Trainer Matt Smith will wait until the last moment to decide if Plymouth Road steps up to stakes company in the Winter Cup at Rosehill, concerned the promising stayer is badly weighted in the Listed race. While Smith believes Plymouth Road can eventually rise to Listed level, the last-start Randwick winner is getting just half[...]

Encouraged after an eye-catching performance from Eugene's Forest on debut, trainer Greg Eurell is looking forward to testing the two-year-old in town for the first time at Caulfield. Eugene's Forest closed strongly for third in a 1000m-handicap for two-year-olds at Bendigo on a heavy track last Sunday week in his first race start. “He mucked[...]

Trainer Matt Dunn is hoping jockey Jim Byrne can produce some magic for the second week in a row to give him another Queensland winter carnival Cup. Byrne produced a superb ride on Divine Unicorn for Dunn to win the Group Three Tattersall's Cup last Saturday. A week later he rides the Dunn-trained Miss Dubois[...]

After five weeks off the scene recovering from a fractured heel, apprentice Ben Allen is set to make his return to the races with two rides at Caulfield. Allen had a track work fall at Ballarat but it was only a couple of weeks later the apprentice discovered he had suffered a fracture to his[...]

Top jockey Michael Cahill is known for his low-key style but even he finds it hard to hide his respect for New Zealand three-year-old The Bostonian. Cahill has ridden The Bostonian twice for a win in the Listed Daybreak Lover Stakes (1200m) two weeks ago and then in a 3YO handicap over 1350m at Doomben[...]

Jockey Skye Bogenhuber gets a chance to win a second stakes race for the winter on another of her favourite horses at Caloundra. Bogenhuber had her first ride in a Group Two race when she won the Moreton Cup on The Monstar at the Sunshine Coast on June 2. She returns to the Caloundra on[...]

Joe Pride has revised some of his expectations for the stable's Rosehill runners with the prospect of a slightly better than expected track. The track was in the soft range on Thursday two days out from the meeting with the Pride team headed by Destiny's Kiss in the Listed Winter Cup. Destiny's Kiss was always[...]

Imported gelding Al Galayel made an instant impression in his Australian debut and looms as the shortest-priced favourite on the program for his next test at Caulfield. The Ciaron Maher-trained Al Galayel stepped out for his local debut at Sandown earlier this month in a midweek benchmark-70 and did what his trainer hoped he would,[...]

Jockey Damian Browne has only one reservation as he chases a Caloundra Cup victory at the Sunshine Coast on Megablast. Browne was furious on Wednesday when stewards suspended him for two months on a handling charge involving Fighting Teo who was unplaced as favourite in a race at Caloundra three weeks ago. He is able[...]

Craig Newitt will make the trip to Melbourne to continue his association with Tasmanian filly Derasa at Caulfield and is confident the filly has the quality to overcome the outside barrier. Tasmanian-based Newitt came to Melbourne earlier this month to ride the Barry Campbell-trained Derasa in a 1000m-sprint for three-year-olds at Flemington and the filly[...]

Leading Sydney jockey Brenton Avdulla has secured a short-term contract to ride in Japan. Avdulla will take up the challenge on August 4 and will be riding for leading trainer Yasutoshi Ikee with Katsumi Yoshida his contracted owner. Ikee was the original trainer of Tosen Stardom who now races in Australia under Darren Weir and[...]

Spurred on by the chance to claim a seventh Melbourne jockeys' premiership, Craig Williams has regained the lead in this season's title race after a winning double at Moonee Valley. Williams started Wednesday's meeting one win behind Damian Lane who was not riding at the meeting and will also miss Saturday's meeting at Caulfield. Williams[...]

Champion Winx has been odds-on favourite for 24 of her past 25 starts and nothing has changed in the lead-up to her next campaign. The mare is at $1.10 to win the race renamed in her honour, formerly the Warwick Stakes which has also been upgraded to Group One status and will be run on[...]

Chris Waller has already set a Sydney training record this season but is not resting on his laurels with a strong winter team to represent the stable at Rosehill. The weather will play a part in determining if all will run including Invinzabeel, the most favoured of the five stable runners in Saturday's Listed Civic[...]

Brenton Avdulla has responded to a challenge from Sydney jockeys' premiership rival Blake Shinn in the best possible way with a winning double at Canterbury. Chasing his maiden title, Avdulla took an 11-win lead into the meeting on Wednesday but it was Shinn who struck first. Shinn had an armchair ride on the favourite Sweet[...]

After a successful first racing preparation, Group Two winner Summer Sham is back from a spell and ready to kick off her latest campaign in sprint race for fillies at Caulfield. The Danny O'Brien-trained Summer Sham has won three of her four starts, highlighted by her victory in the Group Two Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m)[...]

Co-trainer Sheila Laxon recalled one of her most unpleasant experiences in racing after Checkmate Lad scored a strong staying win at Doomben on Wednesday. Checkmate Lad ($4.60) finished too strongly for Slaughter Bay to win a Maiden over 2200m. Laxon, who trains the colt with John Symons, bred Checkmate Lad who is by Strategic Maneuver[...]