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No official confirmation has there, though I may have missed it? Yes, where did you see that or is it gossip? -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) is a four-time Group 1-winning miler, but can he extend his brilliance to a longer journey at the top level? Joe Pride has one burning question he wants Ceolwulf to answer this autumn – is he a Group One horse over 2000 metres? The gelding’s record offers conflicting data. His four majors have come over a mile, but he does have an Australian Derby placing at three, and a narrow win at Group 2 level over a middle-distance as an older horse. He has also been soundly beaten in the past two renewals of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m). So as the backmarker with a booming finish readies to launch his five-start campaign at Randwick on Saturday, Pride is already plotting how to solve the distance conundrum. “This preparation, I am about once and for all establishing if he can run 2000 metres as well as what he runs a mile,” Pride said. “There’s no doubt he runs 2000 metres, but is he as effective? “And does he get the right set-up for 2000? He never seems to get speed on, and that might be the defining factor for him. He might get in a 2000 metre race that is run a bit different and be a different horse.” Ceolwulf will be given two chances to prove his middle-distance mettle – at his fourth run in the Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington and his campaign swansong in the Queen Elizabeth. But first he has to get through Saturday’s Apollo Stakes (1400m) and a clash with undefeated mare Autumn Glow, along with her high-class stablemate, Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio). Ceolwulf has never won first-up, but he has run some cheeky races, including an eye-catching fourth to Fangirl in the corresponding event 12 months ago during a period when he wasn’t racing at his best. Pride felt there were a few reasons the gelding didn’t perform as expected last autumn, and has taken steps to rectify the main one. “I’m convinced one of them was that I had him too big,” he said. “I had him up around 530 kilos for his first-up run last time and he’s 510 now. I’m not a believer in a fighting weight for a horse so much, but with this horse, there is just a weight he runs well at and it’s around that (510 kilos).” As for Saturday, Ceolwulf is expected to be doing his best work late and Pride will be satisfied with a finish “in the first four or five”. He will then race every fortnight with the end goal of having him at his peak for his final two campaign runs, performances set to shape the remainder of his career. “It is always my aim to find out what the one perfect formula is for each horse, and I’ll repeat it all day long,” Pride said. “That’s why I want to work it out with Ceolwulf. I don’t want to waste any more time running him in 2000 metre races if he can’t perform at his best at that distance. “I’ll keep him a miler for the rest of his life if I have to. I’ve just got to find that out.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Group One performer Hezashocka (NZ) (Shocking) has gone full-circle, returning to where his racing career began, with part-owners Shaun and Emma Clotworthy at Byerley Park. The now eight-year-old was purchased by Shaun Clotworthy out of Grangewilliam Stud’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 3 Yearling Sale draft for $18,000 and went on to have three starts as a three-year-old for the Clotworthys, culminating in his victory in the Gr.2 Trelawney Stud Championship Stakes (2100m). Trans-Tasman syndicator OTI Racing purchased into the gelding and he continued his racing career in Australia for Melbourne trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, for whom he won a further four races, with his career earnings surpassing $1.65 million. His victories included the Gr.3 Premier’s Cup (2400m) and Listed Gosford Gold Cup (2200m), while he also placed in the Gr.1 Champions Stakes (2000m), two editions of the Gr.3 JRA Plate (2000m), and Listed Mornington Cup (2400m). “It was five years ago that we sent him over to Aussie and he has done a great job for us. He raced with some distinction against some quality horses,” Shaun Clotworthy said. “It is just nice to have a quality horse like him back in the stable.” Hezashocka made his first public appearance since arriving back in New Zealand in an 1100m trial at Te Aroha on Wednesday, and Clotworthy was happy enough with the hit-out over a distance well short of his best. “He is a horse that wants to get over 2000m-plus,” Clotworthy said. “They went pretty quick. We weren’t quite sure how much residual fitness he was going to retain from his Australian campaign. He hasn’t done too much work here so we will just build his work up and see where he gets to. “He is a sound horse and looks like he is ready to work. We can’t fault him, so we will press on a little bit further and see whether he has a desire to be a racehorse. If he does, and he brings any of his best Australian form, he will be competitive in New Zealand.” The stable is having a quiet week, with no runners this weekend, but Clotworthy is looking forward to heading to Ellerslie the following weekend to line-up last-start winner Espadas in a rating 75 1400m. The five-year-old son of Ace High has been a test of patience for his handlers, but it looks to be paying off, with Espadas putting in a convincing performance to win by 1-1/2 lengths over 1200m last month, bringing his record to two wins and a placing from six starts. “He has been a frustrating horse, he is quite a difficult horse to train,” Clotworthy said. “We do a lot of his work at the beach in a straight line because he has had a few maturity problems. “It was a nice win the other day. He has shown us a lot of potential, but it has been hard to get it out of him sometimes. He is back on track now and hopefully we can keep going. “He likes Ellerslie, so we will try and stretch him out to 1400m on the 21st (of February).” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Many stories are being shared this week centred on one of the true characters of racing, Stuart Dromgool, who passed away at age 90 at his Cambridge home last Sunday. As a young adult Dromgool mixed farming with horsemanship, riding successfully as an amateur and joining the training ranks in the 1960s under one of the best of the time, Cambridge trainer Wallace Townsend. “They were different times back then, and the way he operated was something you don’t see now,” said Dromgool’s son Mike. “He was an old pioneer and I suppose one of a kind.” Before embarking on his racing journey, Dromgool was a talented sportsman. As an axeman he won numerous titles up to national level and was also a successful athlete, especially over extreme distances. “He was a sub three-hour marathon runner, which got him selected for the Commonwealth Games trials, but then he was disqualified when the selectors found out he had been competing for money,” Mike said. “As he recalled later when talking about those days, why wouldn’t you take the money when you could earn two quid for running a road race? “Wood-chopping was his first love back then though, he loved that sport and was very good at it.” Becoming licensed in the racing industry led to numerous successes from his Cambridge stables, Waitful Lodge, named after the horse he rode to victory in jumps and flat races on the amateur and picnic circuit. As a trainer, Dromgool enjoyed his biggest successes in the 1970s, with stars from that era the Auckland and New Zealand Cup winner Royal Cadenza, noted mudlark Cattle King, whose wins included the Cornwall Handicap and Mitchelson Cup at Ellerslie and the Parliamentary Handicap at the Trentham winter meeting, and Reklaw, whose most notable of 19 wins was the Mitchelson Cup. “He was a great conditioner of a horse,” his son said. “Royal Cadenza won the Auckland Cup leading for most of the race for Bob Skelton, Cattle King just loved heavy ground and Reklaw began racing as a two-year-old and was still racing as a 13-year-old – you just don’t see that these days.” One member of Dromgool’s wide circle of friends was commentator George Simon, a neighbour for five years and one of many with memories of Dromgool’s laconic, dry wit. “The hard-case yarns we had over the fence, so many and all with the same Stuey touch where you had to follow that monotone and stay sharp for the hidden joke,” Simon said. “He was such a clever storyteller. “I remember one morning down at the track talking to him about this horse he was leading. ‘Yeah, I really like him, I reckon he’ll go a long way. We’ll start at Wairoa and then go to Gisborne, and after that we might even head up to Dargaville.’ “He was such a dry bugger, and a great guy with it.” Dromgool’s long training career ended just over a decade ago, but he remained with Daphne, his wife of nearly 70 years, in Cambridge to the day he died. “He had a stroke maybe six years ago and he was told he had three months to live,” his son Mike recalled. “He had smoked roll-your-owns all his life, so he went cold turkey and gave them up. “He was such a determined sort of bloke, he did things his way at the same time as being devoted to our mother and all the rest of us. He was a wonderful family man. “He turned 90 last year, he had a good life with no complaints and when his time came, he went out on his own terms. “One of his last instructions to me was to say a few words at his farewell but keep it short and sweet to save wasting any of the boys’ drinking time.” Stu Dromgool’s ‘final race’ will take place at 12 noon this Friday at Cambridge Raceway. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Wingatui filly Bobby Mcgee (NZ) (Ancient Spirit) will trek south to Invercargill on Saturday where she will bid to double her stakes tally in the Listed ILT Ascot Park Hotel Southland Guineas (1400m). She chalked up White Robe Lodge stallion Ancient Spirit’s first stakes win as a sire when taking out the Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1400m) at her home track on Boxing Day and she will head into the Southland Guineas in a fresh state. “She had a week on the walker and has progressed well,” trainer Terry Kennedy said. “She is a nice filly and will get better the further she goes, she has done everything right since she has raced.” Bobby Mcgee has drawn the ace barrier on Saturday and Kennedy said she should get an ideal trip from that alley. “She seems well, has a good barrier draw, so I think she should go well,” he said. “She will get in behind them. At Invercargill you have got to be on speed, so a good draw does help.” Bobby Mcgee is rated a $6 third favourite with TAB bookmakers behind Canterbury raiders Miss Starlight ($3.10) and Luna Capella ($5.50). Following Saturday, the Listed Property Brokers – Ray Kean Dunedin Guineas (1600m) at Wingatui in a fortnight looms as her next target, with further black-type assignments in the offing if she continues on her current trajectory. “There is plenty for her as long as she keeps going ahead,” he said. Kennedy will head to Ascot Park with four other runners this weekend, including last-start winner Ray’s Awake, who will step up to rating 65 grade in the Shares Available Robert Dennis Racing Handicap (2200m). “He won well last start and from a maiden to a 65 is not a really big jump over 2200m,” Kennedy said. “He has done well since he last raced and he will be competitive.” Stablemate Tandia ran third first-up at Invercargill last month following a 12-month absence from the track, and Kennedy his confident she can break through for her maiden win in the Heineken Maiden (1600m). “Tandia was super last start and is probably my better runner of the day,” Kennedy said. The Otago horseman will also line-up Kingfisher in the More FM Racing To I Do Handicap (1400m) and Manfred in the McCallums Group Maiden (1200m). “Manfred went a good race last-start, he was in front with 100m to go and then weakened in the last little bit,” Kennedy said. “He has done well since he has raced so I expect him to go a good race from the good barrier draw. “Kingfisher went alright out here (Wingatui last week), his sectionals were good, I am just hoping the 1400m is going to help him.” View the full article
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