Party For Two heads to Monash
Co-trainer Matthew Hoysted has confirmed that 3-year-old filly Party For Two (Sidestep) will run in Saturday's G3 Sir John Monash S. at Caulfield. “After her last run we identified this race, but we weren't going to commit until we saw the nominations and after looking at them, we thought it was worth a throw at the stumps at a Group 3 race. We think it's a nice time to strike,” Hoysted told Racing.com.
“She's going to be very competitive with her rock-hard race fitness against a couple of the other better chances maybe lacking in fitness and we're happy to catch them on the bounce.” Party For Two ran third in the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic at her most recent start.
Racing NSW track updates
Racing New South Wales provided the following updates on wet weather affected tracks. “Following the Muswellbrook track deemed unsuitable for racing this morning, the meeting has been postponed and will now be conducted at Muswellbrook on Thursday, 11th July 2024. Stewards to reinspect track tomorrow morning.
“Racing NSW advise the Taree race meeting scheduled for Thursday, 11th July 2024 has been transferred to Saturday, 13th July 2024. The Taree track is currently rated a Heavy 10 however should see some improvement with the extra few days and favourable weather forecast.
“Racing NSW advise the Coffs Harbour race meeting scheduled for Saturday, 13th July 2024 has been abandoned.”
Waterhouse speaks out about wet tracks
After the recent spate of race meetings being postponed or abandoned due to wet weather, trainer Gai Waterhouse took to twitter to vent her frustration. “What has gone wrong with racing? Rain - and the races/trials are postponed which in every case means abandoned,” she tweeted.
Gai Waterhouse | Image courtesy of Inglis
“Heavy tracks are safer than every other type, they go slower and there are less accidents. They race in Europe and New Zealand on much heavier tracks. The cost of abandoned meetings is very real - money out of all our pockets.
“It is winter. We have all become mindless marshmallows. Racing should toughen up.”
Two for The Everest from Moody/Coleman
Trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman could end up with two live chances in The Everest this spring with I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel) already confirmed and Chain Of Lightning (Fighting Sun) heading that way. “She likes a bit of cut in the ground, so it depends where that presents, it might be down here, it might be in Sydney,” Moody told Racing.com of Chain Of Lightning.
“We'll put her on that (Everest) path and see where she lands and if she doesn't get a slot or she's not going well enough, then we might go for the consolation or something like that.”
Cartwright retires from saddle, will train
Josh Cartwright will call time on his riding career at the end of this season and the 29-year-old expects his trainer's licence to be approved in September. He has ridden more than 300 winners. “I found over time your body doesn't cope as well and I am very injury prone,” Cartwright told racing.com.
Josh Cartwright
“At the age of 29, you have the opportunity to look ahead and plan something exciting. Buying nice, young horses has always been an expensive exercise and I don't have aspirations to have a huge stable and young horses coming in and out can clog up a stable. We are probably going to find ourselves with tried and older horses.”
Likeabeel aiming for Sydney
Trainer Pat Busuttin is hopeful Provincial Stayers Final winner Likeabeel (Foxwedge) can confirm plans to head to Sydney if successful at Eagle Farm on Wednesday. “He’s held his form well and although he only won by a head last time, he was strong to the line and would have won by more had it been further,” Busuttin told Racingqueensland.com.au.
“There is a Benchmark race over 2400 metres I’d like to send him to Sydney for and it’s worth a bit of money. He’s won over 2500 metres twice now and was placed over 3100 metres when I sent him down last year to my son, Trent, who trains in Victoria. He had four runs in Victoria for Trent who has been in the top five trainers down there for the past three years.”
Anna Furlong to take over Champagne Lodge
Anna Furlong will take sole charge of the successful Champagne Racing Stables operation from the beginning of the new season, having previously trained in partnership with Shane Kennedy. "Shane has taught me all I know, having started with him fresh out of school and I owe him everything,” Furlong told Loveracing.nz.
“I couldn’t be more thankful or grateful, and he will still be involved with shares in some of the horses and will maintain a huge interest in the stable, supporting me in the business and attending the sales. Shane will always be at the end of the phone, and we’ll continue to talk regularly, he’s like part of my family.”
Kennedy, who has more than 350 training successes to his credit, will now focus on his property development business in Auckland.
Lhasa looking to remain unbeaten on synthetic
Lhasa (Hellbent) will be out to continue his unbeaten streak on Cambridge’s Synthetic track on Wednesday. “He is unbeaten at this stage on the synthetic, so he will go around again,” trainer Mark Treweek told Loveracing.nz.
Lhasa as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“Hopefully he gets a nice run from there (barrier 2). He has drawn in before there (Cambridge Synthetic) and got a nice run. It’s probably the best field he has come across on the synthetic, so it will be an interesting race.” All his three career wins have been on this surface.
New Zealand helps out trainer Higgins
The New Zealand racing industry is rallying behind Amanda Higgins, with the Ashburton trainer currently undergoing treatment for terminal cancer. “Amanda has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia. She had some treatment, and it wasn’t very successful, so she is undergoing a second lot of treatment at the moment,” The Salvation Army’s Andrew McKerrow said.
“It is quite a complicated case. She is currently halfway through her second round of treatment, so has moved back to Christchurch for that.” A fundraising dinner will be held on July 19 at Addington Racetrack.
HKJC CEO applauds brilliant season
The Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has spoken enthusiastically about the 2023/24 season. “Under difficult circumstances it’s been an amazing season,” said Engelbrecht-Bresges.
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges
“The international success of Hong Kong horses is definitely something that you’ll look back on in five years. To win what Romantic Warrior has won is out of this world and we saw so many outstanding performances, like Golden Sixty and the Derby.
“We’ve had nearly two years where people could not go out and could not buy horses and that naturally has an effect two years later. But we’ve shown extreme resilience, and the way the horses have performed on the track gives me a lot of optimism for next season.
“A lot of people didn’t understand Conghua is a game-changer. Not only that we will have the racing there, but how we can prepare horses there. Horses training in Conghua is very significant.”
$1.55million sale topper for Horses In Training Sale
3-year-old colt Informed Patriot (USA) (Hard Spun {USA}), just two days removed from a third-place finish in the G3 Indiana Derby, brought the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale to a crescendo when selling for $1.55 million (AU$2.3 million) to Prince Saud bin Salman Abdulaziz. Bloodstock agent Ibrahim Rachid made the winning bid on behalf of the prince and said the sophomore would be aimed at next year's G1 Saudi Cup.
“Quite a way to end a horse sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President and CEO Boyd Browning, Jr. “You know, it just goes to show you the magic of an auction process.” At the end of Monday's session, the HORA figures of the 2023 edition of the sale were largely on par with this year's session, despite the smaller catalogue in 2024. This year, a total of 65 horses sold for US$6,708,500 (AU$9.9million), averaging US$103,208 (AU$154,000) and with a median of US$62,000 (AU$92,000).
HISA outline new safety rules
In a virtual town hall Monday, representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority outlined, and took stakeholder questions on, the revised “Racetrack Safety” rules that have just gone into effect.
The main rule revisions and modifications apply to intra-articular injections and to vets' listings. As of Monday, trainers are not permitted to work a horse for 14 days following an intra-articular corticosteroid injection into the front or back fetlock (increased from seven days) and are not permitted to start a horse for 30 days following an intra-articular corticosteroid injection into any fetlock (increased from 14 days).
Among other changes, racetracks are now required to develop and implement protocols related to equine welfare and husbandry concerns. The mandate broadly covers the following behaviour: Cruelty, mistreatment, neglect or abuse; abandonment, injury, maiming or killing; administration of any noxious substance; and deprivation of necessary care, sustenance, shelter and veterinary care.
Share in Zarak at latest Arqana Digital
Another share in the Aga Khan Studs stallion Zarak (Fr) will be offered by Arqana Online during a pop-up sale to be held on Friday, July 12.
Zarak (Fr) | Standing at Aga Khan Studs
The share gives the right to one covering per year, plus an additional covering every odd-numbered year, meaning two coverings in 2025 followed by one covering in 2026, and so on. Last month an identical offering on the Arqana Online platform sold to Laurent Benoit, acting on behalf of Haras Voltaire, for €740,000.
Vale David Power
David Power, one of the founders of the Paddy Power betting shop chain and the owner of multiple Group 1 winners Slade Power (Ire) (Dutch Art {GB}) and Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}), has died following a long illness.
Power was a racecourse bookmaker for decades and only recently retired six years ago. Along with his wife Sabena, they enjoyed great success on the course as well, campaigning Slade Power to a career which included wins in the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes and the G1 Darley July Cup.
Trainer Eddie Lynam, whose relationship with Power began with a horse named Empirical Power (Ire), remembers him as a friend along with being a model client. “He was a great man to train for and a great friend,” Lynam told The Irish Field. “I'd say there wasn't a week went by where I didn't speak to him two or three times. He was always good company. If he didn't have something nice to say about somebody, he wouldn't say anything at all.”
Lynam added, “He was a great man to train for in that whether the horse was good or bad, there was never a cross word. He enjoyed his very good horses to the limit; he had great fun with them. It was an honour to train for him.”
