Forums

As long as their there for the races, last couple cups I went to, they where there alright, but the didn't look likely they were there for the racing, more like the liquid refreshments, was a few years ago, be good if things have changed.

The autumn campaign of Champions Mile winner Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) is likely to have a major bearing on whether trainer Joe Pride puts the Cox Plate, to be run at Flemington, firmly on his stable star’s 2026 spring agenda. Pride is looking to give Ceolwulf another chance to prove his effectiveness at 2000m next autumn as his biggest wins to date have been his four Gr.1 successes over 1600m, which include back-to-back King Charles III Stakes at Randwick and Saturday’s Champions Mile in his first visit to Melbourne. Speaking on Sunday morning on SEN’s Correct Weight program after Ceolwulf’s stirring heavy track win at Flemington on Saturday, Pride indicated a goal for next campaign would certainly be to see whether Ceolwulf can also prove himself at the elite level over 2000m. “And I’m open to the fact that that may not be the case,” Pride told SEN. “I’m not blinded by the fact that he’s a good horse and he’ll just be able to do that. He has run some great races at 2000m – he’s run second in a Rosehill Guineas – but I think it’s fair to say his best performances so far have been in fast-run miles. And I guess what I’d be banking on there, to help us do this, as he gets a bit older and now that he’s wearing the blinkers that he’s able to adapt to some muddling tempos that he may get in those 2000m races.” Ceolwulf’s most recent attempt in a 2000m feature was a fifth placing to Via Sistina in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes last autumn. That race again shapes as one likely option during the autumn. Speaking about that possibility of giving Ceolwulf his chance to win a Cox Plate next spring, Pride has a quandary given Ceolwulf has been dominant in the past two King Charles III Stakes. “Look, it’s going to be difficult because we’ve got the King Charles and unless those dates are going to change next year, the King Charles being the week before is the fly in the ointment there for me,” Pride said. “But the autumn is going to basically decide whether we should be targeting the Cox Plate. Now if he’s good at 2000m but not great, I think I’d have to have rocks in my head not aiming him at the King Charles again. But that’s something that will be determined by his autumn campaign.” What has also buoyed Pride, in regard to future options for Ceolwulf, is how the five-year-old handled his first interstate trip to win the Champions Mile. View the full article

Cambridge trainer Andrew Forsman and jockey Craig Grylls proved a potent combination at Tauherenikau on Sunday, claiming three of the eight races across the afternoon. Both were coming off the back of successful Saturday meetings, Forsman taking the Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint (1200m) at Pukekohe with Force Of Nature (NZ) (Savabeel) while Grylls rode a winning double at Riccarton including the Listed Pegasus Stakes (1000m) aboard Platinum Attack (Santos). Combining in the Central Districts, the pair took the first of their winning treble with Lassified (Stay Inside) in the LA Stud 2YO (1000m). A filly by Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside, Lassified had shown promise at the trials and started favourite in a compact field of juveniles, utilising her inside draw and good gate speed to find the lead in the OTI silks. She travelled well throughout and kicked clear on straightening, holding a game Vahvay at bay in the closing stages to score by a long neck, more than three lengths clear of the third placegetter Tifosi. “She’s a game little filly, we really like her,” Forsman’s Racing Manager Joe Walker said. “She’s a real professional. “She jumped, used the rail and looked the winner then just wanted to do things wrong. I think she’s tough, she’s got a good attitude for it and plenty of upside. “We’ll get her home and reassess things now, but we’re very happy to kick off with that.” Their winning roll continued into the Lamb Peters Print MDN (1000m) with Nedelin (NZ) (Spirit Of Boom), a Cambridge Stud homebred having his second start after finishing fifth in a strong maiden at Te Aroha won by Avantaggia. Grylls found a good position off the fence in midfield but had to come wide turning for home, giving pacemaker Falcrests Belle a decent headstart. Nedelin was inclined to lay in all the way up the straight but his class prevailed, coming over the top late to pip a fast-closing Alcaraz by a neck, with Falcrests Belle holding on for third. “It’s a big thrill (to win for Cambridge Stud),” Walker said. “He did a lot wrong, but he tracked a decent speed, seemed to relax well and went Craig needed him most in that last furlong he put in. “He does little in his work by himself to be honest, but he saves his best for trials and races. He’s competitive, he wants to be there and wants to do it.” Forsman and Grylls prevailed in another tight finish to the Wrights Cabins and Construction R75 (1600m), with Privy Garden (So You Think) holding on by the barest of margins. The mare was dropping back in distance being taken on and fading over 2100m at Trentham, having finished fourth in the Gr.3 Metric Mile (1600m) in the previous start. She led throughout on Sunday and looked to have it sealed in the straight, before a late rush from Manzor Blue and Diomedes forced a photo finish. The result favoured the daughter of So You Think, earning a fifth win in 21 attempts and bringing her career earnings over $102,000 for the China Horse Club. “That was an interesting last 100, she’d shaken them off and I thought she’d stolen a winning margin, but then just wanted to knock off the job,” Walker said. “She’s better with a bit of sting out of the ground, she’s an autumn horse and we thought coming here today and dropping back to a mile, she’d be a very nice chance.” View the full article

Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth) has been sent for a spell after a spring campaign that didn’t go to script. For the second year in succession, spring plans haven’t gone to plan for high-class galloper Linebacker, but his trainers remain adamant he will return bigger and better in the autumn. The Randwick Guineas winner was being prepared for a tilt at the Epsom Handicap – Golden Eagle double but when a minor injury setback ruled him out of the former, trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton found themselves on the backfoot. While Linebacker showed his class to land a consolation win in the Silver Eagle (1300m), his rejigged lead-up to the Golden Eagle (1500m) proved costly and he battled to the line for seventh behind star mare Autumn Glow. “It ended up being a testing 1500 and the preparation we were dealt as a result of the setback didn’t set him up well for that. We had wanted to come into it off the mile,” Charlton said. “It was a messy race, tricky circumstances in the sense of the ground being quite choppy on the day. “He got further back than we would have liked to see and everything that could go wrong did and then he got shut out of a gap up the straight.” It followed a forgettable spring 12 months earlier when the then-colt, who had been Group 1-placed at two, turned in a couple of inglorious performances that resulted in him being gelded. The procedure had the desired effect and Linebacker returned in the autumn to capture the Randwick Guineas and finish a luckless eighth in the Doncaster Mile (1600m), a race again likely to be on his carnival radar next year. “He will go for a break now and come back in the autumn. I’m confident he can be a pretty good horse for us,” Charlton said. “Maybe a Canterbury Stakes, a George Ryder (Stakes), Doncaster and then we will learn what his best distance might be.” View the full article

Otaki galloper Driftin (NZ) (Merchant Navy) picked up her first win in more than two years when causing an upset in the Challenge Carterton R75 (1000m) at Tauherenikau on Sunday. The five-year-old by Merchant Navy had been a winner on the Cambridge Synthetic in September 2023 but was unplaced in her following six starts, after which she was purchased for $5,000 through gavelhouse.com by part-owner Andre Wallace. It was more than a year later that she stepped out at the Foxton trials in late October and put the writing on the wall with a smart win, albeit on far different surface to the Good 4 on offer at Tauherenikau. Racing out of her grade, Driftin closed the $22 outsider in a small field and jockey Bruno Queiroz ensured she utilised the inside gate early booting up inside of the favourite Debbi Harri. After travelling well in front, Driftin got the better of her chestnut counterpart turning for home and kicked clear at the 200m, maintaining a strong gallop to win comfortably by a length with Debbi Harri closing well late into second. Her trainer, Group One-winning jockey Buddy Lammas, had viewed the race as another trial for his mare but couldn’t have been happier to get the result. “We gave her a trial and we thought we would come here today being a small field,” he said. “I know she was out of her grade but 1000m on a good track was all she needed so we thought we’d give her a crack and see what happened. “I thought she would go well but I said to the boys that we would use it as a trial being out of her grade, but you never know, we like to win trials too.” Out of the Cape Blanco mare Backless, Driftin had been a work in progress for Lammas since she was entrusted in his care by Wallace and fellow owners Robert Galvin and Tyson Saunders. “They bought her off Gavelhouse and she had a year off out in the paddock, she came in and out with a few little issues but we’ve got her right now and she’s happy to be here,” Lammas said. View the full article

The revamped Spring Carnival programming, which sees the Gr.1 C F Orr Stakes (1400m) run at Caulfield this Saturday, is perfect for Jimmysstar (NZ) (Per Incanto) according to his trainer Ciaron Maher. Fresh off a dominant win in the $3 million Russell Balding Stakes (1300m), Jimmysstar has returned to Melbourne in fine fettle. “He’s super. He’s in career best form,” Maher said. Already a three-time winner at 1400m, and a winner over 1500m at his second Australian start, Maher believes Jimmysstar will relish the extra 100m in Saturday’s weight-for-age contest. “He’s just a good horse, right in that rich vein of form,” Maher said. “If the Everest wasn’t there, he probably has his first run at 1200 (metres) and then goes to 1400 and into his sweet spot.” “But you can see what he did when he went to 1300 last start and he’ll be better again at 1400.” Usually known a horse that gets back in his races, Jimmysstar has shown the ability to settle closer, notably when racing just off the speed in The Everest when a game third to Ka Ying Rising. “He did lead here one day at Flemington, but at 1300 he can travel a bit closer and at 14 (hundred) he’ll travel even easier,” Maher said. Jimmysstar will be the stable’s only representative in Saturday’s Group One with regular jockey Ethan Brown to ride. The six-year-old gelding, who has amassed over $6 million in prize money, is second favourite at $2.80 in early markets behind Angel Capital at $2.50, who caught the eye when closing strongly for sixth in The Everest. View the full article

Join Guy Heveldt, Emily Murphy and Jayne Ivil as they dissect the racing from day 1 of Cup week from Riccarton as well as Pukekohe & Flemington. Weigh In, November 9 View the full article

Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) has emerged from his unplaced Champions Mile run without any issues, but racing’s popular warhorse is likely heading for a spell. Co-trainer Ben Hayes said on Sunday morning that the weight-for-age star had eaten up and trotted up without problems on Sunday after concerns raised by jockey Craig Williams to Racing Victoria stewards after the race that his action felt “uncomfortable” and he feared there may be something amiss with the horse. “He’s all fine,” Hayes said. “He’s pulled up with no problem. I just think the very, very heavy track and the strong tempo was a bit too much for him on Saturday. “He’s eaten up and he actually trotted up really well. He probably hadn’t seen a heavy track like that since he won his second Doncaster, and he was a young horse then.” The winner of nearly $19 million in stakes was sent out the well-backed $2.90 favourite for the $3 million race, but he finished out of the placings after losing his action in the run to the line. Hayes conceded that Pride Of Jenni’s front-running tactics had proven difficult for Mr Brightside. “Pride Of Jenni, her racing style doesn’t really suit our horse, but that’s racing,” he said. The options remaining for Mr Brightside in 2025 are backing-up into next Saturday’s G1 Orr Stakes at Caulfield or heading to Perth for the $1.5 million Gold Rush next month. “We’ll just see how he is, but it (spell) is probably likely,” he said. “No decision made as he has a Perth option and we were thinking of a backing-up (in the Orr), but on that run you wouldn’t.” View the full article

Untapped four-year-old Smart Love (NZ) (Savabeel) continued her stunning rise through the grades with a dominant display in the opener at Pukekohe Park on Saturday. The daughter of Savabeel had been unbeaten in her last three starts, one of those coming at the end of a brief three-year-old campaign and the latter pair this preparation. Smart Love earned red-hot $1.40 favouritism in the Majestic Horse Floats 1300 and justified that price, aided by a perfect steer from regular rider Masa Hashizume. She jumped positively from the inside draw but had no intention of leading, allowing Central Districts visitor Vibration to cross over and set a strong tempo. Smart Love was full of running when she came away from the rail turning for home, drawing level with Vibration under a hold and cruising clear at the 200m, putting a good margin on her rivals to win with ears pricked from second-elect First Dance. There was no hiding Hashizume’s excitement post-race, indicating that he and trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott had high hopes for the mare last term.   “She’s top class this mare,” he said. “Lance told me to have no plan, just jump and decide. She jumped well, I thought Marshy’s horse (Miss Rockette) would go forward more but she was coming back a bit and there was a strong pace. I could pop off and she’s a strong mare, I can make any gap. She was just travelling too well. “It was unfortunate last season, we thought she could get to the Oaks (Gr.1, 2400m) and those good three-year-old races, but I think the break has done her well. “At three, we thought she was going to be a 2000m-plus horse, but now she’s big and strong, she can run a good race at 1300-1400m.” Scott echoed those sentiments and is excited for what’s the come for the mare over a big summer of racing. “It was good to see a nice bit of speed in the race, they got a good gallop going and it helped her find her rhythm,” he said. “She managed to peel away from the fence turning in and utilise the beautiful long straight here at Pukekohe and gallop to the line strong. “There are a lot of options for her, it would be nice to chime into a handicap somewhere and come in the bottom half (of the weights), then we can work towards something bigger and brighter through the later part of the summer. “She’ll dictate her form and the way she’s winning at the moment, hopefully she can get to a good race.” Bred by Waikato Stud and owned by Chittick Investments, Smart Love earned her fourth win in just six starts in the race, with two runner-up finishes in the other two attempts earning just over $90,000. The Waikato Stud silks were to the fore again later in the card aboard blue-blooded four-year-old Magice (NZ) (Savabeel). Having his first start in 17 months, which was further delayed when he was late-scratched at the gates last month at Te Aroha, Magice made up for lost time with an eye-catching last-to-first victory under Ryan Elliot. Trained by Kris Shailer, Magice is a full-brother to Group One winner Noverre, a son of Savabeel now in his fourth season standing at Waikato Stud. View the full article