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Grant van Niekerk on top of his game after a Thailand freshen up and a Happy Valley treble
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Douglas Whyte opens up on his production line of young horses and how they are set for success
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Hong Kong racing’s turbulent 2019: Conghua success, meetings plagued by unrest and the best of the best
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Zac Purton challenges Duke Wai to do it again in Lucky More clash: ‘it defied belief really’
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Four-year-old mare Good Banter was back in the winner’s circle when narrowly prevailing in the Catanach’s Jewellers Handicap (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday for trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton. The daughter of Tavistock hadn’t greeted the judge first since her triumph in the Gr.3 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) in April of last year but had shown positive signs in trackwork before her success on the improving Soft 7 surface. Ridden by Dylan Gibbons, Good Banter settled just forward of midfield and enjoyed a clear passage despite ducking in late to get the better of Cormac T to score by a neck. “She has been going so well at home and hadn’t quite reflected that on the track but she got a good ride today from Dylan and she did a good job to get herself back in the winner’s stall,” O’Shea said. “She has been a mare a long time out of the winner’s stall and had probably forgotten how to do it and it will do her the world of good. We had been so happy with her at home and we needed her to bring that A-game to the races, and she has done that today.” In-form rider Dylan Gibbons was pleased with the position he was able to find in the run. “My only concern with her today was I didn’t want to land too far back, and I was able to land three-back,” he said. “Ideally, I wanted the fence but the tempo was beautiful, we coped no pressure from back and it was just a matter of getting her around the corner. “I didn’t want to surge too soon and when no one stopped, she had to be tough today. “It is good to see a horse who hadn’t won in a while be able to go on with it like she did today, so it was a good effort. “She will take good confidence from that and I don’t think she really loved how much the track is drying out, so if they get a bit of rain she could easily win again.” Good Banter was bred by Blandford Lodge’s Helen-Gaye and Graham Bax and is out of the Savabeel mare Danza Kuduro. Herself a three-time winner on the racetrack, Danza Kuduro is a half-sister to the dual Group One winner Danzdanzdance and the Listed winner Le Gai Soleil, who was also prepared by O’Shea. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Winter specialist Caitlyns Wish was in her element in the extremely testing conditions at Te Rapa on Saturday and scored a determined front-running victory in the Group One Turf Bar Sprint (1200m). The $40,000 open handicap was the seventh win of a 24-start career for the daughter of Belardo, with all of those victories coming on heavy tracks. She has made a habit of winning at Te Rapa around this time of year, taking out a 1200m three-year-old race in July of 2023 and a 1200m open handicap last June. The five-year-old had been a bit below that level in the early stages of her latest preparation. Her first three runs back had produced an eighth, a fifth and a fourth, beaten by a combined margin of more than 25 lengths. But trainer Stephen Autridge headed to Te Rapa on Saturday with a feeling that Caitlyns Wish was about to turn the corner. “It’s just taken a while to build up her fitness this time in,” the Matamata horseman said. “She’s pretty robust and just keeps thriving, and I can’t give her any more work. “But today she had a lot of things in her favour. She won a similar race here last winter, where she led and kicked again, and it was more of the same today. She just loves when there’s a bit of rain on the day. I could see a fair way out that she was travelling well.” Caitlyns Wish has been ridden to all but one of her seven wins by Maria Sanson, who was in the saddle again on Saturday. The chestnut mare broke well from gate two and was sent forward by Sanson to take up an early lead. The pair’s rivals tried to put Caitlyns Wish under pressure a long way from home. Cleat went forward and sat on her outside coming down the side of the track, while Gospodin, Dusty Road and Martell were all breathing down her neck and poised to strike at the home turn. But Caitlyns Wish dug deep and fought ferociously all the way down the straight. She refused to relinquish her advantage and held her challengers at bay to win by half a length. “I was giving her a growl and a slap on the shoulder, but I didn’t want to unbalance her in this ground today,” Sanson said. “This is probably the heaviest track I’ve ever seen at Te Rapa. It’s hard work out there. “She’s had a few runs this time in. She was able to win second-up last winter, but has taken a bit longer this year. She was about 600kg after her summer spell, so she had a bit of weight to lose. But she’s reached that level of fitness now, the tracks are heavy, and she should be able to go on with it. “I’ve won six on her now and ride her in all her trackwork, so she’s a horse I’ve had a lot to do with. I’m very happy to get another win on her today.” Autridge indicated that Caitlyns Wish might return to Te Rapa for the $50,000 open handicap over 1300m on July 26. “We’ll definitely look to come back here for that next meeting,” he said. “The only issue is we generally prefer to stick to 1200m, because she can’t go much further than that.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Japanese apprentice Yuga Okubo cheekily suggested he could win four races at Te Rapa on Saturday from his four rides during a pre-raceday interview on Saturday morning and he nearly made good on that promise as he completed a winning treble with victory aboard Drop Of Something in the main flat race on the day, the UBP Te Awamutu Cup (1600m) The winner of four races in Japan before his arrival in New Zealand in early 2024, the likeable Okubo has created a good impression on some influential members of the racing community including trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott who provided the first of his winning treble with Ribkraka taking out race three on the card. Okubo scored again aboard the Tim & Margaret Carter-prepared Family Folks in race six by weaving a path towards the inside rail in the home straight and he repeated that pattern aboard Drop Of Something just one race later. The Wayne Hillis-trained five-year-old son of Telperion had shown he was ready to win again after finishing third behind Soldier Boy at the venue last month and performed up to expectations as he settled well back before Okubo began to hustle him along closer to the inside as the leading pack ran wide around the home bend. Just as it looked like race favourite Joshua Brown would hold off all challengers, Drop Of Something forged to the lead at the 100m and went on to win by a long neck from the favourite and Diamond Jak who battled gamely for third. Hillis didn’t have high hopes for a winning result when he saw how far back his charge was as runners headed to the home bend. “I was thinking we were no chance on the corner as we were back and he didn’t look like he was going that good while I thought the place to be was wider out and not on the inner,” Hillis said. “To his credit the boy stuck to his guns and he had won on a similar path in the previous race so he knew it wasn’t that bad down there. “I’ve had him (Okubo) on a few now and he is very balanced and has a lot of potential. You don’t get many 4kg claimers who are as strong as he is and I would expect he is going to be very popular over the next few months.” Hillis is looking forward to another Te Rapa prize at the end of the month with Drop Of Something being aimed at the Callinan Family Taumarunui Gold Cup (2100m) on 26 July. “This guy does like the mud and he has really strengthened up in the past year,” he said. “He tries really hard and I think he is ready to go further than a mile now. ‘We’d like to take him to New Plymouth for an open 1800m race on Opunake Cup day then back him up a week later in the Taumarunui Gold Cup.” Bred by the late Emma Evans and racing under the Evans Breeding Ltd banner, Drop Of Something is a son of the Don Eduardo mare Nothing More and has now won seven of his 42 starts and over $224,000 in prizemoney. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Well-travelled gelding Family Folks launched a powerful finish from near the back of the field to collect his first New Zealand victory in the Mark Sanders Memorial (1400m) at Te Rapa on Saturday. The son of Snitzel was born, raised and sold in Australia, then headed to Hong Kong and won five times in a 37-start career for owner Wing Keung So. The eight-year-old has found a new home this season with Cambridge trainers Tim and Margaret Carter, who now own him. He went winless in his first nine starts in New Zealand, but showed promising signs with close-up finishes behind the likes of Tomodachi, Irish Legacy, Penman and Croupier. Family Folks headed into Saturday’s race on the back of a second placing at Tauranga on June 21, where he was beaten by a nose by Kai Moana. Saturday was finally his day. Family Folks was patiently ridden in the $35,000 race by apprentice jockey Yuga Okubo, dropping out near the back of the field as four horses slugged it out in front and set a torrid pace. Okubo saved ground closer to the inside at the home turn as most of the field went wide in search of better footing. Family Folks quickened through underneath them, surging past nine horses in the straight and getting up to win by a length and three-quarters from Jethro Tull and Florin. It was the second win on the Te Rapa card for Okubo, who scored a front-running victory on Ribkraka earlier in the afternoon. He later completed a treble with Drop Of Something in the UBP Te Awamutu Cup (1600m). “It was a good effort by our horse and a fantastic ride by the young jockey,” Tim Carter said. “I think he’s a real up-and-comer – he’s got good balance, can use the stick in both hands, and horses really run for him. “I do feel a bit sorry for the other apprentice, Gareth Lahoud, who was a close second on him last start. We got our messages a bit mixed up and didn’t think he’d be riding at the meeting today, otherwise he would have been on him. But we’re very happy to get the result.” Family Folks is a son of the New Zealand-bred Ustinov mare Miss Sharapova, who was trained by Ken and Bev Kelso and won four races along with a third in the Gr.3 Lowland Stakes (2100m) and a fourth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m). Arrowfield Stud bred Family Folks and offered him at the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where the Hong Kong Jockey Club bought him for A$900,000. From 47 starts, Family Folks has now recorded six wins and seven placings and has earned more than $1.48 million. “Morgan (Carter, son) and I have bought horses for that Hong Kong owner over a number of years,” Tim Carter said. “This horse actually beat Lucky Sweynesse in a 1200m race at Happy Valley one day (in June 2022). He won a few races in Hong Kong, but then his form fell away a bit and the owner decided he wouldn’t be able to go much further up there. “They said we could try him out here in New Zealand and see if we could pick up a win or two with him. We’ve done that now and it’s a great feeling.” Family Folks went into Saturday’s race with a rating of 64, which will now increase – forcing his connections into a change of plans. “I think we’ve blown it,” Carter said. “There’s a Rating 65 Benchmark race coming up at New Plymouth in two weeks that’s worth quite a nice stake of $50,000. That was the target that we were thinking of having a crack at with this horse, but now I think we’ll need to come up with a new plan.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A daring ride by Kylan Wiles paved the way for tenacious mare Jakama Krystal to add a second win on the Te Rapa card for trainers Peter and Jessica Brosnan as she raced away with the Waikato Hunt Cup (3900m) on Saturday. The nine-year-old daughter of Jakkalberry is normally seen disputing the pace in her races but a change in tactics saw her settle near last for the first half of the contest before edging nearer with 1600m to run. Jakama Krystal was in the zone with her jumping and she flew the two fences down the back straight as she forged to the front and put the pressure on her rivals. Wiles sent her for home at the 600m and the mare responded in fine style as she put a break on Countryman and Super Spirit, who were chasing bravely but to no avail, as Jakama Krystal established a margin of five lengths on her rivals which she held comfortably to the winning post. Jessica Brosnan was all smiles as she recalled they had produced the last winner of the race which hadn’t been run since 2019. “We changed tactics a little bit today as we thought there would be a lot of speed on and there was,” Brosnan said. “We actually won the last running of the Hunt Cup with Pythagoras, so we had the trophy out on the bench at home this morning. “We haven’t had the race since then so we have been pushing the Club to get back into it as they are the heart of racing here. “We will keep chipping away with her (Jakama Krystal) and we will see where we take her next although we have been looking at Woodville (13 July). We just work her on the treadmill these days as she is older and has wear and tear, so every win is a bonus.” Wiles was also thrilled with the win after admitting he wasn’t too sure of his chances in the early running. “When she jumped out of the gates and was right back I thought no chance as she is usually up front and handy,” he said. “I just left her alone for the first couple (of fences) and then she began chipping away at them and when I asked her she would just take off. “Down the back I thought I’d cruise around them and she cantered into it before I really let her go and she felt like the winner from there. “The way she settled in behind them today I think a race like the Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4200m) might be one for her.” A winner of seven of her 67 races, Jakama Krystal holds a special place in the hearts of her Matamata mentors, as she was formerly trained by a close friend in the late Glynn Brick prior to his tragic passing in 2020. View the full article
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