NZ) (Shocking), and the Gr.2 Westbury Classic (1400m) on the Chris Waller-trained raider Konasana. He has a long-standing relationship with the Waller stable, including a recent stint based on Queensland’s Gold Coast, but…

It’s part one of Michael’s chat with the King of Hong Kong, Zac Purton. They discuss the Aussie jockey’s kiwi connections, his career moves, Hong Kong racing, and Zac Purton the family man, including some awkwardness with his father in law. Guerin Report – S2 Ep. 13 Ft. Zac Purton Pt.1

Smart filly Oratia Beauty (Too Darn Hot) went close to a major black-type credit last time out at Ellerslie and will get the opportunity to take care of unfinished business on the course at the next time of asking. A genuine daughter of Too Darn Hot, she rallied bravely under rider Matt Cartwright to finish runner-up in Saturday’s Listed Trevor & Corallie Eagle Memorial 3YO (1500m). That effort continued the encouraging start she has made to her career with a win and a quartet of placings from six appearances. “She…

Unbeaten filly Well Written (Written Tycoon) is back in work and while exact plans have yet to be confirmed, a clearer picture of her New Year schedule is forming. The only certainty is that her primary target is the $4 million NZB Kiwi (1500m), and with that speculation is mounting as to which slot the Stephen Marsh-trained filly will be running for when the field for the country’s richest race lines up at Ellerslie on March 7. “She’s been back in the stable five days and looks great after having…

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