General Yarn

well you quoted me . So your saying forbury has a history of posting,to use your words."absolute rubbish".And at the same time, your saying you fully undertsand why someone would get upset about forbury's posts. Those comments combined like you have, seem to illustrate a lack of perspective by you and the person getting upset at forbury's comments.   so you run a racing social media site and are thankful new particpants have nothing to do with racing social media. so i guess that means you think most who contribute on your site are full of constant negativity.  interesting. Then shouldn't we be blaming you to a degree because your enabling the negativity. Also,its nice you that you have observed the succesful people having an enjoyable time, are managing to avoid the constant negative people on course. Let me guess,a sign of the ones having a successful enjoyable time will be they won't be on social media.

Stephen Marsh ran rampant with wins in four of the first seven races at Ellerslie on Saturday, but his hottest favourite of the day had to settle for a placing as another Cambridge stable stole the show. The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained Arabian Songbird (NZ) (Pierro) took flight from the back of the field to upstage Tardelli (I Am Invincible) in the $65,000 Elsdon Park (1400m). Marsh had been an unstoppable force until that point of the afternoon, winning the Gr.2 Windsor Park Stud Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) by almost seven lengths with Well Written (Written Tycoon) along with undercard victories by Miss Fladgate (Russian Revolution), Swiss Prince (NZ) (El Roca) and On The Town (NZ) (Blue Point). “Someone had to stop him,” Wellwood quipped. “But I have to give a big shout out to Cambridge. Today’s results are testament to the quality of training centre we work at.” While all eyes were on Tardelli following his dominant first-up victory over the same course and distance as Saturday’s race, Arabian Songbird also boasted a one-from-one record so far this season. She stormed home to take out a 1300m Rating 75 on September 6. The Pierro mare was sent out as a distant second favourite at $5.70 on Saturday while Tardelli jumped at $1.90. The race appeared to be following that script as Tardelli cruised to the lead with 300m to run, but then Arabian Songbird turned that on its head. After rounding the home turn with only two horses behind her, Arabian Songbird was angled to the outside by jockey Masa Hashizume and let rip. Capitalising on her 6kg advantage at the weights, she swept past Tardelli in the final 100m and went on to win by three-quarters of a length. The favourite’s stablemate Bourbon Empress (NZ) (Proisir) also edged him out to fill the runner-up position. Arabian Songbird has now had 10 starts for five wins, two placings and $158,025 in stakes for owners Barneswood Farm. Four of those wins have come from only five appearances at Ellerslie. “With the prize-money on offer here and the fantastic surface to race on, it’s a pretty good track to like,” Wellwood said. “She was very impressive today. Masa gave her a patient ride and she showed a wonderful turn of foot. “She’s an exciting mare and we’ve got a lot of options available to us from here. We’ll have a team talk with Barneswood Farm and come up with a plan. We could take her to Riccarton for the TAB Mile (Gr.3, 1600m), or there’s the Breeders’ Stakes (Gr.2, 1400m) at Pukekohe and even the possibility of a Group One at Trentham (TAB Mufhasa Classic, 1600m). We’ve got a lot to look forward to, wherever we end up going with her.” Hashizume now boasts a four-from-five record with Arabian Songbird. “She’s a fantastic mare, she’s very special,” he said. “She’s just the easiest horse to ride. “The favourite is a good horse, but I knew he had a lot to weight to carry with 60.5kg. I knew from quite early in the straight that we were going to catch him.” Arabian Songbird was bred by Jamieson Park and is by Pierro out of Rare Delight, which makes her a half-sister to the Group Two performer Saint Alice. That mare raced in the tangerine and white colours of Barneswood Farm, who went back to the same well and bought Arabian Songbird for $260,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2022. View the full article

If trainer Stephen Marsh thought his day couldn’t get any better after winning the first three races on the card at Ellerslie on Saturday, he had to revise those thoughts pretty quickly after the running of the Gr.2 Windsor Park Stud Soliloquy Sakes (1400m). Successful with Miss Fladgate (Russian Revolution) (Race 1), Swiss Prince (NZ) (El Roca) (Race 2) and On The Town (NZ) (Blue Point) (Race 3), Marsh sent out consistent filly Little Black Dress (Snitzel) and impressive debut winner Well Written (Written Tycoon) in the feature for the three-year-old fillies and returned the quinella in spectacular style as Well Written showed her debut victory at the venue was just a sign of things to come. The Written Tycoon filly had come from midfield to dash away from a handy maiden field over 1200m on debut, winning by three lengths in the hands of Matt Cartwright. Cartwright was back aboard on Saturday and made full use of the coveted number one barrier draw. He got her away perfectly to trail her stablemate throughout as Little Black Dress was softened up by another winning debutant in Places To Be (NZ) (Hello Youmzain). Left in front as Places to Be ran off on the home corner, Little Black Dress quickened nicely but soon had Well Written alongside briefly as Cartwright pushed the turbo button on his mount, who took off like a rocket at the 300m. To the cheers of her large group of owners, Well Written bolted away to win easing down by nearly seven lengths over Little Black Dress, who held out the late run of the well-favoured Tajana (NZ) (Darci Brahma) to claim second, with Savvy Donna (NZ) (Savabeel) and Lollapalooza (NZ) (El Roca) also figuring in the finish for third. Marsh was quick to pay tribute to Bloodstock agent Dylan Johnson who convinced him to purchase the filly out of the Brighthill Farm draft during the 2024 NZB National Online Yearling Sale on Gavelhouse Plus, where they paid a sale-topping $80,000. “That was bloody exciting as we thought we had two excellent fillies,” Marsh said. “It was just a shame Little Black Dress got softened up and taken on the whole way. “Well Written got a great run and you could just see at the top of the straight it was going to be another good win like last time. “I was hoping she had the X-factor. Holy hell, she could be pretty special. “Dylan has got take a lot of credit as he shopped around the whole of the online book and took me to every place in New Zealand to look at them and he found her. Big ups to him and a big group of owners, including some new stable clients.” Well Written holds a nomination for the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton on November 8, with Marsh confirming she would be heading to the race along with Little Black Dress. “We will certainly be going down there with the way she has won today,” he said. “We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves as she has had a short prep with just the two runs. If she comes through well, we will give her a crack. “She (Little Black Dress) will also be there as she is also a very good filly.” Cartwright was struggling to put the performance into words when asked about the run. “Jesus, we might have unravelled one here,” he said “She was a bit awkward away, but she enjoyed a lovely run and from the corner she was travelling way too good for them. “She let rip and is very special, a very good horse.” TAB Bookmakers didn’t waste any time by installing her as the $4 Fixed Odds favourite for the New Zealand 1000 Guineas ahead of Tajana and Lollapalooza, who share the second line of betting at $5 for the race. Well Written is by Written Tycoon out of the Sebring mare Mozzie Monster, who placed in the Listed Jim Moloney Stakes (1400m) and Bendigo Guineas (1400m). She has now earned over $117,000 from just two starts to date. View the full article

We need more and more owners for harness racing to survive in NZ. Canterbury are very lucky to have enthusiasts who give up plenty of time to run syndicates and try and entice new owners in go racing! Nigel Armstrong and Andrew Fitzgerald are doing a great job in in regards to this. Andrew gas a lot more horses being races under his Off n Racing banner , both harness and gallopers. He always explains what the buy in cost is and the monthly charges, and he doesnt have any trouble in selling out the shares in the horses. If you dont like the terms then dont buy into it, and clearly HRNZ has no issues in what he is doing! personally dont think we should be knocking enthusiasts who are genuinely trying to help harness racing. Stonewall also syndicate some of their horses with plenty of owners and their costs and charges are a lot more expensive and yet they havent been mentioned?

A winning debut by bargain buy Midnight Dart (NZ) (Derryn) in the Rat Tat 2YO Plate (800m) at Trentham on Saturday has kept the Karaka Millions dream alive and well for a big group of young and first-time owners. Midnight Dart was bought for just $20,000 from Book 2 of Karaka 2025 by Josh Herd, whose mother Lisa Latta trains the colt at Awapuni. He ran second in his only trial at Otaki on September 16, beaten by a wide margin by subsequent race winner De Armas (NZ) (Ardrossan), and was sent out as the $8.50 outsider in Saturday’s five-horse field. Patiently ridden by Kate Hercock, Midnight Dart settled towards the back of the field in the early stages as Magill (Farnan) led the field up to the home turn. The five runners fanned out across the track to stake their claims in the straight, and the favourite Rupeni (Home Affairs) burst through closest to the inside in what looked like a winning move. But Hercock drove Midnight Dart up alongside that runner and he outfinished him through the last 100 metres, edging ahead to win by three-quarters of a length. Rupeni ran second, with two and a quarter lengths back to Home Secretary (Home Affairs) in third. “He’s a true-blue little professional racehorse,” Latta said. “This is a great story. My son Josh bought the horse from the sales at Karaka and syndicated him out. He’s got a lot of people involved, which is great. There are a lot of small shares and heaps of young people. It’s just fantastic. “This little horse has done everything right. He had one trial last month, and then he went really well in the Levin jumpouts two weeks ago and was narrowly beaten there. “We bought him with a dream of getting him to the Karaka Millions for these young owners, so that’s the goal and we’ll work our way backwards from there.” The $1 million Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) will be run at Ellerslie on January 24. Latta has already made her mark on the Karaka Millions stage, winning New Zealand’s richest two-year-old race with Fort Lincoln (Charge Forward) in 2011 and finishing second with Showmeyamoneyhoney (NZ) (Showcasing) in 2016. Midnight Dart earned $23,000 from Saturday’s win, which puts him straight into equal second place in the Karaka Millions order of entry alongside De Armas. The top spot belongs to the Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained Torture (NZ), by freshman Cambridge Stud stallion Sword Of State, who earned A$120,750 with her victory on debut in the Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield during the week. Midnight Dart was bred by Grangewilliam Stud and is a son of their headline stallion Derryn. His dam Ambitious Beauty is a full-sister to the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) winner Ambitious Owner. View the full article