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Queen’s Plate Scheduled for Sept. 12
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Virtual Sovereign Awards Ceremony May 19
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The Weekly Wrap: Flaming June
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Runhappy $100K Bonus Extended to Belmont
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Forty Niner Passes Away in Japan at 35
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The Importance of Mentors: Liam Norris
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Iffraaj Leaving His Mark on the Antipodes
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Zenyatta Foals a Filly by Candy Ride
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Almond Eye Blitzes to Victoria Mile Win
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Letters to the Editor: This One Hurts
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The Importance of Mentors: Chris Richardson
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Swiss Skydiver to Bypass One Thousand Guineas
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If that happens in NZ thrn you might as well turn out the lights! Mile racing is just so boring and doesnt attract wagering from serious punters! To attract new punters and enthusiasts to harness racing they need racing to be over longer distances than a mile. Just isnt a fair contest and there is no doubt ownership will drop, but then again the ones making the decisions arent owners or punters and with little business success. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Father-and-son training partners Peter and Shaun McKay are taking a realistic approach to their prospects of further success when they return to their favourite track on the middle day of the Wellington Cup carnival. Trentham has been a happy hunting ground for the Matamata duo during their partnership that is now its fourth season, with 13 wins at a 20 percent strike-rate in their overall tally of 38 wins. Their highlight together was Wolfgang’s (NZ) (Puccini) double last season in the Gr.3 NZCIS Wellington Cup (3200m) and New Zealand St Leger (2500m), while in his previous career as a jockey, Shaun’s career-high came on stable runner The Mitigator (Master Of Design) in the 2020 Gr.1 Harcourts Thorndon Mile. Peter also trained 2008 and 2015 Thorndon Mile winners Alamosa and Puccini, and on Saturday he and his son will saddle up Spencer (NZ) (Derryn) in quest of further success in the 1600m feature. “It was a worry when we entered him for the Thorndon that off his high rating he would end up with something like 59 kilos, but then when the Kelsos decided to run Legarto (NZ) (Proisir), that all changed,” McKay said. “With a mare like her in the field the weight scale has ended up in our horse’s favour with 54.5 kilos, but we’re still being realistic about our chances.” Spencer has been in the McKay stable for his last three starts, beginning with a win over 1340m in late November and two subsequent unplaced efforts. In the most recent of those, the Gr. 1 TAB Telegraph (1200m) on January 3, his chances were virtually eliminated when he stumbled badly as he jumped from the barrier. “When that happened Elen (Nicholas) dug him up, but unfortunately that made him start over-racing, and to her credit she apologised afterwards. “He races best when he relaxes and gets into a rhythm, so that’s what we’re hoping will play out on Saturday. From his draw (10) the idea will be to roll forward and lead. “Masa (Hashizume) rode him in his Tuesday gallop, so he’s a had a good feel of him ahead of the weekend.” The McKays’ last-start Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth ll Cup winner Santa Catalina (NZ) (Puccini) will be on trial for the Wellington Cup when she lines up in Saturday’s Gr.3 Totara Lodge Wellington Stakes (2100m), but again her participation comes with a caveat. “Last year with Wolfgang, the Welligton Cup was 17 days after the Ellerslie race and it worked out perfectly, but this year it’s a whole month between the two races,” McKay said. “Santa Catalina had to run somewhere in between times and with no suitable race up north, this weekend is the only real option. “Her style is to find her feet and finish off, and with her record this season the 2100m will be short of her best, so to be fair so long as she’s hitting the line we’ll be happy.” The McKay contingent is completed by Faultless (NZ) (Tivaci), a three-year-old whose sole win came over 1300m on the track as an autumn two-year-old. The Tivaci gelding will be an interesting runner having his first middle-distance start in the Happy Hire 2100, with a best-case scenario a win or placing to open up some lucrative options. “If he was to win or finish second, we could get into the Remutaka Classic back here at the end or month, or there’s also the Waikato Guineas to consider. “His pedigree says he can’t stay, but in his last two starts with the blinkers off he’s relaxed a lot better, which encourages us to think now is the time to step him up over ground. “Like the other two he’s very well, so we’ll head back down to Wellington hoping it all plays out for us.” View the full article -
yes it's much easier on horse and driver. Very routine and predictable. And a little Boring at times too as Brodie would suggest lol. not quite the action of a NZ Cup race lol. I watched just the one race yesterday, Race 2 with COURAGE REACTOR who was stone last at the quarter mile, but a fabulous timed run by Wilson House , coming home from the back, saw the horse get up on the line to WIN. What a Great thing to See . 9 horse fields are great like that (give All runners a chance to win ) and a beautiful racetrack like Ashburton helps as well. Some more great 'modern NZ racing' . and the way of the future .( and the present day too) .(Brodie only likes the 'Old days' 😉) Alas the long distance stuff is Too Tough on horses (recovery wise and race wise as well) Not many can do anything like was Swayzee and Leap To Fame do over distance lol. it's hard to keep them interested and racing well , without going 'Flat'. even after one hard run wide over a mile and half which can really knock a horse around and effect it's future racing. Brodie doesn't understand that , as is not a trainer. thankfully in Aus the trainers and clubs KNOW it's In the horse's Best interests to race a mile to a mile and a quarter as they can Back up and race week to week . Which is very important. so 95%of races are short as possible. -
By Nowornever · Posted
All tracks will soon be all mile racing Brodie. Happening everywhere https://harnesslink.com/australia/carnival-of-miracles-goes-all-in-on-mile-racing/ -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
LEXINGTON, KY – The 2026 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale concluded its compressed two-day run Tuesday. “Another really good day,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “Overall, it was a great, solid day of trading. Everyone felt like it was a very honest and strong market overall.” That market strength and diversity was on display with as the top 25 horses came from 18 different consignors and sold to 24 individual buyers. The top 13 yearlings were also each by different stallions. After a three-day sale in 2025, Keeneland opted to make the 2026 January Sale into two longer, more action-packed sessions versus stretching the sale into three days. Lacy acknowledged that the decision was a difficult one to make but said, at the end of the day, buyers and sellers were happy. “It maintained the energy,” Lacy said. “The back ring was packed for a lot of the day. That's all you can ask for in a good marketplace is when you've got energy from the beginning to the end of the day. We never felt like we hit a lull. Even the auctioneer said the sale had a great bounce to it. It really comes down to the entry count. You have a choice between two full, longer days or three shorter days. And we felt like the fuller days, where you put horses up against each other and you have a real energy, are going to be better rather than split it into three days. It was a big ask from everybody because we've never catalogued that many before and we didn't get the scratch rate we expected either. So normally you have 30% scratches and it was more like 20% out of this sale which, again, is a sign of a strong market and something we're happy with.” Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach also emphasized that the switch to longer sessions in this particular sale was not an indicator that the same method would be employed in future, larger sales. “It's not something we're going to make a habit of,” said Breathnach. “This is not a new strategy and it's something you can't do in a bigger sale because you can't stable the horses. When you're re-using the same barns, you can't have 500 horses in a session. We have to really keep it at 400 or something close to that. So this is not going to be like we're going to have extra long sessions in big sales. It just became a two or three day decision [for this specific sale], and the decision was made to make it a two-day sale and we'll stand behind it as the right move.” Many consignors returned to Keeneland for a new try at short yearlings off a strong November Sale with money still to spend when they weren't able to purchase enough weanlings. “We were pleased to see the quality of the short yearlings,” Lacy continued. “The consignors felt like this was a good representation. People brought some really nice stuff here and the sellers got rewarded for that. The buyers were here and willing to support [the diversity] in the market. That's indicative of the quality of stock that was here.” Orinoco River (Hip 863) Keeneland En Fuego Stable picked up the session's top yearling, a $525,000 son of Nyquist consigned by Conley Bloodstock while the day's top mare belonged to St. George Stable LCC who acquired Orinoco River (War Front) (hip 863) in foal to Not This Time for $500,000 in a post-sale transaction after she failed to meet her reserve in the ring. The made the mare Coin Broker (Ire) responsible for two of the top four prices of the day as her Uncle Mo yearling (hip 637) sold to Rock Ridge Racing for $420,000. “Obviously her, her page is what, you know, caught our eye, but then you go look at her and physically,” said Rock Ridge Racing's Codee Guffey. “She just stood out to us. We'll ultimately keep her and hopefully add her to our racing stable and then bring her home, make a broodmare after racing.” Nyquist Colt a Home Run for Conley Bloodstock Gainesway's Brian Graves waited late into Tuesday's closing session to pick up a colt (hip 966) by top sire Nyquist, outlasting several other interested parties on a final bid of $525,000. Out of the stakes-placed mare Sorrentina Lemon, the colt counts Canadian champion 2-year-old filly and GI Darley Alcibiades winner Negligee (Northern Afleet) as an extended family member. Graves signed the ticket as part of En Fuego Stables, a group that was also active buying weanlings during the Keeneland November Sale. “I bought him for a pinhooking group and we'll bring him back as one of our stars next year at one of the select yearling sales,” Graves said. “He was just a specimen of a horse. He had everything you'd want–sire power, physical, walk, athleticism. I thought he was the best yearling here. [The market] has been hard. I bought eight foals yesterday, but it hasn't been easy. I think you just have to find your flow with the market and trust your gut.” Nyquist | Sarah Andrew The son of Nyquist was the sole offering consigned in the Keeneland January Sale by Carolyn Conley's Conley Bloodstock. First dam Sorrentina Lemon is a Justice Stables homebred. “His reserve was a bit lower than the final price but we like to see the market take it,” Conley said. “So we set a conservative reserve. Bill Justice (of Justice Real Estate) is my other half and he bred this colt. We believed in this colt from the beginning. I knew he was the nicest foal out of this mare so far. We are excited for his future.” Sorrentina Lemon's first foal is the now 4-year-old Mendelssohn gelding Lemon Sohn and she has a 3-year-old Medaglia d'Oro filly and a 2-year-old Justify filly still in the pipeline. That Justify filly failed to reach her reserve at Keeneland September last year on a final bid of $325,000. “I wanted to wait for the September sale but Bill is an expert at businessman and he said Nyquist is as hot as a firecracker so we are going to January,” Conley continued. “The colt improved while he was here at Keeneland. I swear he grew and gained weight. He has a beautiful disposition. And his walk–wow.” The result marked the highest-priced sale for Conley since she began consigning in 2021. “I have been actively consigning going on five years,” Conley said. “It was a natural flow from working in California where I was a jockey's agent for two years. I was asked to sell or buy horses so this was a natural progression. Cassie Lee is my right hand. She has been with me since I started consigning. She runs the shedrow at the sale and shows the horses and brings them to the ring. I couldn't do it without her.” Black Magic Woman Casts a Spell on L C Racing A winning daughter of Uncle Mo campaigned by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher earned plenty of attention Tuesday early in the session, hammering down on a final bid of $425,000 to L C Racing. Black Magic Woman (hip 596), a half-sister to GI Arkansas Derby winner Magnum Moon, sold in foal to champion first-crop sire Vekoma from the consignment of Claiborne Farm. “She's a big, strong mare, very attractive,” said Mark Reid who signed the ticket on behalf of L C Racing's Glenn Bennett. “I love Vekoma. And she's a half to an Arkansas Derby-winning millionaire. There was a lot to like about her. Todd had her as a race mare and she ran a couple of good numbers on the rags and sheets, which I pay a lot of attention to. I actually thought we'd have to pay a little bit more for her then we did. So we're very happy with the price.” Black Magic Woman (Hip 596) | Keeneland Twice a winner going one mile at Gulfstream in her racing career in 2021, Black Magic Woman is likely to return to Kentucky and Vekoma for her 2026 cover, though Reid admitted he'd been tempted by a few other options while visiting farms during Tuesday's open houses. “[Her 2026 foaling plans] are still to be discussed,” Reid said. “There's a good chance she'll go back to the same horse. She's a really good match for him. Although I've been wandering the countryside looking at stallions today and I've seen maybe two or three other good matches for her. So she'll go back to Pennsylvania to foal and then she'll return to Kentucky to be bred.” L C Racing has seen plenty of success on the track, including last year's GII Lexus Raven Run Stakes winner Kappa Kappa (Omaha Beach). Reid noted that Bennett was also looking to breed future success with a broodmare band that's trending upwards. “Glenn's looking to improve himself,” Reid said. “He's an old-school sports guy who's looking to have some fun and you have fun in those big races on Saturday. So my marching orders are to see if we can get him there. He's assembling a pretty good broodmare band. I bought Adorabella [at Fasig-Tipton] two years ago and now it looks like Book 'em Danno [Bucchero] could be a champion sprinter. So he's got, at the very least, a couple of top producing dams. So we're excited. He's got a band of about 15 now. And what I do every time I go to one of these sales, I sell our bottom mares and buy one higher to upgrade the group. That's what he's looking for. The market is very spotty. They either want them or they don't. And everybody seems to be on the same five horses in every sale. So that's why we're going this way [buying mares] instead of yearlings because they get the big super groups together and all the ones that I used to be able to buy for a couple hundred thousand are now going for [seven-figures]. And although Glenn could do that, I just don't think it's a smart way to go. If I can get him 15 decent-bred mares throwing horses by decent Kentucky stallions every year, I think we'll put together a pretty good race horse.” Now on the Oaks Trail, EGL-One Racing Continues to Grow Sixteen months ago, EGL One picked up their first purchase at Keeneland September, a yearling filly by American Pharoah for $75,000. Flash forward and that filly, now named Two Bits, has put the young entity on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks via her second-place finish in the Jan. 2 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, good for 10 points on the Oaks leaderboard. EGL has continued to grow in the months since that first purchase and Amanda Gillman struck again Tuesday, adding the now 4-year-old Quality Road filly Agia Marina (hip 558) to an EGL-One Racing roster which numbers some 20 strong. “We liked her race record,” said Gillman of EGL's newest acquisition. “She's proven that she has some talent on the race track and obviously Quality Road kind of sells himself.” Agia Marina (Hip 558) | Keeneland With earnings of over $130,000 in six starts, Agia Marina broke her maiden two starts ago at Kentucky Downs and raced most recently at Gulfstream Park, finishing second at Gulfstream Park in an allowance optional claimer Dec. 27. “These guys [EGL], they're focused on breeding and anything that they can create value with and get some black-type with down the road and then put into the broodmare band,” Gillman continued. “She's going to return to the track with Amelia Green and she'll race, barring any unforeseen circumstances, through her 4-year-old year and then we'll put her in foal next year.” The $170,000 paid for Agia Marina matched the third highest-priced horse signed for by EGL and Gillman acknowledged the strength of the market. “It was a good price,” Gillman said. “It was kind of the top of our limit but, in this market, you have to stretch for the ones you really like. We were blown out of the water on basically everything [Monday] so when you do land on one, it's a relief. [We want] the kind of horses that everyone wants in their broodmare band, which obviously makes it tough to buy. You hope that some slip through the cracks here and there. You look through all sorts of horses in every sale and try and find those classic pedigrees, those Curlin and Tapit pedigrees that everyone wants.” And as for their Busanda runner up? “She's doing great,” Gillman said. “She came out of the race in great shape. She's been very exciting to have. She's such a hard-trying, sweet horse to be around. She really gives you her all and she loves people so she's been a cool horse. It's honestly surreal. If you would have told us two years ago, we probably would've laughed in your face. It's everything coming together. We'll leave all her options open and consider every race on the Oaks trail. Just see how she trains on and pick the best spot for her.” The post Keeneland January Concludes With Day Of ‘Solid Trading’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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