Cummings confident autumn form can carry Champagne Stakes winner to more wins this spring Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) is set to embark on a campaign targeting more Group 1 laurels today at Randwick with her trainer Anthony Cummings believing the fillies’ form which prevailed in the autumn will carry... Read More

It’s never the intention of a journo or a photographer – or at least it shouldn’t be – to become the story, rather than just the one who is covering it. For popular racing photographer Sharon Chapman she inadvertently this week became part of a stewards inquiry in the Queensland outback at Birdsville ahead of... Read More

Elkington Road (AUS) 3 g All Too Hard – Sherbet Bomb by Snitzel O: Ballymore Stables (Aust) Pty Ltd (Mgr: M D Moroney), Kariba Racing (Mgr: C Dziedzic), R & C Legh Racing Pty Ltd (Mgr: R P Legh), R Ford, B & C Thoroughbreds Pty Ltd (Mgr: B Dorman), G Devonport, M Merton, G... Read More

Joseph O’Brien’s challenge for a third win in the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) has been weakened after it was revealed that leading hope Cleveland (Camelot) will not travel to Australia to take part in the Spring Carnival.  The highly regarded Chester Cup (2m 2.5f) winner had figured on the second line of the betting... Read More

First season sires put to the test as new breeding season gets underway Just days after breeders were toasting themselves with champagne and canapes at the Hunter Valley stallion parades, it was officially down to business yesterday, with trucks roaring into stud farms across Australia’s thoroughbred heartland for the start of the southern hemisphere breeding... Read More

Lindsay Maxsted is feeling a lot of tension as the winter turns to spring. Happily, it’s not Monday-to-Friday pressure drawn from his various roles as one of Australia’s corporate high-flyers, in which he’s been at the pointy end of firms including KPMG, Westpac and BHP. Instead, the anxiety comes about on weekends. For one thing,... Read More