Best bets and value play for Bendigo races Wednesday
A former Singapore galloper is poised for a breakthrough win while an $18 chance could capitalise on her consistent form at Wednesday's Bendigo meeting.
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News.com.au
16 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Brad Hewitt-trained star The Locomotive on track for big run in Sweden harness racing feature
NSW horseman Brad Hewitt admits he will feel like a fan watching on when his star trotter The Locomotive tackles the second race of his daring Swedish raid on Sunday. Hewitt has been back home for almost three weeks since driving The Locomotive into a luckless sixth placing in a heat of the iconic Elitlopp at the Solvalla track in Stockholm. 'You feel a bit strange and helpless back here, but the plan was always to leave him there in good hands for a few races after the Elitlopp,' he said. The Locomotive drew too wide in his Elitlopp heat, but is much better suited from gate four in the Group 1 Stora Pris, which is scheduled for 6.30am Sunday morning (Australian time). 'Everything I'm hearing from over there is good, but it's hard to measure because they worry about the times he's running in work. 'I felt we had him in a terrific spot when I left and I just wish he'd been able to race a week after or at least sooner than three weeks later like this because he really didn't have a hard run at all. 'I just hope they've got enough work into him in between runs because he's a horse who needs it. 'If he's where he was at Elitlopp time and given the much better barrier, I'm sure he's a big top three chance this week. 'I'd love to see him lead, but even if he just settles handy without being outside the leader, it would be much better than getting back to last like the Elitlopp.' Australian to dance barefoot in Bodens midnight sun. The Locomotive making headlines in Sweden. — Annette Lennon (@LennonAnnette) June 11, 2025 Importantly, the Stora Pris is the race former Aussie trotting champion Just Believe ran a fantastic second in two years ago. Hewitt said there was no rush to bring The Locomotive home. 'It will be a race-by-race thing to see how he's going, but he's missing the Inter Dominion and there's not much else really big for him until early next year, so he can stay a while and then have a spell when he returns,' he said. As much as Hewitt would have loved to have stayed longer in Sweden, many of the other stars of his Goulburn stable have feature race targets at home. Open-class star Captains Knock opens his campaign aimed at next month's Brisbane campaign when he clashes with Miracle Mile hero Don Hugo in the Golden Mile at Menangle on Saturday night. 'He needs a couple of runs before Brisbane. While he's ready to go, it's a strong race first-up and I don't want him having a gut-buster at this early stage,' he said. 'He's still a little bit off his peak, so I know there's plenty of improvement to come from this run.' Hewitt also has a Brisbane trip booked in with his exciting youngster Rewatch, who will trial against older rivals at Goulburn tomorrow. 'He'd going well and we'll get a good guide because there's a couple of handy ones in the trial,' he said. The Mick Harvey-owned Rewatch, who boasts two wins and a second in the Group 1 Bathurst Gold final from his three starts, will run in the Ladbrokes slot in Australasia's richest two-year-old race, the $500,000 Protostar at Albion Park on July 12.
News.com.au
16 minutes ago
- News.com.au
The insult Ange couldn't cop in ‘disaster' showdown with Fergie's Manchester United
Ange Postecoglou's South Melbourne Hellas side trained before Manchester United at the Maracana on the eve of playing one another in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship of 2000. As superstars like David Beckham and Roy Keane arrived on the fabled pitch in Brazil, the South Melbourne players fawned, more like fans than opponents. Postecoglou was filthy. 'Ange said, 'Get the f*** out of here. Go inside'. He took it as an insult,' Elias Donoudis, there covering the tournament for Greek newspaper Neos Kosmos, said in the Postecoglou biography Angeball. South Melbourne's involvement in that tournament, and Ange's refusal to play the pitiable underdog, was a remarkable early chapter in the Postecoglou story. Having taken an unfancied team to one of football's great cathedrals to play the biggest club in the world, the Australian manager walked away knowing that anything was possible. 'I stared down the beast,' he told the ABC in 2015, the same year he led the Socceroos to Asian Cup glory. 'After that, I had nothing to fear.' South Melbourne's path to the tournament was rather more humble, coming via the 1999 OFC Club Championship in Fiji. The back-to-back NSL champions beat Malaita Eagles of the Solomon Islands (2-1) and Konica FC of American Samoa (10-0) in Group A, then breezed by AS Venus of Tahiti 3-0 in the semi-finals. Local hope Nadi was beaten 5-1 in the final, thanks to goals from Steve Iosifidis, David Clarkson, Michael Curcija, Vaughan Coveny and Steve Panopoulos. It was a tougher game than the scoreline indicated. 'Just to qualify for the tournament was surreal,' Hellas winger Goran Lozanovski said, per Football Nation Radio. 'We had to play this local Fijian side to qualify and it was the toughest game we had played in. The grass was thick and there were toads jumping on the ground. 'But we wanted that win badly because we knew what the end result would be.' Afterwards, the players sang Peter Allen's I go to Rio in their dressing room. Qualification for the Club World Championship meant the trip of a lifetime, plus a $4 million participation windfall for South Melbourne. And for Postecoglou, it was about respect after Hellas' championships were given limited recognition within Australian football, let alone the broader public. 'When are we going to get the recognition we deserve, because this team has been on top for two years,' he told reporters before attending the draw. 'I am flying to Brazil tomorrow because we are one of the eight teams in the world playing in this world club competition. This tournament is the most important thing in club football in this country for years, if ever, and these young men are setting new standards out there, but they don't get the recognition.' They were drawn in Group B against United, fresh from their iconic 1999 treble, plus a hometown Vasco da Gama side boasting Romario, and Mexican club Necaxa; the South American and North American continental champions respectively. Real Madrid (UEFA), Al-Nassr (AFC) and Raja Casablanca (CAF) were in Group A along with Corinthians, the host and reigning Brazilian champion. Far from the delirium of the Aussies, United were there under duress and had to forfeit their FA Cup defence in the name of currying favour (in vain) with FIFA. 'It turned out to be a disaster for us,' manager Sir Alex Ferguson told club magazine Inside United. 'We did it to help England's World Cup bid and that was the political situation. 'I regretted it because we got nothing but stick and terrible criticism for not being in the FA Cup when really, it wasn't our fault at all. 'The Football Association and the government felt that playing in this tournament would help England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup. 'There was a lot of undue criticism — but it was a great two-week break.' Nearly everyone of note in England gave their two pence, accusing United of 'disrespecting' or even 'killing' the FA Cup. 'If they don't play this year, they should never play again,' cricket great Ian Botham declared. Beckham also remembers the misgivings over United's participation. 'To be honest, it was something we talked about in the dressing room as much as everyone else did outside Old Trafford,' Beckham wrote in Inside United. 'We were looking forward to going to Brazil, looking forward to playing clubs from all over the world. But nobody was happy about missing out on the FA Cup. 'It didn't feel right not to defend the trophy. Perhaps we could have been given a bye through to the fourth round while we were away and joined when we came back, I don't know. That was for the FA and the club to sort out.' But an experience that was trifling to United's highly-paid stars was unforgettable for the South Melbourne boys. They travelled business class, took a large entourage of family and friends, dined with controversial FIFA president Sepp Blatter and stayed in a glitzy mountaintop hotel in Rio. 'We were like kings. We couldn't believe it,' striker John Anastasiadis said in Angeball. Postecoglou's side was decent but also outmatched. Their opening game against Vasco da Gama drew 66,000 people to the Maracana and they were in full voice as South Melbourne sat terrified in their dressing room, where the ceiling was visibly shaking. 'We're pretty much sh**ting ourselves,' Hellas defender Steve Iosifidis recalled in Angeball. Postecoglou played the Hunters and Collectors anthem Holy Grail to snap them out of it. In a manner that would later become world famous, he told them to be proud and enjoy the game. Still, the semi-pros of South Melbourne were facing Brazilian heroes who had graced their bedroom walls. 'We were ready to go to war,' Iosifidis said. 'As soon as we walked out there though, reality hit, mate. It was pretty funny. 'One of my best mates at the time was Steve Panopoulos, and I remember we were setting up for a corner. He goes to me, 'You mark Romario, I'll mark Edmundo'. I looked away and then I glanced back at him and said, 'You realise, we're from the suburbs? And all of a sudden we're marking these world-class players?' 'I had a poster of Romario on my bedroom wall. It was so surreal.' South Melbourne held firm for nearly an hour and Vasco da Gama's fans booed their side off at halftime. They eventually beat the Aussie underdogs 2-0. United, meanwhile had drawn 1-1 beforehand against Necaxa, with Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich between the posts. Bozza wasn't happy when Beckham was sent off for a high challenge on Jose Milian, claiming the opposition player had feigned injury to get the megastar dismissed. 'It was pathetic from the Mexican player,' Bosnich said. United were already on the back foot and their campaign went to hell with a 3-1 loss to Vasco da Gama, in which Romario scored a brace. Hellas, meanwhile, got a flash of glory in their match against Necaxa. Anastasiadis walked on to the Maracana with a simple pre-game message from Postecoglou: 'Go out and score today.' He did. 'When I scored, I pointed to him. It was an unbelievable moment, to see your name on the Maracana scoreboard,' Anastasiadis said in Angeball. It was a 3-1 loss for South Melbourne and with the top team of each group progressing to the final, both Hellas and United were out of contention before playing their last match. Ferguson was by then clutching for niceties. 'It's been fantastic here – what a chance for us to come out and get some sun,' he told the BBC. 'Back home we would have been freezing our toes off. Playing in the Maracana stadium – that's an experience that probably 90 per cent of the top players in the world don't get. 'It's been well organised, the Brazilian people have looked after us very well. On the playing side, we wish we had been better.' Criticism of the Red Devils' presence in Rio reached fever pitch back in England as the Hellas showdown approached. The Daily Mirror branded it 'the most meaningless football game in history … the result is irrelevant, as neither team can make the final of this absurd tournament anyway. Nobody will turn up to watch it, nobody will tune in to see it and nobody cares what happens.' Yet for Postecoglou, it was invaluable. He got to spend about 15 minutes with Ferguson. 'He was kind with his time when he didn't have to be, and there are plenty I've come across that aren't kind with their time,' Postecoglou told 'That leaves an impression on you as well, because you go, 'I don't want to be like that'. You realise that and think, I don't want anyone to think that about me. So the fact that he spent 10, 15 minutes talking to a young manager, I was 34 at the time, it was significant. 'We were walking to a press conference, and he said, 'You're never going to like this stuff, I hate it'. 'So I hung on his every word, but more important was the impression he made on me that if you can do that to a person, that person then leaves thinking or feeling like you've given them that time of day, and that has an unbelievable effect, because you're not just representing yourself. 'He's representing his football club at the time and all these other things. So yeah, those kinds of things leave a mark on you.' Ferguson wasn't so generous as to field a full-strength team, with his tournament effectively over. Jonathan Greening, Danny Higginbotham and Ronnie Wallwork were a few of the names on the team sheet for a fixture that United's yearbook later deemed to have 'an unmistakeable aura of anticlimax'. The game drew 25,000 fans, allegedly. Yet it was a big moment for Postecoglou and an early nod to his philosophy. He refused to be conservative and though Hellas fell to 2-0 via a Quinton Fortune brace inside 20 minutes, his side played attacking football throughout and created chances. Coveny and Curcija very nearly scored in the second half. Coveny lobbed United goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw, only for his shot to inexplicably hit both posts. Ferguson noticed. 'He said to me that we did very well,' Postecoglou said, per the Herald Sun. 'He also said, 'I bet you I get a question about Beckham, even though he was only on for 14 minutes'.' Having given a good account of themselves, South Melbourne's players marched to the United dressing room to swap jerseys. They weren't met entirely well by the big-money stars, until hard-nosed captain Roy Keane told them to pull their heads in. 'There was a bit of sarcasm from the United players when we came in,' Lozanovski said. 'Would you believe Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and Andy Cole were giggling, going, 'Look at these amateurs'. 'But Roy Keane walks in and really put them in their place, telling them to be respectful. I have the utmost respect for Roy, he was a complete gentleman.' Panopoulos got Beckham's jersey. Becks and his United teammates were by then sick of their Brazilian holiday. The tournament ended with a scoreless draw between Vasco da Gama and Corinthians; Vasco da Gama won 4-3 on penalties to become the inaugural champion. 'I couldn't wait to get back to some mud, wind and rain, to get on with the rest of the season,' Beckham said. 'We might not have had the FA Cup to look forward to but while we'd been away, no other team had been able to catch up: the premiership was there to be won.' And it was. United defended their Premier League crown in a canter, despite being second at the turn of the new year, finishing 18 points ahead of Arsenal. South Melbourne, meanwhile, weren't able to go on to a hat-trick of NSL titles. Postecoglou remembers the season being a write-off around the excitement of the Brazil adventure. 'There was a fair bit of prize money at stake for a club like ours,' Postecoglou said earlier this year ahead of an FA Cup clash against Tamworth. 'Qualifying for that tournament probably destroyed our domestic season because from the moment we qualified our players just didn't want to risk getting injured and were just not interested in our league season. We had a disaster that season, they just didn't want to miss out on playing. 'We ended up losing 2-0 on the day [against Manchester United] but we gave a decent account of ourselves considering the difference. 'Some of my players, who were semi-pro but good footballers, probably played the games of their lives that day.' And Postecoglou tasted the big time. So began his remarkable ascent in the world game. It was incredible symmetry that his finest moment in club football came against United, 25 years later, when he led Tottenham Hotspur past the Red Devils in the Europa League final. Ferguson was there watching.
News.com.au
31 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Spot the Aussie: 2025 Winter Cup field at Rosehill Gardens a showcase for imports
It will be almost a case of 'spot the Aussie' when the Winter Cup field goes out onto the track at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. There are 14 stayers entered for the Listed $200,000 race over 2400m with 12 of them born overseas including topweight Changingoftheguard, a son of the greatest European stallion influence this century, Galileo. Changingoftheguard is among four Irish-bred stayers in the race, while there's five from France, two from Great Britain and one from New Zealand. The only colonial stayers in the Winter Cup are Steel Blaze and Whisker To Whisker – and they are the rank outsiders at $71 and $151 respectively. But this is hardly a new phenomenon. Stayers born in the northern hemisphere make up the bulk of runners in feature Australian distance races these days. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Just look at the make-up of the Sydney Cup (3200m) run earlier this year. Of the 20 starters, 19 were born overseas including the winner, Arapaho. The only horse in the race that was Australian-bred was Zardozi – and she was conceived in England. Godolphin mare Chanderi was served by champion English sire Kingman to southern hemisphere time and sent to Australia in-foal where she gave birth to Zardozi in the spring of 2020. In the Brisbane Cup (3200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday, the 11-horse field has only two locally-bred stayers including last year's defending champ Alegron. Kris Lees, the champion Newcastle trainer who prepares Changingoftheguard, conceded the northern hemisphere stayers were generally superior to locally-bred stayers. 'The European horses are natural stayers, it is in their DNA,'' Lees said. 'Their aerobic capacity seems to be a lot stronger and they have such stout staying pedigrees.'' This is one of the reasons Lees has no issue starting Changingoftheguard first-up in the Winter Cup. 'He wouldn't show up in a race under 2000m,'' Lees said. Changingoftheguard, formerly trained by Aidan O'Brien in Ireland, is a rising seven-year-old but has only had 12 starts, winning the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and finishing fifth in the 2022 English Derby behind Desert Crown. Williams sent Changingoftheguard down under last year and the stayer has had only one preparation for Lees, contesting three races last spring culminating with a good second in the Colin Stephen Quality. 'He ran a great race that day but we just felt he needed more time to fully acclimatise,'' Lees said. 'So, we gave him that opportunity, deliberately missed the autumn and he's coming up well. 'But the plan is to give him the one run then back off and put him away for spring.'' This is a blueprint owner Lloyd Williams has used often with his imported stayers he hopes could develop into Melbourne Cup contenders – one start in the second half of the season then concentrate on the spring carnival. Changingoftheguard back on the Roodee! Aidan O'Brien's Chester Vase and Royal @Ascot winner will make his return in the Ormonde at @ChesterRaces on Thursday... — At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 9, 2023 • A Winter Cup at Rosehill seems a long way from the famous Flemington two-miler on the first Tuesday in November but it is not out of reach. Natski, who just happened to be an imported stayer, won the Winter Cup for the late Hall of Fame trainer Jack Denham then later that year ran a close second to Empire Rose in the Melbourne Cup. This was about the time when Williams started looking overseas for stayers. He had already won the Melbourne Cup twice that decade with Just A Dash (1981) and What A Nuisance (1985) and he wanted more. But it took Williams nearly 40 years to get it right before he won the Cup four times in eight years with imported stayers Green Moon (2012), Almandin (2016), Rekindling (2017) and Twilight Payment (2020). Williams has owned a record seven Melbourne Cup winners – he also won the race with Efficient (2006) – but believes the days of the European-bred horses dominating Australian staying races could be numbered. • 'We're all devastated': Super stallion Snitzel dies 'One of the things you will find from this point onwards is there won't be as many stayers from Europe coming here,'' Williams said. 'They are breeding more 'mile' horses over there now. It won't be easy to go over there and buy a stayer in years to come, you won't find as many.'' Williams has two Irish-bred stayers with Lees he hopes could make it to the Melbourne Cup – and both have the bloodlines of the great Galileo coursing through their veins. Galileo, the sire of Changingoftheguard, is also the grandsire of Adelaide River who is also due to have one run this winter in the Listed McKell Cup (2400m) at Rosehill in two weeks. Adelaide River, a Group 3 winner in Ireland, is a rising six-year-old who has only had 14 starts but has been gelded since he finished fourth in the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes last spring. Williams remembers seeing Galileo race and also standing at Coolmore Stud in Ireland and describes the stallion as 'extraordinary''. Galileo, who was superbly bred by the mighty Sadler's Wells out of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea, won six of his eight starts including the 2001 English Derby. But as good as Galileo was on the racetrack, he has been even better at stud. He was leading sire in Britain a record 12 times and is the only stallion to sire over 100 individual Group 1 winners before he passed away in 2021. • 'This wasn't a decision I made lightly': Cummings on shock Hong Kong switch One of those was Niwot, winner of the 2009 Winter Cup who trained on to contest two Melbourne Cups finishing unplaced in both before his 2012 Sydney Cup win, defeating the Williams-owned Efficient. 'When Galileo died, I thought Aidan would struggle to win the (English) Derby but he has won the race two years in a row without a Galileo,'' Williams said. Well, almost. Lambourn, winner of the Derby last weekend, is by Australia, the 2014 Derby winner and himself a son of Galileo. O'Brien's Derby winner last year, Auguste Rodin, was by Japanese superhorse Deep Impact but was out of Galileo's daughter, champion filly Rhododendron. Galileo is the complete thoroughbred, an absolute champion on and off the racetrack, but he has sired one even better than himself – the incomparable Frankel. Undefeated in 14 starts including 10 at Group 1 level, Frankel earned the highest Timeform rating of all-time at 147 and is now the dominant stallion in Europe with two British Sires titles so far. 'Frankel is a freak horse but the Galileos were able to do anything, they could sprint and stay,'' Williams said. 'I'm not sure if the Frankels stay as quite well but he has already sired a number of classic winners so time will tell.'' Happy Birthday, FRANKEL!🎈 ðŸ'— — Juddmonte (@JuddmonteFarms) February 11, 2025 Frankel is also represented in the Winter Cup with the improving Peter Snowden -trained stayer Touristic, a last start winner of the Listed Lord Mayor's Cup. In fact, two more of Galileo's sire sons have Winter Cup runners – Churchill is the sire of Sir Chartwell and Highland Reel has Speycaster. In latest TAB Fixed Odds betting on the Winter Cup, the favoured runner of the Galileo breed is Touristic at $4, then Changingoftheguard $8, Speycaster $26 and Sir Chartwell $41. 'Changingoftheguard is a dogged sort of stayer, very one-paced but he has ability. We will see how he goes on Saturday,'' Williams said. 'I was talking to Kris the other day about Adelaide River and told him to give that horse one run this winter then bring him back for spring. I think he's a pretty decent horse, too.'' â– â– â– â– â– Emerging sprinter ready to take next step Trainer Kris Lees believes the emerging Tasoraay can negotiate the step up to city grade when the sprinter chases a hat-trick of wins in the Racing And Sports Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. Tasoraay is a lightly-raced three-year-old who broke his maiden at his fifth start at Newcastle last December then resumed with a decisive all-the-way win in a class 2 race at Scone on the opening day of the two-day Cup Carnival there last month. A city placegetter earlier in the season, Tasoraay impressive form surge has TAB Fixed Odds price assessors rating him a $5.50 chance and challenging $5 equal favourites Hell To Pay and Hopper at the top of betting. 'I thought Tasoraay won well first-up at Scone,'' Lees said. 'This is a jump in grade but he's come on really well since that run. He's a nice, little horse.'' The fav Tasoraay opens the day at @newcastleraces_ with a win for @Leesracing with Ben Osmond in the saddle! — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 19, 2024 Lees believes Kind Words is due for a change of luck in the TAB Handicap (2000m). Kind Words has been racing consistently without winning this campaign but she's out to $10 in latest betting after drawing the extreme outside barrier. 'I don't think she's had a lot of luck lately,'' Lees said of Kind Words. 'She was narrowly beaten at Scone then last start at Rosehill that was the race when Dylan (Gibbons on eventual winner Half Yours) took off mid-race. 'We were right behind him but she just couldn't get into the race. I thought she still finished off well without threatening.'' Two wins in a row to Half Yours thanks to an innovative @djgibbons22 ride! ðŸ'� @mcevoymitchell | @aus_turf_club — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 31, 2025 First Person just missed completing her hat-trick of wins when runner-up to Liberty State at Rosehill last start and she might be over the odds at $26 for the Asahi Super Dry Handicap (1100m). 'She's holding her form and although she probably wants it wetter coming back to 1100m will suit her.'' ...I think I won that quite well! First Person makes it two wins in a row with @TommyBerry21 handling the reins for @Leesracing! ðŸ'� @aus_turf_club — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 21, 2025 Meanwhile, Lees provided an update on his Queensland Oaks winners You Wahng (2025) and Amokura (2023). You Wahng Amokura has run her last race after finishing unplaced behind stablemate Loch Eagle at Randwick last week. Matriarch Stakes at Flemington,'' Lees said. 'Amokura has pulled up OK after last week it's becoming hard to keep her sound so we feel it is in her best interests to retire her to stud.''
