Trots

Sydney faces a lot of the same issues that New Zealand faces. Sport/Racing is now at best televised entertainment...much better view , cheaper and less time consuming. There are much more 'big days' so now no call to action ....another big day around the corner ! And racing is so bloody boring ...2 mins or less every 40 minutes .....horses running around a track, not the thrills/spills of car racing. Last nights Penrith v Rabbits had a poor crowd at game.....who cares ? So what . I went to a sports AGM , didn't even make a quorum .....who cares ! So what. And the reputation of Horse racing ain't gonna improve ...even in Australia. Many folk still like a bet .......Sports is not only catching up on Racing ,its surging ahead . Lotto for the big win ! But a great time to be involved in racing .......my horses have a better chance of breaking even and I can bet on any thing at anytime !

Possibly an indication that a massive crowd for one heavily promoted day doesn't mean significant long term benefits. 

Two years after buying Alabama Lass from a Melbourne yearling sale, Matamata trainer Ken Kelso is retracing those steps to find out how the brilliant filly measures up across the Tasman. Alabama Lass will have her first Australian start in Saturday’s A$500,000 Listed HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic (1100m) at Flemington. She is the highest-rated runner in the field, and under the set weights and penalties conditions of the race, carries 2kg below the 59kg topweight. She is the TAB’s $2.70 favourite and will be ridden by Craig Williams. “This is going to give us a good idea of how she measures up in Australia,” said Kelso, who trains in partnership with his wife Bev. “We won’t die wondering. If she puts her best foot forward, which she has in all of her New Zealand starts, I think she’ll be competitive.” Kelso paid A$120,000 to buy Alabama Lass from the Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne in March of 2023, having travelled over for Legarto’s successful raid on the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m). Alabama Lass has had eight starts in New Zealand for five wins and three second placings, most recently a five-length runaway over multiple Group One winner Crocetti in the Gr.3 King’s Plate (1200m) at Ellerslie on March 8. The daughter of Alabama Express had been tripped up by rain-affected ground when runner-up in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Crocetti’s Gr.1 Sistema Railway (1200m) in her previous two starts. “She was a bit unlucky with rain-affected ground in the Guineas and the Railway, so it was good to see her show what she can do when she gets a track to suit,” Kelso said. “Everything’s gone to plan with her since then. She flew to Melbourne on Wednesday and coped with it really well. She ate everything last night and is looking bright. “She had her final serious hitout at home on Saturday morning, up against the rail on the course proper. It was a bit foggy, so we weren’t able to time her, but it looked like good work. I think she’s spot on and we’re all systems go. “She’s in a good place at the moment and we’re very happy with her. Whatever happens on Saturday, this is going to be her final start this season.” Alabama Lass has drawn gate four among a full field of 18 sprinting three-year-olds. “They tell me that’s not a bad place to draw,” Kelso said. “A few of the other favourites have drawn around her. “We’ll leave tactics up to Craig, who will have done his form. I’m not saying that she won’t lead, but I don’t think she has to. If something else wants to go forward, she’s shown that she’s quite adaptable and can take a sit. “She’s shown at home that she’s good around corners, but we all know that races down the straight at Flemington are quite different. It’ll be interesting to see how she handles it.” View the full article

Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh heads to Trentham on Saturday with an opportunity to move ahead of arch-rivals Te Akau Racing in terms of Group and Listed wins in New Zealand this season. The Te Akau team of Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson holds a clear premiership lead over Marsh with 97 wins to 68, but the two powerhouse stables are deadlocked with 13 black-type victories apiece. No other trainer has more than Robbie Patterson’s nine. Remarkably, Marsh has collected nine of those 13 features since New Year’s Day alone – Bourbon Empress in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m), To Cap It All in the Listed Wellesley Stakes (1100m), Provence in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) and Gr.1 New Zealand Breeders’ Stakes (1600m), Ardalio in the Gr.3 Almanzor Trophy (1200m), El Vencedor in the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m), Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) and Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m), and Glamour Tycoon in last Saturday’s Listed Lightning Handicap (1200m). Marsh has now won a total of 97 Group and Listed races in his career, with 94 in New Zealand plus three in Australia. He will be represented in three of the four stakes races on Saturday’s Trentham card. Tale Of The Gypsy lines up in the Gr.1 Courtesy Ford Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), Kiwi Skyhawk contests the Gr.3 Higgins Concrete Manawatu Classic (2100m), and Glamour Tycoon will back up from her Lightning Handicap success and chase a second Listed win within the space of a week in the Bramco Granite & Marble Flying Handicap (1400m). Te Akau has runners in all four black-type features, including a four-pronged Sires’ Produce Stakes contingent headed by favourite La Dorada. Marsh respects the opposition but has a big opinion of Tale Of The Gypsy, who was a $180,000 purchase from Book 1 of Karaka 2024. The daughter of Written By won impressively on debut at Te Aroha in January, and has subsequently been plagued by wide gates when finishing fourth at Ellerslie, fifth in the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) and fourth in the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m). “I thought she ran a huge race from a wide gate to finish fourth in the Sistema,” Marsh said. “She ran home in some very good sectionals. “I’ve been thrilled with her in between times. She hasn’t had a good gate in her life and has drawn wide again on Saturday (gate 11), but she’s due a bit of a change of fortune and will hopefully get a bit of decent luck in the running. If she gets that, she could be a big improver.” Kiwi Skyhawk brings the strongest form credentials into the Manawatu Classic, having run a close last-start fifth behind Willydoit in the Gr.1 Trackside New Zealand Derby (2400m). The Derby has been a solid Manawatu Classic guide in recent years, with beaten Derby runners The Chosen One (2019), Charles Road (2017) and Humidor (2016) winning the Manawatu Classic while the likes of Just As Sharp (2024), Desert Lightning (2023) and Beaumarchais (2017) have placed. “There was a ton of merit in Kiwi Skyhawk’s performance for fifth in the Derby,” Marsh said. “He didn’t get all favours in the running, but still ran really well. He’s the highest-rated runner in the Manawatu Classic field by a couple of points. This race certainly isn’t the Derby. He’s going into it in good order and can run really well.” Marsh was pleased with Glamour Tycoon’s Lightning Handicap win last Saturday and sees no reason not to back her up in the Flying Handicap. “Her form has been hard to fault all season, and she was very tough down there at Trentham the other day,” he said. “It looked like the second horse (Platinum Attack) got his head in front and was going to pull away from her, but she fought back hard to get the win. It was great to see. “She came through it really well. She’s a big, strong girl, so I’m happy to try backing her up into another Listed race on Saturday. I don’t expect the quick turnaround to worry her.” Another source of excitement for Marsh on Saturday is the raceday returns of Velocious and Super Photon at Te Aroha and Trentham respectively. “Velocious resumes in the open sprint at Te Aroha and Super Photon is in the 1200m three-year-old race at Trentham,” Marsh said. “They’re a couple of very classy, stakes-winning juveniles from last season – obviously Velocious was champion two-year-old. They’ve both had wind operations and are coming back up beautifully. I’ve been thrilled with their recent trials and I’m really looking forward to seeing them back at the races.” Marsh identified the Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) at Te Rapa on April 26 as a potential target if Velocious performs up to expectations in this autumn campaign. View the full article

Top-flight sprinter-miler Waitak will draw on his powers of versatility when he steps up in trip at Trentham on Saturday. The Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott-trained son of Proisir will be among the favoured contenders in Saturday’s Gr.2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2100m) following his return to winning form at his most recent appearance. Waitak was untroubled earlier this month to claim the Gr.2 Japan Trophy (1600m) at Tauranga following a prolonged and successful sprinting career highlighted by his Gr.1 Railway (1200m) victory. “He’s got a good base of fitness now with a couple of more recent mile races, he’s settling well and racing like he can head out to the middle distance,” Scott said. “It will give us further options with him next season if he runs it out strongly. We would probably have liked it to be 2000m rather than 2100m, but we’ll take the hand that’s dealt. “He’s been training well and is in really good condition.” It won’t be a trip into the unknown for Waitak, who finished runner-up at three in the Gr.2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) and was fifth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m). “He went down by the barest of margins in the Guineas and ran well in the Derby so there are some form lines there,” Scott said. “After this trip away, we will probably look to give him a well-deserved break. He’s done a good job and has raced well without a lot of luck.” Waitak will be accompanied south by Desert Mystic (intowin.co.nz, 1600m) and Phoebe Buffay (Herrick Perry Memorial, 1400m). “Desert Mystic is in really good form and he’s been a horse that has gained a lot of confidence this season,” Scott said. “He is strong at the mile and he will have to carry a wee bit of weight (60.5kg), but we’re expecting another competitive performance from him.” Desert Mystic won three on the bounce before a last-start third at Matamata where he missed the jump and lost a hind plate during the race. Phoebe Buffay is also in good touch and followed up her maiden success with a solid third at Te Rapa. “She looks like she’s well-placed and has been freshened since her last run. She’s good at 1400m and is in a good place,” Scott said. The stable will also be well represented at Te Aroha on Saturday and Scott suggested Miss Bo Beep (Manco Handicap, 1150m) and The Weapon (Te Aroha Plumbing & Drainage 2022, 1400m) to be among their leading hopes. “We’re looking forward to Miss Bo Peep making her first start in the open grade, we think she’s a promising sprinter and should race really well,” Scott said. She has won three of her six starts while The Weapon hit the line strongly for second when resuming at Taupo last month. “His first run back was encouraging, and we think he’s gone the right way since,” he said. “Some of his three-year-old form was quite good and we’ve taken our time with him.” View the full article