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Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Race-by-race tips and previews for Randwick Kensington on Wednesday
Selections based on a soft track Race 1 8. Albany Road didn't run up to expectation when in the market on debut back in December but he's come back in good order looking at his two trial wins in the past month. Will roll forward and is the likely leader and should give a good account. 1. Cold Brew was runner-up at his first three starts before failing at Warwick Farm in January. Another who has returned with some nice trial performances, finds J-Mac to ride and draws to get every chance. 4. Harry's Evidence was well supported into odds-on at his debut and found one a bit speedier over the 1000m at Hawkesbury. Better for it and a bit firmer ground is a plus. One of the chances. How to play it: Albany Road WIN. Race 2 8. Oso Spirited is an interesting ex-NZ filly having her first local start for the Waterhouse/Bott stable. She trialled strongly when scoring at Rosehill in her latest and should get a nice run in or near the lead at this trip. Any market support would be a good push. Go well. 9. Sister Daae likely gives away a start from the outside barrier as she's done in her past couple when drawn wide. Kicking off at 1400m might suit her, though, and if the race pans out in her favour she should be hard to beat. 4. Vetwelve had support when placed at this track and trip first-up then favourite and may have been on the wrong part of the track when a battling fourth at Kembla. Entitled to another chance. How to play it: Oso Spirited WIN. Race 3 6. Wuddzz found himself in a tricky position at Randwick last time and attacked the line hard once clear but the bird had flown. Solidly supported favourite there and looks to have every chance to atone with a smaller field and softer gate. Entitled to go close. 1. Casual Connection has beaten Wuddzz twice and is 2.5kg worse off for the latest win but he does have that on pace style which helped him out in his latest victory. It might well see him home again and he's a logical danger. 5. Rattle And Hum has worked his way back to form with his past couple and he gave a good sight when narrowly beaten at Warwick Farm last week over 2200m. On pacer who has won at this track and trip and can give a sight. How to play it: Wuddzz WIN. Race 4 2. Vanessi is a lightly raced filly who looks suited with gate one behind what should be a solid speed over the 1000m. Wasn't disgraced in a handy field before a spell and she sailed around to win her latest trial last week. Expect she'll be in the finish. 8. O'Invincible hasn't raced since scoring on protest at Wyong in December and both her wins now have been at this trip. Trialled in early April then a small setback didn't see her resurface until two weeks ago where she won a trial at Warwick Farm. Could easily measure up. 3. Columbia Blue was too speedy in the heavy ground when an all the way winner at Hawkesbury at his second start. Looks a horse on the way up and is one of the chances. How to play it: Vanessi WIN.
The Age
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Age
Race-by-race tips and previews for Randwick Kensington on Wednesday
Selections based on a soft track Race 1 8. Albany Road didn't run up to expectation when in the market on debut back in December but he's come back in good order looking at his two trial wins in the past month. Will roll forward and is the likely leader and should give a good account. 1. Cold Brew was runner-up at his first three starts before failing at Warwick Farm in January. Another who has returned with some nice trial performances, finds J-Mac to ride and draws to get every chance. 4. Harry's Evidence was well supported into odds-on at his debut and found one a bit speedier over the 1000m at Hawkesbury. Better for it and a bit firmer ground is a plus. One of the chances. How to play it: Albany Road WIN. Race 2 8. Oso Spirited is an interesting ex-NZ filly having her first local start for the Waterhouse/Bott stable. She trialled strongly when scoring at Rosehill in her latest and should get a nice run in or near the lead at this trip. Any market support would be a good push. Go well. 9. Sister Daae likely gives away a start from the outside barrier as she's done in her past couple when drawn wide. Kicking off at 1400m might suit her, though, and if the race pans out in her favour she should be hard to beat. 4. Vetwelve had support when placed at this track and trip first-up then favourite and may have been on the wrong part of the track when a battling fourth at Kembla. Entitled to another chance. How to play it: Oso Spirited WIN. Race 3 6. Wuddzz found himself in a tricky position at Randwick last time and attacked the line hard once clear but the bird had flown. Solidly supported favourite there and looks to have every chance to atone with a smaller field and softer gate. Entitled to go close. 1. Casual Connection has beaten Wuddzz twice and is 2.5kg worse off for the latest win but he does have that on pace style which helped him out in his latest victory. It might well see him home again and he's a logical danger. 5. Rattle And Hum has worked his way back to form with his past couple and he gave a good sight when narrowly beaten at Warwick Farm last week over 2200m. On pacer who has won at this track and trip and can give a sight. How to play it: Wuddzz WIN. Race 4 2. Vanessi is a lightly raced filly who looks suited with gate one behind what should be a solid speed over the 1000m. Wasn't disgraced in a handy field before a spell and she sailed around to win her latest trial last week. Expect she'll be in the finish. 8. O'Invincible hasn't raced since scoring on protest at Wyong in December and both her wins now have been at this trip. Trialled in early April then a small setback didn't see her resurface until two weeks ago where she won a trial at Warwick Farm. Could easily measure up. 3. Columbia Blue was too speedy in the heavy ground when an all the way winner at Hawkesbury at his second start. Looks a horse on the way up and is one of the chances. How to play it: Vanessi WIN.
NZ Herald
24-04-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Boxthorn battles: Taranaki's thorny icon and innovative hedge cutters
If you take a look at its botanical name, Lycium ferocissimum, it means a thorny shrub that is ferocious. You will find that it certainly does not let its name down, as it is exactly that and more. It grows vigorously and produces the nastiest, strongest, thickest, needle-looking spines. It will grow in any soil, more or less, and when fully grown, which only takes a couple of years, no animal big or small would even contemplate making an escape through it. The thorns are prone to getting stuck in the hooves of cattle, puncturing tractor tyres, and even piercing through the soles of gumboots. Then there is the battle of keeping the boxthorn under some sort of control. Until the middle of the last century, you didn't want to be the unlucky person chosen to trim the hedges with a hand slasher. Horses were used to pull the slashed pruning from the hedge, which ended up in piles to be burned. Producing ways to keep boxthorn under control has resulted in some rather wacky ideas. I read that a farmer in Pātea used an old sword to keep the hedge around his house trimmed. Another adapted a hay knife. An adaption of the Swiss Army knife? Then in 1941 came a Swiss-born Inglewood engineer named Lou Butler, who decided to mount a large revolving three-meter blade on a Fordson tractor. Hey presto, Taranaki's first mechanical hedge cutter was born. And what a daunting, almost Frankenstein-looking machine it was. Butler wasn't new to engineering. Before building hedge cutters, he produced a variety of inventions such as a turf cutter, sheep sling, articulated trailer, trench digger, butter box press and the auto hay sweep. Advertise with NZME. If a labour-saving device was needed to be designed, he was the man. Butler and his sons became well known in the Taranaki district for their hedge cutters. All were home-built and were beasts of machines, having been adapted and modified on trucks, tractors, Army tanks and even Bren Gun Carriers. With boxthorn hedges getting out of control – and with the availability after World War II of numerous ex-NZ Army vehicles – their fleet of hedge cutters grew. If visiting the Tawhiti Museum in Hāwera, you will find in the Farm Power Hall tractor display a collection of the Butler Brothers' early hedge cutters, created from a wide assortment of WWII service vehicles. Among them is a rare survivor worldwide: a Local Pattern Observation Post Wheeled Vehicle. Seeing these machines working in Taranaki caught the eye of another contractor, Frank Hooper, who grew up in Taranaki but moved to Hawke's Bay, where the orchards were surrounded by shelter belts needing trimming. Five years of planning and four engineers went into designing the first hedge cutter suitable for the large hedges encompassing orchards. In 1965, Hooper's bespoke model started trimming shelter belts on orchards. While a gun carrier was suitable for the boxthorn in Taranaki, a Ford tractor was all the machine needed to be mounted on and enable it to manoeuvre around the tight spaces in an orchard. Without the vision of both these men when it came to hedge cutters, we could have been in a much pricklier situation nowadays.
