Category: Featured

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It may have a new permanent home and a new name, but New Zealand’s richest hurdle race continues to be dominated by Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal. Taika triumphed in the inaugural running of the $150,000 J Swap Great New Zealand Hurdle (4200m) at Te Aroha on Friday, adding his name alongside the Hawke’s Bay stable’s six previous victories when the race was known as the Great Northern Hurdle. According to jumps racing statistician Chris McQuaid, Nelson began his record-breaking…

Fierce Flight kicked off what Te Akau Racing is hoping to be a lucrative weekend for the trans-Tasman operation when winning the Te Aroha Maiden Hurdle (3100m) on Friday. The Flying Artie gelding won six races on the flat, including the Listed Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m), and placed in the Gr.3 Wellington Cup (3200m), Gr.3 Manawatu Cup (2300m) and Listed New Zealand St Leger (2600m), before transitioning to a jumping career two months ago. The Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained gelding showed plenty of promise in his three prior starts…

The prestigious NZB Filly of the Year Series heads in a new direction on Saturday with the running of the second leg, the $150,000 Group Three Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Sunline Vase (1400m) at Ellerslie. The Sunline Vase has previously been run over 2100m in March as the 10th leg of the 11-race series, helping to set fillies up for the grand finale in the $1m Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m). That has all changed in 2025-26. The New Zealand Oaks has been moved forward from late March to February and…

Shaun and Hazel Fannin’s pair of talented jumpers in Jesko and Fourty Eight will clash for the first time over fences in Sunday’s hotly-contested Ben and Ryan Foote Great New Zealand Steeplechase (6200m) at Te Aroha. Jesko has been the lamp-lighter for the stable this year, winning the Manawatu Steeplechase (4000m), Wellington Steeplechase (4900m) and Koral Steeplechase (4250m), before going down to a game Captains Run in the Grand National Steeplechase (5600m). He has been ridden on each occasion by Shaun Fannin, who was proud of his charge’s effort in…

Group One performer Chase has been in a rich vein of form of late and he will attempt to continue that at Trentham on Saturday in the Gr.3 Hunterville Vet Club Metric Mile (1600m). The nine-year-old son of Zed returned to the winner’s circle in July before heading south to Riccarton last month where he was a popular winner of the Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m), and trainer Stephen Nickalls has been pleased with the way he has come through his southern venture. “He is a pretty seasoned campaigner now, not…

Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh has 14 horses entered across the 10-race card at Ellerslie on Saturday, and more than half of them are three-year-olds facing crucial early-season assignments. Marsh has proven black-type performers Little Black Dress, Lady Iris and Tale Of The Gypsy in Saturday’s Gr.3 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Sunline Vase (1400m), backed up by a range of emerging age-group talent on the undercard. Last-start Listed Wanganui Guineas (1200m) placegetters Churmatt and Swiss Prince will contest the NZB Ready to Run Sale Trainers Series 3YO (1400m), while the Join…