Racing
Saturday’s Gr.3 Concorde Stakes (1200m) at Pukekohe will be missing one of its headline acts after a temperature spike forced Crocetti to be withdrawn. The dual Group One winner has been off the scene since being unplaced in The Quokka (1200m) in Perth in late April, and he
Racing
Bill Thurlow and Sam O’Malley are setting their sights on a return to Group One competition with Whangaehu (NZ) (Proisir) after a pleasing trial at Woodville on Tuesday. The well-performed Proisir gelding was required to trial to the satisfaction of the stewards after his last-start eighth in the Gr.
Racing
The two-year-old race staged by the Levin Racing Club at Otaki every November has a proven record of unearthing top-level talent, and Te Akau Racing is hoping for more of the same with Sunday’s Levin Jumpouts 2YO (1100m) winner Kinnaird. The late-spring juvenile event boasts four subsequent Group One
Racing
Peachy Keen (NZ) (Reliable Man) capped a super-consistent spring campaign with a last-gasp victory in Sunday’s $50,000 Happy Hire Cromwell Cup (2030m). Trained in Timaru by Leonard and Lacy Stewart, Peachy Keen came into his five-year-old season with two wins and a placing to his name in an
Racing
Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh won the Gr.3 Jennian Homes Wellington Stakes (1600m) for the fifth time at Otaki on Sunday with emerging talent Ammirati (NZ) (Savabeel), but this was a win unlike any other. Marsh had previously taken out the three-year-old feature with Lucia Valentina (2013), Crown Prosecutor (2018)
Racing
Yulong has wasted little time in making a mark on New Zealand racing this spring, and those emerald green and white colours were carried to another feature-race win by Azeezle (Exceed And Excel) in Sunday’s Levin Truck Services Levin Stakes (1200m) at Otaki. From its conception in 2014, Yuesheng
Racing
Shan (NZ) (Almanzor), but few would have expected it to come at the expense of a $1.50 favourite and reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year. That was exactly what happened in the Gr.3 Bayleys Great Northern Challenge Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie on Saturday as Mary Shan flew
Racing
Unbeaten filly Circus Dancer (NZ) (Circus Maximus) defied $25 odds to keep her perfect record intact in the Listed O’Learys Fillies’ Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui on Saturday. The $80,000 three-year-old fillies’ feature was the second start for the Cody Cole-trained filly, whose only previous appearance produced a maiden
Racing
Ruakaka trainer Kenny Rae is working backwards from the $1 million Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) after Vegas Queen (NZ) (Proisir) kicked off her four-year-old season on a winning note at Ellerslie on Saturday. The NHR Group 1300 was the first appearance for 252 days for Rae’s stable star,
Racing
When local trainer Jo-Anne Dalton put a saddle on Sestina (NZ) (Lonhro) for Sunday’s Gladvale Farms Winton Cup (1400m) at Ascot Park, she expected the $35,000 race to be little more than a pipe-opener ahead of the Cromwell Cup (2030m) next weekend – but the Lonhro mare had other
Racing
Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie trained their 200th winner in the blue and white hooped colours of owner-breeder Sir Peter Vela when talented filly Passiflora (NZ) (Farnan) led all the way in Saturday’s Happy Hire 3YO (1200m) at Wanganui. The Ramsay-Ritchie partnership has now been credited with 200 wins
Racing
Royal Flower’s (NZ) (Proisir) victory in the G Bristol & Sons 2040 at Wanganui on Saturday has earned her a black-type assignment over the same course and distance next weekend. The seven-year-old Proisir mare produced an impressive performance in the $50,000 open handicap, dragging the field up to