Thoroughbred racing and breeding is truly global, exemplified by the result of Saturday’s thrilling Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) at Moonee Valley.  The winner, State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner), is bred in Ireland, is by the Australian sprint star Starspangledbanner (Choisir) and arrived in Melbourne as the last-start winner of the recently re-established Saratoga Derby Invitational... Read More

A spectacular runaway Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) and a heart-stopping Everest (1200m), captured the racing headlines this past Saturday. In the case of the Caulfield Cup, seeing is believing. Yet, even seeing how Incentivise (Shamus Award) sat wide from the outside barrier (18) around a tricky Caulfield track, went even wider rounding into the... Read More

A continuing theme of this weekly report is the strength of certain female families. In recent months, the famous “Belle” family has been discussed at length. This past month, Georgina Belle (Pakistan II), no connection to the Belle family, and her stakes-winning descendants have been impacting the industry weekly. Last week, highlighting a Group 1... Read More

Featuring an extravaganza of six Group 1s, France’s biggest day of racing last Sunday at Longchamp revealed a number of interesting pedigrees, one of which has a significant connection with New Zealand. Angel Bleu (Dark Angel), winner of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Gr 1, 1400m) for three-year-olds, is the fifth northern hemisphere Group 1 winner... Read More

What better way to hail the surging stud career of your young stallion than to have your own colours aboard his first stakes winner? That is the case for Waikato Stud, their exciting Tivaci (High Chaparral) and his Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Never Been Kissed. Having her fourth start, the filly is owned... Read More