Jo McKinnon Column

‘It’s been a mounting issue for years and now it’s reaching a critical point’

There’s been an all-too-common theme in the conversations I have been having with racing participants lately; staff – and the lack of them. Leading trainers including Danny O’Brien, who is currently on the lookout for an assistant trainer, and Richard Freedman recently took to Twitter to express their concerns and pleaded for the industry to... Read More

‘Everyone has issues and dramas in life and you are on life’s roller coaster and that was a special moment’

The Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) story has had more twists and turns, plots, and subplots than a Shakespeare play. On Saturday it took yet another turn when the five-year-old, now under the care of his third trainer, returned to the winner’s circle after a hiatus of almost 16 months with a dominant victory in... Read More

Fi McIntyre

Victorian equestrian Fi McIntyre is one of the originals when it comes to the retraining and rehoming of thoroughbreds. It has been her passion and focus since she was a teenager and for more than a decade she has been involved in an official capacity in this vitally important space for the Australian racing and... Read More

‘Having horses is an addiction cured only by death’

Who doesn’t love a story about a horse that defies the odds and reaches stardom on the racetrack? It’s the stuff that inspires us all, whether we are breeders, trainers, owners, punters or simply racing fans. The latest such tale is that of last Saturday’s Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m) winner Gypsy Goddess (Tarzino). An... Read More

’Now they are living it, they are blown away by the success’ 

Triple Crown Syndications’ Michael and Chris Ward are as synonymous with horseracing’s Everest as Sir Edmund Hillary is with the real thing. They have made The Everest (1200m) their own since its inauguration in 2017 with their red and white colours carried by Redzel (Snitzel) in three runnings of the world’s richest sprint race resulting... Read More

‘To have a Hall of Famer go on and win a sire’s championship would be really special. It would be my proudest achievement’

Regal and beautiful. So You Think (High Chaparral) lived up to his very good looks on the racetrack. During the peak of his prowess, the ten-time Group 1 winner was the pin-up horse of Australian racing. Pictures of him staring through the gloriously thick forelock of his handsome head regularly adorned the front covers of... Read More