The Rest

Geoblocking really starting to kick in now. We can stop worrying about Entain guarantees running out soon.

They were right and looks like they knew yesterday, but NZTR have still not updated their website

Waikato Stud’s private trainer Kris Shailer has had a whirlwind last few months, and that is set to continue at Ellerslie on Champions Day when he lines-up homebred filly Convinced (NZ) (Super Seth) in the $4 million NZB Kiwi (1500m). Shailer has had four wins from six starts this season, including victory in the Group Three Matamata Slipper (1200m) a fortnight ago with Justin Case (NZ) (Banquo), and he is hoping his golden run continues. Justin Case is set to step up to elite-level at Ellerslie next Saturday in the Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m), while Convinced will represent Waikato Stud’s slot in The NZB Kiwi. Bred and raced by Garry Chittick, Convinced is by the farm’s former stallion Super Seth, who has recently been sold to Coolmore for a landmark figure, and is out of Group Two winner The Real Beel (NZ) (Savabeel). Convinced won on debut for Shailer last month at Matamata over 1200m before running eighth in last weekend’s Group Three Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie, doing enough to get the green light for The NZB Kiwi. “It was a good debut win in a mid-week maiden and then we threw her in the deep end in the Uncle Remus, with The NZB Kiwi in mind, to have a look around Ellerslie,” Shailer said. “It was a good run. She got a little bit lost, being new up there, but we were happy.” Shailer said he is thrilled to be representing his employer in The NZB Kiwi and he is hoping his filly can repay their faith. “It is very exciting,” Shailer said. “She was bred on farm and is trained on farm.  “We are under no illusion that we are throwing her in the deep end, but it is not every day that you get to run around for $4 million.” Shailer is also looking forward to testing his filly over 1500m for the first time. “The Uncle Remus was a month between runs, and that was 1400m, and she probably felt the pinch a little bit late,” he said. “Two weeks between runs (into The NZB Kiwi), it’s (1500m) a query, but everyone has got to do it.” Jockey Samantha Collett rode Convinced in the Uncle Remus Stakes, and she has elected to stick with the filly for The NZB Kiwi. She will also ride Justin Case in the Sistema Stakes, and Shailer said he has progressed well since his last start Group Three win. “He has come through Matamata well, he looks great and you can hardly get his head out of the feed bin. I am really happy with him,” Shailer said. “He has only beaten two four-horse fields but that is not his fault, he can only beat what he is up against. Back on a Good track will be very interesting.” Shailer has just two members in his current race team and he is excited to take them both to compete on one of New Zealand’s biggest days on the racing calendar. “It’s the biggest day on the calendar and it’s exciting for everybody, the whole farm included,” he said. View the full article

In just her second season in the professional jockey ranks, Amber Riddell brought up her 100th win at Hawera on Friday, and she was rapt to achieve the milestone so early in her career. Riddell started competing in the amateur ranks, winning four races before progressing into an apprenticeship under Kevin Myers and subsequently transferred to Awapuni trainer Lisa Latta earlier this season. It was on the Latta-trained Starpello that she rode her 100th winner, at her 900th start, but Riddell admitted she wasn’t sure whether she had won on the line and she was relieved when she heard her charge’s name called out first over the loudspeaker. “I am really stoked to get it so early in my career,” Riddell said. “I didn’t think I had won, I thought Gryllsy (Craig Grylls) had got it, so I was relieved to hear the judge call out our name as the winner. “I have ridden that horse a few times before and he went really well two starts back where he should have won, he just got held up late.” Friday began an action-packed weekend for Riddell, who flew down to Dunedin to ride at Wingatui’s Otago Classics Day meeting on Saturday before she was straight back on a place north to ride at Trentham on Sunday. Riddell has been clocking up the frequent flyer points this season and the move to Palmerston North has made travelling around the country a lot more viable. “I am travelling a lot this season, which I am really enjoying,” she said. “I love riding down south and the racing down there is pretty strong, and the fields are big and competitive. “A lot of the South Island trainers have supported me and I have become a regular rider down there. I just want to continue riding as much as I can and continue to support the South Island.” Her propensity to travel has also opened further opportunities, particularly at stakes level, and Riddell said her next goal is to attain an elusive stakes victory. “I have also been getting more opportunities to ride in the Group and Listed races and on premier days,” she said. “I am still yet to win a big race, but that is my next goal I am hoping to achieve.” Riddell said another positive of moving to Palmerston North is that she can ride work alongside her father, veteran jockey Jonathan Riddell, who she said has been a massive help in developing her skillset as a rider. “I am enjoying being based at Awapuni and I am able to ride a lot of work with my Dad, which helps,” she said. “He has been really helpful and he goes over my raceday replays and gives me advice on what I could have done better.” Riddell was also pleased to bring up her milestone in the same season that her father brought up one of his own. “It happened in the same season that my Dad got his 1000th winner, so that is pretty special,” she said. Reflecting on her 100 wins, Riddell was quick to thank her supporters over the last couple of years. “I am really grateful to all of the owners and trainers who have given me opportunities and have helped me out in my career so far, especially the ones who put me on when I was first starting out,” she said. “I want to repay them by riding winners and getting the best possible result for them in every race.” Riddell recorded her 101st win later on the card at Hawera, and she is hoping to further add to that tally when she heads to Riccarton on Wednesday where she has a handful of rides, and she is particularly upbeat about the chances of the Stephanie Faulkner-trainer Bodleian in the Book A Suite For Autumn Racing (1400m). “He has come first and second in his last two starts, so he should go well,” she said. View the full article

The loss of Ghibellines was further emphasised at Wingatui where the late resident of White Robe Lodge was the dominant force. The son of Shamardal was represented by two new stakes winners at the weekend and sired a trifecta on Saturday’s undercard. His son Cluedo Lane (NZ) claimed top honours in the Gr.3 White Robe Lodge Weight-For-Age (1600m) for trainer Joseph Waldron while Noble Knight (NZ) and Capo Dell Impero (NZ) quinellaed the Listed Dunedin Gold Cup (2400m). The Sandy Cunningham-prepared Noble Knight was bred and sold by White Robe stud managers Wayne and Karen Stewart. “He deserved that, he’s a very handy horse and has won just under $500,000 now,” Wayne Stewart said. “It’s a great effort and with the increased prizemoney it shows you can race them and keep them here. “Those horses come into their own with a bit of maturity and the White Robe winner showed a good turn of foot when he let rip.” Noble Knight was sold for $22,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock South Island Yearling & Mixed Sale and is the last foal of the Yamanin Vital mare Flight Arrival (NZ). “We lost the mare unfortunately, but we’ve still got part of the breed going including Direct Flight (NZ) (Ghibellines) who won four and has a yearling by The Chosen One and is in foal to Alflaila,” Stewart said. Ghibellines, who passed away just after Christmas, currently has an impressive 5.2 percents stakes winners to runners. “That’s pretty good, normally you’re doing well if you get up to three or four,” Stewart said. “He’s been quite consistent in Australia too with his runners, it was a great shame we lost him, but that’s just the way it turned out and we’ve got a good few daughters of his we’re breeding from.” Ghibellines has produced 11 individual stakes winners, headed by his homebred Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) winner Smokin’ Romans (NZ) while Campaldino (NZ) won the Gr.2 Brisbane Cup (3200m) last season. “Campaldino went a really good race fresh-up the other day and he’s heading toward the Sydney Cup (Gr.1, 3200m),” Stewart said. On Saturday, the progressive Trader (NZ) won for the fourth time for Brian and Shane Anderton when he headed a Ghibellines domination of the Rating 75 sprint with stablemate Cherryville (NZ) and Kelvin Tyler’s Monaghan Boy (NZ) filling the minors. Meanwhile, White Robe’s Ancient Spirit continued the good start he has made to his career when the stakes-winning son of Invincible Spirit produced his second black type strike. Bobby McGee (NZ) won the Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1400m) on Boxing Day and on Saturday another daughter Golden Spirit (NZ) was a luckless second in the Listed Dunedin Guineas (1600m) for the Andertons. “I was talking to Kylie Williams and she said she had to come off heels and got held up and lost momentum, if she had got a run through then I think she could have won easily,” Stewart said. “She’s a lovely filly and a half-sister to Our Approval (by Ghibellines) who ran second in the Southern Mile Final.” White Robe is also delighted with the popularity of Ancient Spirit’s young associate sire Alflaila, a multiple Group winner by Dark Angel. “He’s had a great start with the book of mares he got, he covered over 100 and has been supported by the Dennis boys and from all over the country, including Cambridge Stud, Pencarrow and Waikato Stud,” Stewart said. View the full article