Josh Parr pulls right rein on Elamaz to cap winning treble at Rosehill
Back-up Baker set for return
Bjorn Baker was considering a seven-day back-up for Thunderlips into the listed Winter Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill after he gave the Warwick Farm trainer a double on Saturday at the track.
Baker, who earlier won with Puntin, went to 86 Sydney winners for the season as he chases a first century in town. He is second only to Chris Waller (145) and went past 150 winners nationwide for the first time.
Zoustar four-year-old Thunderlips, $450,000 yearling, backed up a Randwick win on June 7 with a fighting effort to catch Zouatica by a long neck in the 1500m benchmark 88.
'He's hard to catch at times but he's going very well,' Baker said.
'He loves it wet, too, and there's a bit of rain this week. Maybe back-up Baker could return for the back-end of the season.'
Asked if he would nominate Thunderlips for the Winter Stakes, he said, 'Why not?'
Penza gives Waller a peach
Veteran jockey Jeff Penza repaid the faith of premier trainer Chris Waller with a perfect ride to break a run of placings for Changing Colours.
Waller called on the 55-year-old, who rides mostly on the provincial and country circuits, to fill the void for him at Rosehill with seven bookings, three of which were later scratched.
Changing Colours had two wins and six placings in eight career starts, all in Victoria, including seconds at her past three runs, before tackling the 1400m benchmark 78 for fillies and mares on Saturday.
Penza had the four-year-old near last on the turn before negotiating a path through the field. He found clear air at the 250m and Changing Colours charged to a one-and-three-quarter lengths win over Fairway Star.
Penza, who rode Summer Flame to victory for Waller in the listed Denise's Joy Stakes at Scone last month, has come back from serious falls at Taree in 2023 (broken ribs, concussion and damaged lungs) and Queanbeyan (leg fractures, broken wrist and shoulder) in 2018.
'That was a good ride, he was patient and he took his gaps and used angles to safely get her into the clear,' Waller said.
'He's a great rider and horseman, and it's a pleasure to have him aboard. He's very fit and keen, and he really is a credit to himself, the way he's stayed fit and mobile.
'He doesn't ride work for us but when we get stuck, I call him. I called him yesterday, and he was 'yeah, no worries'. If you want him there, he'll be there.'
Misterkipchoge later broke a 17-month, 18-start drought to give Waller a double. The four-year-old, with Jean Van Overmiere aboard, edged out stablemate Pure Alpha in the 1800m benchmark 78 for a first win since saluting on debut in Australia in January last year. He had eight placings in between the victories.
At Eagle Farm, Sydney-based Irishman Tom Sherry rode his first group 1 winner, taking Tashi to victory for Randwick trainer Peter Snowden in the Tattersall's Tiara.
Veteran mare lifts for Curtis
Trainer Lee Curtis said he may have to put back retirement plans for Bacio Del Mist after she was strong late to win the 2400m Stayers Cup on her home track at Rosehill on Saturday.
Jockey Alysha Collett weaved a path through the small field from near last and the seven-year-old lifted to hit the lead 50 m out and beat Mormona by a neck. Collett finished with a double after winning the last on Lady Extreme.
'She's had horrible luck,' said Curtis, who trains a team of 19 with his wife, Cherie.
'The plan was just to go through this prep then wind it up, but these old blokes that own it, they'll probably say we'll race her another 12 months.
'She's been in work a long time. She's had just a little let-up. She's a marvel, for a $30,000 yearling out of Zoustar.'
Bacio Del Mist has seven wins and eight placings from 44 starts, with $356,505 in stakes.
Super result for Seth's mates
The owners of Puntin savoured a special first Saturday win for the talented three-year-old at Rosehill, and trainer Bjorn Baker is confident bigger victories are to come.
A $60,000 son of Super Seth, Puntin led the benchmark 72 handicap (1400m) for three- and four-year-olds under Ash Morgan and was strong late to hold out Don't Forget Jack by a short neck.
Loading
It was a fourth win in six starts for Puntin, which was named after Seth Puntin.
'He died of cancer about two or three years ago and when we bought the Super Seth, it kind of made sense to name him after Seth,' part-owner Cameron Sinclair said.
'They are all his really good mates, so it's a good story and a bloody good horse. We're in Disneck as well, and some of them are first-time owners, so it's really good.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Perth Now
Hensby's US Senior Open title hopes alive in Colorado
Padraig Harrington has chipped in from 20 yards off the green on the 18th hole to salvage a floundering round and pull back into a tie for the lead with Stewart Cink and Australian Mark Hensby at the US Senior Open. Harrington's chip-in for birdie capped a round of two-under 68 on Saturday and put him in the same spot he was in to start — tied with the same two opponents he played with over another tricky day at the Broadmoor that included wind, rain, even a flash of lightning that pulled the players off the course for a half-hour. "We could've taken the day off," the Irishman said as he shook hands to wrap up a day of twists and turns. Hensby's 68 included another four birdies, along with an eagle, to bring his total to 19 for the tournament. But his best look of all — a six-foot uphill attempt on No.18 that came as the course was still buzzing from Harrington's shot — fell far off to the right and he settled for par. Harrington needed two chips from the deep rough on the par-3 12th and made a double bogey to fall out of the lead. Another bogey came on 15 when he babied a five-foot par putt and it curled away well before the hole. Harrington yanked his tee shot on 18 into the rough left of the fairway and he had no choice but to hack out over the lake and short of the green. But he turned a possible bogey into an unlikely birdie and guaranteed himself a spot in the final group Sunday, where he'll try to add to the US Senior Open title he won in 2022. The leading trio are tied at eight-under 202. One shot behind sits Dane Thomas Bjorn, whose 66 matched the best round of the day and set up what appears to be a four-man fight for the title. Steve Flesch (67) was next at four under and Steven Alker's 66 left him at three under, tied with Miguel Angel Jimenez (68) and Paul Stankowski (67). Seven other Aussies in the field have some work to do to finish in the red. Rod Pampling (69) is even, Steve Allan (69) and Scott Hend (71) one over, Greg Chalmers (71) and Cameron Percy (70) three over, Stuart Appleby (73) four over and Richard Green (73) five over the card. With AAP.
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Crown witness in case against paedophile ring found in shallow grave
When NRL great Ian Roberts, then known as one of the best front-rowers in the world, first met Arron Light, the latter was just nine years old. In that moment, he could never have predicted that less than a decade later, Aaron would be discovered in a shallow grave, the victim of a brutal murder that to this day remains unsolved. 'I was living in Camperdown in Sydney at the time, and he was in the children's hospital nearby,' he told Gary Jubelin's I Catch Killers podcast. 'He was being treated for complications to do with a knee surgery, and he'd been in hospital for quite some time.' Roberts, who had gone in for a visit as part of his NRL team's outreach program, was taken by the young child's sense of humour and wisdom beyond his years. 'He began poking fun at all the players, saying we were only coming to visit for publicity, having a bit of fun,' he recalls fondly, 'he was a cheeky little kid.' Roberts, who jokingly told Arron he'd come back and visit 'just to annoy you,' struck up a friendship with the boy over the following weeks. 'He was in hospital for at least a few months,' he recalls, 'and over that time I'd pop in every couple of weeks to say G'day.' Over the coming years, Roberts became something of a mentor to Arron, who he'd check in with periodically. Then, in the mid-nineties, by which stage Arron was a young teen, Roberts bumped into him on the street, and learned he'd been sleeping rough in Kings Cross. Keen to help Arron get back on his feet, Roberts would invite him to NRL matches and meet up with the teenager regularly – eventually allowing him to move into his home. 'One night he rang me – he was very upset,' the sportsman recalls, 'I asked him where he was – he was in his squat in Bondi, and it was not good. I just told him: 'grab your stuff mate, you can come and live with us for a while.' We had a spare bedroom, and I was with my partner Shane, so we kind of just decided he could stay with us as long as he went to school.' Over the coming months, Roberts tried to provide Arron with more stability – insisting he kept in touch with his parents, training with him in the gym and offering a positive example of authority in his life. Roberts, who had recently come out as gay, was aware that the presence of a young teen in his life may attract suspicion. 'He knew I was gay, and he had no problem with me or my partner,' says Roberts, 'but I was very keen for him to keep in touch with his parents, so his parents knew everything that was going on. What people struggle to understand was that it wasn't just an act of kindness – this young guy was actually my friend.' For a while, things seemed to be going well in the young teen's life, who'd get up and catch two buses to school at Vaucluse High each morning. Then, Roberts got a phone call from police. 'They told me that the house had been under surveillance, and my head was spinning.' Police explained that Arron had been seen going into suspected pedophiles' houses before coming to live with Roberts. They told him 'that's how he'd been supporting himself.' 'And this put you in a difficult situation,' suggests Jubelin. 'I'd just come out,' explains Roberts, 'I was worried that people were going to surmise what they think had happened.' Police, who had quickly cleared Ian as a suspect, asked him to try and convince Arron to make a formal statement about the pedophiles who had abused him. Roberts, who was plagued by worry about how his friendship with Arron would be perceived, encouraged him to co-operate with police. He says it's one of his biggest regrets. 'I wish so much that I'd just told them to leave him alone, that he was happy and doing well and didn't need to go back and talk about all that stuff. I honestly think if I'd done that, he'd still be alive now.' Shortly after convincing Arron to work with police to expose the alleged pedophile ring he'd been a victim of, Roberts was offered a contract in Townsville, and moved away. Aaron, who was hurt and angry at the distance Roberts had put between them, went rapidly downhill. The last time Roberts heard his voice, it was 1997. 'I got a phone call from a policeman telling me that Arron had been arrested again for stealing,' he says. 'And he wouldn't talk to police, the only person he'd talk to was me. So they phoned me up and put him on and I was trying to calm him down. But he was screaming and he was angry at me by that stage as well. He was entitled to be that way. It just felt like he was alone. He was saying that stuff. He was seeing a lawyer I'd put him in touch with, and I just … I just tried to convince him to co-operate with the police. He disappeared three days later. He was due to give evidence [against the alleged pedophile ring] three days later, and he just never showed up in court.' It would be another five years until Arron's body was found. Believed to have been stabbed, his bones were discovered by construction workers digging a trench along the Alexandria canal in St Peters. 'It's awful, even the way they discovered that it was Arron,' continues Roberts, 'It was the knee. His knee, because he had such complications when I first met him in hospital, his knee had become quite deformed. It was like a bulbous type of thing. That's how they discovered it was him.' An inquest into Arron's death found there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with Arron's murder. NSW deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge presided over the inquest into Arron's death. She concluded that 17-year-old Arron died between September 12 and September 18, 1997, in an unknown Sydney location. 'The cause of death is multiple stab wounds,' she said. 'The manner of death is homicide by a person or persons unknown. 'At the time of his death, Arron Light was 17-years-old and was a Crown witness in an impending district court trial.' For Roberts, the pain of Arron's loss, as well as the guilt that plagues him, are wounds that will never heal. 'Regret's not a big enough word,' he tells Gary Jubelin sadly, 'but I just know now that I really let him down.' 'I thought I was okay with this,' he continues, clearly emotional, 'but just talking about it now, it's just like I really let him down. From the person he trusted, he loved me, he so respected me and cared about me. I just let him down.'
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Splat!': Tom Trbojevic cops a huge Wests Tigers hit in brutal act
Prior to Friday night's 18-point win over the Wests Tigers, Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic said he was 'excited' at the prospect of playing in the centres for just the second time since 2017. One of the great fullbacks in the modern game, 'Turbo' was shifted to right centre by Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold to allow Lehi Hopoate to move into the No. 1 jumper. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. While the home side got the job done 28-10 at 4 Pines Park, just 11 minutes in the 28-year-old Trbojevic may have been regretting the decision to be so accommodating. With Manly attacking the Tigers' line, Daly Cherry-Evans found Hopoate, who moved the ball to Trbojevic as the home team chased the game's first points. But Tigers winger Jeral Skelton had other ideas, lining Trbojevic up and landing a crunching tackle that brought everyone watching out of their seats. Watch the big hit in the video player above 'Oh Tom! Tom has caught a beauty there,' Andrew Voss screamed on Fox League. 'Jeral Skelton, he's knocked himself about but he's taken out the main man. Call him the sniper.' Cooper Cronk added: 'Skelton has launched himself into Tom Trbojevic, rattles the cage of the Manly centre. 'I think he's also rattled himself because he's come up ginger. That was a big shot.' Voss then followed up: 'It was Kamikaze-like. I don't know if I've seen Tom get hit like that in his career. 'Welcome to the centres Tom.' While a sore Trbojevic was able to battle on, Skelton did indeed come off second best, with the independent doctor calling for a category 2 Head Injury Assessment test. But plenty of footy fans took to social media to comment on the brutal hit. The NRL News account on X wrote: 'Jeral Skelton puts a bellringer on Tommy Turbo but he's the one that has to come off for a HIA.' Sports journalist Lachlan Jeffery tweeted: 'That was a Kamikaze tackle by Jeral Skelton.' Señor Mick offered simply: 'SPLAT!!!!' Others were left questioning the decision to shift the injury-prone Trbojevic from his favoured position. Racing reporter Neil Evans declared: 'What a ridiculous decision to play Turbo in the centres!! 'Give him some freedom' Spoonbold said thru the week .. ffs there's 10 times more freedom at the back. Lol.' X account @OGHustle_Rugby asked: 'You'd stick Turbo on the wing or FB wouldn't you?? Let's play Mr Injury in the centres. Nice one you knuckles.' In a poor first half of footy, the Sea Eagles finally cracked the Tigers' tryline in the final minute and Turbo was heavily involved. With all the play down the left side of the field, Manly was repeatedly repelled by Wests' defensive line. 'Tom's getting a cold out at right centre,' Voss quipped. 'He's watching on with binoculars.' On the last tackle, Trbojevic finally got his chance, taking a cut-out ball from Luke Brooks and laying off a superb flick pass to Jason Saab who did the rest, scoring in the corner. 'Tom offloads to Saab, finally Tom gets a touch, and it's a golden one for the first try in the final minute of the opening half,' Voss said. Reuben Garrick nailed the sideline conversion for a 6-0 lead at the break. Leading up to the game, Trbojevic conceded he had no idea whether his move to centre would be permanent. Trbojevic's yardage has been solid in recent weeks, but he'd broken just five tackles in his past six games leading into Friday night after busting 83 in 20 matches last season. 'I had a lot of input from the coaches, but we've got someone like Lehi there who's very good at fullback,' Trbojevic said on Monday. 'I'm not unfamiliar with playing centre, I've done it before. It'll be a different challenge for me and one I'm excited for. 'It (the move) wasn't really on my mind, but the way that Lehi has been playing (made it easier) and I haven't been playing my best footy. 'It is what it is. I just love playing footy, and playing centre is something else on a footy field and it's no different to me. I just have to go out there and give it a go.' He may have had second thoughts after Skelton's crunching tackle, but he ran out the half well and looms as a key figure in the second 40 minutes. Manly then took control of the match after halftime, building a 16-0 lead with 30 minutes remaining. Benji Marshall's Tigers briefly had some momentum after Alex Seyfarth's 51st minute try, but the Sea Eagles regained control to record a comfortable win.
