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Jockey Club suffers a loss at the Hong Kong International Sale as Pakistan Star’s owner buys top lot
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Derby winner Francis Lui can’t find staff required for Conghua expansion: ‘nobody wants to go’
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Caspar Fownes says he is ‘up for the challenge’ of reviving career of gun sprinter Aethero
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Dennis Yip determined to send retiring Ben So out on a high as thanks for title-winning triumph
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Chad Schofield sheds pounds to ride light at Sha Tin: ‘I’m training pretty hard at the moment’
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Sadhbh scored a popular win at Te Rapa on Sunday when she broke through for her maiden victory in the Zappy – Send Couriers? Shipzappy.com 1500. The five-year-old daughter of Darci Brahma was bred and is raced by renowned racing photographer Trish Dunell, who was delighted to see her win while on the tools at Te Rapa. Dunell has taken a patient approach with her mare, who has just had the seven starts and has really come of age this preparation, placing in all three of her starts this time in before her weekend triumph. Punters took note and backed her into $2.80 favouritism, and she didn’t disappoint, with jockey Opie Bosson taking the shortest way home to score by a nose over Intoxicated, giving former The Oaks Stud stallion Darci Brahma the quinella. Trainer Pam Gerard was duly pleased to get the win and said she will improve over more ground. “She probably needed blinkers on, which we put on her today, but you won’t see the best of her until she steps up to 2000m,” she said. “Opie said he was niggling her along the whole way, but once he gave her one behind the saddle she took off. “She needs a better track too, but the weather has been pretty wet up here in the north and she’s been toughing it out to place on Heavy10 tracks. “The ability’s always been there, but she’s been such a big filly and mare we’ve just had to wait for her. “She’s learning to settle and run on, so is working it out to be a racehorse. She’s still got some filling out to do but come the autumn I think she’ll be pretty competitive in some nice races up in trip. “I’m really pleased to have won a race for Trish. She’s bred a really nice mare from a lovely family and just loves her horses to bits.” Sadhbh is regally bred, being out of Giant Mystique, a half-sister to former Singapore Horse of the Year War Affair, and is the dam of Group One performer Charles Road and stakes performer Cavallo Veloce. “She (Sadhbh) was the last one, having lost the mum, so I was never going to sell her,” Dunell said. Sadhbh has taken plenty of time to mature, having three starts as a three-year-old before a 16-month hiatus from racing and she returned in June a more developed horse and has run accordingly. “She is quite tall and she just keeps on growing, even now,” Dunell said. “But she is just lovely.” Dunell is excited about the future with her mare, particularly when she gets over further ground. “She is really going to be a stayer,” she said. “After that race, the girl who looks after her said that you wouldn’t have known she had a race at all, she was just so settled, and you couldn’t even hear her breathing she was so quiet.” Dunell has also enjoyed recent success across the Tasman, with full-sisters Spylark and Halliwell tasting success for trainers Dane Smith and Jessica Tzaferis respectively, the latter having posted four successive victories over winter. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Trent Didham has become the fourth generation in his family to become a trainer after joining his father, Peter, in partnership earlier this month. The Awapuni horsemen have lined up four horses together in the last week, recording two runner-up results at Awapuni’s synthetic meeting on Sunday, a day that had three generations of the family on track. “It was pretty cool to do it (commence training) with Dad in partnership, I am pretty proud,” Trent Didham said. “Grandad was there as well (on Sunday), which was good. He trained a few and took a few to Australia, and even his father before him was a trainer.” Born into the industry, the 27-year-old has always been destined to follow his forebears into the industry. “I have always been around it. Robbie Hannam is my uncle, so I was born into it,” he said. “I grew up, until I was five, at Awapuni where Dad was the track manager and then we moved out to Wellfield (Lodge, stud farm),” Didham said. Growing up at Wellfield Lodge helped lay a strong foundation for a career in the industry for Didham, but he said racing was always where his passion lay. “It was good to get a base with the stud work, but the racing side of the industry was what I was always interested in,” he said. While Didham has spent the majority of his working life under the tutelage of his father, he has spent several years across the Tasman working for some of Australia’s leading trainers. “I worked for just under a year for Mick Price and two years for John O’Shea,” he said. In-between those stints, Didham’s father raised the idea of entering a training partnership, but Didham felt like he had more to learn before heading down that path. “The idea was put forward by my old man a couple of years ago, but I said to him I wasn’t ready, and I wanted to work for someone overseas again,” he said. “I went and did that and then decided to come back and give it a crack.” The father-and-son duo are still in search of their first victory and they are hoping it will come this weekend when their promising four-year-old Lucullan resumes at Trentham. The son of Rich Enuff has won one and placed in three of his four starts to date and opened his preparation with a pleasing 800m trial win at Waverley earlier this month. “Lucullan will kick-off his campaign this Saturday and he is one to look out for,” Didham said. “His main target is the Stewards (Listed, 1200m) down south. “We will get through Saturday and hopefully he will head towards that.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Running Jedibeel (NZ) (Savabeel) first-up in the Gr.2 The Shorts (1100m) has never been Plan A for trainer Brad Widdup but after missing a scheduled start in the Gr.3 Concorde Stakes (1000m) due to a setback, he is resigned to pitting his charge against some of the country’s best sprinters. A key lead-up race to The Everest (1200m) on October 18, The Shorts is also being targeted by Gr.1 T J Smith Stakes (1200m) winner Briasa (Smart Missile), who has been trialling superbly, along with the likes of Joliestar (Zoustar), Private Harry (Harry Angel) and Headwall (Dream Ahead). Jedibeel was scratched from the Concorde Stakes last week due to a light ankle strain and Widdup felt next weekend’s The Shorts (1100m) shaped as an even stiffer target. “Very hard race,” Widdup said. “That is why it was very frustrating not to be able to run him last week. I’m not saying he would have won that race, but he drew well and it looked a good race for him. “This race is going to be ten times harder. We are under no illusions there but we have to kick him off somewhere and I’d rather stay at home in Sydney, get him going and then we can work it out from there.” Jedibeel was given a solo exhibition gallop between races at Rosehill on Saturday by jockey Kerrin Mcevoy, who will partner him in The Shorts. Widdup described it as a “tick over gallop” and said it was preferable to taking the gelding back to the trials off a setback. “We wanted to get him away from home and just do a little bit of work,” he said. “It was a nice little hit-out today. I will probably need to do a little bit more during the week and then hopefully he can acquit himself well next week.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The last couple of years have been a test for apprentice jockey Elen Nicholas, who has spent a significant amount of time on the sidelines with injury, but she returned with renewed vigour this year and was rewarded at New Plymouth on Saturday when recording her 100th win in the saddle. The expat Welsh horsewoman was two wins shy of the milestone heading into the Taranaki meeting and was duly thrilled to pilot home the first two winners on the card, Tulsa King and Our Time Keeper, at odds of $12.70 and $45.90 respectively, to reach the mark. “I knew I wasn’t far away (from 100 wins) but because I didn’t expect those two horses to win, they were real outside chances and neither of them had much form, it was a bit of a surprise,” she said. “I remember when I first started riding point-to-points back in the UK and I thought if I could ride a winner that would be great, and then I did, and then I thought if I could ride 10 winners that would be my life goal, so it is great to have reached 100.” It was a rewarding moment for Nicholas, who had contemplated retirement after her last injury, which required several surgeries and a long recuperation period. “It was a surreal moment because I had a real think about whether or not I was going to come back after the last injury,” she said. “I try not to dwell on the injuries, but I have had something like seven surgeries on one of my legs, so I am proud that my body has overcome that and is functioning.” Nicholas has utilised expertise from around the world in her rehabilitation, including an instrumental figure from her homeland. “I work with a guy in the UK, James Adams, who specifically works with jockeys and equestrian riders for fitness, but I have used him for rehab and fitness,” she said. “He is pretty good at getting people back to 100 percent and he understands the demands of raceday riding.” During Nicholas’ time out of the saddle, she worked in other jobs which gave her a new perspective and love for riding. “I had a couple of different jobs and went over to Aussie to work at the sales,” she said. “I approached Hana and Sam Beatson (Riversley Park) to help them out with cards and I really enjoyed it. “I worked for Newhaven Park in Australia and did a couple of sales for them on the cards. It is really fun because you meet a lot of people and a lot of big trainers in Australia you would never normally meet. “I didn’t have to come back riding, there were opportunities to explore other avenues, but I came back because I wanted to and I really missed it.” That renewed vigour has been reflected in Nicholas’ results, with the 29-year-old hoop having won 12 races to date this season, placing her in third position in the National Jockeys’ Premiership behind injured leader Michael McNab (17) and Opie Bosson (13). “I am pinching myself,” Nicholas said. She added two wins to her season tally at Te Rapa on Sunday, with the highlight being riding Notabadspillane to win the Norris Ward McKinnon 2200 for her partner, trainer Shaun Phelan, and father Brad Nicholas, who part-owns the five-year-old. “That was really nice to get the win on Notabadspillane as my Dad has a share in him,” she said. “That’s my first win on a horse Dad has got a share in, so that was really cool.” Nicholas has come a long way since riding in her first point-to-point race in Wales more than a decade ago, and she is pleased she made the move to New Zealand and followed the advice of riding mentor Noel Harris to pursue a career in the saddle. “I started riding back in Wales and I was 18 when I won my first winner in a point-to-point race,” she said. “I rode three point-to-point winners and then I came out here and rode for Paul Nelson over jumps. “I only rode one jumps winner in New Zealand and then Noel Harris said I should get my weight down and ride on the flat because I would make more opportunities for myself as an apprentice than being a jumps jockey, so I followed his advice.” Nicholas is enjoying her time in New Zealand and said it reminds her a lot of her homeland. “This country is a little similar to Wales with the countryside,” she said. “It has better weather, but it has a similar climate, and it felt like home away from home.” Of her 102 wins to date, a couple stand out above the rest for Nicholas. “Suliman winning the Taumarunui Gold Cup was quite special because it was for Paul Nelson, who was the first person I worked for in New Zealand,” she said. “I also had a really good partnership with a horse called Hit The Road Jack and I had a few wins on him that were quite special. I think I lost the first part of my claim on him.” Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Nicholas said she has two main goals. “Staying injury free is the main thing,” she said. “And I would love to win a stakes race, that would be the cherry on top.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Well-related filly Spark showed she has inherited a good measure of the family talent with a bold debut performance in black-type company at Riccarton. The daughter of Time Test overcame the outside barrier to finish a gallant fourth in Saturday’s Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) for co-trainer, breeder and owner Guy Lowry. “We do rate her very highly and she had to do a bit from the wide draw,” said Lowry, who trains with Leah Zydenbos. “We weren’t worried about the ability, we were just worried about her greenness, given how little she had done.” Spark had trialled twice last month at Foxton, winning the second of them with an eye-catching frontrunning display. “She has showed up plenty and we’ll get her home and put her out for three weeks,” Lowry said. “We’ll work out a plan and maybe look at some of the three-year-old fillies’ races over Christmas.” Spark is a daughter of the No Excuse Needed mare Flare, who is out of a three-quarter sister to the former two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon. He spent a short period with Lowry, whose father Pat bred the multiple Group One winner, before relocating to Tony Millard’s stable. The family also features Lowry’s Listed Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) winner and seven-time stakes placegetter Mohaka. Spark is a half-sister to Candle, a three-time winner for Lowry before adding two more victories from Richard Didham’s Riccarton stable. “We still own her and hopefully she can get some black type for us down there,” Lowry said. Meanwhile, talented mare Bedtime Story will take another step toward her return at Tuesday’s trials at Foxton where she won an 850m open heat last month. “You’ll see her first-up in the fillies and mares’ race at Hawera (Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Breeders Stakes, 1400m),” Lowry said. The Per Incanto five-year-old has four wins to her credit and has only finished out of the top four twice in 15 appearances. Bedtime Story was spelled following her runner-up finish in the Gr.3 Rotorua Stakes (1400m) off the back of a third in the Listed Anzac Mile (1600m). View the full article
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