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Rail-Drawn We the People Favored for Belmont Stakes; Derby Winner Rich Strike Third Choice
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German Stayer Takes Aim on the Belmont Gold Cup
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HISA Questions and Answers: Part Two
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Siblings to Firenze Fire, True Valour Win Debuts
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Ellis Director of Racing Jeff Hall Dies
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You and I Dies at 31
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TDN Snippets: Week of May 30-June 5
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Gavin Sharrock had a day out with three of his promising young gallopers at Hawera a fortnight ago, and he hopes to replicate that effort at Otaki on Saturday, particularly with Spandeedo, who will contest the Listed Phils Electrical and Gipsy Caravans Ryder Stakes (1200m). The Stratford horseman took Spandeedo, Stewart, and Vibration to the Egmont meeting, and all three returned winners, with the former comfortably taking out the two-year-old race. It was the second victory in four starts for the son of Ferrando, who has improved with each run. “He’s a really speedy little horse, he has been a little bit wayward at times, but I think we’ve got him under control now,” Sharrock said. “His work has been good and I’m really happy with him. “I haven’t done a hell of a lot with him since Hawera, he had a quiet gallop on Thursday morning and going into the race, I’m not too worried about the draw (8), because he’ll go forward anyway.” Sharrock has enjoyed a successful season in the juvenile ranks, also preparing Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) runner Daylight Robbery and stakes performer Country Salon to victories, but had the Otaki feature on his radar solely for Spandeedo. “He was the one I focussed on with this race, you can’t go everywhere, so the other two had a freshen up and they’ll go towards the Wanganui Guineas (Listed, 1340m) on the 30th of August,” he said. “He’ll have a three-week break after this race, and I’ll decide what to do with him after that.” Much like his younger stablemate, Vibration has been a work in progress for Sharrock and probably could have put more than three wins on the board had he put his best foot forward at each start. “He’s been a very hard horse to work, he seems to behave not too badly at the races, but at home, he’s a proper handful,” Sharrock said. “We are getting there though, he seems to be maturing a bit with age. “I think he’s an exceptional horse, he would’ve been much further forward than he is if we’d been able to handle him early, but he would run off the track at home and run off in his gallops and do silly things.” The son of Proisir was on best behaviour in his last couple of starts, going back-to-back at Otaki and Hawera, and he will start the likely favourite again in Saturday’s Levin Jumpouts Supporters Handicap (1400m). “We seem to have him under control now, he’s going well, so hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here,” Sharrock said. Completing the trio will be Stewart, a deserved maiden winner when he put six and half lengths on his rivals last time out. Northern-based apprentice Maria Sanson will continue her association with the three-year-old when he takes on the DG Farriers Handicap (1200m). “He’s come through that run really well, he was very unlucky when second at Te Rapa where he was carted out about six or eight horse widths, and only went down by half a head,” Sharrock said. “He put it all together at Hawera and won very convincingly, so hopefully he can carry on with it. He’s well, he’s eating and doing everything right.” The latter pair are raced by their breeder, Cliff Erb, who continues to support Sharrock with quality gallopers. “Cliff is an ex-dairy farmer and had always been infatuated with horses, and after he sold his farm, he built up a band of broodmares and is breeding a lot of horses,” Sharrock said. “I’m just lucky enough to be training them for him. “I’ve got six at the moment, mostly two-year-olds, rising three, and there are some lovely horses amongst them.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Canheroc has come close to taking out a couple of New Zealand’s feature staying races, and they will once again be on his radar this coming season. The Chris Wood-trained gelding was third in last year’s Gr.3 Wellington Cup (3200m) after winning the Listed Marton Cup (3200m), and last November he filled the same placing in the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m). “He has had a couple of unlucky runs in the New Zealand Cup and Wellington Cup. He probably should have won one of them at some stage but that’s the way things panned out.” Wood said. The rising eight-year-old had a decent spell after he pulled up lame following the Gr.3 Waikato Cup (2400m) last December, and he will return to the Hamilton venue on Saturday to commence his new campaign in the Woods Contracting 1300. “He just pulled up a bit scratchy last year in behind at his last race at Waikato,” Wood said. “He had a good four months in the paddock at his owners’ place. He came back from there in good order and he seems a happy horse.” While pleased with Canheroc in the early stages of his preparation, Wood doesn’t expect him to feature on Saturday over a distance far shorter than his best. “He has had a few jumpouts, but he is not going to be a force to be reckoned with on Saturday,” he said. “I have put young Sienna Brown on, who is now apprenticed to me, for a four-kilogram weight relief. He won’t disgrace himself, but he will need the run and that will be a good starting point.” Wood is looking for redemption in the Wellington and New Zealand Cups and said they will be his key targets this season. “It is nice to have him back,” he said. “Hopefully he stays in one piece and he will be a nice chance going into the staying races for the spring and summer. “He will probably go to the New Zealand Cup again. He went the two miles last year, he just raced a bit fiercely for him, which was most unusual. He still found the line well after all the effort he put in through the run.” On Sunday at Te Aroha, Wood will line-up his exciting jumper Smug in the Te Aroha Veterinary Services Te Aroha Cup (3500m), and the seven-year-old gelding will be looking to build on his momentum after downing champion jumper West Coast at Woodville last start. “He has done good jobs with his two chases he has had – one a bit lucky and the other beating a champion (West Coast),” Wood said. “I thought we had come undone at the second-to-last when he got a bit unbalanced, but he picked himself up and really found the line. It was an outstanding effort and just shows that we have got something on our hands that is going to go forward with a bit of luck.” Wood is hoping to see another winning display on Sunday as his charge builds towards the Great New Zealand Steeplechase (6200m) at the same venue in September. “He is very exciting and the bigger, live fences will suit him more,” Wood said. “Everything is good and he has come through his last run in really good order, I am very happy with him.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A checkered past is proving to be a blessing in disguise for in-form mare Quick Fire, who is presented with an opportunity to rise to another level at Te Rapa. With maturity, the five-year-old daughter of Time Test has put a series of issues behind her and looms as a major player in The Callinan Family Taumarunui Gold Cup (2200m) on Saturday. “She wasn’t physically or mentally ready to be there and now she’s had all this enforced time to develop, we’ve got this really lovely racehorse to go on with,” trainer Kylie Fawcett said. “I’m really happy with her, she’s been a work in progress and had a lot of setbacks because she was very hormonal as a younger horse. “Every time she came into season, she was frightening to put on the horse truck. She would lean all over the partitions and self-destruct, but we certainly don’t have that problem with her now.” The late blooming Quick Fire has won five of her 16 starts, including three of her last five ahead of her open class debut at Te Rapa where she has posted two of her victories. “She had her first start as a Christmas four-year-old, and she won that and then had another couple of goes in Rating 65, so she got exposed quite quickly,” Fawcett said. “We put her out and then brought her back and had those problems with her coming into season and she whacked a leg in the paddock. “She went out again, so I am very grateful to the owners who have been so patient.” Quick Fire is likely to head for a short break following Saturday’s outing. “I’m not going to give her too long, two or three weeks, and then she won’t lose a great deal of fitness,” Fawcett said. “We’ll have a look around at some of the spring races, provided we get tracks to suit. “Hopefully by next autumn, she will really come into her own and I’ve always thought she could be a really nice cups’ mare.” Fawcett will also take the race day covers off unraced stablemate Hazmat when the monster three-year-old makes his debut in the Calf Donation Thank You Maiden (1400m) at Te Aroha on Sunday. “Everything he’s doing has been a really nice surprise because he is ginormous, he’s 17.2h and 580kg,” Fawcett said. “He is just so big, and we’ve always pegged him as a horse that gets over a bit of ground as he gets older.” The son of Proisir finished runner-up in his first trial at Ellerslie in July and a month later won an 1150m heat at Te Awamutu. “The trials have been nice, and he’ll have a run before I tip him out in the paddock for a month or so,” Fawcett said. “He’s a gentle giant and a beautiful moving horse, but he’s still raw and has a lot more physical development to do.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Lisa Latta-trained pair of Platinum Diamond and Brutiful Lass will bid to end their juvenile season in perfect fashion at Otaki on Saturday when they tackle the Listed Phils Electrical & Gipsy Caravans Ryder Stakes (1200m). Platinum Diamond has made a solid start to her career, with the daughter of Hello Youmzain winning two of her three starts to date, including last month’s Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) at Otaki. In-form hoop Bruno Queiroz will jump back in the saddle on Saturday where he will be out to replicate their last start heroics from barrier four. “She has drawn nicely,” Latta said. “I am happy with her, she has worked well. “She is a late foal, we have just given her a bit of time and she has come to it nicely. She just keeps going forward in the right direction, which is what you like to see.” Brutiful Lass fought out the minor placings in the Castletown Stakes, eventually finishing third behind Country Salon, and Latta is hoping for a strong finish from the daughter of Brutal this weekend. “I was rapt with her last run, she keeps improving,” Latta said. “She was in a photo for second and her sectionals were really good. “She has drawn a bit tricky again (seven), so it is just hard to know where she is going to end up. I can see her finishing it off strongly again.” Win, lose or draw, Latta said both fillies will head to the paddock after Saturday. “They will probably have a little freshen-up after this,” she said. Latta will be represented by three other runners at the meeting, including Benefactor who will be looking to repeat her winning performance from two starts back in the Levin Truck Services Handicap (1600m). “The track was just too heavy for her at Hawera (when fourth last start),” Latta said. “It is obviously going to still be pretty sticky on Saturday. We have had good weather, but it will still be in the Heavy range.” Benefactor will be joined in her race by stablemate Deadly Pony, who will step up to open company for the first time. “We are running her out of her grade, there are just a lack of races around and it’s just getting too long between runs,” Latta said. “She has worked well and she goes well at Otaki.” Latta’s Otaki team will be rounded out by rising 11-year-old gelding Lincoln Star, who will contest the Happy 65th Birthday Grant & Robert Linton Handicap (2100m). “He always tries hard,” Latta said of the eight-win gelding. “We are looking for an improved track for him. The claim (Amber Riddell’s 2kg claim) will help.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Unbeaten hurdler Billy Boy will make his debut over the bigger fences at Te Aroha on Sunday, with a view on returning to the track for a lucrative feature early in the new season. After warming up in four flat runs this campaign, Billy Boy came out firing over fences, maintaining his unblemished record with victories in the Manawatu Hurdle (2500m) and Wellington Hurdles (3200m). The son of So You Think is currently a $4.20 second-favourite for the Hospitality NZ Canterbury 135th Grand National Hurdles (4200m), but trainer Jo Rathbone has opted not to travel south this year, instead turning her focus to the Great New Zealand Hurdles (4200m), run at Te Aroha on September 19. “I’ve decided not to take him down to Christchurch this year, I’m aiming towards the Northern Hurdle instead, and this seemed like a good option heading towards that,” Rathbone said. “This is another step up in distance, so it fitted in well with my plans.” Continuing his partnership with Englishman Joshua Parker, the large-framed gelding will contest the Apparelmaster Waikato (3500m), and Rathbone isn’t concerned about the switch over to steeplechasing. “I’m sure he will jump the live fences really well and I don’t think it will worry him, any jump is only knee high to him anyway,” she said. “He’s done all sorts and had plenty of variety – he’s been to sports days, he’s been hunting, he’s done a bit of everything. I’ve got horses racing on Saturday at Te Rapa, so on Saturday morning I’ll take him into Cambridge and he can pop over a few live fences there before Sunday.” Billy Boy prepared for his upcoming assignment with a 1600m trial at Foxton on Tuesday, which he took out over stablemate Thebudgiesmugla. “He needed a bit of a blowout because he was pretty above himself and feeling very well,” Rathbone said. “I thought I’d better not send him on Sunday too fresh. “I was hoping for a nice even gallop and he was good, it went well.” Thebudgiesmugla will also be on the truck from Rathbone’s Wanganui base, aiming to go back-to-back in the after breaking maidens at Ellerslie in May. “He had a few weeks off after his last race, then I took him up to Cambridge for some schooling when a couple of my other horses had jumping trials,” Rathbone said. “He had a bit of a hit out there and I thought he just needed one more good work out before Sunday. “He’s got ability, he’s just still learning and tends to hit a flat spot before working out that he’s got to run a bit quicker, then he’s off again. “I think he’s going to improve every time he races, and he doesn’t seem to mind any track conditions, he goes on most ground.” The son of Redwood will line-up under Elen Nicholas in the Combined Contractors LTD 2200, while Shinagawa will step out in her first jumping assignment in the NZJR Welcomes Rick McIntosh (3100m). “I’m hoping to see a nice run from her, she’s only four but she’s done a lot of jumping,” Rathbone said. “She jumps well, she went around at the Cambridge trials and has done plenty down here as well. “She tries hard, she’s no champion, but she’s honest enough so I’d hope she won’t be too far away. “I think she’ll be more of a steeplechaser.” On the previous day at Te Rapa, Rathbone will be represented by Yellow Jersey and Nigelnomates, both of which will return from injury setbacks earlier in the year. Yellow Jersey had been a model of consistency through his spring and summer campaign, but was uncharacteristically last in a Rating 75 race at Waverley in February, and it was later revealed that the gelding had splints. “He didn’t go very well at his last start because he had splints that had come up, so that was the reason why he went poorly,” Rathbone said. “My intention had been to aim for a couple of hurdle starts when the tracks were better at the start of the season, but because of that, we had to give him some time off. “So, we’re just getting going again now and he’s always preferred a better track, but he seems a lot stronger this time in and he’s been working well enough on a heavier track. “I’m hoping that he will handle it, he’s done plenty of work so he should be forward enough for his fresh-up run. He does go well fresh, so it’ll just be track conditions as the question mark. “We’ll aim to have a hurdle run or two before the end of the season, he jumps particularly well.” It was a similar story for Nigelnomates, who steps out on race day for the first time in just shy of a year when taking his place in the Chief Stipe Morris Mile (1600m). “He was the same as Yellow Jersey, he went out because of injury, which was the reason for his poor performance in his last start,” Rathbone said. “He’s had to have time off, but he’s had a lot of work and he’s pretty fit. “He doesn’t like it super heavy either which is why I’m going up to Te Rapa, where it doesn’t tend to be quite so heavy. “Fingers crossed it’s not too heavy for him, he definitely has ability.” View the full article
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