Things to know today
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At least 140 unnamed two and three year old Australian horses have gone to China so far this year on Australian Stud Book figures, in a jurisdiction whose racing is not currently recognised by any official international racing body. Diatonic and Tagaloa lead the sires represented with 31 apiece, ahead of Grunt on 18 and Lucky Vega on 11. At a feature meeting at Yulong Racecourse on 5 September, Australian and New Zealand bred colts took race after race, among them the Saxon Warrior colt Wu Shi Jing Shen, an $18,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast graduate, and the Dirty Work colt Pan Shi Wu Shuang, bought for $180,000 at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale (Breednet) |
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Warnie took the Group 3 Chautauqua Stakes at Sandown on Wednesday by just over a length, a third stakes win for the son of Highland Reel, who is trained by Ciaron Maher and was ridden by Mark Zahra. The race had been put back from Saturday by storms in Melbourne. “The mare was gallant in defeat, but to see Warnie sit back where he was with a few lengths to make up and quicken the way he did and eased down late was impressive,” national assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said. The Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes over 1400 metres is next, in search of a first win at the top level (TTR AusNZ) |
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Call Me Coach won on debut at Hawkesbury on Thursday, the Dundeel colt taking a 1300 metre maiden by 1.4 lengths in 1:17.65 on a Good 4 for Anthony and Sam Freedman and Dylan Gibbons. He was reluctant to let himself go and hung in on his rivals before surging clear once he committed. He cost $440,000 from Arrowfield Stud at the Inglis Classic yearling sale, bought by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock for Jonathan Munz, and is the second winner from the two runners out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Mother’s Mercy, a family that includes the Group 1 winners Autumn Angel, Baraquiel and Divine Maddona (Breednet) |
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Brenna Cook trained her first winner on Thursday, Illusionist taking a 2200 metre maiden on the Riccarton synthetic by three lengths from Gap It. The Balcairn horsewoman took the six year old son of Zacinto as a weanling from his owner John Clapham, broke him in herself and went for her licence in order to keep training him, and he had two placings from 15 starts to show for it before this. She left school at 15 for harness racing and has worked across both codes. “I am really rapt. I am very proud of him,” she said, adding that he “has been a really slow learner” but is “just clicking now, which is nice” (LOVERACING.NZ) |
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Wonka won the $100,000 Inglis Xtra Bonus over 1550 metres at Randwick Kensington on Wednesday by just under a length for Chris Waller and Jason Collett. “He’s still learning and wants to climb in his action, so I wanted to be in a position today where I could get going before they did,” Collett said of the son of Snitzel (TTR AusNZ) |
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Maurice sits 11th on the Australian sires’ premiership with 18 winners this season, the six time Group 1 winner standing at Arrowfield Stud at $82,500 including GST. He was locked out of Australia in his fourth season and had only a small third crop of 55 foals after the 2020 shuttle was stopped, came back in 2021 at $44,000, and has since doubled. His first crop returned 58 winners from 73 runners, and he has 11 individual stakes winners, among them the triple Classic winner Hitotsu, now at stud alongside him, and the Group 1 sprinter Mazu. “Being able to produce at the elite level at both extreme ends of the spectrum, it made people desperate to get into him,” Arrowfield’s Mitchell Ralph said (TTR AusNZ) |
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Kayla Milnes sent Luminosity to the Listed NZB Canterbury Belle Stakes over 1200 metres at Riccarton on Saturday. The Too Darn Hot filly was bred at Nick Wigley’s Inglewood Stud, which also bred Matchmaker, winner of this race in 2020 and the first stakes winner Milnes trained. Luminosity was second on debut to the subsequent Group 3 performer Out Of The Blue before shin soreness ended her juvenile season, and she resumed last month with a sixth over 1000 metres. Riccarton was rated Heavy 10 on Friday morning, Heavy 9 by Friday afternoon and Heavy 9 again on Saturday morning, and was upgraded to Heavy 8 at 3.05pm on Saturday. “I think she is going to appreciate a firmer track, so that is not ideal,” Milnes said, with the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas the spring aim. Sweetest Thing won the race by a short head under Wiremu Pinn for Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, holding off Platinum La Danse and her stablemate Sword of Stars, in 1:11.24 on the Heavy 8. Luminosity finished last of the 14 runners, beaten 20.3 lengths (Breednet, LOVERACING.NZ). We name key runners only and do not reproduce official field content |
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Fast Network will miss the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama on 27 September and return to Hong Kong, the Dennis Yip trained six year old having had a recurrence of the throat problem that was operated on in May 2025. He had gone to Japan for a two race campaign, in part to avoid meeting Ka Ying Rising at home, and finished 15th in the Group 2 Centaur Stakes at Hanshin on 7 September. Damian Lane had been booked to ride him. A win would have made him only the third Hong Kong trained winner of the race, after Silent Witness in 2005 and Ultra Fantasy in 2010 (Idol Horse) |
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