Latest news with #RoyalRandwick
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘Best horse we've had for a while': Trainers Jim and Greg Lee chasing Randwick victory with Glorious Moments on Saturday
Co-trainer Greg Lee believes Glorious Moments is the best horse his stable has produced at the races in years and reckons his untapped talent can deliver on that high opinion on home turf at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Glorious Moments has only raced three times as he nears the end of his three-year-old season but is ready to make up for lost time after injury hampered the early stages of his career. Lee and his brother Jim thought enough of Glorious Moments to run him in last year's Group 3 Pago Pago Stakes as a two-year-old but a lingering issue brought the son of Brutal's career to a halt. A quarter crack in his hoof forced Glorious Moments to the sidelines for more than a year. • 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! 'The only way that is going to repair is giving them time,' Greg Lee said. 'You do what you can to keep it together but unfortunately it didn't work out early in his career and he eventually had to go out. 'There were signs coming but you get the blacksmith there and pull it together like a vice but it's not the same, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. 'Put it this way, it's like you have half your toenail off and you are trying to run with it.' 'That's the best way to describe how sore it is.' There were highly-promising signs Glorious Moments had put the issue behind him in the lead-up to his return when he won a trial at Randwick by nine lengths. He backed up it up in his first race start in 59-weeks with a commanding 1-3/4 length success at Canterbury over 1250m on June 18. @aus_turf_club — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 18, 2025 • The Lees have elected to space his runs with Glorious Moments set to line up a more than a month between runs in The Agency Real Estate Benchmark 72 Handicap (1300m) with Heavelon Van Der Hoven aboard. 'When they've been out that long and you back them up to quick, normally they run bad,' Lee said. 'He won that race first-up but he hadn't run for a long time but he won easy. 'The gap between runs won't worry him.' Glorious Moments is the $4 favourite to make it back it consecutive victories to start his preparation with Stardeel ($4.20), Codetta ($5.50) and Signor Tortoni ($6) helping make up a competitive affair. • New ATC chairman floats fresh plan for Rosehill Lee expects Glorious Moments will be hard to beat again and is eager to set his sights on stakes racing if everything goes to plan in the coming months. 'I think he is the best horse we've had for a long while,' he said. 'I think he will run a mile plus. 'We will get his rating up and if he wins this, then he's won his two and then we make take him to Melbourne for a stakes race.' Convergent is another lightly-raced galloper trained by the Lee brothers that they have a lot of time for and predict has a stakes future. Convergent wins on debut for Jim & Greg Lee with @Reganbayliss in the saddle ðŸ'° @aus_turf_club — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 25, 2025 The son of Impending has only had two starts, winning his first before finishing runner-up in a 1500m Midway on June 7 at Royal Randwick. He will return to the races on August 9 at Royal Randwick with the Lees hoping to raise the bar high this spring. 'He's a good stayer and I think if he comes up you pick out races like the Moonee Valley Cup and The Metropolitan and see if they can do it,' Lee said. 'They do or they let you down and they aren't good enough. 'What makes him so good is he can sprint but I know he will get over 2000m and plus but the plus is yet to be seen.' The Lee brothers only have a small team of horses but have been hitting the target this season with a 20 per cent winning strike rate from their past 50 starters.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Trainer Allan Kehoe aiming high with exciting youngster Shaggy in the spring
Trainer Allan Kehoe is confident stable star Shaggy is ready to make the transition from one-time Golden Slipper wildcard to bona fide spring stakes contender when he returns at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Kehoe is eager to aim high with his lightly-raced talent, which impressively won three of his four starts during a memorable debut preparation during the autumn. At one stage he was on the second line of betting for the Slipper despite not being nominated for the two-year-old main event. Kehoe would have given serious consideration to paying the Slipper late entry had Shaggy won the Group 2 Skyline Stakes but eventually sent him for a spell when the gelding finished fifth in the lead-up event. Shaggy will be back at the races in the Keeneland September Yearling Sale 2YO Handicap (1100m). 'He looks like a bull now,' Kehoe said. 'He didn't grow much in height but he put on 20-25kg. 'It's really noticeable. He is really chunky, he's a big boy. 'He didn't grow any higher, just wider and he feels so much stronger underneath you.' Zoinks! Shaggy leads all the way to win the Pierro Plate and races into TAB Golden Slipper contention for Allan Kehoe! @aus_turf_club — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 15, 2025 A three-start stakes run will be on the agenda if he can run well in his return, starting with the Listed $200,000 The Rosebud (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on August 16. It will be followed by starts in Group 3 $250,000 San Domenico Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on August 30 and Group 2 $300,000 Run To The Rose (1200m) on September 13 at the same venue. 'If he performs really well in those and holds his own, he will go back to the water walker or something and come back and look to Melbourne at the Coolmore,' Kehoe said. 'We won't go down a Golden Rose path with him or anything at this stage, we will keep him over the short trips.' Shaggy was given the top weight of 60.5kg in his return but Kehoe will make the most of apprentice William Stanley 's 3kg claim. The son of Sandbar has trialled up well in the lead-up, winning his most recent effort over 800m on the Beaumont track at Newcastle, and has continued to impress around the stable. 'He is ready to go,' Kehoe said. 'We just do short sharp stuff with him but he's a very easy horse to train. 'He is keen to get out there, of an afternoon you would think he still a colt because he ends up on his back heels and legs flying everywhere. 'He is very happy and well and you would think it's the middle of summer with his coat.'
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Champion mare Via Sistina to kick off latest Cox Plate pursuit in Randwick trial
Champion mare Via Sistina's build-up to her latest Cox Plate tilt will gather momentum when she headlines a star-studded barrier trial session at Royal Randwick on Tuesday. Trainer Chris Waller will get an early guide on how his spring carnival arsenal are going when Via Sistina steps up alongside star stablemates Fangirl, Aeliana, Autumn Glow and Wodeton. Via Sistina is making her first public appearance since her dominant Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes in April as she prepares to chase consecutive Cox Plate wins this spring. She lines up in a 850m heat alongside Fangirl while Canadian Group 1 winner Full Count Felicia also steps out. Golden Slipper runner up Wodeton, brilliant Australian Derby winner Aeliana, unbeaten boom filly Autumn Glow and Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes victor Lazzura contest a second 850m heat. 'They will all have very quiet trials on Tuesday, they are a month away from racing,' Waller said. 'The 23rd of August they will be racing. If everything goes to plan (they will have two trials). 'We allow an extra week just in case for a temperature or sore foot and things like that. 'Nine times out of 10 you need it and sometimes you will see them have an exhibition gallop if they haven't had a problem. 'It's just about being careful. You are a month away so you can imagine how much fitness is going to be done in the next month.' Sydney's first Group 1 of the new season, the Group 1 $1 million Winx Stakes, will be staged on August 23. Waller is considering another heavy-handed assault of the race with past winners Via Sistina and Fangirl while Aeliana and Lady Shenandoah, which will trial on Friday at Warwick Farm, are also candidates. 'All four of them could clash in the Winx first-up – Lady Shenandoah, Aeliana, Via Sistina and Fangirl ,' Waller said. 'Autumn Glow will probably go down a handicap path towards an Epsom.' Waller conceded the Winx Stakes may be Via Sistina's only run in Sydney this spring as the stable gives serious consideration to the Group 1 $750,000 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on September 13 for her second-up assignment. She followed the same path last year after winning the Winx Stakes. “This is a demolition job!â€� Pride Of Jenni runs her rivals ragged with a fantastic front-running ride by @decbates to win the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes! Via Sistina ran on into second and Mr Brightside finished third. @cmaherracing @tabcomau — Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) April 13, 2024 'I think the Makybe Diva will create a bit of interest to us with there being such a gap between the Winx and the King Charles,' Waller said. 'Then you have the Chelmsford but I think the Makybe Diva might suit her and then maybe the Turnbull. 'The Winx could be here only run in Sydney but I won't rule out that she won't stay here either.' Waller will also get a glimpse of one of his soon to be new arrivals when Silver Slipper winner Beiwacht contests the same heat. Beiwacht is among a string of Godolphin heavyweights that will step out on the morning as they prepare to move to new homes next season. Tom Kitten Zardozi, which heads to Ciaron Maher at the beginning of next season.
News.com.au
18-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Rosehill inside mail: Our Kobison can revive winter fortunes in July Sprint
One-time Everest fringe-dweller Our Kobison can reset his winter campaign at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday in the same race that was taken out by three-times Everest participant Eduardo five years prior. The Angela Davies -trained five-year-old was in the mix for a spot in last year's $20m sprint after finishing runner-up to Joliestar in the Show Country Stakes. It wasn't enough to entice any of the slot-holders but there are plenty of avenues open to Davies in season 2025/26 including in the first stakes race of the new racing year, the Group 2 Missile Stakes at Royal Randwick in three weeks time. Horse and trainer's immediate focus is on Saturday's July Sprint (1100m) after a recent trip north of the border. The Gosford housed gelding's first interstate test in the Lightning Stakes at Eagle Farm on June 7 was as forgettable as it was forgivable as Davies explained. 'He sat five-deep and hung off the turn, I thought he finished off terrific, he was entitled to drop out of it with where he was and how the race was run, he never got on the track,'' Davies said. 'He is back to a favoured track and a favoured trip on Saturday. 'I could have gone to the Ramornie at 1200m but I think his pet distance is 1100m and I think Rosehill is his pet track.' Davies, who boasts a phenomenal winning strike rate of 24 per cent (52 per cent when placings are added), took her career tally to 204 when Denman Star charged past his rivals to post a not entirely unexpected first-up win at Canterbury last month. A near replica of his Golden Rose winning father, Denman, Davies' gelding lines up in this weekend's Midway over 1300m. • Mitch & Shayno's Rosehill tips: 'Too good a horse to go up $23' 'It's probably an ideal distance,'' Davies said. 'I don't know whether the track is ideal for him because he does tend to drop the bit and get back a little bit but we will have to try and ride him accordingly. 'He has just continued to improve and continues to please me last prep and this preparation. 'We just seem to have got him going good at this stage and he is just a happy horse. 'He is entitled to have a crack at a Midway for sure and certain.' â– â– â– â– â– BEST BET PHEARSON (race 9) was bought for $65,000 as a yearling and has earnings of $686,075 with the promise of more to come. The Brad Widdup-trained son of Exosphere has won a Liverpool City Cup and Festival Stakes so is comfortable in stakes grade. He is third-up in Saturday's Winter Challenge off two improving runs in the Civic and Winter Stakes on the way there. Keep in mind that one of his two track/distance runs was his 2023 Festival Stakes win with (same jockey) Tom Sherry up. BEST VALUE ISLAND DREAM (race 4) was a big third on debut at Newcastle then won at Hawkesbury and Rosehill Gardens in quick succession. Trainer Chris Waller even pitched her into the Group 3 Kembla Classic at start four of her first preparation when and where she was only beaten five and a half lengths. Back now and the trials have been rather good. Has a bright future ahead and soft won't worry her. Dreaming of a win! Back-to-back wins for Island Dream and @cwallerracing with a treble! ðŸ��ï¸� @KPMcEvoy | @aus_turf_club — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 26, 2025 EARLY QUADDIE RACE 3: 1, 2, 8, 9 RACE 4: 2, 3, 10 RACE 5: 2, 5, 8, 10 RACE 6: 7, 8, 9, 11 QUADDIE RACE 7: 3, 7, 9, 10 RACE 8: 1, 2, 4, 8 RACE 9: 8, 9, 10 RACE 10: 1, 3, 4 PRICE CHECK DISNECK (race 8) has traversed the Rosehill 1100m three times prior to his impending return to racing in the July Sprint priced at an inviting $13. The first one was his debut, which was a closing eighth of 14 in the Golden Gift. He was back there three weeks later and thrashed Kimochi et al. The third and last time over the t/d was an honourable second in the Listed Starlight Stakes. If they can run on, then he can run on faster than the rest. SECTIONAL STARS TOTOKA (race 6) has only managed two wins in her 15 starts but she has contested races including the Gimcrack, Sweet Embrace, Magic Night, Up And Coming, Callander-Presnell and Denise's Joy. She ran well in some, not so well in others, but to be fair to her, she has to be ridden stone cold early so she can unleash her powerful finish. UNSTOPABULL (race 5) has finished with a medal at 12 of his 21 starts which speaks to his consistency. Four of them were gold medals but one wonders how many of his placings could have been wins with a bit of luck here and there, that is to say, he usually gets back in his races, especially when he draws wide. He just needs a fair track on Saturday so he can post what would be a somewhat deserved win for a horse who almost never runs poorly. Last at the turn, first over the line! ðŸ'¥ Unstopabull wins up along the inside, it's a @nashhot running double! ðŸ'� @cwallerracing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 28, 2024 TRIAL POINTERS SPICE PRAWN (race 1) is the fourth foal of the dual Group 1 winner, Cosmic Endeavour. Her third dam is Twiglet who was a bonny racemare herself but nothing short of a broodmare gem given the success of her foals Easy Rocking and the epic Hong Kong sprinter, Fairy King Prawn. Spice Prawn showed enough in her two losing runs at her first prep (one unlucky) to indicate talent. Easy trial winner on July 7 at Hawkesbury. PONY SOPRANO (race 3) was purchased by his trainer Robert Agnew for $18,000 at the Inglis Gold Yearling Sale in 2023. It has proven to be a canny buy on Agnew's behalf, the gelding has already won $50,000 in just five starts and he's not quite turned four yet. So much to like about his two trials up at Port Macquarie (second) and Taree (won) in two uncommonly strong Open heats.
News.com.au
15-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Early spring carnival contenders in action at Rosehill barrier trials
Sydney's first two stakes races of the upcoming 2025/26 racing season are in the sights of some trainers who put candidates through their paces at the Rosehill Gardens barrier trials on Tuesday. The Group 2 Missile Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on August 9 and the Listed Rosebud (1100m) seven days later at Rosehill Gardens starts the black-type action in the new racing season. A handful of next season's three-year-olds that stepped out on Tuesday could head towards the Rosebud which is the first lead-up race for the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) which is also run at Rosehill Gardens on September 27. Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup plans to charge out of the blocks in the new season with two emerging gallopers Nashville Jack and Savvy Hallie which both won their respective 900m trials. The two-year-olds are still maidens but Nashville Jack finished fourth on debut in the Group 2 Silver Slipper while Savvy Hallie is two-time Group placed. 'I was really happy with the way both horses trialled,' Widdup said. 'That was Nashville Jack's second trial and he's really developed and is coming up well this prep. 'I'd like to give him a taste of winning and then if everything's going how we want, maybe he's one for the Rosebud. 'Savvy Hallie will have another trial then I want to find the easiest race I can for her. 'She's still a maiden so that box needs to be ticked first and then she'll step up to tackle the good fillies races.' West Of Swindon, now with Ciaron Maher, contested the same trial as Nashville Jack, finishing fifth, and the Silver Slipper and Group 3 Golden Gift runner-up pleased his jockey Dylan Gibbons during the workout. 'He was still a bit woolly and had a bit of a sweat up but he trialled OK and gave me a lovely feel,' Gibbons said. 'The one I did like was his stablemate Stormfront. He felt great.' A horse that missed much of the autumn was the Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou -trained Blitzburg which was in the paddock after winning the Group 3 Canonbury Stakes in February. He too was on display for the first time of the preparation on Tuesday and was never allowed off the bridle finishing fourth in his 900m trial. 'He's never been a brilliant trialler but I was happy with what I saw from him,' Ryan said. 'He was only out there to have an easy time because he's trialling again. 'He'll probably head to the Rosebud first-up and then we'll go from there.' Two trainers indicated the Missile Stakes could be on the agenda. , signalled the race as a potential start point for Elettrica and Bjorn Baker is considering it for Perfumist. Freedman also trialled Group 2 Tulloch Stakes winner Pocketing ahead of his four-year-old season while Baker put Point And Shoot through his paces. Both horses are Epsom Handicap candidates and the $10m Golden Eagle is also on the table. Meanwhile, two of Chris Waller and Yulong's high class imported mares Anisette and Moira made their first public appearance ahead of the spring as did last year's Group 1 Metropolitan winner Land Legend and 2022 New Zealand Derby winner Asterix. Moira, the winner of last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Fillies and Mares Turf (2200m), was the pick of those performers.
