Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Fastnet Rock Show


    This saturday we saw another great day for Fastnet Rock progeny at Moonee Valley with excellent victories for Miss Rock and Roomooz. This is after last weeks treble at Randwick for the breed. The I Am Invincible's also had a great weekend with wins in all three states.

Miss Rock -- The Fastnet Rock mare was unlucky in the group 1 Goodwood Hcp at the end of the Autumn Carnival and made amends on Saturday, after digging deep to get up and beat Heatherly right on the line in the listed Carlyon Stakes at Moonee Valley. She is out of that top Strategic mare Miss Judgement. Earlier in the day we saw Roomooz another of the Fastnet Rocks storm home and get up on the line in the 1200m Johnnie Walker Plate.Ridden by Luke Currie and out of the Keiron Mcevoy yard, the Fastnet Rock filly held off the fast finishing Tulip. 

MissRock ridden by Ben Melham 



Overshare -- The I Am Invincible colt is out of the Hawkes yard and ridden by Dwayne Dunn got the job done in the 1200m Mckenzie Stakes. He is out of the Redoutes Choice mare Savannah's Choice. Savannah’s Choice being out of the Sadlers Wells mare Kirov Premiere makes her a half sister to six other winners including Champion 3YO Filly, Cesario, in turn the dam of Japan Cup winner, Epiphaneia and another Group One winner in Leontes. Wayne Hawke's says he is a much more mature horse this time in and he settled so well in front today and was never headed. Mariquita won the benchmark 74 at Rosehill, the 5 year old mare has a Danehill line mum. While at the Gold Coast a third I Am Invincible made it a great day for the clan with a win in the 1100m open event. Whypeeo the 3 year old gelding ridden by Jeff Lloyd won well. 



Oak Door -- In the benchmark 90 over 1200m, the Commands gelding ridden by young Ben Thompson sat on the pace and kicked clear on straightening to continue his impressive form from last preparation. He has now won $294,000 in prizemoney for his connections. 

Raquel Clarke -- The young lady jockey from Tasmania is really making her mark in South Australian racing right now. She arrived there back in March and recorded 52 winners last season. After picking up a treble Saturday gives her ten winners already this season. She scored on the 3 year old filly Unscopable in the maiden,followed by 7 year old gelding, Danouli. Then in the second last race, she rode a patient race to get up on the 7 year old Hard Spun gelding Counter Spin for Leon Mcdonald in the benchmark 70. What I did notice on saturday was her riding technique and by gee she has some talent. Horses just seem to want to put in for her, she is able to get the best out of them and has a mature, patient riding style. Follow this talented lady this year and I'm sure you will come out on top.

Raquel Clarke 


Pariah -- The valuable Redoutes Choice three year old colt, ridden by Blake Shinn for the Snowden camp, scored in the 1100m Group III San Domenico Stakes at Rosehill. Jockey Blake Shinn wound his way through the field and had control of the race 200m out . He is now being sprouted as the number one three year old this season. 

Bonny O'reilly -- The five year old mare made easy work of  her opponents in the last race of the day, over 1200m. The Bjorn Baker trained mare has now scored four wins in a row. She is out of a Pins broodmare and was ridden by Tim Clarke.

Highlights -- Spunlago, the 6yo Hard Spun gelding was ridden perfectly by Jye Mcneil to win the 1600m BM 78 at Moonee Valley. 

Monday, August 28, 2017

Day in the Sun


     The return of the quality thoroughbreds for the Warwick and P.B.Lawrence Stakes this weekend. We saw the A list two year olds return as three year olds and a promising group they are with Jukebox,Catchy and Formality just to name a few. The return of the older A listers as well with Hartnell, Blackheart Bart and the mighty mare Winx. Here is our rundown of the weekend and the talented thoroughbreds looming on the horizon.
 
Hartnell -- It was Hartnells day in the sun on Saturday at Caulfield, landing the P.B.Lawrence after battling away on the wrong leg for most of the race. He was still far too good for his opposition. It really pointed to a correct move by the Godolphin stable to avoid Winx, this campaign, after the autumn, where he was continually running into her behind.

 Hartnell wins the 2017 P,B,Lawrence Stakes 


Jukebox -- In the Vain Stakes at Caulfield we saw a good win by the Snitzel colt, Jukebox. The two year old who promised so much but struggled to produce, due to feet problems. Showed a good turn of foot to storm over top of Plutocracy. The colt could well be in for a big spring carnival.

Vega Magic -- In the 1200m listed Regal Roller Stakes saw Vega Magic the group 1 Goodwood Hcp winner continue on his winning way. Ridden by Damien Oliver the Lope De Vega gelding from the Hayes /Dabernick stable shot clear on turning and held off a strong finis from the Japanese horse Brave Smash who probably just peaked on his run in the last 50 metres.

Fastnet Rock --The Danehills son, Fastnet Rock continues to produce winners across the globe and on Saturday, at Randwick, they stood out with three of his progeny being successful. He opened the day in the Silver Shadow when Formality, his three year old filly returned to racing, with a good win. Coming Through the four year old entire won the benchmark 90 for Michael Walker and Chris Waller combination and in the Show County Hcp over 1200m, Brendan Avdulla got Deploy home, a Fastnet Rock 5 year old gelding. 

Winx -- The Champion mare returned to the track and she really wanted to catch everyones attention when she played up in the barrier as she always does but this time a barrier attendant had just grabbed her bridle to straighten her as the gates open. This caused her to rear in the air brushing the barriers and missing the start by 4 lengths. Her jockey Hugh Bowman balanced her up and was able to get her home in the last stride.It took awhile to obtain her brilliant sectionals ,she had recorded because when she hit the barriers they had smashed the timing device attached to her.
Winx Warwick Stakes 



Sunday, August 6, 2017

     After last weeks warning about Snitzel and Street Cry progeny for the spring we saw more signs of that domination at Flemington this Saturday. Its a pity i didnt have a few dollars on Nozomi at 150/1. Her win may have been a bit of a fluke but be alert for a good campaign from Eureka Street.He did it tough on the outside of the leader in the last and did well to find plenty to win. Probably the race of the day was between the two Weir trained Raise the Flag horses which saw Yogi give Irishman John Allen his first win at headquarters. It was an epic battle all the ay down the Flemington straight.

Ben Thompson and Crown Witness -- The 3yo Star Witness filly, Crown Witness won the 100m Winter Lodge Hcp at Flemington ridden by Ben Thompson who had a mixed day in the saddle with a couple of winners and a couple of near misses. Star Witness has had a big week with 7 winners in the last week. The first event at Doomben in the 1600m Aquis Farm Hcp saw Arrestar ridden by Jim Byrne get the job done. The 3yo gelding is out of the Encosta De Lago mare Involve.

Star Witness winning the 2010 Blue Diamond 
stands at Widden Stud 

Aloft and Galileo -- It was an impressive win for this six year old gelding by Galileo, Aloft and ridden well by Ben Melham. He has showed so much promise over the years but injury has kept him away from the track. Its good to have him back and trainer Rob Hickmont seems to think this could be his spring and is not ruling a Melbourne Cup start, out for him. On Sunday at Sandown, Galileos Pearl notched up his third win in a row and is really looking strong. Michael Walker has a good connection with the gelding and more wins could easily be in store. 

Eureka Street and Street Cry -- Last week we saw the final two races at Rosehill go to Street Cry progeny and this week it was Flemingtons turn with rank outsider Nozomi at 150/1 holding on to win the 1200m and then the talented gelding, Eureka Street, doing it tough outside the leader pulling clear on the line to win the last. Daniel Moor sat patiently on him for as long as possible on the Smerden trained gelding before giving him his head and going on to win well. Pleased the 4 year old entire ridden by Jim Byrne, won the 1600m BM 70 at Doomben.


Snitzel -- The start of the brand new season saw the opening, 1000m Pavillion Hcp at Flemington go to Azazel. The Mcevoy trained Snitzel colt, ridden by Luke Currie finished strongly to win well. A signal that the breed are going to have a good carnival. While at Randwick the 5yo Snowden, trained gelding made it 5 wins of 8 starts with an impressive win in the benchmark 90 1600m event.


Yogi and Raise the Flag -- It looked a race in two in the 2500m Oliver Street Plate at Flemington and thats exactly how it turned out. Yogi,smarter than your average horse and Chequered Flag both sons of Raise the Flag broke clear on straightening to have an almighty struggle down the straight with Yogi the Sandown specialist prevailing by a slender margin. John Allen on Yogi got everything he could out of the 5 year old gelding. Darren Weir yard, trains both horses and he could be in for a lot of staying success this spring.

 Yogi coming back to scale after his Flemington victory. 
The first win at Flemington for  Irish jockey John Allen
Written Tycoon -- Winners everywhere on the weekend for this stallions progeny from Shogun Sun in the opener at Randwick to Written Era at Sandown on Sunday. In the opening event at Morphetville the 1000m, maiden plate saw the 3yo gelding Wallace Street get the job done for the Richard Jolly stable.

Invincible Gem and I Am Invincible -- The group 2 1200m, Missile Stakes was won by Invincible Gem with Corey Brown on her back. She sat on the back of her highly successful stablemate Le Romain until straightening, then pulled away down the straight. The I Am Invincible mare is another great advertisement for her stallion who stands at Yarraman Park Stud. Trainer, Kris Lees says her next start is likely to be in the Sheraco Stakes. Corey Brown had only just returned from walking the Kokoda Trail the day before raising money for brain cancer. His partners in the quest of the trail were Hugh Bowman, Kathy O'hara and Steve Baster and Corey said "they all struggled at certain times on the trek. It was an experience I wont forget."

Ability and Reward For Effort -- A booming finish on a wet Sandown track resulted in another awesome win in the group 3 Bletchingly Stakes, for Ability. Just when it looked like Lankan Rupee was going to return victorious the recently gelded four year old by Reward for Effort dropped from the clouds to make it four in a row. Mick Price on his horse said after the race "that he was very happy with the highly rated sprinters return and thought he had it won but gee the other horse (sic) Ability is right in the zone at the moment.  

                                           Thanks to Racing.Com for awesome coverage
Ability wins the Group 3 Bletchingly 



Other Highlights -- Reann a double at Morphetville on Saturday.
Wells winning the Crisp Steeple