Features

Caballus
We’ve all been struck by it, at various points in our lives: that sight that barges into the mind’s landscape, arresting the eye, setting the pulse thrumming a little faster. Sometimes it’s a person. For many, it’s a horse. Breeder Verna Metcalfe has been around thoroughbreds for probably more decades than she’d care to remember.... Read More
More from By The Numbers

International influence dominant among top freshmen
The influence of international bloodlines among Australia’s top stallions has grown significantly in the past 30 years and was especially strong at the top end of the 2022-23 first-season sires tables. When Justify (Scat Daddy) stood his first season at Coolmore Australia’s Jerrys Plains in 2019, he was part of the smallest cohort of shuttle... Read More

21 for Blue Point
New winners Blue Point – Darley Stud shuttler Blue Point (Shamardal) scored a double last week, taking his tally of northern hemisphere winners to 21. The double was kicked off by Shady Lady’s (2 f ex Akrivi by Tobougg) victory over 1400 metres at Compiegne on Monday. Having run fourth on debut, Shady Lady showed... Read More

Zac Lloyd, Angela Jones lead record-breaking apprentices
The statistics indicate that Australia’s apprentice riding ranks have rarely been as strong as they are right now. Zac Lloyd’s historic success in the very competitive race to become the champion Sydney apprentice for the 2022-23 racing season, puts him, statistically, alongside some of Australia’s most prominent riders. Only four apprentice jockeys since comprehensive records... Read More
Shaken
TRAINER: James Cummings RACE: ATC Thank You Trainers Handicap (1100m) Godolphin homebred Shaken (I Am Invincible) will take the step up to metropolitan grade today when she tackles the ATC Thank You Trainers Handicap (1100m) at Randwick. Having finished a hugely disappointing last of nine runners on her debut at Randwick-Kensington on February 3, the... Read More

St Lawrence
A handful of powerful names come into the background of burgeoning Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained gelding St Lawrence (Redwood) – some famous and some infamous. For starters, though you won’t find this in his pedigree, the rising five-year-old shares his name not just with one of the world’s mightiest rivers, but with another star... Read More