Prior to last Tuesday and the stunning Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) victory by Verry Elleegant (Zed), the above trifecta of words was reserved for the original Kiwi (Blarney Kiss), the 1983 winner. The similarities are noteworthy. Both are from very humble New Zealand backgrounds. Kiwi was bought by farmer Snowy Lupton for the princely... Read More

Competition between the heavy hitters, Racing NSW and Racing Victoria, extended to week three beyond the once typical Sydney Spring Carnival. Before the concept of The Everest (1200m), the Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m), Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and Metropolitan Handicap (Gr 1, 2400m) were run before all eyes focused on Melbourne’s big... Read More

Thoroughbred racing and breeding is truly global, exemplified by the result of Saturday’s thrilling Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) at Moonee Valley.  The winner, State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner), is bred in Ireland, is by the Australian sprint star Starspangledbanner (Choisir) and arrived in Melbourne as the last-start winner of the recently re-established Saratoga Derby Invitational... Read More

A spectacular runaway Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) and a heart-stopping Everest (1200m), captured the racing headlines this past Saturday. In the case of the Caulfield Cup, seeing is believing. Yet, even seeing how Incentivise (Shamus Award) sat wide from the outside barrier (18) around a tricky Caulfield track, went even wider rounding into the... Read More

A continuing theme of this weekly report is the strength of certain female families. In recent months, the famous “Belle” family has been discussed at length. This past month, Georgina Belle (Pakistan II), no connection to the Belle family, and her stakes-winning descendants have been impacting the industry weekly. Last week, highlighting a Group 1... Read More