Since the best laid plans of mice and men can often go awry, it’s a good thing there’s also the afterthought. It’s been serving veteran Adelaide breeder Brenton Parker very well of late, with one stellar family in particular. The 75-year-old retiree sold a filly by Hellbent (I Am Invincible) to Eales Racing for $75,000... Read More

As a boy in the dry, baking hot town of Kalgoorlie in the 1950s, Gary Bowen used to look forward to two days in particular. One was every Sunday. His family wasn’t particularly religious, or at all in fact. “My dad’s only religion was he’d go to the pub every Sunday,” says Bowen. But that... Read More

erth is a close-knit sort of place, where degrees of separation rarely reach as dizzyingly high as six, and it was on show in a tight 35-minute span through the two highlights of Ascot’s most prestigious meeting of the year on Saturday. Three-year-old Zipaway took the WA Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) and then Bustler claimed... Read More

Like an absorbing novel, or a long-running TV drama, the dynastic plotlines woven through the story of Saturday’s Spring Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) winner Genzano (Maurice) are as numerous as they are exquisite. She’s the first stakes-winner bred by brother and sister Alastair and Annie Fraser, of the Hunter Valley’s renowned St Aubins Stud line,... Read More

If there was a bigger winner in Melbourne Cup week than James McDonald, Chris Waller or Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai), it may have been Zoustar (Northern Meteor). Widden’s flagbearer had a stakes-winner on all four days. It started with the second-most important race of Australia’s greatest racing week, the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr... Read More