Proisir on target for second sires’ title
A flurry of recent winners has set up Rich Hill Stud’s champion stallion Proisir for a second champion New Zealand sires’ title.
He has been locked in a close battle with perennial champion Savabeel all season and two months ago it looked like the premiership would go down to the wire.
However, Proisir’s progeny have enjoyed a purple patch in recent weeks and he now leads the New Zealand Sires’ Premiership by $330,000 with just under three weeks of the 2025/26 racing season remaining.
It was another stellar day on Saturday for Proisir with a quartet of winners throughout Australasia.
His talented daughter Prioress set the ball rolling with a tenacious win in the open 1200 metre handicap at Hawera.
Debutante Latoya then created a huge impression when she won the two-year-old event at Ruakaka.
After sitting three wide throughout, the sister to Proisir’s five-time Gr.1-winning daughter Legarto kicked away to record a dominant win and looks destined for higher honours next season, based on her winning ratings.
Soon after in Sydney, Leovanni displayed a good turn of foot to record her second successive win in the Highway Plate over 1600 metres at Randwick.
To cap off a royal day for Proisir, his daughter Coeur Volante continued her excellent form with a third consecutive win when successful at Caulfield.
Proisir’s biggest and best credentialed foal crops are about to turn two and three and with around 120 rising two and three-year-olds in leading Australasian stables, Rich Hill can look forward to outstanding future racetrack results. - NZ Racing Desk
Moreira targets strong finish in season finale
Four-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey Joao Moreira paid tribute to his boss, Caspar Fownes, following the trainer’s emphatic title win ahead of the Season Finale at Happy Valley on Wednesday.
The “Magic Man” was drafted in by Fownes on a short-term stable contract for the final part of the season to help in his bid for a fifth Hong Kong trainers’ championship. The Brazilian, a full-time rider in the city between 2013 and 2022, duly played his part delivering 27 of Fownes’ 69 winners so far, which wrapped up this year’s premiership with a meeting to spare at Sha Tin last Sunday.
Moreira concludes his arrangement with Fownes by taking five rides for the champion trainer at Wednesday’s triumphant conclusion to the 2025/26 season, and the 42-year-old is aiming to maintain a scintillating run of form, which has seen him return 30 wins from 185 rides so far, at a win rate of 16.22%.
His brightest hope may well be four-year-old Pejibaye (NZ) (Per Incanto), who showed marvellous potential during his first season in Fownes’ care, bagging a win and three seconds, before a horror showing on the Sha Tin dirt earlier this month when, as betting favourite, he finished tailed off in 11th.
Moreira believes the Per Incanto gelding’s immaturity was a factor in that disappointing run.
“He’s a very difficult horse,” Moreira said of Pejibaye, who contests the Class 4 Star Shine Handicap (1200m). “We’ve done everything we could to make sure that he settles in.
“He played in the gate. He didn’t help himself by doing that, missing the start and giving his chance away. However, he’s a very nice horse. He’s been training very well. He’s very healthy, and it’s not going to be a surprise to me if he goes there and wins, because he has proven to be capable.
“He’s very fast out of the gate, as long as he doesn’t play around as he did last time. If he shows the speed he’s got, he’s going to be right there with them, and I really hope that he brings his A game.”
Moreira links up again with Karaka graduate Somelovefromabove (Lonhro) in the Class 3 Encountered Handicap (1650m). The four-year-old has three wins this season, but has failed to reach those heights since stepping into Class 3 company in April, and steps up in distance in a last-ditch attempt to finish his sophomore season on a high.
“He’s been a very good horse for the stable throughout the season, and let’s just hope that he does it again on the last day,” Moreira said.
“He feels like he’s ready to win. He’s up to the class, and, in my opinion, he’s been just a bit unlucky. However, he’s going to have every chance coming from the gate one, and hopefully we can finish (the season) in the best way.”
Wednesday’s nine-race 2025/26 Season Finale at Happy Valley starts at 6.30pm local time with the Class 5 Silver Grecian Handicap (1650m). - Hong Kong Jockey Club
NZ Racing Desk
Joshua Smith
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