New Zealand
A special week got even better on Saturday for trainer Robbie Patterson and owner-breeders Eddie and Nicola Bourke and Allan Piercy. They teamed up for back-to-back victories at Hawera with The Hottie in the Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and Belles Beau in the
New Zealand
Visiting Australian jockey Harry Grace recorded his first win in New Zealand with a dominant performance by Sacred Pearl in Saturday’s NZFLL Egmont Cup (2100m) at Hawera. The 25-year-old crossed the Tasman to continue his long-running association with Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) contender Rolls, who
New Zealand
Andrew Forsman always intended to aim Positivity at Saturday’s Gr.3 Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington, but the Cambridge trainer has been caught off guard by what his rising star stayer has already achieved this spring. The Almanzor mare has made a big impression in her first two starts
New Zealand
Graeme Rogerson has seen promising signs that Sharp ‘N’ Smart is rediscovering the form that earned him Horse of the Year honours as a three-year-old, but Saturday’s Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington will put his resurgence to the test. The Redwood gelding won five of
New Zealand
Matamata is set to host the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) for the second time in three years after a slippery track forced the abandonment of Saturday’s blockbuster race meeting at Hastings. The second day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival had promised so much, with quality
New Zealand
Love Poem propelled herself up the fixed-odds market for the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) with a dominant first-up performance at Te Rapa on Friday. The highly talented Snitzel filly was a stakes placegetter in all of her three starts as a two-year-old. She
New Zealand
Nine-year-old warhorse Times Ticking (NZ) (Tavistock) upstaged his younger rivals with a brilliant first-up performance in Saturday’s Marshall Batteries Open Handicap (1400m) at Riccarton. The $50,000 feature marked the beginning of a seventh season of racing for the Tavistock gelding, who had not been seen
New Zealand
Spring racing in the South Island has been a happy hunting ground for Te Akau Racing throughout the last couple of decades, and that trend is set to continue with another strong team of seven runners at Riccarton Park on Saturday. New Zealand’s leading trainers Mark Walker and Sam
New Zealand
Several years have passed since Joanne Surgenor last competed in a Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, but the Ardmore Lodge trainer is heading back to Hastings on Saturday with a pair of well-credentialled runners. Surgenor has trained 55 winners in a career that started during the 2006-07 season,
New Zealand
Stephen Marsh believes the El Vencedor (NZ) (Shocking) that is heading to Hastings for Saturday’s Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) is barely recognisable as the same horse that has competed during the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival in previous seasons. The son of Shocking was very much a
New Zealand
A pair of classy three-year-olds from last season made a bold return to racing at Ellerslie on Saturday, with Cambridge Stud homebred Luberon digging deep to just pip Pericles in the Sistema (1200m). Luberon has been a first-crop flagbearer for Cambridge Stud stallion Embellish, starting with a
New Zealand
Hunterville gelding Jay Bee Gee is going from strength to strength as a spring seven-year-old, collecting the first two black-type wins of his career within the first two months of the 2024-25 season. The son of Complacent had showed promising signs with five wins from 17