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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Bellatrix Star (Star Witness) has defied early predictions and is set to be back at the races as early as Saturday at Caulfield after a stunning recovery from a fractured neck. The spring’s best jockey, Mark Zahra, has been confirmed as taking his first ride aboard the now four-year-old as she races for the first time in more than a year in the A$175,000 Listed Doveton Stakes (1100m). Such a comeback was something her connections dared not to even dream of at the start of the year when she broke her neck in a training accident at Cranbourne. In early January, after a spring where she had run second in the Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington, Bellatrix Star reared and fell when exiting the pool, with the early prognosis indicating her racing days were done. Trainer Mark Walker’s assistant Ben Gleeson explained that her future looked certain to lie in the breeding barn until connections took another x-ray of her neck and, to their surprise, found the injury had healed. “It was just in a tricky enough position that all sorts of things could come about from it,” Gleeson said. “We weren’t sure if she was ever going to be able to be ridden again let alone get back to doing everything she is doing currently. “We were going to retire her when she was out cantering in the paddock and we just thought we’d take a precautionary x-ray and it basically showed it had all healed, much to our surprise. “We’ve been pretty level-headed the whole way through about where we are going to get to so, provided she has a smooth week at home, this weekend is exciting, although we’re just trying to keep a lid on it at the moment. “We’ve still got no idea whether she is going to come back the same horse, but she ran through the line last Thursday in her trial and that gave us enough inclination that she’s got plenty of zest for racing. It’s going to be a tough ask on Saturday. She carries a big weight first-up for over 12 months. “It won’t be easy but we’re hopeful of seeing her resume to a good enough standard to push onto the autumn. She’s had a few riders but I’m sure Mark Zahra will suit. He’s obviously a man in form and he’s got great hands. She’s renowned for being a bit keen and a bit fierce in her races.” Bellatrix Star has raced just 11 times for five wins, including a Stakes hat-trick last spring of the Listed Cap d’Antibes Stakes (1100m), the Gr.3 Champagne Stakes (1200m) and the Gr.2 Schillaci Stakes (1100m), before her Coolmore Stud Stakes placing. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Progressive staying prospect Skippers Canyon (NZ) (Belardo) will take another step towards a planned Pakenham Cup tilt when he runs over 1800m at Caulfield on Saturday. Stokes has a number of horses nominated to compete at the Zipping Classic Day meeting, with Skippers Canyon scheduled to run in a Benchmark 74 after making an impression first-up at the same track earlier this month with a last-to-first victory over 1700m in the same grade. That was Skippers Canyon’s second win from three starts for the Stokes stable since joining the team after doing his earlier racing in New Zealand. “It was huge,” Stokes said of the four-year-old’s first-up win at Caulfield on November 15. “He’s just got a bit of a habit of stepping slow and Lachy (Neindorf) went to Plan B and he couldn’t have been any more impressive the way he let down. “He’s trained on good, no problems. It was probably a bit better than expected first-up so I’m hoping that we’re not going to get the second-up blues but his work this morning was nice and sharp so I feel he’s in good order.” Stokes is focused on getting Skippers Canyon to next month’s $300,000 Listed Pakenham Cup (2500m) on his home track, with Saturday’s race pinpointed as the right stepping stone. Skippers Canyon has been nominated in both the Eclipse Stakes and the Benchmark race, with Stokes indicating on Tuesday that the latter is the preference, with apprentice Logan Bates booked to take the ride to utilise a claim and help offset the 61.5kg impost. “When we tipped him out (last campaign) we thought we’d aim him up for the Pakenham Cup and then we’ll give him another little break and then we’ll work out where we go after that,” Stokes said. “We really like the horse. “He’s still not there, I still think he’s a preparation away, but he couldn’t have done much more than what he’s done. He won first-up (last preparation) at Sandown on a Heavy track and I think he’s going to make a nice 2400-metre horse.” The Belardo gelding was imported by OTI Racing after 10 starts in New Zealand, including a maiden win over 2100m at Otaki in January. He also recorded three seconds and a third, along with a fourth in the $350,000 Remutaka Classic (2100m) and a fifth in the Gr.3 Wellington Stakes (1600m). View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Farag (NZ) (Sacred Falls) will be given the chance to enter a new chapter in the Jericho Cup story at Warrnambool this Sunday when he strives to become the first back-to-back winner of the 4600-metre marathon. ‘’No horse has done it before so it would be great for him to achieve that,’’ trainer Aaron Purcell said on Tuesday. ‘’It’s obviously very hard to win the race once, let alone twice, but he’s in the right shape to give it a real shot.’’ To become the first defending champion of the longest flat race in Australia, Farag must match the feats of previous winners Wil John (2021) and Ablaze (2019) by carrying topweight of 70 kilograms over the 4600-metre journey. ‘’The 70kgs is obviously a task over that trip and against the others he’s carrying more weight as the second topweight has 67kgs and he was second topweight last year with 69kgs,’’ Purcell said. ‘’But he knows the track and distance and he’s carried weight before so we’re confident he’ll go well. ‘’Of course, Will Gordon riding is a major plus as well. ‘’He was obviously good at Geelong last week with the weight (70kgs) and bounced out of that race well. ‘’He went over the hill yesterday (Monday), even though he’s been over the hill before, it’s been a while, so everything suggests that he’s well and should be running well on Sunday.’’ Purcell may have two runners in the race as he waits on news as to whether new stable acquisition The Claimant gains a run in the Jericho Cup or is in the $60,000 consolation race over 3450 metres. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Group Two winner Tuxedo (NZ) (Tivaci) is gearing up for a busy summer, with the son of Tivaci given a quiet trial over 1100m at Taupo on Tuesday to help ready him for his looming targets. He had a pleasing three-year-old term for trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray, winning three of his six starts, including the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2000m) and Gr.3 Wellington Stakes (1600m), and was runner-up behind Damask Rose in the $1.5 million Karaka Million 3YO (1600m). He returned this season with a first-up victory over 1400m at Ruakaka in August before running seventh and sixth respectively in the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) and Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m). He has subsequently been freshened, and reflecting on Tuxedo’s first two weight-for-age runs, Ritchie said he certainly wasn’t out of his depth. “He had three weeks off after his two unlucky weight-for-age runs, and he certainly didn’t get the rub of the green in either race,” he said. “In his first one he got a bit of a wide run and didn’t get a lot of luck, he was knocked around a little bit and wasn’t far off them, and in the second one Waitak beat him to the gap and won the race. He perhaps could have run a place had he had clear running in that one. “I don’t believe he underperformed, but it was time to back off. I think it will strengthen him up and make him a lot tougher for the summer and autumn racing he has got ahead of him.” Ritchie was pleased with Tuxedo’s trial, where he was untested at the rear of the field, alongside multiple Group One winner Waitak, and he expects him to fire on all cylinders fresh-up in the Gr.3 J Swap Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on December 13. “That was a lovely quiet trial,” he said. “A lot of Lance (O’Sullivan) and Scotty’s (Andrew Scott) horses have been having what I would call handbrake trials, like they do in Sydney, and you find when they have trials like that, they usually come out full of beans and perform well first-up. “He will almost certainly take his place at Te Rapa in the J Swap and then more than likely the Rich Hill Mile (Gr.2, 1600m). He is in a good place in the Handicap now, so he doesn’t need to run at that weight-for-age level anymore, so we will work our way through the handicap and hopefully hit our peak in the Aotearoa Classic ($1 million, 1600m) in front of the big crowd at Ellerslie (on Karaka Millions night).” Ritchie was also happy with the trial of stablemate Crowd Pleaser (NZ) (Derryn), who finished runner-up in his 1100m heat. The three-year-old son of Derryn won his first trial over 800m at Ellerslie in June and Ritchie expects him to perform on raceday at short notice. “He is a lovely three-year-old,” Ritchie said. “I think he was purchased initially by people who turn horses over, a good couple of clients of ours. “He won his first trial at Ellerslie very well. We probably didn’t quite have him ready for the 1100m today, so he might be better at 1000m, but I think he will end up running a mile later on. “He is a very nice horse and if they decide to race him in New Zealand, and they may well do that now, I am sure he will show some form very quickly in the three-year-old ranks through the summer.” View the full article
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