Category: Featured

A lucrative race at Selangor on Sunday will shine a spotlight on next month’s NZB Ready to Run Sale at Karaka as well as showcasing the high-quality graduates of the Sale that are currently racing in Malaysia. The New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Open Championship (1400m), offering prize money of RM300,000, is held in recognition of the New Zealand Bloodstock’s strong affiliation with the Selangor Turf Club and the club’s commitment to support the Ready to Run Sale. New Zealand Bloodstock Director of Business Development, Mr Mike Kneebone, Mr…

Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander have set their sights towards summer targets with their star mare La Crique following yet another runner-up result in last month’s Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa. La Crique has two Group One victories to her name but has earned the perennial bridesmaid tag after finishing runner-up at elite-level on eight occasions, including her last six starts, and her trainers are hoping a freshen-up can help give her that extra edge to claim another Group One scalp. “We have decided to take a…

Simon and Katrina Alexander came close to winning the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) a few years ago with their stable star La Crique, and now it looks like they may have another Derby prospect on their hands. Three-year-old gelding Aksil had already attracted the attention of eagle-eyed scouts in his four trials prior to making his debut in the Master Builders Taupo (1300m) at Taupo on Friday, and he lived up to his early promise when comfortably winning by 1-1/4 lengths in the hands of jockey Masa Hashizume. “He’s…

Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott got a busy weekend off to a promising start with two wins at Taupo on Friday. The Wexford Stables team won the first race on the card, the Placemakers Rotorua Maiden (1800m), with lightly raced four-year-old Gippsy God, and two hours later they saddled first-starter General Menari for a smart victory in the McLeod Hiabs 3YO (1100m). For good measure, the Matamata trainers also collected placings with High Society and Woman In Charge. “It was a really pleasing day,” Scott said. “Both of those winners…

Trainer Dominic Sutton will forever hold Feroce (NZ) (Super Seth) in the highest regard as the gelding chases a second Group One win, this time at Caulfield.  Feroce provided Sutton, who has been training just over 18 months, with his first winner, his first city winner and his maiden Group One success.  That Group One success came in the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington in March and the trainer is hoping for premier win number two with Feroce in the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield on Saturday.  Sutton said Feroce was primed for Saturday’s assault after two runs…

Saturday looms as a special day in the careers of Shaun and Emma Clotworthy, who are the part-owners and former trainers of two horses that will chase million-dollar prizes in Australia. The couple’s Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) hero Willydoit will line up in the A$1.5 million Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill, while Hezashocka takes on just three opponents in the A$1 million Gr.1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield. The Clotworthys bought Willydoit for $75,000 as a yearling at Karaka and trained him through a standout three-year-old…

Bruce Wallbank has been on a wonderful ride since returning to the training ranks last term, with his only horse Midnight Edition rising through the ranks to become one of the favourites in Sunday’s Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1400m). The 79-year-old bred the son of Wrote and after having success previously as a trainer, breeder and owner, he decided to prepare the gelding himself out of Pukekohe Park. Always rating him as a serious talent, Midnight Edition proved that on the big stage at Ellerslie on Boxing Day last year, dead-heating…

Promising colt El Vaquero will be out to further his Group One claims when he steps out again in age group company at Ashburton. The Michael and Matthew Pitman-trained son of Ferrando takes aim at Saturday’s Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m) off the back of a last-start fifth at Riccarton. El Vaquero was seven weeks between runs there and the stable were far from disappointed with his performance. “In a perfect world, he would have started off over 1200m but there were no races to suit so he ran over…

Being third-up is the key for Damask Rose (NZ) (Savabeel) going into Saturday’s Group 1 Toorak Handicap, with Te Akau Racing assistant trainer Ben Gleeson predicting she’s ready to run a big race. Damask Rose’s only other third-up run produced a victory in the inaugural The Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie on March 8 and Gleeson said the stable has copied that previous preparation, with the plan for her to peak in the Toorak Handicap, where she will be ridden by Jamie Melham. In her second-up run, Damask Rose finished seventh…

NZB has made the decision to postpone the Breeze Ups for the 2025 Ready to Run Sale due to unfavourable weather conditions with heavy rain and wind predicted through to Tuesday. The Breeze Ups will now take place at Te Rapa on Monday 20 & Tuesday 21 October starting at 10am each day. NZB is committed to conducting the Breeze Ups on a turf surface at Te Rapa, the overwhelming preference from buyers and agents. “In association with Waikato Thoroughbred Racing, we’ve been monitoring the weather forecast closely,” commented NZB’s…