Chief Stipe

Phar Lap Race Scratchings R1: 2,7 R2: 3,15 R3: 2 R4: 1,2,5,11,16,18,19 R5: 8,12 R6: 7 R7: R8: R9: R10: TAB Meeting #6 with the first of 10 races starting at 11:57am Doubles: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 Trebles: 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 8-9-10 Quaddies: 2-3-4-5, 7-8-9-10 Pick 6: Starts on race 5 with a $25,000 Guaranteed Pool Track conditions: Dead […] Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

There were plenty of fitting factors in the victory of Glen Elgin Thomson at Methven on Sunday, but none more so than the lady who owned the second ever New Zealand winner to be sired by Highview Tommy. That was the former Ballarat Cup winner’s biggest supporter and co-owner, Hazel van Opzeeland, who can now boast owning a winner sired by the horse who she has thrown all her efforts behind. Van Opzeeland took the brave approach of teaming up with Woodlands Stud to stand the stallion once his racing days were finished and has spent a lot of time marketing his availability on both sides of the Tasman. But the joy of success with one of her own on Sunday has made it all worth it – even if it did come as a bit of a shock. “We weren’t expecting any miracles to happen or anything like that,” she said. “He’d been going OK at workouts and trials but to see him win the way that he did was a huge surprise. I actually lost him half way up the straight but even now watching the replay, I’m not sure how he won.” Van Opzeeland can probably chalk that one up to the driving skill of Blair Orange, whose presence in the sulky of her first Highview Tommy winner made the occasion all the more special due to his involvement with the horse during his racing days. “Blair and Tommy were a bit of a team, and Blair’s role with Ken Barron was a big part in the decision to send the horse there in the first place. “I couldn’t actually think of anyone more fitting to be driving him than Blair.” Blair Orange and Hazel van Opzeeland (right). Photo: Race Images. A three-year-old gelding from Spring Thaw, Glen Elgin Thomson doesn’t lack for breeding and a quick stroll down the Falcon Seelster mare’s progeny line makes for impressive reading – Talaspring, Kabet and Spring Campaign among others filling the space. Sadly, there won’t be another addition after the mare died while giving birth to a Highview Tommy filly – giving even more significance to Glen Elgin Thomson’s success on Sunday. His win followed that of Tombelina’s earlier in the season to create some impressive looking starts for the relative new comer to the breeding scene and those coupled with some exciting prospects in Australia have van Opzeeland excited about the future. “There has been a lot of interest from Australia which has probably surprised me a bit, but there’s been a number of people keen from over there. “I’m hearing a lot of good things about his foals, they’re nice sized and good to do anything with which is encouraging and hopefully with a bit of success here in New Zealand he can go on and become a viable option to our breeders, especially those smaller breeders.” View the full article

New Zealand Derby placegetter Platinum Invador will try to bounce back from a Rosehill disappointment when he lines up in Saturday’s Gr. 1 Australian Derby at Randwick. After a powerful finish from last to run third in the Ellerslie classic on March 2, the Redwood gelding carried high expectations into his Sydney autumn campaign. But he made a disappointing start in last Saturday’s Gr. 2 Tulloch Stakes at Rosehill, finishing eighth of the nine runners. “He was really disappointing,” trainer Lisa Latta told www.theinformant.co.nz. “His work leading into it had been so good and we were expecting him to run well, but he was really battling. He might not have handled the track. “But he’s come through it really well and hasn’t left an oat. We ran a blood test and everything looks fine, so we’re happy to carry on with him.” Platinum Invador will be ridden on Saturday by Jonathan Riddell, whose relatively rare trips to Sydney in the past have included a Gr. 1 Rosehill Guineas win on Jimmy Choux in 2011 and the Gr. 3 South Pacific Classic at Randwick on the Latta-trained Platinum Kingdom in 2013. Meanwhile, Latta will talk with connections in the coming days to determine whether New Zealand Oaks winner Sentimental Miss takes a shot at the Gr. 1 Australian Oaks on Saturday week. “We’ll make a decision on that later this week,” she said. View the full article

Tony Pike will honour a promise to Golden Slipper-winning jockey Damian Lane at Randwick on Saturday. Lane guided Kiamichi to victory in the Golden Slipper last month and will ride the Pike-trained Surely Sacred in the Gr. 1 Australian Derby. “I owe Damian a Derby ride,’’ Pike said. ‘’He rode Sacred Elixir for me in Melbourne a few years ago and won a couple on him, but he didn’t get to ride him in the Victoria Derby as we had Zac Purton booked for that. “I told him I’d give him a Derby ride one day and he’ll have his chance on Surely Sacred on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.’’ Pike secured Lane’s services for Surely Sacred (who races in the same Raffles Racing colours as Sacred Elixir) when the Rock ‘N’ Pop three-year-old made his Australian debut in the Gr. 1 Rosehill Guineas last start. Surely Sacred drew wide and finished fourth, five and a half lengths behind the boom three-year-old The Autumn Sun, on a rain-sodden Rosehill track and Pike is hoping for a better draw for the Derby. “He had to make a long, sustained run and the way the track was playing he almost got there too soon,’’ Pike said. ‘’He was off the bridle the last bit and just ground away. ‘’It’s been the same in his last three runs. He’s had to make long, sustained runs. But if he gets a good draw and can race a bit handier, he can be held up for the last crack at them. He sprints very quickly.’’ Surely Sacred showed that sprint when he flashed home from last to win the Gr. 2 Auckland Guineas at Ellerslie in just his third start before an unlucky fifth in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic. He then took off before the home turn and was in front soon after straightening when he won the Gr. 2 Avondale Guineas, and he he had to make a long run from the back when fifth in the Gr. 1 Vodafone New Zealand Derby, which secured his trip to Sydney. Pike is happy with Surely Sacred’s progress since the Rosehill Guineas and is confident he will be right in the firing line over the final stages of Saturday’s Australian Derby. ‘’He had a quiet hitout on Saturday morning and will gallop on the course proper on Tuesday,’’ Pike said. ‘’Hopefully there’s not too much more rain in Sydney, but Randwick does hold up better than Rosehill and it is the first day of the carnival.” Lane is shooting for his second Australian Derby win, and his first was also on a Cambridge horse. He rode Jon Snow to victory in the feature two years ago for trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. Whatever the outcome on Saturday, Surely Sacred head for the spelling paddock and be prepared for a spring campaign. ‘’He won’t be going on to Queensland for the Derby there,’’ Pike said. ‘’He’ll have run in two Derbys and that’s enough.’’ Pike is currently finalising his team for the Queensland winter carnival, which will include Bostonian and Ever Loyal, who are both being aimed at the Gr. 1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm on June 8. ‘I’m just waiting on the final details of the flights over there,’’ Pike said. ‘’They’ll probably kick off a week after arriving. They’ll have a couple of runs in handicaps, not weight-for-age races, as a lead into the Stradbroke.’’ Bostonian was unbeaten in three Queensland starts last year, culminating in his victory in the Gr. 3 Sunshine Coast Guineas, and his five starts this campaign include a win in the Listed Counties Bowl and a second to Melody Belle in the Gr. 1 BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa before his last-start fifth in the Gr. 1 Haunui Farm Classic at Otaki. ‘’He’s had a nice break since Otaki and looks good,’’ Pike said. Ever Loyal has also been freshened since his last run, in the Gr. 3 Liverpool Cup at Randwick on March 2. ‘’He had no luck in Sydney,’’ Pike said. ‘’He was caught three-wide and I knew he had no show after 200 metres.’’ Before his Sydney appearance, Ever Loyal was runner-up to Ardrossan in the Gr. 3 Concorde Handicap and won a 1200-metre open handicap, both at Ellerslie. View the full article

Rule Number(s): Rule 869(3)(b)Following the running of Race 5 (Cafe Jacko Mobile Pace 2500m) Information A10265 was filed with the Judicial Committee. It alleged a breach of Rule 869(3)(b) by Licensed Driver Mr T MacFarlane and stated that he: ”...drove THE JANDAL MACHINE carelessly by allowing it to contact the back of the sulky ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Rule Number(s): 642(1)Following the running of race 7, Beko Appliances 3YO Mile, an Information was filed Instigating a Protest pursuant to Rule 642(1). The Informant, Mr P Williams, Co Trainer of JIP JIP ROCK, alleged that IGNORED or its rider placed 1st by the Judge interfered with the chances of his horse JIP JIP ROCK ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Rule Number(s): 638(3)(b)(ii)Following the running of race 3, Beko Appliances 1400, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (3)(b)(ii). The Informant, Mr Williamson, alleged that Mr Bakar used his whip excessively on GRIFFIN prior to the 100 metres. Mr Bakar said that he understood the Rule and confirmed his admission of the ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Rule Number(s): 638(3)(b)(ii)Following the running of race 5, Electrolux Sprint, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (3)(b)(ii). The Informant, Mr Williamson, alleged that Mr Bakar used his whip excessively when riding KINGSGUARD prior to the 100 metres. Mr Bakar said that he understood the Rule and confirmed his admission ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Rule Number(s): 638(3)(b)(ii)Following the running of race 5, Electrolux Sprint, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (3)(b)(ii). The Informant, Mr Williamson, alleged that Mr Mansour used his whip excessively when riding YEARN prior to the 100 metres. Mr Mansour said that he understood the Rule and confirmed his admission ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Cambridge Following a very wet Monday, A busy morning on both the course proper and the sand took place at Cambridge. Nicoletta and Hinerangi produced the fastest gallop of the session. Working on a slow no 1 grass, they went to the line locked together under nice holds, returning a smart 1:32.0 home in 36.5. […] Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Imelda Mary has been added to the Kiwi contingent at the Sydney carnival, with trainer Wayne Hillis confirming this morning that she will be a starter in next week’s Australian Oaks. During the summer Imelda Mary won the Gr. 2 Royal Stakes and Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic but she was a notable failure when beating only four rivals in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks at Trentham last month. She was one of a number of form runners caught out by the track conditions on the day, however after riding her in a gallop at Matamata this morning, Hillis was happy to sign off on her Sydney assignment. “We put the Oaks run down to the track, but she came out of it okay and she seems good to go,” Hillis told www.theinformant.co.nz. “We’ve always had the Oaks over there in the back of our mind and the way she felt when I galloped her I don’t see any reason not to go.” The Ferlax filly, who dead-heated with Queen Of Diamonds for the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year title, is booked on a flight to Sydney next Tuesday. Hillis has yet to confirm a rider in the A$1 million classic, for which former New Zealand filly Verry Elleegant is the dominant favourite following her Vinery Stud Stakes win on Saturday. “I had James McDonald’s name in the hat but I don’t think I’ll have much chance of getting him off that other filly after what she did on the weekend,” Hillis joked. “Now that I know we’re going I’ll get onto it, but there’s plenty of good jockeys to choose from over there.” View the full article

Keep chipping away Hesi. Don't let facts get in the way. The reality is Thomaas hijacks his own threads. As for him having his own section of no one replies to the threads he starts then he theoretically would have his own section. As for Mardi I did offer him his own section and blog where the contributors would be controlled. But it was declined.

Manawatu Classic winner The Chosen One has been confirmed to cross the Tasman and back up in Saturday’s A$2 million Australian Derby. In a season that included a spring stakes win and earlier this month a rocky unplaced performance in the New Zealand Derby, the Murray Baker/Andrew Forsman-trained colt bounced back with a stylish win over in-form stablemate Spring Delight in last Saturday’s Group Three Awapuni feature. The Chosen One held an entry for the Australian Derby and after connections mulled over going through with it, Baker confirmed today that he has been booked on a flight to Sydney tomorrow. “He’s come through the weekend in good shape and we decided to go ahead with a Derby start,” Baker told www.theinformant.co.nz. “He’s a lovely colt, by Savabeel from a mare that won over 2500 metres, so he’s got the right credentials. “The only thing we’re not sure about is a rider, but we’ll get him over there and settled in, and hopefully the rest will work itself out.” Baker also confirmed that the A$44,000 late entry fee had been paid to enable Madison County to start in the Randwick classic. A dual Group One winner over 1600 metres, Madison County closed well for second in last Saturday’s Gr. 2 Tulloch Stakes, his first test at a middle-distance. “The option was the Doncaster (Mile), but we’ve decided on the Derby after that run,” Baker added. “He ran the fastest final 600 on the day, so he should be some chance on that.” The Baker/Forsman stable will have a total of five runners on the first day of The Championships, with plans to also run Sydney Cup entries Vin De Dance and Zacada in the Gr. 2 Chairman’s Quality and Australian Oaks entry Clementina in the Gr. 3 Adrian Knox Stakes. View the full article

Trainer James Cummings could have up to five runners in the Sires’ Produce Stakes at Randwick as global operation Godolphin bids to continue its dominance in the juvenile ranks this season. The Anthony Freedman-trained, Godolphin-owned Lyre won Australia’s first Group One race for two-year-olds for the season, the Blue Diamond Stakes in Melbourne in February, before the Cummings-trained Kiamichi led in a Godolphin trifecta in the Golden Slipper at Rosehill last Saturday week. Kiamichi defeated her Cummings-trained stablemate Microphone in the Slipper over 1200 metres on a heavy track, with Lyre taking the minor placing. Kiamichi and Microphone are in line to run in Saturday’s Gr. 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes at Randwick, the third of five Group One races in Australia for two-year-olds each season. Microphone is on the second line of early betting at $7 behind the Richard Litt-trained Castelvecchio at $6 ahead of acceptances. “We could have up to as many as five, but I am not convinced we will have that many,” Cummings told RSN927. “The certain starters would be Microphone and Tenley. We’re pretty likely to run Kiamichi. I think she will be really strong over 1400 metres. “There’s a chance that Bivouac might run there instead of the Kindergarten, but we’ll weigh that up after we get through our work tomorrow. “And even the filly Flit, she was pretty good winning the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes down at Flemington and she’s not without a chance of running in the race either.” Cummings seems certain to have a strong hand on the opening day of The Championships, which features four Group One races, with Osborne Bulls equal favourite for the A$2.5 million TJ Smith Stakes while Alizee and Hartnell are among the leading chances for the A$3 million Doncaster Mile. The trainer will also have Aramayo and Cossetot in the Australian Derby. View the full article

A tempting offer from American interests was too good to refuse for the connections of unbeaten Canterbury filly, Dixie Star. The daughter of Bettor’s Delight left New Zealand on Friday bound for New Jersey. “She’s gone to Peter Tritton’s stable,” said her trainer Stephen Boyd, husband of co-owner, Angela Boyd. “It’s a shame, because she’s a really nice horse and it was a pretty hard decision for us to make. “But when the moneys there you’ve got to take it because it gets a lot harder when you race against the good ones, like Princess Tiffany.” Dixie Star debuted with a dominant five-length win at Winton on February 17, where she rated 1.56.2 for the mile, before backing that up with another win a fortnight later, at Ascot Park. She wasn’t long home before she was booked on the next flight to North America. “It was a good, quick sale and all wrapped up pretty quickly.” Also, on the flight was two-time Group 2 winner, Dibaba, in-form West Auckland mare Misty Memory, and handy Canterbury filly, Sezana. Boyd confirmed, too, that his stable star, exciting three-year-old colt Ive Already Told You, had been turned out for a spell and would not be seen for the rest of the season. “He just started to get a crack in his hoof which could have turned in to a quarter crack and he was just going to miss too much work before the Derby. “So, we’ll miss the Jewels and bring him back up for the Cup meeting.” The winner of four races to date, and one of only three by his sure, Prodigal Seelster, to even qualify, will make a big impression next season, Boyd reckons. “He’s a very nice horse and will improve a hell of a lot with this break. “I’ve worked most of the good All Stars horses and he’s right up there with them, to be fair, and I expect he’ll come back a pretty nice four-year-old.” Having him to go on with made the decision to sell Dixie Star a little easier, too. “He would lap her, to be fair, and that’s no slight on her either. “But he’s a flying machine and I reckon eventually he’ll be awesome around somewhere like Menangle.” Stephen Boyd with Dixie Belle. Comparisons to the All Stars stable horses trained by Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen are common place for Boyd, who is now firmly entrenched as their breaker and pre-trainer. He is about to do the last batch of their yearlings, which will bring the total over 30, though that’s less than one third of his total output. “I think we’ll end up breaking in about 100-odd,” he said. “The last seven are arriving for Mark and Natalie tomorrow, plus I have done or will do horses for Mitch Kerr, Phil Williamson, Sara Smith, Nathan Williamson and a few others.” Boyd said the All Stars batch was hard to fault at this stage, and there was one stand out among them, and it should come as no surprise. “They were all good; a really nice bunch.” One stood out, though, and that was the next filly out of Adore Me, by Sweet Lou. “She felt like a machine. Everything she did, she just did it so easily.” On top of his breaking in and pre-training business, Boyd is escalating his training operation, mainly thanks to one client. “I’m training a lot more thanks to Philippa Hanley. “Quite often in the past, after breaking them, owners would ask me to train them too and I would say no thanks and pass them on. “But Philippa has bred and bought quite a few nice young horses, including one out of De Lovely.” Accordingly, Boyd is about to roll out a whole swag of juvenile race horses. “I think we’ll have about seven two-year-olds up and racing by June, and maybe 14 or 15 race horses all together.” Fair to say then that success has bred success for Boyd, who just three seasons ago had just three starters all season. View the full article

Bettor Joy has won two heats of the Blue Chip Match Maker Series at Yonkers recently. Photo: Race Images. Kiwis dominate Yonkers series New Zealand bred mares are kicking some serious goals in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series, which is currently running at Yonkers Raceway in New York. Kiwi exports have won seven of the 13 heats of the rich series, which has run three rounds of heats, so far. There are still two more rounds of elimination heats before the final on April 20. At first glance, the natural reaction is generally that New Zealand should be proud of such brilliant results. We only have a tiny representation in this series, but our mares are cleaning up! The first round of heats produced wins by Delightful Memphis, Seaswift Joy, and the mighty Shartin. Round two was a little quiet, with Bettor Joy the only New Zealand bred mare to strike. However, round three was a Kiwi procession. Bettor Joy was at it again, with Seaswift Joy and Shartin also picking their second wins of the series. View the full article

Grangewilliam Stud principal Mark Corcoran experienced one of his biggest moments in racing when Verry Elleegant secured Group One glory in the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. Corcoran stands her sire Zed at his Waitotara property, near Wanganui, and he said the win was made even sweeter given Verry Elleegant’s close association with the farm. “It doesn’t get any better than a Group One,” Corcoran said. “This win was pretty special for the farm because Verry Elleegant was bred and raised here on the farm.” Now trained by expat Kiwi Chris Waller, Corcoran said it was good to finally see the filly starting to settle in her races with fellow expat jockey James McDonald aboard. “It was a great result and it’s good to see her finally settling in her races. I know she has been a bit awkward, getting her head up in the air,” he said. “I’m really pleased to see James McDonald on her now and she seems to settle for him and relax. It looks like she has got a good future ahead of her.” McDonald shares the same sentiments as Corcoran, and while pleased with the result on Saturday, he believes there is a lot of improvement left in the filly. “I think she is a work in progress,” McDonald said. “The first time I rode her, I rode her in Melbourne (in the Gr. 3 Vanity). It was over seven furlongs (1400m) and she got back and was very keen, but I thought her run was sensational that day. “She probably should have won, she got held up and dashed late. That’s testament to her ability. She stays well and now Chris (Waller) has had her for a few months now and he’s starting to work her out. “They made that additional gear change (on Saturday). They put the ear muffs on and took the noseband off and it worked wonders. I think it was the best she has ever felt to me. “That’s not only because she won, but because she relaxed well and has matured. It was a very good performance and I think not only will you see the best of her at four, but I reckon at five and six she will get even better. She has got so much maturing to do.” It was the second Group One success for Zed, after Survived’s win in the 2013 Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) at Hastings, and Corcoran is hoping Verry Elleegant can add to that tally in the Gr. 1 Australian Oaks at Randwick later this month. “She looked pretty impressive when winning on Saturday,” he said. “She still looked quite green when she hit the front, so I think there is still a bit of improvement left in her. She’s going to be a big chance in the Oaks in a couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to it.” Making Zed’s weekend even better, the Gary Vile-trained Jacksstar also took out the Gr. 2 City of Palmerston North Awapuni Gold Cup over 2000 metres. “He’s such a good, tough stayer and the way he won with that turn of foot in the last 200 metres was so impressive,” Corcoran said. According to Corcoran, the two Group victories over the weekend were a tonic for smaller breeders in New Zealand. “Zed keeps on kicking away,” he said. “He has got his knockers, some people say they are just bread and butter horses, but he certainly knows how to leave a good one. He’s got a really good strike-rate, 5.1 percent stakes winners-to-runners. “He gives hope for all the small breeders out there who don’t need to spend too much money to end up with a special horse.” With a service fee of $4,000, Zed served 81 mares last season, an increase from 49 the year prior, and Corcoran is buoyed by the support his stallion has been getting. “He just keeps leaving winners,” Corcoran said. “He is a syndicated horse, so he is getting that backing. I think every one of his shareholders used their nominations last year, so that helps his numbers. “I think after Survived won his Group One, the next season he served the most mares of any stallion in New Zealand, so he has got those numbers coming through now. You really need those numbers to give your horse a chance.” A few years ago Zed looked to be lost to the thoroughbred industry and was serving Clydesdale mares in the South Island. However, Corcoran saw his potential and resurrected his career and the 16-year-old entire now boasts two Group One victories as a sire. “It’s amazing, everyone loves that story, going from serving Clydesdales to having Group One winners,” Corcoran said. “You just never know where they are going to come from, but he’s certainly got the breeding behind him, by Zabeel and out of a Group One-winning Danehill mare. The blood is there and it comes through in the end if you get a chance.” View the full article

Expat New Zealand trainer John Sargent will chase Group One glory on this side of the Tasman this weekend, sending Luvaluva for a raid on the Gr. 1 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Te Aroha. Sydney-based Sargent has won four races and more than A$580,000 in prize-money with Luvaluva, a New Zealand-bred daughter of Mastercraftsman. Her biggest wins have come in the Gr. 2 Wakeful Stakes at Flemington, the Gr. 3 Adrian Knox Stakes and the Gr. 3 Kembla Grange Classic. Sargent sees this Saturday’s $200,000 fillies and mares’ feature at Te Aroha as the ideal chance to shoot for a win at the highest level. “She’ll leave the stable in about four hours’ time and fly out of Sydney tonight,” Sargent confirmed to www.theinformant.co.nz this afternoon. “She’ll be based at Brendon Hawtin’s place in Cambridge, and Leith Innes will ride her on Saturday. We’ll give it our best shot and see how we go.” Luvaluva’s most recent appearance was in the Gr. 3 Aspiration Quality over 1600 metres at Randwick on March 9, in which she ran second. She then finished fourth in a 1200-metre trial at Warwick Farm on March 22. “She’s really well,” Sargent said. “She had her final gallop today on the course proper, which was one of the best gallops I’ve ever seen her produce. She should be right at her peak for this weekend.” Luvaluva will be the first New Zealand runner since the 2013-14 season for Sargent, a premiership-winning trainer who was formerly based at Matamata. View the full article

Even being brought down to the earth with a thud in the final race didn’t dampen a memorable day at Ellerslie on Saturday for the Japanese-born apprentice Taiki Yanagida. Apprenticed to Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, Yanagida couldn’t have wished for a better start to the day, winning the first two events on Vee Cee and Rusavy for the Cambridge stables of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and Chris Wood. Two rides later he was again in the winner’s stall after guiding Vee Cee’s stablemate Ignored to victory, then having to withstand an unsuccessful protest from the connections of the runner-up, Jip Jip Rock. Yanagida had two further chances to make it four wins for the day and he gave it his best shot in the last event on William Tell, having him right in the thick of it over the final stages, but in a bumping duel he came off second-best after finishing sixth, being dislodged just after the winning post. “I’m just a bit sore, but I’m all right,’’ Yanagida said. ‘’It was a good day. I knew I had some good rides and I’m very happy to get three winners.’’ Yanagida’s treble has taken him a few steps closer to achieving his goal for the season. “I want to win the apprentice premiership,’’ he said. ‘’I’ve got 35 wins now and I’m second to Ryan (Elliot on 37). I’ve been getting on some good horses and I’ll just keep doing my best.’’ Yanagida is already realising a dream, one that started in his homeland and took him to Australia in pursuit of becoming a jockey. ‘’I worked on a pre-training farm in Japan for eight months then through a friend I went to Australia and worked with show jumpers,’’ Yanagida said. ‘’That’s when I made my mind up that I wanted to be a jockey.’’ Stints with Wyong trainer Tracey Bartley and Peter and Paul Snowden’s Randwick stable followed, and during his three and a half years in Australia Yanagida obtained a student visa and studied English, but all the time fuelled his desire to be a jockey, regularly riding trackwork and working in the stables. ‘’I couldn’t get a visa in Australia to become an apprentice and that’s when someone suggested I try New Zealand, so I came over in June 2017,’’ Yanagida said. ‘’I worked for Jacob McKay for six months then signed up with Lance O’Sullivan.’’ Once his apprentice jockey’s licence came through Yanagida wasted no time kicking home his first winner, Jewel Of Patch, at Matamata in mid-January last year for O’Sullivan and Scott, and picked up a further four wins last season with that figure now swelling to 40. Not only has Yanagida been guided by two of New Zealand’s best former jockeys, his boss Lance O’Sullivan and National Riding Mentor Noel Harris, his career has gone from strength to strength this season by taking on Stuart Laing as his agent. Laing, a long-time student of race form, was instrumental in much of the success of O’Sullivan when agent during the former champion jockey’s exceptional career in the saddle. Three wins aboard stable representatives Divine Duke and Tweedlee helped lift Yanagida’s profile last year and since then he has attracted the attention of several trainers, including some of New Zealand’s leading stables. He has struck up a good strike rate with Baker and Forsman with six wins and three placings from 15 rides and he has kicked home five winners for Stephen Marsh. He has also developed an affinity with the Baker-Forsman runner Artiste, with three wins and a third from four rides on the Mastercraftsman mare, including the recent Bay Of Plenty Cup at Tauranga. View the full article

Glory Days is doing everything right in the countdown to next week’s Sydney Cup. The Auckland Cup winner’s trainer Bill Thurlow decided against another start in the five weeks between runs, but has made sure she has been kept up to the mark. “She’s got through plenty of work, including a jumpout at Waverley on Friday,” Thurlow told www.theinformant.co.nz. “Kevin (Myers) brought through a nice bunch of horses and we had a good hitout from the top of the straight over about 2200 metres. “She’s really well, I’m very happy with her. To top her off I’m hoping they’ll give me permission for a gallop between races at Wanganui on Thursday. “She’s nice and fit and once she’s had a day out at Wanganui that’ll be pretty much us I’d say.” Thurlow has booked Glory Days on a flight to Sydney next Tuesday and will stable her with former Taranaki horseman Richard Litt at Warwick Farm. “That’s the best option for her, somewhere that’s a bit quieter than Randwick,” he said. “She’s a country girl and if there’s one query with her it’s how she’ll cope in a much busier environment.” Local lightweight Corey Brown, who rode a double at Rosehill on Saturday, is engaged for the Sydney Cup mount. Due to the Auckland Cup being run at set weights and penalties, Glory Days escaped a rehandicap off her original allotment of 51 kilos, although with a current topweight of only 55.5kg it is anticipated that all weights will be raised. Meanwhile tentative Australian plans for Thurlow’s New Zealand Oaks runner-up Beyond The Fort have been scrapped in favour of domestic racing. “I had thought about heading to Adelaide with her,” Thurlow added. “There’s a couple of nice races that would have suited her over there, but the owners would prefer to stay local. “There’s not a lot left around for three-year-olds, so the obvious race for her will be the Warstep Stakes at Riccarton (on April 13).” View the full article

An improvement in track conditions is crucial for Probabeel’s Group One mission at Randwick on Saturday. After notching his seventh Group One victory for the season, Jamie Richards’ attention will span the Tasman in his quest for further major honours this weekend. Yourdeel completed the two-year-old autumn Group One double in Saturday’s Courtesy Ford Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes, completing a perfect hat-trick for Richards after he and former training partner Stephen Autridge had won the previous two editions with Melody Belle and Avantage. Alongside his 2018-19 Group One septet, Richards also came up with a Karaka trifecta headed by Probabeel, while other highlights include the fresh-up win by Avantage in last week’s Gr. 3 Birthday Card Stakes at Rosehill. Like the Te Akau standout, five-time Group One winner Melody Belle, the season is over for Yourdeel, but Richards himself is far from done. He heads to Sydney today to oversee Probabeel’s Tuesday morning gallop ahead of her weekend assignment in the Gr. 1 Inglis Sires’ assignment. Probabeel ran on late in her Sydney debut when unsuited by the heavy footing and her trainer is hoping for an improvement in track conditions for Saturday’s A$1 million feature. “The reports from Sydney are that Probabeel has done well since her first-up run; I just hope that the weather over there improves,” Richards said. Ahead of the first Randwick race meeting for a month, the track was this morning rated Slow 7 after 35.6mm of rain in the last seven days, but crucially nothing in the last 24 hours. Richards will also saddle up his New Zealand Derby runner-up In A Twinkling, who will be backing up from his fifth placing in Saturday’s Tulloch Stakes in the A$2 million Australian Derby. “We were happy with that run, he stayed on well and did enough to stay in the frame for the Derby,” Richards said. Back on the home front Richards will be out to wrap up the domestic Group One season with Our Abbadean in the Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Te Aroha. “She’s come back very well and the way she’s been going it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see her run a bold mile,” he added. “It’s been an unbelievable season for the team, so all we can hope is for it to keep going for a while yet.” View the full article

Rangiora’s Dennis Bennett is trying his best to retire but BJ Lindenny is going to be keeping him busy for a while. The former smart juvenile trotter returned to the winner’s circle at Addington on Friday night after a year off the scene and is the only racehorse that Bennett has in work outside of a couple of two-year-olds including a brother to BJ Lindenny. “We race BJ Lindenny with an elderly couple in John and Betty Ashby and they’re quite keen to enjoy pottering around racing them,” said Bennett. “We’ve had quite a few offers for him, particularly when he was a two-year-old, but they’d rather keep him.” Bennett has had to take things very easily since a serious training accident in October which put him in hospital with numerous broken bones and a brain bleed. “A horse went over the top of me and it was while they were picking me up off the track and putting me in the ambulance that Linda (wife Joyce) mentioned that maybe someone was trying to tell me something and it was time to give it up. “That did slow me down quite a bit for a good while.” BJ Lindenny was mixing it with the likes of Majestic Man, Castlereagh and Sundees Son as a juvenile and made the Jewels at Ashburton. He returned as a three-year-old to win a maiden race at Oamaru in February last year and then started in the Hambletonian, but a few weeks later Bennett knew something was wrong when BJ Lindenny dropped right out in a Sires Stakes Prelude at Addington. “It turned out he had a bad virus so we had to tip him out for the season just when he had all the good races coming up. “Then when I was bringing him back over the winter, I think he must have kicked a post as he hurt a hind leg. “So, he was out for a few months again and before you know it, 12 months had slipped by.” After being away from the track for so long, BJ Lindenny took a couple of races to regain race fitness, but he was back to his best on Friday night and comfortably led from start to finish for Robbie Close to hold out the favourite Lone Star Lad. He was helped at the start when the two horses drawn inside him went missing, one scratched and the other a breaker, while Lone Star Lad also trotted roughly towards the finish and Sam Ottley had to take hold of him. “I’d figured the race a week earlier where they went a sharp mobile 2600m (in 3.20) had cleaned him up quite nicely. “He’d come to the end of his run about 100m out, but I think he also got bogged down in the passing lane. “The shingle tends to gravitate down there and I’ve noticed quite a few horses making no progress in the passing lane lately. “And I noticed that Robbie took him a little wider on the track when he won. “He’s no superstar so we’ll just look to place him as best we can from here. “He’s not a big horse but because he’s got such a lovely gait and had the manners, that made him very competitive as a two-year-old.” Bennett was breeding commercially on quite a big scale not so long ago but is down to just the four broodmares these days. He had a couple of good yearling sales this year with a Bettor’s Delight colt from Lady Dancer going for $55,000 and a Love You half-sister to Show Gait selling for $42,000, while the brother to BJ Lindenny was passed in. “He is a rather big colt and already 16 hands and the Ashbys wanted a bit more for him. “He’s just been gelded and once over that we’ll break him in. “The two-year-old brother (Johnny Lindenny) is just a nice size and right in between and he looks like being alright as well.” Bennett bred their dam – the Sundon mare Annabelle Lindenny – and sold her as a yearling to the Ashbys, for whom she won three races. They then asked to race her foals together and BJ Lindenny is the first one. The fact that Bennett, 67, opted to sell a Love You half-sister to Show Gait as a yearling pretty much sums things up. “If we’d been 10 years younger it would have been different, but we’re not looking for future broodmares these days.” View the full article

The Sydney Cup remains a possibility for Cambridge racemare Rondinella, who performed with such distinction for third in Saturday’s Gr. 1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill. On a track that was much wetter than she prefers, the Ocean Park mare never stopped trying over the final stages of the 2400-metre weight-for-age classic, crossing the line two and a half lengths behind the dominant odds-on favourite Avilius. “We were going to bring her home but now we’ll see what transpires around the Sydney Cup,” co-trainer Roger James told www.theinformant.co.nz before boarding his flight home this morning. “She has come a long way from a rating 62 horse at the start of the season and third placing in such a highly rated race was pretty much mission accomplished. She’s still probably six months from her best, however the Sydney Cup is a fortnight away at Randwick and there’s a chance she’ll run in it.” Rondinella, who was originally first emergency for the A$1.5 million Tancred Stakes, has been weighted at 50 kilograms in the A$2 million staying feature, but with a current topweight of only 55.5kg all weights will rise. That will make finding a suitable lightweight rider for Rondinella that much easier. On the home front James is looking forward to stepping out another of his and Robert Wellwood’s rising stars, Concert Hall, in Saturday’s Gr. 1 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes. At her last start the Savabeel mare completed a hat-trick with an impressive win in the Gr. 3 Cuddle Stakes at Trentham and on Saturday she gets the chance to claim a first win in the Te Aroha fillies and mares’ feature for Kingsclere Stables. “We’re very happy with her, everything has gone to plan,” James said. View the full article

So Waller got it wrong with the nose-roll? Settled 8th - means it trailed 7 horses. I wouldn't be putting blinkers on this horse.

Yes I agree. I wouldn't be putting them on her. Funny I had a horse with similar issues. A real goon in his antics and galloping style but very very fast and a good galloper. A nose roll was put on him to change his style - it made it worse. Sometimes you just need to go with the flow and tinkering too much to make a talented galloper like some perceived optimum can screw things up. In my opinion the less gear on their head the better. As for her settling better she missed the start in the Vinery and then got a trail on the rail. Maybe that had a part in her settling as she hasn't trailed often in her short career. Still learning.