Features
Goodwood provides a gloriously unique style of racing
Genteel too other than when the football supporters from nearby Portsmouth and Southampton instigate a brawl as happened earlier in the year. Not this week thankfully. The Goodwood track is perched atop the hillside which affords panoramic views but does make you wonder who on earth decided it would be the ideal site for a... Read More
More from On The Watch
Nature Strip and Vega Magic again show their talent with fast sectional times
Vega Magic’s first-up win in the Bletchingly Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Caulfield being sufficiently impressive that slot-holder James Harron subsequently secured a start for the dual Group 1-winning sprinter in our richest race at Randwick on October 13. But the rising young sprinting star Nature Strip remains in the wings, Saturday’s six-length victory in... Read More
Charge (AUS) 2 c Zoustar – Queen Of The Falls by General Nediym
Despite failing to get his head in front as a juvenile, the Chris Waller-trained Charge showed a great deal of promise in his first four starts, most notably when finishing second on his last outing to Godolphin’s Gododdin at Kensington in April. The son of Zoustar (Northern Meteor), who was crowned champion first season sire... Read More
Epaulette has Group 1-winning two-year-old in South Africa
Runner-up was stablemate Alyaasaat (Dawn Approach), both owned and bred in NSW by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Shadwell Stud Australasia Ltd and trained by Mike de Kock. While Soqrat, his trainer’s 117th Group 1 winner, is the first for Epaulette, the sire has Group 3 winners Khulaasa and Meryl in Australia plus stakes... Read More
Meade relishing his hunt for a Classic winner
They are Advertise, a son of former shuttler Showcasing, whose claims are well established via his Coventry Stakes second to Calyx and subsequent Group 2 July Stakes win. The other is Confiding, a son of Haunui Farm shuttler Iffraaj, who today showed his wares to finish a brave third in Goodwood’s Group 2 Vintage Stakes... Read More
Plague Stone’s fast times suggest he has a bright future after breaking through for first win
Resuming in the Rosebud Prelude (1000m), Plague Stone began awkwardly and was back in eighth place early on before Hugh Bowman settled the colt in fourth spot nearing the 600 metres, tracking a quick tempo. He set out after the leader at the 200 metres and finished too well to score, seemingly with something in... Read More