Where do you start with the story of Piggyback? It’s a tale with such a sprinkling of unexpected, strange and purely wild elements that – were this not racing and breeding – it’d be hard to believe. She’s an Australian-bred stayer (no wait, there’s more) – an Australian-bred stayer who after winning last Saturday’s Colin... Read More

We love our streaks in racing, and in breeding too, and the joyously-named Yum (Ghaiyyath) extended a remarkable one on Saturday. By winning the Jim Moloney Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at her fourth start – putting herself in markets for the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) – the John McArdle-trained... Read More

There’s a little twist of irony for Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) tragics Colleen and Kevin Bamford as the well known owner-breeders head towards this year’s edition of Australia’s greatest race. Back in 2000, the Victorian couple took the bold step of bringing out English horse Far Cry (Pharly) to target the Cup – one... Read More

Dan Alford is in the food business, specifically a Melbourne factory that bakes treats like mudcakes, biscuits, jam tarts and snowballs. It can’t be a bad place to work. At the very least, it smells better than a stable. What the 68-year-old also likes to do is cook up pedigrees, and he has a particularly... Read More

When you first look up the breeders of Takeko (Saxon Warrior), who became a dual city winner at Moonee Valley last Saturday, you might think you’re barking up the wrong family tree. You’re taken to the website of James Balfe and Sarah Wills’s farm Killeenfarna, which breeds Connemara ponies. They’re horses, Jim, but not as... Read More