Cox addresses mounting MRO bans
AFL: Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox speaks after the latest pair of Sydney Swans suspensions for rough conduct.
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- News.com.au
WSL to expand to 14 teams in 2026-27 with new promotion/relegation play-off
The Women's Super League is set expand to 14 teams from the start of the 2026-27 season, with a promotion and relegation play-off to be introduced.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘What an amazing feeling': Mark Zahra wins Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot aboard Australian-owned Docklands
Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra kicked off the Royal Ascot carnival on a winning note for Australia when he piloted Docklands to victory in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1609m). Australian-owned Docklands, trained by Harry Eustace, was purchased last year by OTI Racing for a tilt at the 2024 Cox Plate, in which he was an 11-length fifth behind Via Sistina. After subsequent unplaced runs in the Champions Stakes at Flemington and the Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin, Docklands returned to Eustace's stables in the UK. • 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! In his sole ride on day one of the Royal Ascot carnival, Zahra let the $14 betting chance settle off the pace in the 10-horse field before making his move between runners at the 400m mark. In a desperately close battle with $3.60 favourite Rosallion, Docklands got the bob on the line – despite Zahra being forced to ride hands and heels after dropping his inside the final 100m. DOCKLANDS pips ROSALLION in the Queen Anne Stakes. Congratulations to jockey Mark Zahra, trainer @H_Eustace, and all connections. #RoyalAscot — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 17, 2025 'Everyone kept scaring me about the whip rules, I thought it was just easier to throw it away at the 200m,' Zahra joked in his post-race interview. 'It was a very slow, slow speed and I just crept as much as I could, we got room at the right time and he just kept responding, it was such a tough win. 'What an amazing feeling.' There was a strong Antipodean flavour to the Queen Anne, with jockey James McDonald sixth aboard the now- Ciaron Maher -trained former US star Carl Spackler, which was recently purchased by Yulong Racing. Just ahead of Carl Spackler in fifth was the William Haggas -prepared Lake Forest, which won the $10 million Golden Eagle at Rosehill last November. The Henry Dwyer-trained Asfoora was unable to defend her Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (1006m) victory from 12 months ago but she was far from disgraced, finishing fifth as $14 chance American Affair charged home for victory. AMERICAN AFFAIR takes the King Charles III Stakes for @PMulrennan and @JimGoldieRacing. Congratulations to all connections. — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 17, 2025 Under Irish jockey Oisin Murphy, Asfoora ($4.50 fav) raced close to the pace and looked a winning chance at the 200m before just peaking on her run late. Dwyer had already flagged leading into the King Charles III Stakes that Asfoora would be vulnerable in the race, given he was unable to get her to England in time to have a lead-up run, as she did last year. The Nunthorpe Stakes in late August is a key goal for Asfoora later in her UK campaign.
News.com.au
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Trainer Joe Pride's grand campaigner Private Eye is no longer sprinting towards prizemoney top 10
Trainer Joe Pride has made the honest appraisal that Private Eye's days of contesting The Everest are behind him. Private Eye, who is on the verge of breaking into the all-time top 10 prizemoney earners after his close third in the Stradbroke Handicap last Saturday, is a rising eight-year-old and Pride believes the gelding is looking for longer race distances now. 'I think his pure sprinting days are over, he is not as sharp as he used to be,'' Pride said. 'He's more of a 'miler' these days. It's funny because after he won the Queensland Guineas as a three-year-old Brenton Avdulla said we should push on to the Derby. 'But then he got faster and became a sprinter. It seems he's reverting to what he was as a younger horse.'' Private Eye won the Group 1 Epsom Handicap over the Randwick mile course as a four-year-old but then developed into one of the nation's best sprinters, contesting three successive The Everests for a second to Giga Kick in 2022, a third behind stablemate Think About It in 2023, then his close sixth to Bella Nipotina last year. But Pride's evergreen equine star continues to be competitive at the highest level with his Stradbroke placing taking his career earnings to $12,217,185 and 11th on the prizemoney rankings, moving above Think About It ($12,163,050). Private Eye will get his chance to break into the top 10 in spring with Pride looking at a possible return in the Group 1 $1 million Winx Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on August 23. 'He won't have long off and I will have a think about the Missile Stakes (August 9) but maybe we go straight to the Winx Stakes fresh,'' Pride said. 'If he gets into the top 10 prizemoney earners, it will be a great achievement for the horse but it probably doesn't mean what it used to with the exaggerated levels of prizemoney these days. 'But he's done a great job during his career, he's been racing at Group level for five seasons now and is still holding his own.'' Pride said a race like the Group 1 $5 million King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Everest Day, October 18, was a more likely spring goal for Private Eye. This is also the target for stablemate Ceolwulf, who won the Epsom Handicap-King Charles Group 1 double over the famous Randwick mile course last spring. Ceolwulf won the Neville Sellwood Stakes then was spelled after finishing fifth to champion Via Sistina in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes during autumn but is back in work at Pride's Warwick Farm stables and is also being readied for a comeback in the Winx Stakes. Epsom winner Ceolwulf with a huge run wins the G1 King Charles III Stakes in front of a record crowd at Randwick! @PrideRacing | @SchofieldChad @aus_turf_club | @WorldPool — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) October 19, 2024 'I'm really happy with how Ceolwulf spelled, he looks great,'' Pride said. 'At this stage we have either the King Charles or the Cox Plate as his main goal, I don't think he can run in both being just a week apart. 'That is one of the holes in the program because you want to see the best horses clashing. 'When I was getting into racing in the late 1980s, you watched Vo Rogue, Super Impose and Better Loosen Up racing against each other all the time because they were the only weight-for-age races. 'But these days there is so many choices and so many races to choose from for these top horses.'' Pride said there were various options for Ceolwulf including going to Melbourne later in the spring or staying in Sydney for an extended campaign. 'If Ceolwulf runs in the King Charles, then we have the option of going to Melbourne for either the Champions Mile or Champions Stakes, or he stays home and could even go to the Five Diamonds,'' Pride said. Civic Stakes (1400m) with Accredited, Cool Jakey, Estadio Mestalla and Headley Grange.
