Slater peppered on Origin selection
Queensland coach Billy Slater is peppered by NSW greats Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler on potential changes for State of Origin II.
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Cotter starting 9! 0-4 Grant back to 14
NRL: Brent Read has advised Billy Slater to move Harry Grant back to the bench and start Reuben Cotter in the number nine jersey.
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Champion pacer Leap To Fame to switch to standing-start racing at Albion Park on Saturday night
Champion pacer Leap To Fame will take a surprise step right outside his comfort zone at Albion Park on Saturday night. For just the second time in more than four years and 65 race starts, Leap To Fame will switch from mobile start to standing-start racing. His only other standing-start race was on June 8 last year when Leap To Fame came off a 20m handicap to emphatically win the Flashing Red Discretionary at Albion Park over 2647m. The six-year-old's task will be even harder this week off the maximum 30m handicap and the race being over the shorter 2138m trip. Despite Leap To Fame winning first-up from a break at Albion Park last Saturday night, his trainer-driver Grant Dixon was moved to back him up quickly. • 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! 'It was a bit hard to assess things on such a wet track, but I felt he should have won a bit easier,' he said. 'Trista I felt he could do with another two races before the Inter Dominion starts and that meant we really had to back him up this week. 'There was also the option of a mobile sprint race, but there are a few reasons we opted for the stand. 'He will get more conditioning from a race like this stand, especially over 2138m. Big surprise in the fields for this Saturday night- Jun 7 Leap To Fame will start in Race 6- a standing start handicap over 2138m. From 30m ðŸ'€ ðŸ'€ — The Creek (@TheCreekAlbion) June 2, 2025 'And we are thinking about taking him to the NZ Cup later in the year, which is a standing start and this could be one of the last suitable opportunities we get to show him the (standing start) tapes and see how he handles it. 'The Flashing Red and Redcliffe Cups are coming, but he'll get 30m in both of those. The Flashing Red will be a lot stronger than this week's race and Redcliffe isn't really a suitable race for him.' In Awe. LEAP TO FAME with one of his best ever tonight in The Race by @betcha_nz. He eyeballed his most recent foe, Don Hugo then put him, and the rest, to the sword to once again prove who's boss in the pacing world ðŸ'° — RaceQ (@RaceQLD) April 4, 2025 Dixon said racing again this week meant Leap To Fame could return to mobile start racing for his final lead-up race on June 21. 'Then he'll have had the three weeks and get a two-week gap before the first round of (Inter Dominion) heats (July 5),' Dixon said. Dixon felt Leap To Fame, who won narrowly but impressively first-up at Albion Park last Saturday night, needed more racing before the Inter Dominion starts on July 5. Leap To Fame makes it career win 51 and 34 at The Creek to take out The Somerset Farms Avonnova Open defeating Wisper A Secret — The Creek (@TheCreekAlbion) May 31, 2025 'I thought he should've won a bit easier and that he'd need two more runs, not just one, before the heats. 'That really meant we had to back-up this week and it made more sense on a few levels to go to this (standing start) race rather than a 1660m mobile. This will be a better conditioning run. 'It means he can run this week, have two weeks to his third run back and then another two weeks before the first round of heats.' THE CHAMP GOES BACK-TO-BACK! Another successful raid by the Queenslanders Grant Dixon and Leap To Fame, who secure a second-straight victory in the Decron Cranbourne Gold Cup! — The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) February 8, 2025 Less than an hour after Leap To Fame steps out, his major Brisbane Inter Dominion rival Don Hugo will return from a let-up in the seventh race at Menangle on Saturday night. Don Hugo upset Leap To Fame in the Miracle Mile on March 8, but the latter turned the tables with a powerhouse win when they last met in the $1 million Race by betcha at Cambridge on April 4. They have clashed three times and Leap To Fame leads 2-1. @ClubMenangle — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 8, 2025
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Trainer Ben Hayes chasing Stradbroke Handicap win before the birth of his first child
Family patriarch Colin Hayes adopted the motto 'the future belongs to those who plan for it' and Lindsay Park's current crop is upholding the tradition. Ben Hayes is the latest of Colin's grandsons to start a family on his own as he confirmed his wife, racing media personality Grace Ramage, is expecting the couple's first child later this year. Hayes's twin brothers and training partners Will and JD became fathers to sons last year but he said he and Ramage were expecting a daughter. 'We've got a little girl on the way. It's so exciting,' Hayes said. 'She's the first girl.' Hayes said time would tell whether the Hayes dynasty would stretch to a fourth generation. 'It really depends on the next generation,' Hayes said. 'If they want to do it, we'll certainly support them.' • 'It jeopardises the Stradbroke': Benedetta back-up gamble While the Hayes family will have cause for celebration in a few months' time, the training trio could take Lindsay Park into uncharted territory in the Group 1 $3 million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) on June 14. Neither Colin nor their father David has prevailed in Queensland's most famous race but recent stable recruit War Machine raced to Stradbroke favouritism with his dominant win the Group 3 BRC Sprint at Doomben. Bookmakers promoted War Machine to the $4 favourite in Stradbroke betting with that quote set to tighten should Chris Waller withdraw Newmarket Handicap winner Joliestar from the $3m event. Hayes said War Machine had progressed well since his Doomben win but the camp had to finalise one important detail for the four-year-old's Stradbroke Handicap bid. 'We've got to find a jockey and that will probably be after this week,' Hayes said. 'He gets into the Straddie really well with only 53 (kg). 'I think he's a deserved favourite and his form is great. 'Hopefully he can have a bit of luck with the barrier.' A race-to-race double for @blake_shinn as War Machine wins the last at Doomben in impressive fashion! @lindsayparkrace — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 24, 2025 • Group 1-winning jockey facing six weeks on the sidelines War Machine will be out to give prominent Melbourne owner Rupert Legh his third Stradbroke Handicap win. The late Mike Moroney prepared Mr Baritone (2008) and Tofane (2021) to win the event carrying Legh's navy and yellow silks. Tofane went on to win another two Group 1 events. Hayes said War Machine could also develop into a consistent Group 1 performer in the spring. 'We don't want to think too far ahead and we'll just focus on the Straddie but he would be an excellent Toorak horse and I think they moved the Rupert Clarke back to where it was as well,' Hayes said. 'There's heaps of that type of race for him so there's plenty of options. 'He's hard to get a guide on at home because he's a lazy worker, just like Mr B but he just turns up race day. 'We love horses that do it and that's what he's done for us so far.'
