Cleary & Moses – OFFICIAL NSW G1 squad
NRL: Matty Johns and the boys react to the official New South Wales Blues squad for State of Origin game 1.
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News.com.au
15 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Promising colt Hidden Motive has a Spring Group 1 target after digging deep to clinch a narrow victory at Randwick
The Private Harry crew stuck again when Hidden Motive scrambled home at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Hidden Motive, the heavily backed favourite, just held off rank outsider Kujenga in a deceptively tight finish for the Precise Air Handicap (1100m). Sean Driver of Kurrinda Bloodstock was pleasantly surprised when his colt Hidden Motive was declared the winner. 'To be honest we didn't think he got the 'bob',' Driver said. 'But he's a tough horse and was able to win in conditions that didn't suit. 'He will go home now to our farm in the Hunter Valley for two weeks and the big aim is the Coolmore (Stud Stakes) in the spring.' Talented colt Hidden Motive, trained by Nathan Doyle and ridden by Ash Morgan, was backed from $1.95 into $1.65 favouritism and just held off $81 bolter Kujenga to win by a nose with Matima ($3.80) a long head away third. Hidden Motive, a stablemate of Kurrinda Bloodstock's exciting unbeaten sprinter and The Everest contender Private Harry, scored his second successive win to complete a promising two-year-old season. 'We feel he is a four-five lengths better horse than what he showed today,' Driver said. 'He over-raced, he got pestered in front and did a bit of work there. He will improve a lot. 'Wait until you see him on top of the ground. At home what he shown us, he is absolutely electric.' Morgan, who has ridden Private Harry to all five wins including the Group 1 The Galaxy this season, also has big opinion of Hidden Motive's emerging potential. 'I thought it was a very good win,' Morgan said. 'He paraded a lot better than he has been and he was very relaxed and switched off. 'Probably that first ten or fifteen metres he was a little switched off, but I let him roll up. That horse (Dubbo Boy) came to him and we just fired each other up a little bit. You can exhale if you backed Hidden Motive! 🥵 The fav gets his nose down at the right moment to make it two wins in a row in the Randwick opener! @AshMorgan6 @ndoyleracing @aus_turf_club â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 7, 2025 'So, it was a really good win. I know it was a very small margin but he was entitled to get beaten.' Hidden Motive was born and raised at Scone nursery, Cressfield, and was offered as part of their 2024 Magic Millions Yearling Sale draft. Purchased by Doyle Racing and Kurrinda Bloodstock, the colt's $120,000 price-tag belies his epic pedigree. For starters, Hidden Motive is a son of the Magic Millions 2YO Classic and Golden Slipper winner, Capitalist. On top of that, Hidden Motive is the fourth foal of his dam, Secret Agenda, whose seven career wins included the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes in Adelaide and Group 2 Sapphire Stakes in Sydney. Hidden Motive is another quality descendant of the racetrack champion and broodmare gem, Denise's Joy. Driver also revealed Private Harry has returned to Doyle's Newcastle stables to begin preparations for the Group 1 $20 million The TAB Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on October 18. 'Private Harry has been back in the stables for about two weeks and has put on between 65-80kg – and it's all muscle,' Driver said. 'He has grown about an inch-and-a-half, you've got to remember he's only three so he's still got that bit of growing to do. He looks outstanding.' Just hop on the Doyle/Morgan express! 🚂 Hellfire Express wins the Midway - and that's the first two Randwick races to @ndoyleracing and @AshMorgan6! @aus_turf_club @Darby_Racing â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 7, 2025 Driver revealed Doyle is planning to give Private Harry two lead-up races into The Everest. 'We are going to The Shorts and then the Premiere Stakes before The Everest,' Driver said. 'He will have two barrier trials but whether the first one is in Newcastle – I'll be honest, he doesn't do much at home. He's very lazy. 'He has never beaten a horse home in trackwork. Nathan will have a horse going to Port Macquarie and it will beat him. 'If you're going off his trackwork, you might not sleep at night. But his IQ is through the roof. I imagine he will have his first trial at home, his second trial we'll come to Sydney, an exhibition gallop and then we'll go first-up.' Just 35 minutes after Hidden Motive's win, Doyle and Morgan completed an early brace when Hellfire Express scored more decisively than his stablemate in the Midway Handicap (1500m). Hellfire Express ($15) led most of the way and held off the late closing Convergent ($10) to win by one-and-a-quarter lengths with the unlucky Callistemon ($5.50) third just in front of favourite Engine Room ($4.60). Morgan's breakout season has included his first Group 1 win with Private Harry and another four stakes races. His Randwick double moved him to 98 wins on all tracks this season. But the in-form jockey is not about to rest on his laurels. 'I don't want to take a break,' Morgan said. 'I feel like I have worked too hard to take it easy now, so I'm just trying to roll while the momentum is good. It has been a magic season.'
ABC News
20 minutes ago
- ABC News
Rockhampton's Callaghan Park celebrates more than 125 years of racing
Cut from scrub on the banks of a river at the end of the 19th century, a unique Australian racecourse boasts a history like no other. From a plane crash, crocodiles taking residence during extreme flood events and bachelor and spinster — or B&S — balls, Rockhampton's Callaghan Park in central Queensland has a rich and colourful past. The present location of the racecourse, a stone's throw from the mighty Fitzroy River, was established more than 125 years ago by a dapper group of racing folk. Rockhampton Jockey Club (RJC) chief executive David Aldred said 60 hectares of thick bushland was selected for the racecourse in 1898 for its proximity to the town centre. "There were actually two racecourses in Rockhampton in those days, west of the CBD past Rockhampton Airport, but it was too far out of town to go to the races," Mr Aldred said. "They picked this site beside the river and a team of guys were engaged to carve out the track from scrub and within a few months had a racetrack." The opening of Callaghan Park was celebrated with a two-day race meeting, the first of which was on June 2, 1899. "They had 3,000 people each day for the first meeting, which is a big thing when you consider how those people had to get to the races," Mr Aldred said. The first properly constituted racing body in the Rockhampton region was the Fitzroy Jockey Club, formed in 1863, before the RJC was established in 1868. While horse racing is the club's bread and butter, colourful characters and international news stories also hold a place in Callaghan Park folklore. In 1912, a race around the track between a Bleriot monoplane and car attracted a crowd of 7,000 spectators. The main attraction was Hollywood stunt man and famous American aviator Mr A.B. "Wizard" Stone. At the conclusion of the race on the final lap, the crowd was horrified to see the plane crash land on the nearby cricket ground. Mr Aldred said patrons rushed to the site and were relieved to see Mr Stone climb from the wreckage uninjured. The course has also endured times of hardship and tragedy. Major floods over the years have engulfed Callaghan Park. In the record 1991 Rockhampton flood, the grass track was completely destroyed and rebuilt with a new type of grass to better withstand weather events. "If you have a look at the water marks we've got engraved on the buildings downstairs, they've come up to the roof of those buildings," Mr Aldred said. In the 2011 floods, authorities had to issue warnings about marauding snakes and crocodiles in the murky, brown floodwaters around the course and surrounding flood-hit suburbs. From floods to frocks, Callaghan Park hosted modern B&S balls in the 1980s and 90s before growing concerns about insurance and liquor licensing saw events dry up. "That's what people forget, racecourses are seven-day-a-week venues and we host a lot of events here," Mr Aldred said. "It's a unique facility that has catered for a lot of interesting people over many, many years." While Sydney's Royal Randwick racecourse is recognised as Australia's oldest key racing venue, established in 1833, Callaghan Park has also hosted racing royalty through the decades. Trainer Gai Waterhouse, world-class jockey Craig Williams and former Melbourne Cup winners have graced the popular country Queensland track. Racing Queensland acting chief executive Lachlan Murray said the venue was one of the state's oldest and most important regional racing hubs — hosting more than 30 meetings each year. "Callaghan Park is at the coalface of racing in the region both on race day and as a vital training facility for in excess of 30 local trainers," Mr Murray said. "Thoroughbred racing in the Rockhampton region also plays a significant role in the Central Queensland economy, contributing close to $70 million in value whilst supporting almost 450 full-time roles in the wider region. "We look forward to another 125 years of gallopers thundering down the famous Callaghan Park straight."
ABC News
33 minutes ago
- ABC News
AFL round 13: Tigers vs Swans, Cats vs Suns, Giants vs Power live updates — blog, scores and stats
On the rebound from a heavy defeat to Adelaide, the out-of-form Sydney Swans face Richmond at the MCG. Later, Geelong hosts the Gold Coast Suns at Kardinia Park, before GWS clashes with Port Adelaide at Canberra's Manuka Oval. Follow the live blog below, keep up to date with all the latest stats in our ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage.
