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    • Ciaron Maher is new trainer at Leilani Lodge at Royal Randwick www.racenet.com.au Ciaron Maher, the nation's premier trainer, has been given the keys of famous Leilani Lodge at Royal Randwick. The Australian Turf Club board had a phone hook-up early on Thursday morning as some directors were overseas and determined Maher's application for the High Street stable complex had been successful. It is understood the board decided on Maher over the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott training partnership. Maher is the nation's reigning premier trainer and with 279 wins on all tracks so far in the 2024-25 season, he is on track to retain the title.   He will also win another Melbourne trainers premiership as his 98 wins so far this season has him well clear of Team Hayes on 64 wins. Maher has also trained the winners of 10 Group 1 races including The Everest (Bella Nipotina) and Caulfield Cup (Duke De Sessa) this season to be second only to Chris Waller (19 wins) for most Group 1 wins. With stable earnings of $57.2 million already this season, Maher has set a new national prizemoney record – with still more than a month of the season remaining. Maher's growing presence in Sydney racing has some suggesting he could one day challenge Waller's premiership dominance. • J-Mac gets on the board at Royal Ascot Leilani Lodge has been with the Cummings family for five decades until Anthony Cummings was forced to vacate the stables when his trainer's licence was revoked by Racing NSW in early March after his business went into liquidation. Anthony's father, the legendary Bart Cummings, first moved into Leilani Lodge at Randwick in the early 1980s and won a Sydney trainers' premiership from those stables in 1989-90. An original Hall of Fame inductee, Bart Cummings prepared some of his greatest champions out of Leilani Lodge including Saintly, So You Think, Beau Zam, Shaftesbury Avenue, Sky Chase, Campaign King, Dane Ripper and many others.
    • Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray wouldn’t usually present a horse to the races without a trial, but that indicated how much they thought of Love The Sort (Tassort), and she bolted in on debut at the Cambridge Synthetic on Wednesday. The filly’s success was the first leg of a winning double for the stable, with Ritchie on course while Murray celebrated his birthday in the warmer climes of Queensland. “I’ve just got back from the States and had a fantastic experience over there, and Colm took off this morning to go to the Gold Coast,” Ritchie said. “Really, he’s done the hard work on the horses winning today, and I get to stand there and count the money.” An unknown to the public, Love The Sort opened at a decent price in the Waipa Earthworks 970, and after getting as short as $4, she closed at double figures. With a featherlight 51.5kg under Rihaan Goyaram, the two-year-old fired through the pack to find the lead and she never looked like being caught, gliding clear by two lengths from Rocky Mountain. “I think it’s the first time in as long as I can remember that we’ve presented a horse at the races without having a barrier trial,” Ritchie said. “She’s shown us plenty of speed, and now that she’s used to the poly, we knew she had a great turn of foot on it. “In the couple of jump-outs she’s had, she’s been a little ginger out of the gate, but we were prepared to take the risk on that, knowing how fast she was. “After missing the kick slightly, she’s managed to get on to the fence, and we know she can rail like a little bit of a greyhound. I just love the way that she pinned her ears back and wanted to find the line, you can’t train that into them.” A daughter of Tassort, Love The Sort was a A$42,500 purchase by Ritchie at the Magic Millions’ Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and she carries the same silks as her Group Two-winning stablemate Tuxedo. “She just looked like a real runner to me,” he said. “Colm and I are aware that our best results have come in the staying races, with Cups and Oaks, and we probably prefer to train stayers, but having said that, we’ve got to keep up with the times.  “She’s just average-sized, but she’s built like a bullet, and we wanted to develop a sprinting type. As a two-year-old, that didn’t come up for us, we had to back off for maturity reasons, and that’s paid us back a little bit today. “The horse is owned by a bride of different people, but the main owner of Tuxedo, Grant Barnett, likes his colours and owns a nice share in this horse. He got a bit of money to pay training fees off the TAB today, which is great, because that’s a part of the enjoyment of racing, putting a bet on your own horse.” Ritchie indicated the filly would be off to the paddock at short notice, but she would be back for the early spring.  “She’ll almost certainly go for a break now, and then we’ll look at some three-year-old fillies races for her,” he said. “She may be limited to that 1200m, so we’ll probably have to take the season early, because as we know with the three-year-olds, the distances step up the further you get into the summer.” Later in the meeting, it was the turn of Hot Line Bling, who missed the start considerably, but was good enough to run down Radradra right on the line to collect his maiden over 1550m. “I thought his run was impressive, given that we really feel he is a 2000m-plus horse,” Ritchie said. “When he missed the start, it looked like it was all over, but after finding the right gap at the top of the straight, you’ve got to admire the way that he attacked the line in the last 200m. He wanted to win the race and he’s a beautiful style of an animal, he just looks like a really good staying sort of horse.” The success came at his 11th start and was a welcomed reward for connections, after a tough journey with the four-year-old. “When we presented him as a three-year-old he was racing quite well, he was only beaten narrowly at Whangarei, but he got an infection in the eye,” Ritchie said. “We had to make a decision and ask the owners whether they would pay for a pretty expensive operation, to get blood back into the retina so he could keep his eye, let alone race again. “It’s cost them a pretty penny to get to this point, so it’s nice to see them rewarded. “In his case, he’ll keep going through the winter, and if we can get him to a race like a New Zealand Cup (Gr.3, 3200m) on a light weight, I think that might be the sort of race within his range. I don’t think he’ll be stopping winning today.” Meanwhile, excitement is building in the stable with the recent return of not only Tuxedo, but also Tajana, a Group One-performing juvenile this season. “We’re very excited for Tajana and Tuxedo, they’ve both just come back into the stable and are going through some slow work at the moment,” Ritchie said. “Tuxedo has put on 40-50 kilos, he’s now got a hind quarter like an open sprinter, rather than a mile and a quarter Group Two winner. I think we’ll keep him to 1400m and a mile this preparation, he was right there in a Karaka Million and won two Group races, so he was just off the top echelon of three-year-olds. “With that natural strength, we expect him to be improved again, and we look forward to the Group races in the spring. “Tajana has run third in a Sires’ Produce and is Group Two-placed, so she’s another exciting filly from The Oaks Stud. “She’s getting ready for a 1000 Guineas (Gr.1 1600m), so we’ve got some classy horses to work with.” View the full article
    • Talented mare Grande Gallo (NZ) (Belardo) will return to her favourite track in pursuit of black-type in Saturday’s Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic (1400m), with two of her key rivals coming from the same stable. The daughter of Belardo has won three out of four appearances at the Tauranga course, and after her success in the Owens Plate (1200m) in March, trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott pencilled in the fillies and mares feature. “This race has been on her radar for a long time, it was her finale that we set in the hope of getting some black-type,” O’Sullivan said. “The biggest question mark with her is the track conditions, just whether she’s going to handle it to these sort of extremes. She does handle give in the ground, but this just may be a kettle of fish on the weekend.” An $85,000 purchase by Wexford at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales in 2022, Grande Gallo has more than exceeded that price in earnings, surpassing the $200,000 mark with a scorching run into second behind Midnight Scandal at Ellerslie earlier this month. It may have been a surprise in the market, but certainly not for her trainers, who anticipate the best is yet to come for the mare. “We expected that from her,” O’Sullivan said. “She’s done exceptionally well, she’s won five races now and has raced in pretty good company. We feel that next season, when she’s a year older and a bit stronger, she’ll continue to get better.” Joining Grande Gallo in Saturday’s contest is Lux Libertas, a mare with a similarly sharp record, and stakes placings in the Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and more recently, the Gr.3 Rotorua ITM Stakes (1400m). Adept in heavy track conditions, O’Sullivan hopes to see a similar showing from the Almanzor four-year-old before she heads to the paddock. “She’s ultra-consistent and racing well,” he said. “This will be her last start before she goes for a bit of a rest, but she’s certainly been a model of consistency.” The sole filly of the field will also represent Wexford, with a very in-form Tristar earning her place after winning two on the bounce this campaign. “It depended on her last performance, whether she was in the fillies and mares, or in the three-year-old race over 1200 on Saturday,” O’Sullivan said. “But she put up a good enough performance there and she deserves to race for black-type.” The stable will have another eight runners across the meeting, including three-year-olds Macallan and Ribkraka, both winners at their most recent starts. “Macallan has shown that he can handle very testing conditions, as he did last time at Tauranga,” O’Sullivan said. “Any horse that can handle the track in those kinds of conditions has got to be considered a good chance. “Although, this is quite a big step up in quality of horses, in comparison to what he met last time. “Rikraka is great, he’s done really well and has shown a lot of ticker in his last three runs. “He’s a good, tough horse that gets through bad ground and he’ll continue to improve.” The pair will go head-to-head in the Aongatete Avo-Ject 3YO (1200m), with Bruno Queiroz and Triston Moodley taking the respective rides. View the full article
    • The Myers name is synonymous with Central Districts racing, and Palmerston North-based trainer Caley Myers is continuing to add to her family’s legacy in the industry. The daughter of renowned Wanganui horseman Kevin “Dummy” Myers, Caley has been involved in the sport from an early age and gained a solid grounding from her family. She enjoyed working for her father for several years, which included campaigning horses around the country, but decided last season it was time to step out on her own and carve her own path. Myers scored two victories in her debut season, and at the start of this term elected to purchase a property on the outskirts of Palmerston North to set-up her own operation, which follows a similar business model to her father’s – running a small farm alongside her stable. “I have been doing it (working in racing) for a fair while now, going around the country with Dad’s horses, and this property came up for sale last year and I thought ‘why not give it a crack?’,” Myers said. “I have been in Palmerston North since last August and I am setting up my own operation. The property is just under 100 acres, and I am mostly doing pre-trainers, with a few two-year-olds and a couple of older horses. “I am also doing spellers as well as running a few cattle.” Myers is enjoying running her own barn but still utilises the family set-up on a weekly basis. “I am enjoying training, it is good fun,” she said. “I work at home, and I take my gallops out to Mum and Dad’s.” While mostly focussing on younger stock and pre-trainers at the infancy of her training career, Myers has a couple of exciting racehorses in her barn, including promising maidener Autumn Beauty. Myers acquired the chestnut gelding off her father and races him in partnership with her brothers Jason and Luke, who had major roles to play in his early education. “He has always been a nice horse,” Myers said. “Jason and Luke have done quite a bit with him and they really liked him, so we are all hopeful that he’s going to show something.” The four-year-old son of The Autumn Sun has already shown plenty of promise on the track, finishing runner-up in two of his four starts to date, including at New Plymouth last week where he was strong late. Myers was pleased with that effort and is hoping he can be ridden handier at Otaki on Friday, where he will be vying for a breakthrough win in the Otaki Tyre Repairs Maiden (2100m), with Myers’ cousin Kelly Myers in the saddle. “He has been going well,” Myers said. “He got just a little bit too far back last time, but that happens, and he ran home well. Hopefully he will be a bit handier on Friday.” Another exciting prospect in Myers’ barn is nine-year-old gelding Duke Of Plumpton. Raced by her father and close family friend Patrick Payne, Duke Of Plumpton has campaigned on both sides of the Tasman for the respective trainers and joined Myers’ stable last year. The son of Bachelor Duke has won seven races on the flat, and has shown an affinity for jumping, winning one and placing in two of his three hurdle starts to date. His future lies over fences, cementing that path with a pleasing trial at Cambridge on Monday. Myers has plenty of time for the promising hurdler and is dreaming of a trip south in six weeks for Riccarton’s Grand National Festival of Racing, a carnival she has frequented regularly on behalf of her father. “He is a nice horse and a handy horse to have around,” Myers said. “I had a patch where I didn’t have many of my own horses and Dad said I could train him. “He went well in his trial on Monday and Corey (Wiles, jockey) was happy with him. “Hopefully he will look to go to Christchurch. I have been doing that trip for many years now and it’s always a good trip away.” While racing is Myers’ first love, she is also passionate about a second career for her horses and recently took part in New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s (NZTR) Know Your Thoroughbred Clinic in Manawatu, hosted by local thoroughbred retraining and rehoming organisation JumpStart. With jumping being a staple in the Myers stable, rehoming their retired racehorses is a relatively easy exercise given their versatility and early education over fences. However, Myers said several of their former runners have been graduates of the JumpStart programme. One of those graduates is seven-year-old gelding Escalade, who won a race apiece on the flat and over hurdles before his subsequent retirement to JumpStart. “He had a little bit of an injury and Dad owned him and thought he might as well retire him while he is still sound and find a nice home for him because he is a beautiful horse,” Myers said. Myers recently reunited with the gelding at the Know Your Thoroughbred Clinic, jumping in the saddle aboard the son of Roc de Cambes to showcase is talent in the show jumping arena. “Dana Sutton, who runs JumpStart, got injured a couple of days before the clinic, so she asked me if I could come and ride Escalade,” Myers said. “It had been a very long time since I had jumped a show jump, but it was lucky it was on a horse that I did know, and I had jumped before.” Myers said Escalade is a lovely-natured horse that is thriving in the JumpStart environment. “Dana does a fantastic job with them, and she loves Escalade,” Myers said. “I believe she is keeping him.” View the full article
    • El Vaquero (NZ) (Ferrando) made such an early impression on Riccarton trainer Michael Pitman that he didn’t hesitate to purchase the colt’s sister at Karaka earlier this year. The handsome son of Ferrando has justified his handler’s opinion with sharp improvement on an unplaced debut with a top effort for a last start second. El Vaquero was caught wide at Wingatui from the outside gate and fought gallantly to the post and will bid to go one better in the Bain McCall Memorial 2YO (1000m) on his home course on Saturday. While co-trainer Pitman is more than happy with his charge, he acknowledged the task his youngster would face in trying to turn the tables on Te Akau representative Cool Aza Rene. “He probably should have won last start and under the conditions of two-year-old racing in New Zealand, the winner still gets in really well at the weights being a filly, so it will be tough,” he said. Three-time winner Cool Aza Rene will concede El Vaquero half a-kilo and her 57kg book weight will be further reduced by the 3kg claim of apprentice Hayley Hassman. “My bloke is a lovely horse and he will probably be better on top of the ground, but he did seem to get away with it the other day,” Pitman said. “He is such a nice colt that I went and bought his sister at the yearling sale.” Pitman secured the filly for $45,000 out of Apex Bloodstock’s draft while the stable will also have older brother and winner Giussepe Ferrante in Saturday’s Janet Francis Handicap (1000m). “He’s a nice horse, but the two-year-old is a magnificent looking colt,” he said. Pitman and son Matthew will also have a decent hand in the Greenwood Amberley Cup (1400m) with Makabar and Charbano in contention. “Makabar will be the better of the two, given his record on wet tracks at Riccarton,” he said. “The 1400m isn’t his go really, but he has won over the distance before and is in good order. “He went a good race (for second) the other day, he went up to win and the other horse (Express Coup) kept kicking back.” Stablemate Express Coup will attempt to make it two on the bounce when she steps out in the Glenys & Rod Gard’ner Handicap (1200m). “She will drop back from winning an open race to a Rating 75, so she gets in well,” Pitman said. The highly regarded Ocean Light, who has won two of his last three starts, will take aim at the Drug Alcohol Testing Specialists Handicap (1600m). “I think he’s an open class horse in waiting, he’s been freshened up and will go for this race and then possibly back to the poly for an open race,” Pitman said. “Of the others, Tomyturbo is racing well and dropping back to Rating 65 and Interlagos was very impressive last start, so we’ve got a few chances.” | Amberley Patrons Handicap (2000m) Tomyturbo has consecutive third placings to his credit while Optimise Fertilisers & Equi-Lise Handicap (1400m) hope Interlagos cleared maiden ranks in style at Wingatui. View the full article
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