Kiwi Chronicles
Ohope won
Since the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) transferred to Trentham (from Riccarton) during the 1970s, it took until 1990 before the winner also scored at Randwick, in the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m). That year it was Domino (Grosvenor). Bonneval (Makfi) completed the double in 2017 and Pennyweka (Satono Aladdin) repeated the feat in... Read More
More from Kiwi Chronicles
Nowhere else to go
A week after Ellerslie’s Champions Day, the New Zealand stakes races scene was pretty quiet. Tauranga’s Japan Trophy (Gr 2, 1600m), the sole black-type race of the week, went to Omega Boy (Time Test), the spoils headed for the Central Districts as the five-year-old is trained by Peter and Trent Didham at Awapuni. Connections had... Read More
No walkover
Five, ten or 20 years from now a glance at the result of the 2026 NZB Kiwi (Listed, 1500m), will read that the favourite, Well Written (Written Tycoon), duly won from Belle Cheval (Savabeel) by a very small margin. That is the cold fact but on site the race was electric, especially over the final... Read More
Spotlight on the south
South Island racing lives in the shadow of that in the North. November and the two Group 1 New Zealand Guineas races is when Riccarton gets to shine. Late February or early March is Wingatui’s turn to be in the spotlight. The weather gods smiled and the ten race card offered stakes worth $1 million,... Read More
Weather Gods strike again
The fact that weather is out of our control does not disguise our sheer disappointment when it ruins a popular event and the latest victim is the Matamata Racing Club’s Breeders’ Stakes Day, last Saturday. Last spring, a number of New Zealand race meetings were either abandoned or postponed due to weather. Last month Matamata... Read More
Following up
While the Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) story continues to grow, courtesy of First Five’s stunning BCD Sprint (Gr 1, 1400m) win, Te Papa’s “Legends Day” belonged to Waikato Stud’s Ocean Park (Thorn Park). Two of his daughters, Ohope Wins and Autumn Glory, not only nabbed the two 3YO features, they also became the top two favourites... Read More