Category: Featured

Darrell Hollinshead has two strong chances at Matamata to continue the good run of recent form of his boutique stable. The Te Awamutu trainer produced Bak Da Angel to score last weekend at Te Rapa where stablemate Digger also placed and Rosetown Princess and Ramblin’ Rose will represent the team on Saturday. Russell & Yvonne Green Memorial (2000m) contender Rosetown Princess has been in good touch this preparation and was an open handicap winner at New Plymouth three runs back. She then ran fifth at Te Aroha before the Redwood…

Kiwi jockey Masa Hashizume will step onto the Flemington turf for the first time this weekend when he attempts to qualify Bulls gelding Trav for next month’s Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m). The 29-year-old hoop partnered the Raymond Connors-trained six-year-old to a memorable victory in the Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m) at Ellerslie in March, and the Manawatu horseman has stuck with Hashizume ever since. The pair have recorded two fourth placings in their two appearances together this season, including an eye-catching effort out wide at Ellerslie a fortnight ago. Hashizume was…

It will be a full-circle moment for Te Akau Racing at The Valley on Friday night when Lyrics ‘N’ Song (Written Tycoon), a daughter of their former multiple Group One winner Melody Belle (NZ), makes her debut. Raced by New Zealand syndicator Fortuna, Melody Belle won 19 races for former Te Akau trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, including 14 at Group One level. She accrued more than $4 million in prize money and was crowned New Zealand Horse of the Year in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Following her racing career,…

Last season’s New Zealand Derby hero Willydoit (NZ) (Tarzino) will step back into the spotlight on Saturday when he contests the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick for trainer Ciaron Maher, with jockey Tommy Berry bullish the horse is ready to make his mark over the famous mile. While his Derby win showcased his staying prowess as a three-year-old, Berry believes the maturing son of Tarzino has sharpened considerably, now looking every inch a genuine miler with the strength to stretch out slightly further if required. The Group One winner…

Tony Rider experienced the extreme highs and lows of breeding thoroughbreds within a matter of hours on Wednesday. During the afternoon, Rider celebrated three winners across the card at Tauranga with Savvysuper (NZ) (Super Seth), Just Call Me Jonny (NZ) (Eminent) and Vickezzlastcall (NZ) (Wrote), all horses that he bred and races under his Milan Park banner. But, later that evening, the latter’s half-sister Aromatic (NZ) died after complications having her first foal. “We lost Aromatic last night, she foaled on Friday night with a dead foal and the foal…

After a remarkable run in New Zealand that saw him notch an impressive 167 wins, Malaysian-born jockey Joe Kamaruddin is set to make a highly anticipated return to race day action at Selangor Turf Club. Kamaruddin, whose career flourished across the Tasman, earned a reputation for tactical finesse, consistency, and a deep understanding of race dynamics. His success in New Zealand included partnerships with top stables and victories across a range of distances and conditions, cementing his status as one of the region’s most respected riders. Following a hiatus from…

Trainer Dennis Yip claimed a timely first win of the 2025/26 season, taking out the feature HK$4.2 million Gr.3 National Day Cup Handicap (1000m) at Sha Tin’s National Day fixture on Wednesday when his stable star Fast Network, a New Zealand bred son of Wrote, blitzed a strong field under Alexis Badel. Badel, who won the race for the third time, was victorious last season aboard Beauty Waves, who faded to sixth place under champion jockey Zac Purton in a tame defence of his crown. The Frenchman said this time…

Te Aroha horsewoman Emma Faber crossed over the Kaimai range to record her first training win at Tauranga on Wednesday, courtesy of Reckoning in the Tauranga Crossing Fashions In The Field November 1st (1400m). It was the second start for the Echoes Of Heaven four-year-old, having run seventh on debut over 1200m at Ellerslie last month, and Faber was confident of an improved performance. The gelding had shown plenty of promise at home and at the trials, winning his 1100m heat at Avondale prior to his debut, and Faber was…