Features

Steve’s Travel Diary – PART SEVEN

Steve is struggling to come up with any event, in 40 years of covering horse racing, which would rival the disappointment of Arrogate’s dismal failure in last Saturday’s San Diego Handicap. I simply cannot recall any other race being such a ‘fizzer’ – a racing event where I simply didn’t get any bang for my... Read More

Steve’s Travel Diary – PART SIX

I’m on my way to sunny Californ-ia! That lyric is from the The Beach Boys song – “California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-ia)”  from the 1973 album Holland which was recorded in the Netherlands. It is, incidentally, one of the most underrated albums of all time and I’ve been humming the toe-tapping California... Read More

Addictive Nature (AUS)

O: Ultra Racing (Mgr: A Chong), A Kheir & Dr TJ Koenig T: Bjorn Baker B: Little Avondale Stud S: New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale 2016 V: Little Avondale Stud NZ$775,000 P: Ultra Thoroughbred Racing W: Pluck at Vinery Handicap, 1100m, Warwick Farm, 19 July Addictive Nature followed good recent barrier trial wins at... Read More

Caravaggio’s Sectional Times In July Cup Indicate Sound Reason For His First Defeat

Dual Group One–winning colt Caravaggio’s (Scat Daddy) unbeaten winning sequence came to an end last weekend in the July Cup (Gr 1, 6f) at Newmarket, denting his prospects for the upcoming The Everest (1200m), but his sectional times suggest he still has strong claims for that innovative race. Ever since the announcement of the $10,000,000... Read More

Harry Angel Flies Home In July Cup

The two-year-old filly, who is a sister to multiple Group One winner and stablemate Churchill, was settled in midfield by Ryan Moore as the Mark Johnston-trained Nyaleti (Arch) cut out the early running. Clemmie travelled strongly into contention under a confident-looking Moore, and once asked to stretch she quickened smartly away from her rivals inside... Read More

Steve’s Travel Diary – PART FIVE

From tales of mountain village racing, where the horses are spun in circles before the ‘off’ in Peru, to Colombian drug lords, including Pablo Escobar, spending millions on racehorses. An excellent article this week, in the San Diego Union Tribune by Bryce Miller, notes that this is not the first time a horse named Arrogate... Read More