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David Hayes hopes China Win (NZ) (Super Seth) can warrant last-minute selection for the HK$26 million 149th BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) when he contests Wednesday night’s Class 3 Lyttelton Handicap (1800m) under Zac Purton.   Currently rated 67, China Win is aiming to emulate Beauty Alliance, who last season secured the final BMW Hong Kong Derby spot with victory in this race at Happy Valley, earning a 12-point rating rise (65 to 77) and his place in the contest, which is finalised by the selection panel, who will determine the 14-runner field later this week.    Hayes said: “I think if he was lucky enough to win, then he’d be in the calculations to get the last spot. The horse has a good gate (three), and his trackwork and trials have been excellent.   “He’s had a bit of time between runs because he was scratched due to a heart anomaly, which was rectified straight away, so that put us a bit behind the eight ball, but he’s in good form for this race.”   The BMW Hong Kong Derby takes place at Sha Tin on 22 March, and China Win has emerged as an unlikely candidate. The Super Seth gelding took seven starts to break through, but has shown that stamina is his best asset by winning his most recent two outings over 1800m.   “His win before last was probably more eye-catching with Zac on when he came from last and barrier 14, and even the start before that he was only beaten an inch, so he’s in really good form,” Hayes said. “He’s by a sire that produces horses who get over a bit of ground. We couldn’t be happier with the way he’s progressing.”   Hayes is looking forward to unleashing Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress) in the HK$5.35 million Gr.2 Sprint Cup (1200m) on 6 April at Sha Tin, where the world’s leading sprinter goes for a record-extending 19th consecutive win.   “He did some striding work with Zac on this morning (Tuesday). Zac was very happy with him, and he ran home in around 12 and a half seconds. He’ll have a barrier trial around 10 days out from the 6th (of April). He’ll be in the Sprint Cup, then the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (Gr.1, 1200m) and then his season is over,” Hayes said. View the full article

The retirement of five-time Group One winner Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) has been confirmed by her principal owners Philip and Catherine Brown. When the six-year-old won Saturday’s Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) it was accepted that was her final race in this country, but the possibility remained that she would have one further start in the Gr.1 Australian Cup at Flemington on March 28. However, following discussions between Legarto’s ownership group, which includes trainers Ken and Bev Kelso, the decision has been made to bring down the curtain on her career. “Bev and I would have loved the opportunity to give her one last race on the same track that she won the Australian Guineas, but we accept the majority decision to retire her now,” Ken Kelso said. “She’s been a wonderful mare – a horse of lifetime as I stated again on Saturday – and we’re comfortable with her being retired at the top of her game. “Winning the Herbie Dyke and Bonecrusher Stakes at her last two starts, especially when a lot of people had written her off, that has been immensely satisfying for all of us.” Legarto credited Opie Bosson with his 100th Group One success when she repeated her 2024 win in last month’s Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and he took his record on her to a perfect two-from-two when she dug deep to beat fellow Proisir six-year-old Waitak in the Bonecrusher Stakes. Legarto will now be let down and prepared for the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale at the Gold Coast in May, which Philip Brown describes as the logical path to realise her true worth for all concerned. She was purchased for $90,000 from breeder Warwick Jeffries at the 2021 National Yearling Sale and went on to win 12 times, with just three placings outside the top five in her 24-start career. After winning the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) in the first half of her three-year-old season, she became the first New Zealand-trained horse to also claim the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m). With the addition of a $500,000 Champion Stayers’ bonus as a four-year-old on top of her actual race stakes, Legarto’s total earnings topped $3.6 million. “Racing a horse like her is what you dream of while not really expecting it to come true,” Brown said. “She gave us so many thrills and highs and while it’s difficult to nominate any race in particular, beating the Aussies on their turf in the Australian Guineas has to be right up there. “Seeing her back to her best in her last two starts has also been special, and for her to go out a winner means so much to everyone involved in her career. “Ken and Bev, her devoted strapper and work rider Megan Winter, the jockeys associated with her, and the great team of owners that have enjoyed the ride, it all adds up to a fantastic experience that you just can’t match. “It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to this marvelous horse we all know as Lulu, but knowing that she will go to a wonderful new home and be mated with the very best stallions, that’s the future she deserves.” View the full article

I thought the protests related to separate incidents and therefore were separate inquiries? Not that I saw the race or followed that process closely.

NO there was one inquiry - two protests. If you are counting protests as inquiries there was 4 - 2x8, 1x9 and 1x10. Not that I see your point anyway.  The way I saw the 3rd vs 1st and 2nd was an afterthought and the trainer was late to the room.

No. There were 2 separate protests in Race 8 and one in race 9.

There was ample time to resolve the inquiry if they hadn't pissed around.  They could have heard the Jockey arguments first and excused them.  The issue with deferring the inquiries is the TAB payouts would have been held up until probably after the last race.

sigh, just another day of Chaos at the coalface! I could add that our feed (via fast fiber) HUNG!!!!!! multiple times during the running of about three races!!!!!   ps. One for the haters!!! Personally, I was rewarded for all the study that I put in!  I had my most bets at one meeting since this meeting last year!  this year  5 races were bet into!   but, yet again,  the actual tv coverage of the horses is sadly rather lacking for a punter like me who actually bets Because of What my Punting Eye see'$..   rave over, looking over at that Exit side just over there!  i continue my needed focus for that sort of thing to be happening! 

Yes but only the first 2 delayed subsequent races with the third being an inquiry into the last checking if Mid Ocean got a fair start.  It was an open and shut case so to speak. Although I'm sure you'd argue Mid Ocean actually got a length advantage by forcing the gates.

Moxie (Strasbourg) gave trainer and part-owner Ken Harrison his biggest thrill in racing at Ellerslie last Saturday when recording his first stakes win in the Gr.2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Classic (1400m), and now he is eager for more. “We are over the moon, it was a great result,” Harrison said. The Cambridge horseman said his four-year-old mare has come through the race in great order and he is now weighing up his options with the daughter of Strasbourg. “She has come through it great,” he said. “We may give her one more start before she goes for a bit of a break until next season. I am mulling it over at the moment.” Harrison is weighing up between the Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) at Trentham on March 28 and the Gr.3 Manco Easter Handicap (1600m) at Ellerslie next month. While eager to test his mare at elite-level, the location of each race is a key factor for Harrison, with his mare not having ventured out of the northern region before. “She likes Ellerslie and there is one more back there, the Easter Handicap, but we have just got a few things to weigh up and sort out,” he said. “She has never been away from home yet and she knows Ellerslie.” Weight is another factor that has entered calculations, with Moxie’s rating increasing to 96 following her Group Two win. “We have gone up 18 rating points, but we have just got to take that on the chin. That is where she is now so that is what we have got to race against,” Harrison said. “The Group One (Breeders’ Stakes) is weight-for-age, so we know what weight she is going to get there.” While mulling over her final assignment of the season, Harrison took a moment to reflect on her career to date, which now stands at five wins from 11 starts and nearly $500,000 in earnings, and he is rapt that she has fulfilled the promise he saw in her as a yearling at Karaka where he purchased her out of Lyndhurst Farm’s draft for $10,000. “We only paid $10,000 for her so it has worked out quite well,” Harrison said. “I loved the way she was walking and she had a nice temperament. Shelley and Mark (Treweek, Lyndhurst Farm) are very good friends of ours and have always done a good job over the years.” While impressed with Moxie from the very beginning, Harrison said she has taken time to mature and he has taken a patient approach with her, which is now paying dividends. “She has been very good from day one,” he said. “She was a little bit immature at the start and it has just taken time. We missed most of her three-year-old season to let her mature.” While mulling over Moxie’s next steps, Harrison is looking forward to heading to Pukekohe on Friday where five-year-old gelding Tampa (NZ) (Vespa) will make his raceday return following a two-and-a-half-year absence. The five-year-old son of Vespa had three unplaced runs for trainer Clinton Isdale in 2023 and Harrison said the gelding has been given time to mature. “He is only lightly raced and had a couple of years off,” Harrison said. “I think they thought he was a bit immature and put him out on my uncle’s place at the back of Taumarunui. “He has had one trial at Tauranga a couple of weeks ago and went very well, he came third.” View the full article