Chief Stipe

Thomass normally you would be all over this but you are acting like a child primarily because you didn't post first. If you can't add anything constructive then I suggest you start another one of your incoherent Thread Topics challenging the RIU on something of interest to YOU. That is create your own sandpit.

Awapuni Scratchings R1: 1 R2: R3: R4: 6,8 R5: 5 R6: 6 R7: R8: TAB Meeting #4 with the first of 8 races starting at 3:04pm Doubles: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 Trebles: 2-3-4, 6-7-8 Quaddies: 1-2-3-4, 5-6-7-8 Track conditions: Dead 4 Weather: Fine Rail: Out 2m on […] 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

Awapuni Scratchings R1: 1 R2: R3: R4: 6,8 R5: 5 R6: 6 R7: R8: TAB Meeting #4 with the first of 8 races starting at 3:04pm Doubles: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 Trebles: 2-3-4, 6-7-8 Quaddies: 1-2-3-4, 5-6-7-8 Track conditions: Dead 4 Weather: Fine Rail: Out 2m on […] 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

Only the horse of a lifetime will keep champion Sydney-based trainer Chris Waller away from Ellerslie for tomorrow’s New Zealand Derby. Waller is closing in on 100 Group One wins since relocating to Australia, but has yet to win one in his homeland. Botti and Nobu give him a two-pronged shot at tomorrow’s $1 million Derby. However, Randwick understandably takes priority as Winx shoots for a world-record 23rd Group One win in the Chipping Norton Stakes – a race she has won in each of the last three years. “It’s a shame Winx is running on the same day, because it’s a race I’d love to go over and watch, but it won’t be happening this week,” Waller told Racenet. Waller will instead be a keen observer from the other side of the Tasman, with Nobu his pick of the pair following a strong-finishing fourth in a Rating 65 at Ellerslie two weeks ago. He will be ridden by Dubai-based Northern Irish jockey Pat Cosgrave, with Michael McNab taking the mount on Botti. “It’s a huge privilege for me to have runners in the Derby,” Waller said. “Everything has gone to plan with Nobu. He ran very well at Ellerslie two weeks ago and galloped there on Monday morning. Of the two Nobu is clearly the better chance. Botti probably needs a bit of rain.” Nobu is rated a $23 chance in the TAB’s Final Field market, with Botti at $101. View the full article

Eventing first brought Richard Litt to Australia from New Zealand, but training racehorses is the reason he has stayed. At the moment, the 29-year-old is glad he did. Growing up on a dairy farm in New Zealand, Litt was always around horses and his skills in eventing led to him travelling to Australia to compete. When he eventually decided to turn his hand to training, he returned to Sydney to learn his trade under Bart Cummings, John O’Shea, Graeme Rogerson and finally his father and trainer Jim. But Litt’s life came to a crossroads a few years ago when his father returned to New Zealand following the death of Litt’s brother. “We’ve had choppy water a couple of times when it’s been very touch and go as to whether we’re going to be here tomorrow or not training,” Litt said. “My brother died a few years ago from suicide and that really threw a spanner in the works. I thought, are we going to stick around? Are we going to be able to do this? “I was just very grateful Racing NSW gave me a licence and an opportunity to train because they didn’t have to. I was very young, but they gave me a great opportunity and I’m forever grateful to them.” Litt has made the most of that chance. Almost two years to the day after he trained his first winner – Klisstra in the Braidwood Cup – Litt produced Castelvecchio to score a devastating win in the A$2 million Inglis Millennium earlier this month. The colt’s performance followed an equally impressive debut win at Canterbury and tomorrow at Randwick, Castelvecchio gets a chance to confirm his standing as a genuine Golden Slipper contender when he lines up in the Skyline Stakes. It is a must-win race if he wants to progress to the Slipper as the prize-money from the sales-restricted Inglis Milennium doesn’t count towards the A$3.5 million race. Litt could be forgiven for feeling the pressure but with the support of Castelvecchio’s understanding owners, he is simply enjoying the ride. “We don’t have to run in the Slipper. We don’t have to run in the Sires’. We don’t have to run in the Champagne,” Litt said. “So we’re coming in pretty cruisy, nice and relaxed and just giving the horse the best opportunity to prove himself. It’s a very unique position because the owners are so fantastic. There’s no pressure. If he wins on Saturday, then we’ll have to sit down and work out where to go.” View the full article

Mike Moroney elected to keep Victoria Derby placegetter Chapada at home in Melbourne for a crack at the Australian Guineas but is lamenting the gelding’s wide draw in Saturday’s Group One race. Moroney also had the option to wait another week for the Randwick Guineas to enable Chapada to gain experience racing in the clockwise direction before the Rosehill Guineas and Australian Derby. But the Flemington trainer has decided the A$1 million Australian Guineas is the better option and is not concerned about the gelding then heading to Sydney for the staying features. “We’ve done a bit of work right-handed with him and he looks really good going that way round,” Moroney said. “So we just believe he didn’t need as much practice and we’re just happy to keep him closer to home for at least one more run.” Moroney believes Chapada has the class to figure in the Australian Guineas, however he admits the three-year-old’s chances were dealt a blow when he drew the second outside barrier in the capacity field. “It is very, very disappointing but you can’t do much about barrier draws,” Moroney said. Chapada drifted back from the outside draw first-up in the C S Hayes Stakes over 1400 metres last Saturday week before working home to finish seventh, three lengths from winner The Inevitable. Moroney will do the form for Saturday’s race before deciding whether Chapada should settle back again or press forward from the wide draw. “He’s got gate speed so we could go either way. It’s just a matter of studying the field a little bit more,” he said. “I thought his first-up run was good. He kept running to the line and he wasn’t that far away. “He’s well up to a race like this, without a doubt. Once he gets to a mile he’s pretty competitive. It just would have helped if we had drawn a barrier.” Chapada has won one of his six starts and finished second in the Caulfield Classic and a luckless third in the Victoria Derby. His jockey Damien Oliver is striving to win a record fourth Australian Guineas and second in a row after scoring on Grunt 12 months ago. View the full article

After the best part of a year away from racing, Rock On Wood made an emphatic return to competition at Hastings yesterday when he stormed home to win the Nadeem 1300. The Redwood gelding showed a tremendous turn of foot to come from last at the turn and surge past his opposition in the hands of Ryan Elliot, the son of trainer and Leanne Elliot and grandson of one of the four-year-old’s owners. “It was a pretty good win, he was a bit further back than I thought, but the way he did it was good,” Leanne Elliot said. “It was also great to have Ryan on board for the win.” Elliot added that it was a relief to get the four-year-old back to the track after such a long absence, his previous start being an unplaced run in the Gr. 3 Manawatu Classic at Awapuni last March. “I had him in early and he worked well, but just didn’t hold his condition, he was just growing,” Elliot said. “I put him out for about six weeks and then got him up again and he cut his leg, so he had a couple of stitches. I have just had to bide my time a bit with him.” Rock on Wood showed any amount of promise as a three-year-old, winning twice and finishing fourth in the Gr. 1 Levin Classic and Gr. 2 Waikato Guineas, and Elliot said connections have had to knock back some sizeable offers. “We have had quite a bit of interest in him but Mum likes to race her horses and isn’t keen to sell,” she said. Elliot isn’t planned too far ahead with Rock on Wood, the main aim being to get him through his first run safely. However, the Levin trainer is now considering a trip to Trentham next month. “I just wanted to get through this one and keep him in one piece,” she said. “I’ll take every race as it comes. I’ll probably look at going to Wellington and see how he comes through this one. We’ll just see how the tracks hold up.” View the full article

Trotting roughly is what could stop Shes Like The Wind running like the wind in Friday night’s Sires Stakes Classique at Addington. Trainer Phil Williamson will step the Majestic Son trotter out for the first time since her emphatic debut win at Omakau in January in the $20,000 feature for three-year-old fillies. Shes Like The Wind was nearly the only horse in her maiden win to show a flawless gait as her rivals went off stride around her one after another. Though the filly looked a professional product in her eight and three-quarter length victory, Williamson warned she still has plenty to learn. “She has certainly got a fair amount of ability, but she still has a few gait issues.” “She is getting better in her gait, but she is not quite the finished article.” “If she gets her gait 100% she could be quite a nice horse.” “If she trots all the way I would like to think she would be in the first three.” “Cheerful will be hard to beat and Brent Mangos’ filly will also be a threat – we have raced her before with Oscar Bonavena.” Friday night’s race is the first of a three-race southern mission for the Brent Mangos trained Sunnys Little Jestic. She has the Southland Trotting Oaks and the New Zealand Trotting Oaks on her agenda. Unlike Shes Like The Wind, Sunnys Little Jestic has had public hitouts to prepare her for Friday night’s event. She pleased her trainer-driver with two solid performances in Alexandra Park trials. In the latest of those, Sunnys Little Jestic competed against pacers to get some mobile barrier practice in. Williamson has kept Shes Like The Wind fresh ahead of her second start. She has not made any public appearances since her Omakau victory. Her trainer said he wanted to restrict the filly to racing her own age and sex, rather than taking on seasoned older trotters. Cheerful is set to start the favourite for Friday night’s race. The Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen trained filly had little luck from the outside of the front line in last weekend’s Hambletonian Classic. After getting well back in the field, she charged home in to fifth placing. Shes Like The Wind’s half brother, by Love You, was the second highest priced trotting yearling at last week’s National Yearling Sales. The colt was knocked down to Emilio and Mary Rosati for $90,000. The horse is headed to Sydney to join their new stable that will be headed by Noel Daley. The Rosatis have another high-priced yearling in the Williamson stable. The Love You colt from champion racemare, One Over Kenny, that topped last year’s trotting sale had his first public appearance at Rangiora recently. The trotter, named Express Stride, pleased Williamson when running third in a two-year-old trotting workout heat. Williamson said Express Stride was likely to trial at Forbury Park this weekend before he found a suitable first race for the horse. View the full article

Last week I attended the standardbred sales at Karaka. 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

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Trackwork February 28 Awapuni Duplicity and Kamanda Lincoln, race rivals in the Nathan’s Memorial at Ellerslie on Saturday, rubber-stamped their fitness with a fine gallop each at Awapuni this morning. Fast work during a quiet session was held on the plough (good), where Duplicity worked the reverse way (right-handed) over a quiet round (1400m) before […] 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

The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Enjoy The Show made a winning start to his race career, taking out the Splice Construction 1200 on debut at Pukekohe Park today. The two-year-old son of Showcasing jumped away well from the ace barrier to take the early lead for jockey Matthew Cameron, before handing up to the Peter and Dawn Williams-trained Well Chosen. To the urges of Cameron, Enjoy The Show accelerated down the straight to regain the lead at the 150-metre mark and was able to hold out a fast-finishing Folk Dress to win by a long head. Co-trainer Murray Baker was understandably pleased with the win and said the colt is showing a lot of early promise. “He’s a Showcasing, they go well,” he said. “He’s a half to a Rosehill Guineas winner (Zabrasive) and he has got a bit of pedigree. “I think he is a chance going on. We’ve got him nominated for the Sires (Produce Stakes), so we’ll just go from there.” View the full article

The Australian Guineas meeting at Flemington has been brought forward to begin in the morning because of a forecast temperature of 36 degrees. Saturday’s nine-race programme will begin at 10.55am (12.55pm NZT), one and a half hours earlier than originally scheduled, with the final race to jump at 3.20pm (5.20) in a bid to avoid the hottest part of the day. Gaps between the races have also been reduced from 35 and 40 minutes to 30 and 35 minutes and horses will be required on course only two hours before their races instead of the usual three. Racing Victoria will invoke its Procedure for Racing in Hot Weather Policy to ensure the health and wellbeing of horses and participants. “Under the Policy, an additional vet is in attendance to assist in monitoring the condition of horses, large containers of ice water are made available at locations around the racecourse and horses are required in the mounting yard for reduced periods of time,” RV said in a statement. “The Victoria Racing Club will also implement additional measures including misting fans in horse areas, rostering a dedicated staff member to assist in equine welfare measures in the horse stalls, and bottled water and icy-poles being readily available for all racing participants.” View the full article

Cambridge trainer Tony Pike has plenty to focus on in his homeland, with Surely Sacred the favourite for the Vodafone New Zealand Derby, but he will also have an eye across the Tasman shortly after Saturday’s blue-riband event. Progressive galloper Ever Loyal will contest the Gr. 3 Liverpool City Cup at Randwick just 10 minutes after the Derby and Pike believes he is a good chance of snaring the thick end of the prize in both races. Ever Loyal, who has the services of Kerrin McEvoy, will jump from barrier eight in the competitive nine-horse field and is rated a $7.50 chance. “His racing manners last season weren’t quite there,” Pike said. “He was a little bit aggressive and just did a few things wrong and he probably struggled to get 1600 metres. “He had an injury enforced layoff and he has probably come back better than ever. “His two runs resuming off a 12-month break have been exceptional. His sectionals have been very good, so I think it is time to step up in class and have a crack in Sydney on Saturday. “He was probably a touch unlucky first-up in the Concorde behind a very promising horse in Ardrossan and he was very dominant last start in good time. “I think he is definitely up to the Sydney class of horses in the lower grades at this stage and the long-range plan is to get some prize-money in the bank and hopefully get his rating up to possibly have a go at a race like the Stradbroke in Queensland during the winter carnival.” Pike couldn’t be happier with Surely Sacred, the $3.80 favourite for the New Zealand Derby on the back of a strong win in the Gr. 2 Avondale Guineas at his last start. “He’s had the perfect preparation,” Pike said. “He has won three out of five races and was possibly a little unlucky not to have run closer in the other two. “He got shuffled up at a bad time in the Karaka Million 3YO race. It was a very slow tempo that day and he still closed well for fifth then was a dominant winner last start and probably off a pretty tough run. “I don’t think the 2400 metres is going to be an issue. He is in good form and he is a very progressive horse, so I am looking forward to Saturday.” Pike will again join forces with jockey Vinnie Colgan, who will be looking to add an incredible seventh New Zealand Derby to his record. Hs most recent success in the classic came on the Pike-trained Rangipo in 2016. View the full article

Mentally and physically, Winx is in the right space ahead of her bid for another record-breaking performance in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. If she wins Saturday’s 1600-metre race, Winx will stand alone as the winner of 23 Group One races, one more than retired champion British jumper Hurricane Fly. The mare was given a leisurely workout at Rosehill this morning to keep her tuned up for her next assignment. Her trainer Chris Waller says he is as much in awe of Winx as everyone else. “Over five or six years, we’ve noticed the changes,” Waller said. “Comparing her to a person, she is a little bit smarter. “She knows where the winning post is. She has become used to winning. She knows what she’s doing.” Winx will have six rivals in Saturday’s race, with the Pat Webster-trained Happy Clapper the only one from outside the Waller stable and second to the mare four times including the Apollo Stakes last Saturday week. She will be aiming to take her winning streak to 31 and her Chipping Norton record to four, equal with Tie The Knot who won from 1999 to 2002. View the full article

A prolific winner of the Golden Slipper as a jockey, Ron Quinton has had few chances to add to his haul as a trainer. However the veteran trainer might have found his next opportunity in Sun Patch, who will be out to stop the winning momentum of the powerful Godolphin operation in Saturday’s Skyline Stakes at Randwick. An A$800,000 yearling, Sun Patch was breath-taking on debut when he came from a seemingly impossible position halfway up the straight to surge home inside runners and win. “Everyone seemed to be very impressed with him, so I suppose I’ve got to be a bit impressed,” Quinton said. “He’s a nice horse and he’s got nice ability. Naturally Saturday is a tough assignment, it’s a quality race and any one of a few of them can win.” Quinton won the Golden Slipper a record-equalling four times as a jockey but his opportunities as a trainer have been limited to two runners, Nimble Feet (1997) and Easy Rocking (1999), who were both unplaced. On Saturday he will find out if Sun Patch is up to the grade when the half-brother to Gr. 1 C F Orr Stakes winner Manuel takes on unbeaten youngster Castelvecchio and the James Cummings-trained pair of Microphone and Bivouac, both last-start winners. “I rarely have two-year-olds that are of the quality of this fellow,” Quinton said. “He’s not entered for the Slipper, but if he happened to win Saturday I think there’d be a good chance the owners wouldn’t hesitate to pay the late entry.” Eight colts will contest the Skyline Stakes, while a field of 12 will line up in the fillies’ version, the Sweet Embrace Stakes, in which Godolphin be also be well represented by Amercement and Kiamichi. Amercement has opened favourite on the back of her first-up win in the Widden Stakes, with Cummings reporting the youngster has trained on well and will be suited by a distance rise. “We expect her to be more comfortable up to six furlongs here and she’s a happy filly going into this assignment,” Cummings said. View the full article

Michael Walker will appeal the severity of a Sandown suspension that threatens to rule him out of a Group One ride in Sydney. Walker is booked to ride Brave Smash in the Canterbury Stakes at Randwick on March 9 along with Aquis Farm-owned two-year-olds Dubious in the Todman Stakes and Queensland-trained filly Vincere Volare in the Reisling Slipper Stakes. He was handed a 10-meeting suspension by Racing Victoria stewards at Sandown yesterday for careless riding after winning aboard Eighteen Carat. Walker pleaded guilty while stewards deemed the interference in the mid-range. The ban begins after Saturday’s Australian Guineas meeting in which Walker rides Extra Brut for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, and it ends after racing on March 11. To be able to ride at Randwick the previous weekend, Walker will need the suspension reduced to seven meetings. View the full article

Glen Boss was in good spirits along with Lance O’Sullivan and Jamie Richards in the early hours at the Matamata track this morning. It was only three-quarter-pace work but it was still enough to tell the bloke on top, Australian jockey Glen Boss, that he’ll be more than a runner’s chance when he takes In A Twinkling to the start for Saturday’s Vodafone New Zealand Derby. The stars in the sky were still twinkling when Boss rolled up at the Matamata racecourse this morning at 4.30, ready to put a trio of Jamie Richards-trained horses through their paces under floodlights on the plough training track. The first of them was star juvenile Probabeel, who covered a steady 800 metres as she continues her preparation for a Sydney autumn campaign. “She’s a lovely strong filly that girl,” Boss reported back to Richards. “It feels like she’s hardly breathing, she just does it so easily.” Next up was In A Twinkling, who followed his Derby-bound stablemate Prise De Fer (Dan Miller) over a round on the plough. With his head down around his knees, relishing his work, In A Twinkling was probably disappointed that Boss allowed him minimal rein to cover 1200 metres in 1:28.4 and the last 600 in 43.2. “He feels great, I love the way he goes about his work,” said Boss of the Fastnet Rock gelding. “He’s obviously very professional and after seeing the videos of his last run, I reckon I’m in with a chance.” In A Twinkling’s close second to Derby favourite Surely Sacred was in the opinion of many good judges the run of the race in the Avondale Guineas. “He was there the whole trip and the way the race was run he would have been doing well to finish somewhere about sixth,” Boss added. “To only just get beat was huge and it doesn’t seem to have bothered him.” Richards is on the same page, giving the big tick to both his Derby runners. “They’ve had good preps, I’m very happy with them,” he said. “They had a decent hitout on the course proper here on Saturday morning, their Tuesday gallop was right up there, and that’s all they needed to do this morning. They’re ready.” Boss, best known as the jockey who partnered Makybe Diva in her historic Melbourne Cup hat-trick, has a five-strong book on Saturday. For Richards he will also ride last-start winner Queen Of The Air in the Listed Mufhasa Stakes, while he will also ride Spring Heat for Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott in the Gr. 3 Waikato Stud Plate, Jim Pender-trained filly The Real Beel in the Gr. 3 Sunline Vase, and The Rebel Knight for the Rogers family in the Nathans Memorial. Matamata’s two other form runners for the Derby, Waikato Guineas quinella Sponge Bob and Arrogant, also pleased their trainers with their final serious work Sponge Bob, who had his first look at Ellerslie with a course proper hitout on Monday, was let off with striding work over 1200m in 1:27.4 and 41, while Arrogant had raceday rider Cameron Lammas in the saddle for strong work on the course proper. His time for 1200m was 1:24.7 and the further he went the better he looked, finishing off with 600m in 37.2. View the full article

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