Australia Latest
Stokes with pair of fillies headed to Caulfield
Pakenham-based trainer Phillip Stokes will send both Comanche Miss (Castelvecchio) and I Am Velvet (I Am Immortal) to Caulfield on Saturday. A 1200-metre handicap will be the race for Comanche Miss and, after she ran fourth in the Redoute’s Choice Stakes (Listed, 1100m) on debut in March, Stokes is keeping one eye on November’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) with the filly. “She ran fourth after getting run off her feet early then closed ok late,” Stokes said. “Blinkers go on which I think will be very good for her. Her jump-outs have been a lot sharper since they have gone on and being by Castelvecchio, she will get a trip later on. You aim high at this time of year and something like the Thousand Guineas could be a race for her, so we’ll work back from there.” Stokes will also have I Am Velvet bidding to make it three wins from as many starts when she tackles the VOBIS Gold Ingot (1400m). “She’s coming off an impressive win on the synthetic, but she’s still very raw,” Stokes said. “I think she’s a really nice horse, but she hangs in and does things wrong, so we’ll test the water with her, and I don’t think the 1400 metres won’t be a problem.”
Price and Kent Jnr colt to make debut
Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr are looking forward to unleashing debutant Public Attention (Written Tycoon) at Caulfield on Saturday. The juvenile colt, a son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia), was purchased by Coolmore for NZ$160,000 at Book 1 of the 2023 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale and, having won his latest two jumpouts, will start off his racing career in a 1200-metre event under Ethan Brown. “He’s a nice, big, grey colt,” Price told Racing.com. “[The] 1200 metres will suit, he’ll come back off the speed a bit, it’s always ambitious at this time of year to have a first starter, colt, in these races, but I didn’t want to take him to the synthetic or anything less. I really like the horse, I think he’s shown black-type ability, whether he can nail it on the day, I’m not sure. It’s an ambitious ask but I’m looking forward to seeing him race because we’ve seen him finish, I’ve worked him with some nice horses and he’s worked on par.”
Dictionary chases breakthrough city win
Having decided to skip Wednesday’s Sandown meeting in favour of Saturday’s Caulfield card, trainer John Moloney is hoping that Dictionary (All Too Hard) can justify that decision by running a big race in the VOBIS Gold Stayers (2400m). By All Too Hard (Casino Prince) and out of the unraced mare Collins (Desert King), herself a sister to three-time Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Makybe Diva, Dictionary has won two and placed in one of his five starts at 2400 metres or further, including a last-start second in a Benchmark 78 (2400m) at Sandown-Lakeside on July 10. “He’s not a big animal, but he’s got stronger and matured as he’s gone along,” Moloney said. “Imperial Lad, he’s also an All Too Hard, and he took a while to mature and took eight runs to win, the same as this horse. They both have been able to pick up the pieces and this horse is still coming along. In a couple of weeks, he’s a five-year-old, but he’s going along quite well as a stayer. His best form has been once he’s got out over a trip and the beauty of him is that he can handle wet ground.”
Teewaters ready for ‘his Derby’
Saturday’s VOBIS Gold Stayers race at Caulfield has long been the plan for Teewaters (Dundeel) as the five-year-old gelding bids to make it three straight wins in the 2400-metre contest. The Archie Alexander-trained son of Dundeel (High Chaparral) scored by 3.3 lengths in the 2022 renewal before returning to take out last season’s event by a length. Back again chasing a hat-trick in the race, Alexander was quick to point out that the gelding is not racing as well as he did in the lead-up to his two wins in the race. “This race is too obvious for me to set him for. He loves Caulfield and 2400 metres, he’s a VOBIS horse and this is his Derby. There’s no other race for him each year and we set him for it,” Alexander told Racing.com. “His form is not as good as we would like and not as good as previous years but in saying that his form can be quite patchy and a lot of the time he needs to get to 2400 metres as 1800 metres to 2000 metres is not his go; he needs to be stretched out more. There’s a lot to like. He’s back at a track he loves, he’s won the race twice and I don’t think it’s any stronger than the past two years, I’d like him to be going better but he’s here and for him it’s a race you can’t not run in because of the VOBIS options.”
Consistent mare heads to Randwick
Having yet to finish outside the top five in all 17 of her starts to date, the Kris Lees-trained Bubba’s Bay (Cable Bay) will chase a fourth-straight win on Saturday when she tackles an 1100-metre handicap at Randwick. Having ended her most recent campaign with a hat-trick of wins in Brisbane, Bubba’s Bay has won and run second in a pair of trials leading up to this weekend’s first-up task, in which she will be bidding to break her Sydney Saturday duck. “She has got Queensland form, whether she can maintain that winning run in Sydney or she goes back to Queensland, we will give her a chance here and this will tell us where she sits,” Lees said. “If she can perform well here, we will look at going to better company. She has come back really well and she has trialled nicely. She seems to be that style of horse that gets better into her campaign so she will run well, but she will improve off the run.”
One Aye set for another start
Tough mare One Aye (Super One) will take in her 14th start of this preparation when she heads to Randwick for an 1800-metre handicap. Trained by Barbara Joseph and her sons Paul and Matt Jones, the six-year-old daughter of Super One (I Am Invincible) landed the Murrumbidgee Cup (1800m) at Wagga on April 21 and was last seen running second in the Narrandera Showcase Cup (1600m) on July 14. “With the treadmill we have there and the swimming pool, we were able to keep her up to the mark,” Paul Jones said. “Ever since then she has stayed in Canberra and all we’ve done with her is barrier trial her or jump her out, they’re the only times she has had saddles on her back. All the other times, she uses the treadmill or she swims. That’s how we have managed to keep her going, putting her on the treadmill, swimming her and giving her barrier trials. She is licking the bin out and she is the matriarch of the stable. She has got the best box, she overlooks the track and it keeps her happy. We have been waiting for a bad run to say, ‘that’s it’, but she hasn’t done it yet.”
Homebred filly to take on Lightning Stakes
The Peter and Belinda Blanch-trained Lingani (America) will tackle stakes company for the first time in her career on Saturday when she lines up in Morphettville’s Lightning Stakes (Listed, 1050m). The three-year-old daughter of America (Snitzel) has won three of her seven starts for her trainers, netting more than $115,000 in prize-money, and Peter Blanch revealed the filly is a homebred for a group of connections. “There’s a group of guys from the mid-north of the state and they bred her,” Blanch told Racing.com. “They have a mare that they breed out of every year. They are passionate hobbyists and they’re having a lot of fun. She’s never really let us down. It is a throw at the stumps but we’re hoping that she can step up. She’s shown she’s versatile and can perform on different tracks – she’s won her only start on a Heavy track. I’d be looking forward to her hopefully being in some of those nice summer sprints we have here – races like the Christmas Handicap and the Durbridge Stakes. Lining her up with the horses that we’ve had before, I’d say she’ll be ultra-competitive in those sorts of races.”
Drifting proves wellbeing in trial success
Magic Night Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) heroine Drifting (Zousain) proved she is on good terms with herself when taking out an 818-metre trial at Warwick Farm on Friday. The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained filly, who was last sighted running seventh in the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick on April 13, was ridden by usual partner Tom Sherry and came home 0.3 lengths ahead of Itszarbaby (Russian Revolution) under a tight hold. As well as her Magic Night Stakes success, Drifting also ran second in the Furphy Trophy (Listed, 1000m) and won over 1000 metres on debut.
Schwarz another to impress
The John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained Schwarz (Zoustar) continued his spring preparations on Friday when easily making all in a 900-metre barrier trial at Warwick Farm. The three-year-old Zoustar (Northern Meteor) colt, who won the 2023 Amanda Elliott (Listed, 1400m) and May’s Hawkesbury Guineas (Gr 3, 1400m), was ridden by James McDonald and cruised home to a 3.4 lengths success over fellow dual stakes scorer Mumbai Muse (Zoustar) with Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) hero Southport Tycoon (Written Tycoon) a further 1.5 lengths back in third.
Rawiller a late withdrawal, McDonald closer to title
Nash Rawiller is a late withdrawal from Saturday’s Randwick meeting, meaning James McDonald will be all but crowned leading rider in the Sydney Jockeys’ Premiership should he add to his tally of 86 winners. Racing NSW stewards on Friday announced that Rawiller would not be fit to take his place at the meeting. “Please note jockey Nash Rawiller will not be riding at the Royal Randwick race meeting on Saturday 27th July, due to illness,” stewards announced via X. It will be the second metropolitan meeting in a row that Rawiller has missed after being ruled out of Wednesday’s Canterbury card due to suspension. McDonald will head to Saturday’s Randwick meeting on 86 winners, five clear of Rawiller with next Wednesday’s Warwick Farm meeting the only other Sydney metropolitan meeting before the season concludes on July 31. Should McDonald be crowned champion, it will be the sixth year in a row he has been crowned Sydney’s premier rider.