Latest news with #Menangle
The Australian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Australian
Eureka favourites take next step on path to showdown
The two biggest guns of the world's richest harness race, Bay Of Biscay and Fighter Command, will head interstate to step-up their preparations on Saturday night. The Victorian-trained pair head the betting – at $3.50 and $5 respectively – for the $2.1 million TAB Eureka, which is just five weeks away at Menangle on September 6. Bay Of Biscay was nominated to race at Melton and Menangle, but co-trainer Emma Stewart confirmed the Chariots Of Fire winner would head interstate for the Sydney race. The prospect of a 2300m race at Menangle – the same track and distance as the TAB Eureka – was more attractive than a 1720m sprint with less prize money at Melton. • 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! Bay Of Biscay, who flashed home for a luckless second to subsequent Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion winner Don Hugo in last year's TAB Eureka, will become the first pacer to tackle the race twice. The TAB Eureka is restricted to three and four-year-old Australian-bred pacers. Connections have focused everything on this year's TAB Eureka and snared an early slot through WA breeding giant Rob Watson's Soho Standardbreds. The Bay Of Biscay team even declined an invitation to run in the $1 million Miracle Mile in March, which came after winning the Chariots Of Fire a week earlier. 'If all goes well, we'll have a go at the Miracle Mile next year, but we want to win the TAB Eureka first,' managing owner Tim Bunning said at the time. Bay Of Biscay, who boasts 11 wins and seven seconds from just 22 starts, has only raced once since his Chariots Of Fire win on March 1. That was for a narrow win, albeit in slick time, at Melton on June 28. He was set for the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park earlier this month, but plans were aborted when a suitable flight could not be arranged. Top young driver Cam Hart, who has been aboard for Bay Of Biscay's past three runs and is locked in for the TAB Eureka, will take the reins again this week. Fighter Command will head in a different direction for the $80,000 Beautide in Hobart on Saturday night. The Jess Tubbs-trained four-year-old won the Beautide last year, which carries with it a golden ticket into the TAB Eureka through the Tasracing slot. Tubbs described the race as the 'first step towards redemption' after Fighter Command almost died after he was struck down with a twisted bowel and scratched just days out from last year's TAB Eureka. 'We've slowly and steadily built him back-up again and with everything focused on this race (the Beautide),' Tubbs said. 'After what happened last year, we haven't looked beyond this week, but hopefully he wins and we can. 'Herbie (Australia's premier driver James Herbertson) is locked in for Hobart, so we're set to go.' Fighter Command wins last year's Beautide. Picture: Eliza Howlett Fighter Command had almost six months away from the track after the twisted bowel, but he returned with eight starts for two wins, a second, a third and two fourths. So far only Bay Of Biscay (Soho Standardbreds) and Hesitate (John Singleton), are confirmed runners in the TAB Eureka. • Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
2025 TAB Eureka favourites Bay Of Biscay, Fighter Command step-up preparation for showdown
The two biggest guns of the world's richest harness race, Bay Of Biscay and Fighter Command, will head interstate to step-up their preparations on Saturday night. The Victorian-trained pair head the betting – at $3.50 and $5 respectively – for the $2.1 million TAB Eureka, which is just five weeks away at Menangle on September 6. Bay Of Biscay was nominated to race at Melton and Menangle, but co-trainer Emma Stewart confirmed the Chariots Of Fire winner would head interstate for the Sydney race. The prospect of a 2300m race at Menangle – the same track and distance as the TAB Eureka – was more attractive than a 1720m sprint with less prize money at Melton. Bay Of Biscay, who flashed home for a luckless second to subsequent Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion winner Don Hugo in last year's TAB Eureka, will become the first pacer to tackle the race twice. The TAB Eureka is restricted to three and four-year-old Australian-bred pacers. Connections have focused everything on this year's TAB Eureka and snared an early slot through WA breeding giant Rob Watson's Soho Standardbreds. The Bay Of Biscay team even declined an invitation to run in the $1 million Miracle Mile in March, which came after winning the Chariots Of Fire a week earlier. 'If all goes well, we'll have a go at the Miracle Mile next year, but we want to win the TAB Eureka first,' managing owner Tim Bunning said at the time. Bay Of Biscay is the 2025 Group 1 Cordina Chicken Farms Chariots of Fire champion for Emma Stewart and Cam Hart.ðŸ�†ðŸ'¥ The son of Somebeachsomewhere USA out of Nike Franco NZ recorded a mile of 1.49.1 with Charge Ahead and Major Hot NZ filling the minor placings. #ClubMenangle — Club Menangle (@ClubMenangle) March 1, 2025 Bay Of Biscay, who boasts 11 wins and seven seconds from just 22 starts, has only raced once since his Chariots Of Fire win on March 1. That was for a narrow win, albeit in slick time, at Melton on June 28. He was set for the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park earlier this month, but plans were aborted when a suitable flight could not be arranged. Top young driver Cam Hart, who has been aboard for Bay Of Biscay's past three runs and is locked in for the TAB Eureka, will take the reins again this week. Fighter Command will head in a different direction for the $80,000 Beautide in Hobart on Saturday night. The Jess Tubbs-trained four-year-old won the Beautide last year, which carries with it a golden ticket into the TAB Eureka through the Tasracing slot. FIGHTER COMMAND is Eureka bound!! Taking out The Beautide at Hobart tonight the Jess Tubbs trained and Greg Sugars driven gelding is into the worlds richest race on September 7!🤩 — NSWSOA (@NSWStandardbred) August 3, 2024 Tubbs described the race as the 'first step towards redemption' after Fighter Command almost died after he was struck down with a twisted bowel and scratched just days out from last year's TAB Eureka. 'We've slowly and steadily built him back-up again and with everything focused on this race (the Beautide),' Tubbs said. 'After what happened last year, we haven't looked beyond this week, but hopefully he wins and we can. 'Herbie (Australia's premier driver James Herbertson) is locked in for Hobart, so we're set to go.' Fighter Command had almost six months away from the track after the twisted bowel, but he returned with eight starts for two wins, a second, a third and two fourths. So far only Bay Of Biscay (Soho Standardbreds) and Hesitate (John Singleton), are confirmed runners in the TAB Eureka.
News.com.au
21-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Hall Of Fame trainer John Hawkes hopes to have runners in the biggest slot races of both equine codes
Hall of Fame trainer John Hawkes hopes to have runners in the biggest slot races of both Australia's equine codes. His exciting sprinter Briasa is already locked in for the $20 million The Everest on October 18 through the slot held by Max Whitby, Steve McCann, Colin Madden and Neil Werrett. Now Hawkes and his harness trainer, Geoff Webster, are hunting for a slot in the world's richest harness race, the $2.1 million TAB Eureka, with emerging three-year-old Seathestars at Menangle on September 6. Hawkes has always had a passion for harness racing and has owned '25 or more' pacers over the years, but Seathestars is potentially the best yet. The gelding won three races on end, including the South-East Derby at Albion Park on July 5, before a slashing and luckless fourth in the $150,000 Group 1 Queensland Derby last Saturday night. Seathestars drew outside the back row, sat near the rear and defied the pattern of racing to storm home into fourth spot behind star Kiwi pacer Rubira, which led throughout. 'I thought his run was great,' Hawkes said. 'You couldn't ask for any more from where he drew and how far back he was. He's always shown ability, but he keeps improving and that's the exciting part. 'Geoff (Webster) mentioned The Eureka and I let him call the shots. If he thinks the horse is good enough to aim for it, then I'm onboard. 'It's a race for three and four-year-olds and the four-year-old crop doesn't look overly strong this year, so it could be a year for a three-year-old to win it. 'It would be exciting to have a runner in The Everest and The Eureka.' • 'The shoulder has had enough': Digger calls time on career Webster added: 'I've always liked him, but on what he's done the past few weeks, especially in the Derby, he's even better than I thought he was.' Hawkes said Briasa would return to his Rosehill stables this week and had thrived during his time out. 'I think he can go up another notch this campaign, but he'll need to, given the races we're aiming at,' he said. 'Most of what he's done so far has been on raw ability. 'The timing is perfect for him to have a crack at a race like The Everest. He's lightly raced and still on the up. It's the right time of his career.' Briasa is brilliant in the G1 T J Smith Stakes! He makes it 7 wins from just 9 starts as he races away for @HawkesRacing and @G1TySchil! ðŸ'¨ @aus_turf_club | @WorldPool — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 5, 2025 Briasa boasts seven wins from just 10 starts, including the Group 1 TJ Smith, and hasn't raced since a fourth in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick on April 19. 'Forgive that run, he just wasn't quite ready and mature enough for the 1400m,' Hawkes said. Briasa is $8 third favourite behind Hong Kong sensation Ka Ying Rising and the exciting Private Harry in latest The Everest markets. Hawkes is looking forward to the challenge against Ka Ying Rising. 'He's clearly a very good horse, but I'm not scared of him. You want to race the best,' he said. 'I know my horse has the potential to improve a lot on what we've seen so far, so I'm excited about getting the chance to take on a horse like him (Ka Ying Rising), especially in our own backyard.'
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
'Our biggest test': Superstar trotter Keayang Zahara puts win streak on the line in Group 1 Macarthur Mile
GLEN Craven admits he will feel the weight of the record books when he heads onto the track with boom unbeaten trotting mare Keayang Zahara at Menangle on Saturday night. Victory in the $100,000 Group 1 Macarthur Mile will stretch Keayang Zahara's record to 16 wins. She will join Court Jester, a star of the 1970s, with the equal fifth longest winning streak by a trotter in Australasia. The incomparable Maori's Idol holds the record with 24 successive wins, which ended on March 11, 1978. This will be just Craven's second drive on Keayang Zahara – he won the first by a narrow margin at Melton last Saturday night – because his cousin, Jason Lee, drove her to win her first 14 starts. • 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! 'She's certainly the best I've sat behind. It's good to be part of it and there is a lot of pressure, but it's what we're in the game for,' Craven said. 'It's more about not wanting to be the one driving her when she gets beaten for the first time. 'We tried not to get too caught up in the unbeaten thing. Sure you don't want it end, but unless you're Black Caviar, you know it will at some stage.' There were several moments at Melton last Saturday night, when Keayang Zahara was first-up from a long spell, when Craven thought she was in danger of her first defeat. 'Oh, definitely. From about the 600m until halfway around the home bend, I thought we were in real trouble,' he said. 'Im Ready Jet is a proven top class trotter and she was in front, but when we sort of got within striking distance turning for home, I thought we'd win unless my mare ran out of puff. She just did enough. 'Even though the margin wasn't great, we were thrilled with her effort. 'She's been so fast and so dominant against her own age, she's never really been in a dogfight, so it was a bit of an unknown, but she relished it and really wanted to win.' Craven expects much of the same the way the barriers have landed at Menangle, with the untapped Susan Is Her Name drawing gate two and Keayang Zahara in four. 'I've got huge respect for Susan Is Her Name. I'm not sure how quick she'll get out, but if she does land in front and runs the times she has been, this will be our biggest test,' he said. 'The best of Im Ready Jet is really good, too, and we just beat her last week.' Craven expects natural improvement from Keayang Zahara given last week was her first race since winning the Group 1 NZ Trotting Derby in Christchurch on December 6. 'Not so much fitness because we've got her pretty fit, but just sharpness that getting a race under her belt will be the big thing,' he said. Importantly, Keayang Zahara has been to the spacious Menangle track before. She won the NSW Trotters' Oaks and Derby double in September, last year. 'That's a plus. Yes, it's a big track, but some horses can take a run or two to get used to it,' Craven said, In line with Craven's wariness this week, Keayang Zahara has drifted from $1.25 to $1.45, while Susan Is Her Name has been crunched into $2.60 from a remarkable opening price of $9.50. Such is the hype around Keayang Zahara, which is chasing her eighth Group 1 win on Saturday, she is $2.50 prepost favourite for July's Brisbane Inter Dominion final despite her lack of open-class racing.
