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David Hayes emerged from a nightmare few days in Australia with the poignant success of China Win in his family colours in the Class Four Hebe Haven Handicap (1,800m). Hayes was home in Australia earlier this week battling the bushfires in Euroa, Victoria, where his family’s Lindsay Park Stables are located, and he had only returned to Hong Kong early on Sunday. “We’ve had a really bad time with the fires – I haven’t slept for two and a half days. I got back at 7am this morning after fighting...View the full article

An unusual plan paid big dividends for the connections of Ammirati (NZ) (Savabeel) when the big gelding confirmed New Zealand Derby plans with a dominant victory in the Listed Trackside Gingernuts Salver (2100m) at Ellerslie on Sunday. With more than a month between his win in the Gr. 3 Wellington Stakes (1600m) at Otaki in late November and a fifth placing in last week’s Gr. 2 Levin Classic (1400m) at Trentham, trainer Stephen Marsh decided on an eight-day back up for Ammirati’s first middle-distance test. That proved a masterstroke as the Savabeel gelding jumped best from the 2100m start point to make the early running and then track the leaders to the home turn. Regular jockey Matt Cartwright bided his time until asking Ammirati for his effort and he established a break on his rivals with 250m to run to still hold a margin of three-quarters of a length at the line. In a tight contest for the minor placings, Hastings visitor Tulsa King took second by a half-head from Yamato Satona, with the same margin to Day One and a nose to Navy Dreams in fifth place. While Marsh was absent on sales duty at the Gold Coast, stable representative Dylan Johnson was happy to sing his employer’s praises at a plan that worked. “It’s always satisfying when a plan comes off, so you’ve got to hand it to Stephen, it was a good call,” Johnson said. “We had been toying with whether he was a Kiwi or a Derby horse, but last week he said he would like to run him at Trentham and if he came through that okay then back him up here and get him over ground. “He had an economical run at Trentham and he hit the line well, so it set up well and it was great to see it all fall into place. “The beauty of today’s win is that you now know he’ll run a trip and we can pick a path to the Derby.” Five years ago the Marsh-trained Milford, another Savabeel gelding carrying the Elsdon Park colours, won the Gingernuts Salver and after finishing fifth in the Avondale Guineas, finished second to Rocket Spade in the New Zealand Derby. “It would be good to go one better with this horse, but he’ll work out which way to go with the choice of the Waikato Guineas (February 7) or the Avondale Guineas (February 27), but probably not both.” The TAB reacted to Ammirati’s win by trimming his NZ Derby odds from $13 to $9 on the second line behind $7 equal favourites Road To Paris and Towering Vision. Yamato Satona came in from $21 to $13 after hitting the line hard from well back, while Day One, who appeared to have his chance, eased from $13 to $17. At $450,000 from Waikato Stud’s 2023 Karaka draft, Ammirati was the third high-priced National Yearling Sale graduate to win on Sunday’s Ellerslie card. Almanzor filly Stromlinien, who was knocked down at the same price from the Elsdon Park draft last January, scored an impressive debut win, while her stablemate Chilling Out, also by Savabeel and costing $375,000 from Haunui Farm’s Karaka 2023 draft, completed a double in style. As Lot 467, a brother to Ammirati is one of 13 Savabeel yearlings in the Waikato Stud draft for the upcoming Karaka Centenary Sale. View the full article

Zac Purton bagged his biggest haul since the season opener with a five-timer at Sha Tin on Sunday, but the champion jockey’s crucial call on a Classic Mile ride remains up in the air. Purton was at his brilliant best when booting home Snowthorn, Majestic Valour, Robot Star, China Win and Little Paradise, who was the headline act after claiming the feature Class Two Racing Club Cup (1,400m). However, the brilliant display arguably made his decision on a Classic Mile ride more difficult, with...View the full article

Invincible Ibis again marked himself as the horse to beat in next month’s Classic Mile after defying 135lb to beat fellow four-year-old Beauty Bolt in a brilliant finish to the Class Two Pak Shek Au Handicap (1,600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. In a battle of the four-year-old series contenders, Mark Newnham’s classy galloper stamped his authority on the division in no uncertain terms, though he was made to work for it by a game Beauty Bolt. Breaking from stall 14 did the latter no favours and...View the full article

No she lay in, bumping the winner and placing herself on the heels of Cannon Hill as the stewards said.

Bullshit.  You are winding me up.  What do descrbie as "laying in"?  Did the inside horse run out and take CBL's line or not?

Looks like CBL lay in quite badly bumping the eventual winner but had been tending to from the turn and Bosson was attempting to correct so questioning him probably wasn't necessary. Pretty much as I saw it in the original video.

Brilliant wins at Ellerslie on Sunday by the Andrew Forsman-trained fillies Stromlinien (NZ) (Almanzor) and Chilling Out (NZ) (Savabeel) have set a platform for the TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and 3YO (1600m) back at the Auckland track in two weeks’ time. A last-to-first finish in the opening race has all but secured a place in the Karaka Millions 2YO field for the previously unheralded filly Stromlinien. The $450,000 Karaka yearling purchase went into the 1200m race with a single trial placing back in September, but she put aside any supposed lack of experience with a professional performance. After jumping well and engaging in the early speed duel, Stromlinien was eased back by jockey Craig Grylls and when the field balanced for the run home, she still shared last place on the inside of fellow debutant Singletary. Grylls angled her into the clear with 300m to run and she accelerated impressively between runners to hit the lead short of the finish and score by a long head. Indicative of the early tempo, Singletary finished hard down the outside for second, while Zaharias wilted to third after being left in front when the leaders faded. The $31,625 winner’s stake thrust Stromlinien right into Karaka Millions calculations, placing her ninth in the 14-horse qualifying order and prompting the TAB to slash her odds to $15. Third place boosted Zaharias’ earnings to $24,375 and up to 14th in the current order, but it is doubtful whether the $10,175 Singletary earned in running second will be sufficient to make the cut, even allowing there are doubtful starters higher up the order. Trainer Andrew Forsman admitted that the Karaka Millions 2YO wasn’t on his radar until Stromlinien put her hand up, but a return to Ellerslie on January 24 now seems a natural next step. “The main reason she’s here today is because they didn’t include two-year-old heats in the trials at Tauranga on Tuesday,” Forsman said. “After what she’s just done though, the Karaka Millions seems obvious just so long as she comes through the race okay, but she’s tough and I would expect her to.” As a daughter of Almanzor and a Savabeel mare, Stromlinien does not on the surface appeal as a precocious juvenile. However, Almanzor’s current run of hot form includes several shorter distance performers headed by Gr.1 TAB Telegraph (1200m) winner First Five, and her dam Santa Catarina’s five wins up to 1400m included a stakes race at two. Combining with Sydney-based bloodstock agent Andrew Williams, Forsman went to $450,000 to secure Stromlinien from the Elsdon Park draft at Karaka 2025. The Matamata nursery will offer a half-brother by Per Incanto as Lot 97 in its draft for the upcoming sale. Karaka Book 1 was also the source of Forsman’s second winner on the Ellerslie programme, previous-start maiden graduate Chilling Out, who lodged her Karaka Millions claim with a similar effort to her younger stablemate. After a debut third in early December, the Savabeel filly scored a comfortable win less than a fortnight later over 1400m at Ruakaka. Her Ellerslie repeat up against far stronger three-year-old opposition was in another league, however. After settling well back for super-confident jockey Craig Grylls, she didn’t loom into the action until well into the home straight yet was still able to comfortably account for the stakes-performed pair Miss Ziggy and That’s Gold. “That was a smart effort, so we’ll have to think about coming back here for the big three-year-old mile,” said Forsman, who prepares the $375,000 Haunui Farm graduate for long-time stable supporter David Paykel. “Going back to my time with Murray (Baker) we’ve had a number of good horses for David, but I think this filly might the best of them. “I thought she could win today and I also think she can win the Karaka Millions (3YO), so it’s pretty exciting to think we’ve now got what look like live chances in both races.” Chilling Out also holds nominations for the Gr. 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai NZ Oaks (2400m) and Gr. 1 Trackside NZ Derby (2400m), for which her respective odds have been shortened to $11 and $26. Grylls continued his dominance of the jockeys’ premiership by winning the first three races on the Ellerslie card. That extended his tally to 84 wins, 37 clear of his closest rival Sam Collett, as he makes every post a winner in his quest for back-to-back titles. View the full article

Join a full team this week on Weigh In. Guy Heveldt, Aidan Rodley and Bruce Sherwin break down the action from the West Coast and get the backstory from Dutch jockey Floor Moerman who took out the Kumara Gold Nuggets. Weigh In, January 11 View the full article