Category: Gallops

Reigning premiership winners Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson will watch Ruakaka closely on Saturday despite sending only one runner to the Northland course. The Te Akau Racing team will be represented by Age Of Discovery in the Accurate Books (1100m) at Rating 75 level. Age Of Discovery was a $625,000 yearling purchase by David Ellis at Karaka 2023, and he looked like living right up to that price tag with super-impressive wins in the first two starts of his career at Riccarton last September. He was at one stage the…

The last three months have been a breakthrough period in the career of Zanzibar, who will attempt to continue his rise through the winter ranks in Saturday’s ITM New Plymouth Interprovincial (1600m). The Jomara Bloodstock homebred had made little impression in his four career starts before May of this year. He finished 10th on debut at Pukekohe last November, followed by sixth placings at Rotorua and Te Aroha and a fourth at Tauranga. But Zanzibar has returned to action as a very different horse this winter, recording two wins and…

Stephen Marsh’s stable promises to be a major player when the feature spring age-group races roll around, with a host of talented three-year-olds to take serious steps toward those targets at the weekend. The Cambridge trainer will be represented by last season’s stakes winners To Cap It All and Little Black Dress and black-type placegetter Lady Iris in Sunday’s Pak ‘N’ Save 3YO (1200m) at Taupo. “They’ve all had one trial and this is a stepping stone to much bigger things,” Marsh said. “Out of this race, there’s the Sir…

Otaki trainer Andrew Campbell saw potential in Cocobill as a yearling, and two and a half years later the ex-Victorian galloper will make his Kiwi debut for his stable at Woodville on Sunday. After stepping away from training for a couple of years in 2021, Campbell went down the path of becoming a bloodstock agent, and Cocobill was among the yearlings he sourced for clients out of the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales at Karaka. The son of Vadamos was secured for just $18,000 by Campbell, client Tommy…

Former jockey Sam O’Malley will chase his first winner as a trainer this weekend after recently joining employer Bill Thurlow in partnership. Based in the Central Districts, O’Malley had a successful career in the saddle despite battling with weight issues, guiding home 68 winners, including a Gr.2 Tauranga Stakes (1600m) aboard Justaskme. He gave up riding professionally in 2022, and after a couple of years away from the sport, he took up a position as Thurlow’s stable foreman. Thurlow had a season to remember last term, finishing 12th on the…