Oliver begins spring on poor note
Champion jockey Damien Oliver's rich spring carnival began badly at Sandown on Wednesday when stewards banned him for 14 meetings for careless riding.
Champion jockey Damien Oliver's rich spring carnival began badly at Sandown on Wednesday when stewards banned him for 14 meetings for careless riding.
The return of Winx in Saturday's Bob Ingham Warwick Stakes has the air of inevitability about it.
He is a once in generations horse which drew Americans back to the racetrack, and American Pharoah has arrived in Australian to influence Australian racing for years to come.
Racing NSW has rubber-stamped a pay rise for the state's hoops.
Is Canterbury set to become Sydney racing's white elephant again if a worldwide search for an international runner for The Everest runner turns up nothing?
An almost anonymous Winx snuck back to the races under a blanket of secrecy at Rosehill - and her rivals will be just as hard to detect with Chris Waller likely to provide all bar a couple of her opposition in the Warwick Stakes.
He's probably the most sought after young horse in the southern hemisphere.
Tommy Berry is adamant Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott haven't found the bottom of Arbeitsam as the free-wheeling front-runner ran his rivals into the ground - and gave Intergaze's 20-year-old track record a nudge - in the Premier's Cup Prelude.
Stewards forensically scoured a text message exchange between jockey Tim Clark and his manager - and will await electronic communication from trainer Gerald Ryan to Washington Heights' owners - after admitting they had "concerns" over Clark's steering of the beaten favourite.
As a millionaire car dealer, George Altomonte should be able to sell ice to eskimos. So how easy is it going to be to sell his gun colt Menari to The Everest slot holders looking for the horse with the biggest engine to win the lion's share of the $10 million bounty?
Tony McEvoy came to Flemington on Saturday knowing he had an exciting sprinter in Hey Doc that had the potential be a key player in some of the best sprint races this spring however the trainer was unsure at what level of fitness his stables flagship galloper was at.
A plunge which started minutes after markets opened on Wednesday had Another Sin's nervous backers on edge long after the post as the first-starter won a two horse war - and stewards room struggle - in the Highway Handicap.
It might be a most unusual path to a Highway race, but Bathurst trainer Dean Mirfin won't be fretting if Sovereignaire can't salute in the $45,000 Narromine Cup.
Todd McCarthy will leave himself one meeting to salvage the metropolitan drivers premiership after jetting out of the country in the past week to soak up the World Drivers Championship in Canada.
She's already had her injections, now Single Gaze just needs to blossom in the spring and she's off to Hong Kong.
Black Caviar filly Oscietra has broken clear of her rivals to win at her second race start at Geelong.
Friends of Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne have sprung to the rider's defence over claims she has stormed out of a media conference to promote the Dubai Duty Free Cup at Ascot in England.
Mike Moroney reckons he has a horse capable of winning group races, but just doesn't know which Loyalty Man will bob up in a campaign-defining race at Rosehill.
Gerald Ryan only has eyes for Menari's Golden Slipper adversary Trekking as the star colt's potential party pooper in a red hot Rosebud, which will provide the first clues to the $1 million Golden Rose picture later in the spring.
Perhaps the bottom line was better when Kerrin McEvoy was a stable jockey at Godolphin but he rides better now as a freelance.
By the sheer weight of numbers in today's $151,000 Aurie's Star, David Hayes appears to hold most of the cards.
There's no such thing as a part-time trainer, with Canberra's Doug Gorrel operating on no sleep as he chases his dream.
Trainer Darren Weir's hopes of winning a second Melbourne Cup in three years have moved much closer to reality after high-class Japanese stayer Admire Deus was purchased by an Australian syndicate in the past 48 hours.
Million-dollar colt Siege Of Quebec has only further fuelled Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott's confidence he can preserve his unbeaten record in The Rosebud despite coming back in trip for the first of the big Golden Rose lead-ins.
Racing at Del Mar in America last weekend shone a light on a couple of shuttle sires, Arrowfield's Kentucky Derby-winning Animal Kingdom and Spendthrift Farm's group 1 performer Jimmy Creed.
It's just a dream at the moment. A little sliver of hope. But having clung to just that for the last 12 months, Craig Ritchie is allowing his imagination to wander. Just a bit. Which is why he wants to take his partner back home for a group 1 dance in New Zealand more than a year after a serious trackwork incident.
David Pfieffer's blazing end to the 2016-17 racing season has already transferred into the new year – and he can't see any reason a two-pronged attack on the Rosebud card at Rosehill won't trigger more success on Saturday.
Off just one impressive barrier trial victory, Scone-based Brett Cavanough has plunged the well-backed Another Sin into the $60,000 Highway Handicap.
Just when it seemed that the all-conquering Winx had a mortgage on a third Cox Plate, a talented overseas competitor has emerged that could well test the world's finest race mare. When nominations closed on Tuesday for
Winx is heavier than this time last year but her showing in a Randwick barrier trial win has Chris Waller confident the world's best horse on turf is as good as ever.
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