Victoria seeks to protect program with $1 million bonus incentives
Racing Victoria has offered up to $5 million in bonuses for its feature races in a bid to lure high-profile horses to its spring carnival, amid the prize-money increases and new races in New South Wales. The bonuses are applied in a series of $1 million offerings attached to five races, with the incentives paid... Read More
McDonald gets feel for Snitzel colt in late-season Randwick barrier trial
The new owners of talented rising three-year-old Best Of Bordeaux (Snitzel), potentially the best colt of his generation, got to see a glimpse of their high-profile purchase, with a low-key barrier trial in Sydney yesterday. With James McDonald in the saddle for the first time, and wearing Coolmore’s synonymous blue silks, noted on-pacer Best Of... Read More
Six for Churchill
New winners Caravaggio – Former shuttler Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) sired his fourth individual southern hemisphere winner when Palaggio (2 g ex Rocket Commander by Court Command) made a winning debut in a 1200-metre maiden on the Ballarat synthetic track. Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, the newcomer finished four and a half lengths clear... Read More
Class of 2018
Following on from last week’s discussion on stallions with two racing crops, this week we look at those sires whose initial crop will turn three on August 1. The future appears to be in good hands, if the season just ending is any indication. Similar to the sires with two crops of racing age, those... Read More
Vieira backs his star Trapeze Artist with owners in running for share of $2 million bonus
Exuberant owner and breeder Bert Vieira will put up $2 million of his own money, such is his unwavering belief in his four-time Group 1-winning stallion Trapeze Artist (Snitzel), as a lucrative bonus with the sire’s first crop of rising two-year-olds closing in on their racetrack debuts in the new racing season. The Sydney businessman,... Read More
MP Parton goes into bat for capital’s racing industry
Funding assured but politician campaigning to shore up Canberra’s thoroughbred industry Canberra may be the capital of Australia, but its thoroughbred racing industry is in danger of becoming a national backwater, if not wiped out all together, as the ACT’s Greens Party pushes for the withdrawal of government funding for the sport. The ACT government... Read More