Japan Cup hero Vela Azul has won four races and placed third twice in six starts since making his grass debut in March of this year, continuing the incredible success of the Kingmambo line in Japan, a cause championed by the remarkable King Kamehameha. The Japanese Derby winner Eishin Flash is the sire of 5YO entire, whose American sire King's Best failed to produce a stakes winner from any of ...
After winning the Queensland Group One last month, trainer Rob Heathcote has decided not to continue Rothfire's Western Australian campaign in the lucrative Gold Rush in Perth next month. With his fifth-place finish in Saturday's Gr.1 Winterbottom Stakes, he will be returning to Queensland later this week. We're taking the prudent course of action and spelling him after he experienced the really ...
For the seventeenth year in a row, Japanese horses dominated the Japan Cup (G1), the country's premier race, with Vela Azul, a relative newcomer to the top level, in the lead role. Inside the final 100 yards of the 42nd edition of the Japan Cup, the odds-on favourite, Shahryar, appeared to be pulling away from the second-place finisher, the equally popular Weltreisende. But the tides turned, and ...
Paulele, a Godolphin runner, won the Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot in dramatic fashion, ending a long losing streak in Gr.1 races. The son of Dawn Approach capped off an already excellent record with this victory, his ninth effort at the highest level. He was the odds-on favourite in the Manikato Stakes and finished second in the Gr.1 Doomben 10,000 and the Gr.1 Kingsford-Smith Cup in May. ...
Champion jockey Zac Purton is in excellent shape leading up to the Hong Kong International Races on December 11. On Sunday, Purton became the fastest jockey in Hong Kong history to reach 50 victories in a season. This came just a week after he broke the record for most wins by a jockey at the Happy Valley track. At Happy Valley, he broke the record held by Doug Whyte, and in the 2015/16 season, ...
The 5YO homebred mare was retired from racing after suffering a slight ailment that prevents her from competing in her final race, the Japan Cup. Alpinista, trained by Sir Mark Prescott, has won six events at the Group One level, with her best performance coming last month at Paris Longchamp under jockey Luke Morris. Prescott said: "Because of a minor setback, Alpinista will not be able to ...
Lindsay Park's Ben & Jd Hayes are considering entering their promising 3YO Angry Skies in the Gr.2 Sandown Guineas after he showed he was not ready for a rest. After placing 10th in a Listed 1400m race for 3YOs at Flemington on the penultimate day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, Angry Skies has not competed since September, when he won his first race, a Swan Hill maiden. He had previously ...
As a result of a $1,000,000 lottery victory, Godolphin's travelling assistant Nacim Delmi was quite pleased with Vilana after seeing the 4YO perform in The Hunter last weekend; Vilana is expected to run in Saturday's $1.5 million Gr.1 Winterbottom Stakes. Given that Vilana raced just days before departing for Perth, Delmi's praise for his travel preparations is understandable. While Cascadian, ...
Mark Zahra, riding the 7YO gelding Hongkong Great, maintained his stellar month of November by winning the S$1 million Singapore Gold Cup on Saturday. Several Australian jockeys, including Jamie Kah, Craig Williams, and Michael Dee, flew in and out for the meeting, and Zahra was one of them. Williams, a two-time champion in 2016 and 2019, is only one of several well-known Australians to have ...
After winning Saturday's $1.5 million Railway Stakes at Ascot under the guidance of jockey Troy Turner, here's what the riders had to say. Troy Turner rode Trix Of The Trade, a $5F horse, to victory. Congratulations to Colin Webster! "It's emotional, but just winning these races for the team has been challenging; fortunately, we got the proper horse today, and he was trained beautifully. As the ...
The daughter of Complacent has won both of her races so far with relative ease, most recently Saturday's Wenham Grain & Seed at Awapuni when she was ridden by Mereana Hudson from last and won by more than three lengths. Trainer Robbie Patterson of New Plymouth quickly saw that his 3YO filly Terziere was exceptionally bright. Her lack of experience is noticeable. Since I already knew how great ...
Coolmore's Triple Crown champion Justify (USA) added another stakes winner to his resume in North America on Saturday, rounding up a busy week in the Southern Hemisphere that included successful sale results in New Zealand and an amazing trial winner in Sydney. The promising filly Justique of C R K Stable, trained by John Shirreffs, won the US$100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes (7f) at Del Mar by a ...