Category: Featured

The on-farm parades for the Karaka 2026 South Island vendors are scheduled for Thursday 18 & Friday 19 December, and then making its way through the Central Districts Monday 22 & Tuesday 23 December All prospective buyers are welcome to attend to inspect yearlings ahead of Karaka 2026, while enjoying New Zealand’s finest equine properties and hospitality. NZB and NZ-based agents are also available to inspect on your behalf should you require a head start on inspections and evaluations. Get in touch with NZB team for any assistance. View and download the schedule here. View…

A four-horse field has thrown up a minor upset at Geelong on Thursday, as the $6.50 outsider, Mark Walker’s well-bred colt Golden Pulse, saluted smartly on debut in the 1147-metre two-year-old maiden. The Yulong-owned son of Tivaci was the only colt in the field and the least favoured of the quartet, but travelled into contention strongly under Beau Mertens and finished far too well for Eternal Joy ($2.90) and Got Tickets ($3.20). Though Golden Pulse hadn’t been a standout in his jumpouts, assistant trainer Ben Gleeson felt that was far…

Ka Ying Rising, the world’s top-rated sprinter, has delighted David Hayes in his final fast turf gallop ahead of the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (LONGINES HKIR) on 14 December as a string of local contenders sharpened preparations with barrier trials at Sha Tin today (Thursday, 4 December). Ka Ying Rising will attempt to match Golden Sixty’s feat of winning 16 races in a row – a streak bettered only by Silent Witness (17 wins) as a Hong Kong, China-trained horse – when he tackles the HK$28 million G1 LONGINES…

Canterbury mare Ears Back’s best form has been in the North Island this year, and she has crossed the Cook Strait once more to try to add to her stakes haul. The seven-year-old daughter of Jakkalberry recorded her first black-type win in the Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m) at Wanganui in May and doubled her stakes tally when taking out the Gr.3 Metric Mile (1600m) at Trentham in September. She subsequently posted two unplaced runs in her home region, however, Blackadder said she did have her excuses for finishing last…

New Zealand jockey James McDonald has won the Longines World’s Best Jockey title for the second consecutive year and third time overall. The 33-year-old, who is based in Australia, also won the Longines World’s Best Jockey Award in 2022. On his way to claiming the 2025 title, McDonald won 12 of the world’s Top 100 Group or Grade 1 races. His qualifying victories included the Longines Hong Kong Cup, Longines Hong Kong Mile, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ladbrokes Doomben 10,000, and the Ladbrokes Cox Plate. McDonald dominated this year’s award, holding…

Waitak’s class and versatility will stand him in good stead at Trentham where he chases a fourth top-flight title. He has triumphed over 1200, 1600 and 2040m at the highest level on good, soft and heavy tracks and Wexford Stables have him in tip-tip order for Saturday’s Gr.1 TAB Mufhasa Classic (1600m). “He’s been an amazing racehorse for us and goes well on all kinds of going, he’s quite versatile and definitely enjoys getting his toe in the ground,” said Andrew Scott, who trains in partnership with Lance O’Sullivan. “He’s…

It’s been an eventful year for apprentice jockey Triston Moodley, but it is ending on a high. The talented rider was sidelined for three months after he sustained a head injury at the Waipa trials in July, but he made a pleasing recovery and has made an instant impact on his return to the track. The last month has been particularly fruitful for Moodley, who was victorious aboard the Andrew Forsman-trained Force Of Nature in the Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint (1200m), doubling his career stakes tally, and last Friday he…

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…