The cold result says that top-class Orchestral (Savabeel) finished eighth on her return to racing as a four-year-old, beating five runners home. Such bare facts can be misleading and the mare performed quite well, certainly better than her first–up effort as a three-year-old. There is no reason to point to the track either. Ellerslie’s new... Read More

Now that the breeding season is in full swing, so is the stakes-racing season and black type is the best advertisement for any stallion. In the “what about me” class is Niagara (Encosta de Lago) sire of Saturday’s Canterbury Belle Stakes (Listed, 1200m) winner Raziah. Raziah was having her fourth start. Last season at two... Read More

Grail Seeker (Iffraaj) threw the cat amongst the pigeons with a rousing performance in the Tarzino Trophy (Gr 1, 1400m), the first top-flight contest of the New Zealand season, proving that a different track provided a result different from either Ruakaka or Te Rapa, sites of the two races which supplied the two favourites for... Read More

September means spring and the beginning of the new breeding season. It is also the time when stallions can make a late impression and perhaps help breeders to narrow down and finalise their broodmare matings. One beneficiary is Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) whose Rise At Dawn and Positivity on Saturday formed the quinella in... Read More

Such an understatement from rider Craig Grylls upon dismounting from Bonny Lass (Super Easy) following her strong win in Saturday’s Foxbridge Plate (Gr 2, 1200m). Grylls can take much of the credit for the win as he saved ground (and not in the best of the Heavy 9 track conditions) until the 600 metres then... Read More