Racing
Riccarton trainer Terri Rae flexed her potential New Zealand Cup Carnival firepower with an impressive double in $50,000 open handicaps at Ashburton on Saturday. Rae saddled Spot On Time (NZ) (Time Test) for a stylish first-up victory in the GD Jones Salute (1200m), then Sir Albert (NZ) (Savabeel) followed
Racing
Like most trainers at this time of the year, Stephen Marsh has spent plenty of time studying weather forecasts as he prepares to launch a ten-strong team from his Cambridge stable at the Rotorua race meeting on Sunday. With the track currently rated a Heavy9, Marsh is hoping some strong
Racing
Trainer Tony Pike admitted he had a real sense of satisfaction as he watched progressive mare Churchillian return to winning form at Taupo on Friday at just her third run back from a substantial lay-off due to a hock injury she suffered late last year. It took a month for
Racing
Cambridge trainer Shaun Phelan took special satisfaction from an all-the-way win by Pacheco in the $60,000 Poverty Bay Turf Club Cup (2600m) at Taupo on Friday. The Rating 75 staying test was the fifth start in a new campaign for the Makfi gelding, who had recorded a second and
Racing
Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander have set their sights towards summer targets with their star mare La Crique following yet another runner-up result in last month’s Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa. La Crique has two Group One victories to her name but has earned the
Racing
Simon and Katrina Alexander came close to winning the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) a few years ago with their stable star La Crique, and now it looks like they may have another Derby prospect on their hands. Three-year-old gelding Aksil had already attracted the attention of eagle-eyed scouts
Racing
Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott got a busy weekend off to a promising start with two wins at Taupo on Friday. The Wexford Stables team won the first race on the card, the Placemakers Rotorua Maiden (1800m), with lightly raced four-year-old Gippsy God, and two hours later they saddled
Racing
Saturday looms as a special day in the careers of Shaun and Emma Clotworthy, who are the part-owners and former trainers of two horses that will chase million-dollar prizes in Australia. The couple’s Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) hero Willydoit will line up in the A$1.5
Racing
Bruce Wallbank has been on a wonderful ride since returning to the training ranks last term, with his only horse Midnight Edition rising through the ranks to become one of the favourites in Sunday’s Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1400m). The 79-year-old bred the son of Wrote and after having
Racing
Promising colt El Vaquero will be out to further his Group One claims when he steps out again in age group company at Ashburton. The Michael and Matthew Pitman-trained son of Ferrando takes aim at Saturday’s Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m) off the back of a last-start fifth
Racing
A nose was the difference between a $30,000 prize and a mid-week placing for Tony Pike at Avondale on Wednesday, and he hopes to continue being on the right side of the result across several venues this weekend. The Cambridge horseman eyed the NZB Mega Maiden Series bonus for
Racing
Trainer Kris Shailer’s name has been absent from the racebook for the last three years, but will make a return on Sunday at Arawa Park, albeit with a line running through it. He was set to line-up regally-bred gelding Magice in the Rotorua Racecourse’s Race For The Ladies