Latest news with #NorthamStakes
West Australian
4 days ago
- Sport
- West Australian
Magnificent Andy predicted by punters to become only the fourth dual winner of the Hyperion Stakes
Magnificent Andy is in line to join a select group of dual Hyperion Stakes winners when the hardy gelding contests the $200,000 Group 3 feature at Pinjarra. Only Cambana Lad (1974, 1975), Heron Bridge (1984, 1986) and Marasco (2008, 2010) have been repeat winners of the event, though Magnificent Andy would become the first since it was changed to be a 1600m contest. The chestnut has firmed to $2.90 TABtouch favouritism and his regular jockey Brad Parnham eagerly awaits the clash. 'I'm obviously pretty confident going into the race. His runs of recent times have been really great, and he gives 100 percent every time,' Parnham told TABradio. 'The last two starts, we've drawn awkward and have been caught wide. 'The other day, I managed to get across, but I rode him a little closer than I would've if I'd drawn a gate. 'Now we're up to a mile and we're drawn a good gate, I can probably position him where I want. 'I give him quite a big chance to go back to back.' A one-length fourth to Jokers Grin in The Quokka, Magnificent Andy has followed that performance with valiant runner-up performances in both the Northam Stakes and Belmont Sprint. Despite having 37 starts under his belt, the six-year-old has only raced over 1600m twice in his career for last year's Hyperion victory and a later fourth in the Railway Stakes. 'He's very strong at 1400m but think he's the sort of horse who might be better at the mile,' Parnham said. 'His effort last start was great. He got challenged by West Star and he started to pull him back and managed to get in front. 'To me, it seemed like The Boss Lady's turn of foot was a bit too sharp for him and she was able to get over the top of him. 'I think he's developed into that horse that's better at a mile. We'll see what he can do but he should be going very close.' His main rival could be $3.10 second fancy Western Empire, who missed the Belmont Sprint with a hoof abscess. 'It's still a bit of an ask going from 1200m to a mile but I'm pretty happy with how he is,' his co-trainer Grant Williams told SEN. 'We got to put in an extra couple of gallops. I would've liked one more, but he had a really good hit-out on Wednesday.' Williams also prepares $12 fourth fancy Hemlock Stone who he suggests will belie the maligned 'second-up syndrome', a metaphorical condition where horses underperform at their second start for a preparation after impressing at their first. 'I have got that in the back of my head about second-up syndrome because he's a stayer but generally we don't have that in our stable,' he said. 'Our stable, they generally bounce through the first one and their second one's a good run.'
West Australian
23-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Bustler back in career-best form and ready to rumble first-up in Belmont Sprint
Group 1 winner Bustler will be out to show his trial form has been no fluke in the Group 3 $200,000 Swan Draught Belmont Sprint (1400m), lining up a $7 third elect in the first big race of the wet track's season. The five-year-old excited his fans when cruising to a comfortable success at an Ascot trials session almost two weeks ago, beating handy rivals including stablemate and subsequent Lark Hill heat winner September Born. His jockey, Steve Parnham, says the gelding has regained career-best form and is in rude health ahead of Saturday's clash. 'He's showing that he's near his best that won the Railway a couple of years ago,' Parnham told TABradio. 'His trackwork has been as good as back then, and his trials have been even better. 'He was quite sharp in the trial with his blinkers on, so I'd expect him to jump out as he did and put himself in a prominent spot. Some cover behind the speed would be nice, but he's a pretty adaptable horse.' Bustler sat sixth in a field of 16 to win the 2023 Railway Stakes, the closest he has positioned relative to the lead in any of his wins excepting his debut. Three-year-old tyro West Star is the $2.80 TABtouch favourite after scooting away with the Northam Stakes on May 11. He leads 2021 Railway winner Western Empire at $4.60, with Stephen Miller's Magnificent Andy - a Northam runner-up to West Star - at $9. 'He's one of those horses that does his best all the time and is not far off them in those big races,' Miller said. 'I feel that his ultimate (distance) is the 1400m, but I would have preferred barrier six or something like that. 'The horse is fit and well. He'll run well.' + Proven performers Antino and Pride Of Jenni share $3.60 favouritism for the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) in Queensland. Antino routed his Hollindale Stakes rivals two weeks ago, sustaining a steamrolling run to pulverise his rivals by three and a half lengths. Pride Of Jenni, who was retired last year after a Cantala Stakes failure, has won two easier races this preparation which were split by another disappointment in the Australian Cup. + Victorian chaser Giacomo, unbeaten in four WA runs, will start favourite for the Group 2 WA Derby (520m) at Cannington. The $2.80 favourite won the Mandurah Derby three weeks ago in a brilliant 27.10 seconds before turning his attention to the series. Echoes Of Dad ($3.60) - the least experienced runner in the field - is next in betting ahead of Junk Yard Clyde ($4.60), who was the fastest qualifier in 29.47 seconds last week.
New Paper
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Paper
Miller plays his Joker for $4.2m
Former power lineman Bernie Miller knows all about working off the ground, but could be scaling heights he probably would not want to come down from should Jokers Grin win Perth's richest race on April 26, The Quokka (1,200m). The 70-year-old has been an off-and-on hobby trainer for four decades, relying on his day job at an electrical company to pay the bills. Fatter cheques did, however, come his way with, amazingly, five "black type" winners among his haul of 67 winners all-up. It is no coincidence those highlights occurred after he turned to training full-time in 2007, albeit still on a boutique scale. The stable star had all along been Cup Night, who won the 2021 Group 3 Northam Stakes and two Listed races in 2019 and 2020. Such is the romance of racing that Cup Night's full brother has now become Miller's "horse of a lifetime" - and is now in the hunt for the thicker end of a A$5 million (S$4.2 million) bounty. Fourth on debut at Belmont, the son of Maschino out of Walk In Beauty then struck a purple patch of five wins in a row. After he found one better in his last 2024 race, he would have been unbeaten in two Ascot starts in his 2025 campaign, if not for a successful protest from his joint winner The Boss Lady in the Group 3 Roma Cup (1,100m) on April 12. Miller and his dream horse will now be thrust against not only leading home teams like Grant & Alana Williams (Western Empire) and Simon Miller (Generosity and West Star), but also big guns from Sydney, including three-time Quokka bidder Overpass, and a dual Kiwi Group 1 winner, Crocetti. Regardless of state or country, everybody loves to root for the underdog, a mantle which Miller seems to relish. "I'm a small trainer and, for a small trainer to be involved in a five million-dollar race in your home state, it's something very very special," said Miller to TV. "To win The Quokka will be bloody tough. But can he win it? Why can't he? "I think Jokers Grin is going to be better than Cup Night. He's got a beautiful long stride on him, he's got a tank on him. I think he's got all the attributes of a true athlete. "I kept a lid on him for quite a while. We didn't know how good he was, but Paddy knows that because he's steering him." "Paddy" is Jokers Grin's exclusive partner and also Miller's go-to jockey, Patrick Carbery. From Perth, he often drives 50km down south to work Jokers Grin at Miller's yard in Hopeland. Like Miller, the lightweight veteran jockey is undaunted by the task ahead, even after drawing the widest in 13. The close to 1,800-race winner nearly beat Overpass at the inaugural The Quokka by steering then Perth darling Amelia's Jewel from the outermost alley in 14. "It's not the preferred barrier, but that's the way it is, and we'll work it out," said Carbery to Racing WA. "You don't have control over what barriers you get; they're the cards you're dealt and I'm not deflated at all. "Whatever happens, I'll work it out and luck always plays a part in bigger races. I just know the horse is going good and that's the main part of it. "He's going really well, going exceptional, Bernie's happy with him, I'm happy with him. "His work on Saturday was good and he's not in the race just for fun, put it that way." Surely there are five million reasons, but Carbery himself seems to be riding only for one cause. "To win The Quokka for Bernie would be outstanding. No-one deserves it more than him," he said. Win, lose or draw, it will still spark up the former lineman's life for some time to come. "Jokers Grin is by far the best horse I've ever had and I believe I'll ever have," said Miller. "He means a lot to me and brings out the tingles and the feelings within. It's once in a lifetime to have a horse like him." manyan@
