You’ve got to love a bit of excitement, even over-excitement, in racing. It’s what the industry is based on, after all. When Ciaron Maher won the 2020 Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) with Sir Dragonet (Camelot), in one of the great post-race interviews, he famously thanked his sisters. “I’ve gotta give my mum and dad... Read More

Sometimes things run so smoothly you wonder why it isn’t this simple all the time. Five years ago, Matthew Sandblom’s Kingstar Farm bought an imposing-looking mare from a strong family named Sweet Bouquet (Dream Ahead), surprisingly easily at $40,000. They put her to the famously sub-fertile Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) and she got... Read More

At the start of May, this column mused about a statistic which stood Fastnet Rock (Danehill) apart from many others as the Coolmore legend headed into retirement: his Group 1 winners to stakes-winners ratio. His 193 stakes-winners worldwide is ultra-impressive, but the fact 43 of them scored at the top level – 22.27 per cent... Read More

Buying horses is often about deciding what problems you might be able to excuse, but there’s one glaring character flaw Andrew Baddock can not abide. “There’s no bigger fault than a lack of ability,” he says. The former long-term manager of Gooree racing and breeding had this in mind in September, 2022, when doing what... Read More

The James Brown song says this is a man’s world, but it’d be nothing without a woman, and the same can be said for the family of burgeoning Queensland star Antino (Redwood). The Tony Gollan-trained five-year-old, who made it 10 wins from 15 starts with his third black type success in Saturday’s BRC Victory Stakes... Read More