Marble Arch and Kristilli headline latest National Broodmare supplementaries

A pair of Group 2 winners headline the latest supplementary lots for next week’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale at the Gold Coast.

Marble Arch (Per Incanto), a top breeding prospect and winner of the Blamey Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m), will be joined by Kristilli (Hellbent), a Group 2 winner as a juvenile who heads to the auction after a spring date with Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside (Extreme Choice).

Lindsay Park's nine-time winner and $827,000 earner Marble Arch will be presented as an elite breeding prospect on their behalf by Coolmore Stud.

As well as being a Group 2 scorer in her own right, Marble Arch hails from the same family as multiple Group 1 winners including Atishu (Savabeel) and Daffodil (No Excuse Needed).

Kristilli, a daughter of Hellbent (I Am Invincible), won the $1 million Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick as a two-year-old for the Archibald stable.

In her impressive Percy Sykes success she defeated subsequent Group 1 winners Kimochi (Brave Smash) and Lazzago (Capitalist). At three she was third in the Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).

Kristilli was served for the first time last spring by Newgate Farm sire Stay Inside and she is due to produce her first foal in August.

Also joining Marble Arch and Kristilli will be Group 3 winner Tobeornottobe (Pierata), the stakes-performed winner Talisay (Pride Of Dubai), a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) yearling half-sister to Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Written By (Written Tycoon), and Group 3 placegetter Written Swoosh (Written Tycoon).

The final selection of supplementary lots to be released in the coming days already includes two stakes winners straight off the track. To view the current National Broodmare Sale catalogue click here.

Tilley tips Lucky Pat to land a bumper payday

Fresh from saddling up his first Group 1 runner in last Saturday’s Doomben 10,000 (1200m), Toowoomba trainer Pat Webster is eyeing a big payday when his emerging speedster Lucky Pat (Lucky Vega) lines up in the Magic Millions National 2YO Classic (1000m). Esjay (Rothesay) finished eighth in the Doomben 10,000 for Webster, but Lucky Pat is expected to fight out the finish at the Gold Coast on Friday night having been backed into $10 for the $1 million sprint contest restricted to juvenile Magic Millions graduates. The only defeat of Lucky Pat’s three-start career came in the Dalrello Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at the hands of The Next Episode (Snitzel), the $2.8 million colt who lived up to his lofty price tag with a dashing display in the Listed contest at Eagle Farm at the start of the month. The Next Episode is the short-priced favourite for the 2YO Classic but after riding Lucky Pat in an impressive piece of trackwork last week, jockey Les Tilley is confident Webster’s stable star can turn the tables. “I think Lucky Pat has a great chance at the Gold Coast on Friday,” said Tilley, who is on the comeback trail having undergone surgery on his collarbone and wrist following a race fall in February. “I’d love to be riding him but I’ll be at Kilcoy riding for Pat, I’ve only been back riding for a week and Pat says I’m too unfit to ride in a $1 million race. I rode Lucky Pat’s work [last week] and he was airborne. His last run in the Dalrello was very impressive, and I think he’ll definitely finish in the top three.”

Jenni to face six rivals in Doomben Cup

Saturday’s Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) has drawn a total of seven acceptors as Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) bids to continue her racing renaissance with a fifth Group 1 win in the feature race at Doomben. In typically swashbuckling style, Ciaron Maher’s mighty mare led all the way at the Gold Coast to win the Hollindale Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m) at her last start, and the first four home in that race will again line up in the Doomben Cup. Pride Of Jenni has been assigned barrier four in the $1 million contest, with Hollindale Stakes placegetters Birdman (Free Eagle) and She’s A Hustler (Ace High) drawn either side of her in gates five and three respectively. Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) champion Half Yours (St Jean) will jump from the outside alley in the hands of his regular rider Jamie Melham, with Vauban (Galiway) and the Chris Waller pair Kovalica (Ocean Park) and hat-trick seeking Asterix (Tavistock) completing the field. Hall of Fame jockey Jimmy Cassidy is tipping Half Yours to come out on top, provided Melham can get her tactics right. “Half Yours is the one I would like to be on in the Doomben Cup,” Cassidy said. “You need to have a plan to try and beat Pride Of Jenni and if I was riding him, he would only look like the winner in the last 50 metres or so. When Pride Of Jenni is stopping, Half Yours will be the one finishing fast. You don’t win by taking Pride Of Jenni on from the 1000 metres or at the home turn, you beat her by running her down at the bottom of the straight.”

Oak Hill follows the War Machine blueprint

Despite a distance query, the Lindsay Park training team is prepared to give Oak Hill (Per Incanto) his chance in Saturday’s $300,000 BRC Sprint (Gr 3, 1350m), a race his stablemate War Machine (Harry Angel) won last year en route to Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) glory. Thus far in his career Oak Hill has been restricted to shorter trips, but co-trainer Ben Hayes is happy to roll the dice with the five-year-old in the hope that he can snag a second stakes win for the stable and majority owner Rupert Legh, who also races War Machine. Oak Hill makes the trip north to Brisbane after a solid return to racing in the Takeover Target Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Gosford, where he finished 2.2 lengths behind King Of Roseau (Capitalist) in a blanket finish. “We’re just seeing if he can go out in trip,” Hayes said. “His run the other day over 1200 metres was okay through the line, it was his first time on the Sydney leg. We just want to see if he can run a strong 1400 metres for the future. My gut feel is that he’s probably a sprinter, but it’s a 1350-metre handicap, so we’re just going to have a crack. He’s won a Group 2 and he’s started in the market in Group 1s, and in those big fields he’s been unlucky.”

Boniface belatedly unveiled to Australian audience

French import Boniface (Make Believe) will belatedly make his Australian debut at Sandown this Saturday, with the newly gelded four-year-old being given plenty of time to acclimatise to his adopted homeland. Shortly after winning for the third time in his native France at Saint-Cloud, Boniface was purchased by OTI Racing for €250,000 from the 2025 Summer Sale at Arqana, with a view to unveiling him to an Australian audience towards the back end of last year. However, some unruly behaviour in the stables forced a change of thinking, and after a gelding operation earlier this year he has returned to Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr’s Cranbourne stables a reformed character. Having built residual fitness with two trial outings, Boniface is set to step out over the Sandown mile in Saturday’s Benchmark 84 Handicap. “He looks a progressive horse, and we bought him out of some nice handicap victories in France,” Kent Jnr said. “He came here as a colt and we gave him one preparation, but his temperament was getting the better of him. So we gelded him and brought him back, and this preparation he’s been much more tractable and easy-going. He looks like he’s going to want to stay, but he’s not slow and I thought his last trial was good. He relaxed nicely, and as a result he finished the trial off well. He’s by no means screwed down for his first Australian start, so we just want to see him balance up and finish off. He seems an athletic, high-energy horse that we think will get further than a mile, but it’s a nice kick-off point for him.”

The Wizard set to work his magic in the Cup

Willie Pike is on course to ride in the Melbourne Cup for only the second time in his storied career after accepting the challenge to get down to as low as 51 kilograms to partner Grahame Begg’s progressive stayer Zakouma (Crowded House). Zakouma won his way into Australia’s most iconic race courtesy of his determined victory in the Andrew Ramsden Stakes (Listed, 2800m) at Flemington last Saturday, and with regular rider Jordan Childs unable to make the light weight he is likely to be allotted, Begg has offered the ride to Pike. The ‘wizard from the west’ has previously piloted Zakouma, who was sent straight to the spelling paddock to recuperate from Saturday’s exertions. The pair successfully combined to win at Flemington at the end of March, and Pike - who rode Steel Prince (Nathaniel) in the 2020 Melbourne Cup - would be willing to waste in order to feature on the first Tuesday in November. “For a horse like that, in a race like that, you’d get it [weight] down in a heartbeat,” Pike said on The Verdict podcast on Tuesday. “It looked like the horse was making hard work of it coming round the bend and at the top of the straight, but I really liked the way he was strong through the line and it looks like there’s more to come.”

Lee expects big things from Glorious Moments

Co-trainer Greg Lee is hoping Glorious Moments (Brutal) can justify the lofty opinion he has of the four-year-old with a triumphant return to the races at Warwick Farm on Wednesday. Glorious Moments, who will be ridden by James McDonald in the sixth race on the program, emerged as a winter wonder last year with a pair of dominant metropolitan wins, before a minor bone chip operation forced a premature end to his promising preparation. The rehabilitation has largely gone to plan and after ramping up his fitness levels with three trial outings - finishing third behind dual Group 1 winner Beiwacht (Bivouac) in the first - Glorious Moments will attempt to complete a hat-trick of city wins for the brotherly training team of Greg and Jim Lee. “He had a small chip on a joint, on the side not in the knee, so we had that taken out and instead of giving him three months we decided to give him a bit longer,’’ Greg Lee said. “He’s as good as gold now, and I think he’s the best horse we’ve had since Hayai. We’ve had some good horses, but I think he could win a Doncaster.”

Racing Australia to focus on new systems after annual report

Racing Australia has released its annual report for 2024/25. Throughout 2024/25 Racing Australia reported a surplus of $2.2 million, with revenue of $15.53 million. Racing Australia staff also dealt with over 11,000 horse registrations, sent 3.2 million emails, 1.8 million SMS messages across the year, while it received over 112,000 phone or online transactions. In the CEO’s report, Paul Eriksson said: “Racing Australia undertook a review of its in-house development team workload and capabilities, identifying that whilst there was a strong skill set to maintain and enhance the existing systems, we were not in a position to design and build new systems using current technology and systems. As such, Racing Australia has searched for a development partner to collaborate in the development of a new system covering Stud Book, registration and all racing systems. We anticipate making an announcement on the selection of a partner by June 2026. The next 12 months will see the continuation of work on the new SNS design, specifically the Australian Stud Book and Register of Racehorses, that utilises a single view of the horse from registration through to retirement.”

Kembla meeting transferred to inner track

Racing NSW has announced that the race meeting due to be held at Kembla Grange on Tuesday, June 2 has been transferred to the Illawarra Grange track (inner circuit). As a result of the transfer, race distance amendments will apply and they can be found here.

Vale Geoff Hall

Racing NSW has announced the passing of Geoff Hall, a long-time trainer at Kembla Grange. Hall was just short of his 83rd birthday and had prepared 192 winners. One of his best horses was Ivories (Kala Dancer) who won six races at Kembla Grange (three), Gosford, Canberra and Doomben. And tough performer Glenmurray Rogue (Family Ties), a 17-time winner including three city victories.

Vale Colin Besters

Hawkesbury trainer Colin Besters has died at the age of 76. The hobby trainer only had a handful of horses in training at any time and his best performer was $1,750 bargain buy Zanshin (Dawn Approach), who won three times and was placed on a further four occasions. A celebration of Besters’ life will be held from 11am on Friday, May 22 at the family property in Hawkesbury.

High rating is a blessing and a curse for Pike

Trainer Tony Pike admits he faces a tough task in placing Agera (Complacent) this preparation after the gelding’s successful streak through the spring. Agera opened his last campaign on a handicap rating of 70, but swiftly rose through the ranks after winning six of his next ten starts, headlined by stakes success in the Matamata Cup (Listed, 1600m) and the Tauranga Stakes (Gr 2, 1530m). Having enjoyed a well-earned summer holiday, Agera returned to Pike’s stables in March and he has since trialled twice, with his efforts pleasing enough for Pike to send him back to the races in the near future. “He was good through the line in his most recent trial, so that should set him up nicely for his first-up run in about ten days’ time,” said Pike. “He had a great campaign last time, but his rating has gone up to almost 100, so that could make him quite hard to place this prep. But he’s furnished into a real racehorse now, he’s quite push button as his results in the spring would suggest. If we can place him right through the early part of the winter, hopefully we can get some more results with him.”

HK: Warrior can go the distance

Zac Purton believes he and his fellow riders will be running for second place in the Champions & Chater Cup (Gr 1, 2400m), with the champion hoop resigned to chasing home Romantic Warrior (Acclamation). Purton will ride Romantic Warrior’s stablemate Romantic Thor (Justify) in the final Group 1 of the Hong Kong season at Sha Tin on Sunday, when Danny Shum’s superstar and his regular rider James McDonald will attempt to complete the Triple Crown. Purton was onboard the last time Romantic Warrior tasted defeat in Hong Kong in the same race in 2023, but he doesn’t expect a repeat result on Sunday with the eight-year-old - who is on a ten-race winning streak at home - now a much more seasoned operator. “I don’t think Romantic Warrior is vulnerable at 2400 metres, he’s a different horse now,” Purton said. “He should be okay. The local horses in the race, he has been bashing them up, and the two Japanese horses coming [Rousham Park and Deep Monster] are not the best they have sent. So it looks a great opportunity for Romantic Warrior.” His trainer concurred after overseeing Romantic Warrior’s gallop on the course proper at Sha Tin on Tuesday morning. “Romantic Warrior has only raced over 2400 metres once before when he ran second, but that time he was quite keen,” said Shum. “He’s getting older now, so he’s easier to control and, hopefully, he can handle the distance. He’s amazing – he’s such a talented animal.”

HK: Lor hopes the Numbers add up for his talented galloper

Frankie Lor is optimistic that a change of tactics for Numbers (Tivaci) could help the Hong Kong Derby (Listed, 2000m) runner-up realise his potential in Sunday’s Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin. Lor believes the imposing four-year-old can harness his true talent by taking a sit behind the leaders, rather than punching the breeze out front as has become his customary racing style. Numbers, who raced as King Of Thunder in Australia before being purchased by his Hong Kong connections, has won twice in his adopted homeland, most notably in February’s Centenary Vase Handicap (Gr 3, 1800m). The gelding came close to winning a Group 1 over 2400 metres during his time with John O’Shea and Tom Charlton, finishing second behind his then-stablemate Maison Louis (Super Seth) in last year’s Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m). Lor is therefore confident Numbers will relish the step up in distance, provided he can relax into the race. “I’ve always thought that we should try to follow one horse and see if he can do it, instead of always leading,” said Lor. “Danny Shum has Romantic Thor, who might go forward and lead, and if he does that then we can sit second. I’ve seen his form in Australia, and he could sit second, third or fourth, but you can see the jockeys are always trying to control him because he pulls a lot. On the ‘A Course’ at Sha Tin, it’s harder for front-runners so I’d like to see what happens if he can sit second.”

HK: HKJC embraces the world of AI

Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has revealed how the organisation is harnessing AI to enhance their racing and wagering offerings. The HKJC has already made significant investment into AI, primarily a HK$9 billion (approx. AU$1.61 billion) IT infrastructure upgrade which focuses on incorporating AI into many of HKJC’s offerings. The club has also committed to spend more than HK$255 million (approx. AU$457.25 million) through its Charities Trust to co-create an AI program in partnership with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with the project designed to deliver education across primary and secondary schools to further their students’ AI literacy. The HKJC’s existing use of AI is wide-reaching, with enhancements in equine welfare one of the key focus areas. “We have a lot of applications in different areas, from audiovisual to animal welfare and the monitoring of a horse’s stride rate,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “If you look at what we do now in our lab, we’re the only place in the world to test every horse before and on the day of the races. But it’s only just the beginning. I had a discussion with one of the key drivers of developments in the AI sector, who founded one of the global leaders in technology, and asked him to give me a perspective on what he thinks. He told me the real wave of AI, the tsunami of AI, you will see in three years. What you see at the moment is nothing. It will completely revolutionize how we operate.”

181 for Frankel

Juddmonte’s breed-shaping stallion Frankel (Galileo) chalked up his 181st individual winner on Tuesday when the Francis Graffard-trained Zayida (3 f ex Zaykava by Siyouni) landed the Prix Finlande (Listed, 1800m) at Chantilly. Ridden by Mickael Barzalona, the three-year-old filly defeated Land Of Liberty (Starspangledbanner) by five lengths with a further four lengths back to Lethal Beauty (Acclamation) in third place. Bred and raced by Aga Khan Studs, Zayida is from a blue-blooded family being a half-sister to fellow Listed winner Zaydann (Dubawi) and out of the Listed-winning Siyouni (Pivotal) mare Zaykava – herself a half-sister to Group 1 winner turned stallion Zarak (Dubawi) and out of the outstanding Classic winner and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) heroine Zarkava (Zamindar). Frankel is standing at Banstead Manor Stud for a fee of £350,000 (approx. AU$659,860).

UK: Tattersalls Online announces Online Jebel Ali Horses in Training Sale

Tattersalls Online and The Emirates Racing Authority will continue their partnership to host the Online Jebel Ali Horses in Training Sale on June 5-9, with the catalogue now available to view at www.tattersallsonline.com. Building on the success of the ERA Online Sale held in April, which saw record bidder participation and aggregate sales of 9,522,900AED (approx. AU$3.61 million), Tattersalls Online will once again host a sale on behalf of the Emirates Racing Authority, this time specifically for His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Jebel Ali Stables. Comprising 30 lots, the catalogue features Listed winner Keffaaf (Adlerflug). Already a winner of four races and placed eight times, the son of Adlerflug (In The Wings) was last seen on Meydan’s Super Saturday card when finishing sixth in the Dubai City of Gold Stakes (Gr 2, 2400m) behind multiple Group 1 winner Rebel’s Romance (Dubawi). Featuring 24 winners of 62 races, the draft also includes the progressive middle-distance performer Asaassi (Sea The Moon). A winner of a 1m2f handicap on the turf at Meydan last year, the son of Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars) followed up that performance with a fourth-place finish in the Dubai Millennium Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m). The Online Jebel Ali Horses in Training Sale will be held subject to the Emirates Racing Authority’s Conditions of Sale. Bidding in the online auction will open on the Tattersalls Online website at 11:00am BST on Friday, June 5 and close from 11:00am BST on Tuesday, June 9. Further information can be found on the Emirates Racing Authority and Tattersalls Online websites.

US: Flightline colt headlines opening session at Fasig-Tipton

A colt from the first crop of world champion racehorse Flightline (Tapit) topped the opening session of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic May Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale on Monday when selling to agent Pedro Lanz for US$2.1 million (approx. AU$2.95 million). The colt was offered by Sequel Bloodstock on behalf of Chester Broman, who bred the juvenile out of 2017 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (Gr 1, 7f) winner Bar Of Gold (Medaglia D’Oro). Lanz was buying on behalf of the Saudi Arabian-owned KAS Stables, although the colt is expected to remain in America. "It's not the first time I've done this. It's a tough situation, bidding so high for these horses to me is a big responsibility," Lanz said. "I celebrate this, but the real celebration is when they can win races on the track. It's nice to buy these expensive horses, but at the same time, it feels like a little bit more pressure. The first time I saw the horse was in a video that Sequel posted. He's a very nice mover. He's a beautiful horse, a balanced horse with hip and shoulders, a nice walker. Then I saw the page – he's out of a Breeders' Cup champion mare, and all the hype with Flightline; I think the hype is real. The comments you hear from Japan are amazing. Everyone is excited, and you see Zedan in April [OBS Sale], an amazing horse. So, I knew this horse was going to bring a lot of money. It's the last time to buy a Flightline this two-year-old season." At the end of the first session, 176 horses had changed hands for turnover of US$26,410,500 (approx. AU$37.1 million), including private sales. The average came out at a healthy US$150,060 (approx. AU$210,810), with a median of US$75,000 (approx. AU$105,360). At total of 53 juveniles failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 23 per cent.

IRE: O’Brien relishing rematch in the Coronation Cup

Aidan O’Brien has labelled the upcoming Coronation Cup (Gr 1, 1m 4f) an “unbelievable” race as it moves to the Saturday card of the Epsom Derby Festival for the first time. The Irish maestro is likely to saddle up two leading contenders in the Coronation Cup, with defending champion Jan Brueghel (Galileo) set to be joined in the starting gates by his Group 1-winning stablemate Lambourn (Australia). Intriguingly, the pair could face off against French superstar Calandagan (Gleneagles), with his trainer Francis Graffard indicating he is giving serious thought to sending the five-time Group 1 winner on a revenge mission, having finished second behind Jan Brueghel in the race 12 months ago. “I think it is an unbelievable race,” said O’Brien. “This year, it looks like it’s going to be very exciting. If Calandagan comes, and hopefully he will, we will have the two runners in the race. The Coolmore Coronation Cup is right at the top of those mile-and-a-half races – it is that important. It takes place around Epsom and it’s a serious initiative to raise the profile of the race. It is a very, very good race. Lambourn is a Derby winner, Jan Brueghel is a St Leger winner and Calandagan was considered the best horse in the world last year.”