Daily News | 18th August 2017

• Winx Crowned NSW Horse Of The Year

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Predictably, Champion mare Winx dominated proceedings at last night's annual 'Racing's Night Of Champions' awards ceremony in the Royal Randwick Ballroom of the Australian Turf Club in Sydney. Champion trainer Chris Waller's two wins made it seven straight in both the Champion Trainer category and the Bart Cummings Medal. The category winners were:
  • NSW Horse of the Year: Winx
  • Australian Turf Club NSW 2YO of the Year: She Will Reign
  • International Animal Health Products NSW 3YO of the Year: Global Glamour
  • Australian Turf Club NSW Sprinter of the Year: Tycoon Tara
  • Whitby Bloodstock NSW Miler of the Year: Winx
  • NZ Bloodstock NSW Middle Distance Horse of the Year: Winx
  • Emirates NSW Stayer of the Year: Big Duke
  • Inglis Queen of the Autumn: Zanbagh
  • Sky Thoroughbred Central NSW Country Champion Horse of the Year: Single Gaze
  • Sky Thoroughbred Central NSW Provincial Champion Horse of the Year: Le Romain
  • Bart Cummings Medal: Chris Waller
  • T J Smith Champion Trainer: Chris Waller
  • George Moore Champion Jockey: Hugh Bowman
  • Theo Green Champion Apprentice: Andrew Adkins
  • Sydney Strapper of the Year: Riharna Thomson (posthumous)
  • BOBS Horse(s) of the Year: Memes & Zumbelina
  • Industry Recognition Waward: Chautauqua
  
  
  

  Winx strike force Hugh Bowman and Chris Waller (pic: Steve Hart)

• Fully Matured Winx Primed for Return

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Meanwhile, trainer Chris Waller has provided a final update on Winx who will make her eagerly awaited seasonal reappearance in tomorrow's Gr2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick. The champion mare, who will be chasing her 18th consecutive victory in the $250,000 feature, is embarking on an historic spring campaign in which she will attempt to join the legendary Kingston Town as the only horse to win three Cox Plates. "As a mature horse now she has put on a bit of extra weight but she has turned it into muscle and it looks to be an asset to her. It's not a matter of asking her to improve at this stage in her career, it's just a matter of maintaining her," Waller said. "She is exactly where we want her to be and each preparation has been a little bit different. But quite remarkably she seems to be getting a little bit bigger and stronger and the scales would suggest that as well." Waller said it will be left up to regular rider Hugh Bowman to ensure that Winx finds a nice position in running from barrier two. "We don't over analyse things with her. We have so much confidence in Hugh Bowman. He is such a great rider and handles these situations so well. The more you complicate these things the harder it becomes," Waller said. "She is just a natural athlete and seems to get herself out of problems so whether she is back, forward or wide she copes with all situations. Her determination is something very special."

  

  Winx (image: Steve Hart)

• Early Bird Pricing Structure For Sires $10k and Under

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  In the lead up to the 2017 breeding season start on 1 September, Breeding&Racing’s popular $10,000 and under feature ($11,000 inc GST) has been structured to make it as affordable as possible for stud farms to participate. Published on Wednesday, 30 August, for stallions that have already participated in either 2017 Sires or 2017 Freshman Sires the price is $490 + GST for the feature. For any new stallions that are standing for $10,000 & Under (excluding GST), participation is for $690 + GST. Early bird bookings close Wednesday, 23 August. Call Christian Whitehead on 0413 112 020 for further information.

• Omei Sword on Trial for Everest

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Richly talented mare Omei Sword (High Chaparral-Irish Lights, by Fastnet Rock) will be on trial for a shot at The Everest later in the year when she resumes in tomorrow's Gr3 Show County Quality (1200m) at Royal Randwick. A winner of the Gr2 Silver Shadow Stakes and runner-up in the Gr1 Golden Rose during her 3YO season, the 4YO is being touted as a potential runner in the inaugural $10 million The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on 14 October. "She's got the right credentials," trainer Chris Waller told racingnsw.com.au. "She is a very good horse but a challenging horse to train. She had a few issues in the autumn but if we can have a trouble free preparation with her, she is going to end up being a Group One winner." Waller added: "Saturday will be a good guide and obviously you'd expect her to win if The Everest was in our thoughts. She has no excuses from a weights perceptive or a barrier draw perspective so it's up to her to prove herself." A win in The Everest or at Gr1 level would make Omei Sword a highly valuable broodmare prospect. By High Chaparral out of Gr1 Thousand Guineas winner Irish Lights, she is a direct descendant of the US-bred mare Change Water, dam of Gr1 winner and outstanding producer Fall Aspen. This is the family of successful sires Bianconi, Fort Wood, Timber Country and Hamas, as well as Gr1 winners Elnadim, Mehthaaf and the great Dubai Millennium.

  

• Bart Likely To Need Lawrence Stakes Run

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Brad Rawiller expects Black Heart Bart (Blackfriars-Sister Theresa, by At Talaq) to benefit significantly from the run when he opens his spring campaign in tomorrow's Gr2 Charge Of The Light Horse P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) Caulfield. The 5-time Group One winner, who hasn't raced since finishing 5th in the Gr1 Kingsford-Smith Cup in Brisbane in late May, will then bid to defend his title in the Gr1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on 2 September. "Going into this Saturday, there is no question that he is going to be better for the run," Rawiller told racing.com. "If I had drawn an outside barrier I think it might have been tough for him because he might not have been ready to make things happen like he normally would so we might have had to ride him a bit quiet." Rawiller continued: "But from barrier five, he's going to land in the nice position and we'll be able to give him a rest and it's going to bring him right into the race although he's going to be better for the run." Black Heart Bart is currently the $2.60 TAB favourite for the $200,000 weight-for-age feature, ahead of Godolphin's Hartnell at $3.20 and stable-mates Humidor and Tosen Stardom at $9. All other runners in the 12-horse field are at double-figure odds.

  

  Black Heart Bart (image: Mark Gatt)

• Australia & New Zealand Weekend Stakes Schedule

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Headlined by the return of champion Australian mare Winx in the Gr2 Warwick Stakes in Sydney, as well as the return of the likes of Black Heart Bart, Hartnell, and Humidor in the Gr2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes in Melbourne, there are eleven stakes races scheduled across Australia and New Zealand this Saturday. Winx will be chasing her 18th consecutive victory tomorrow when she makes her seasonal reappearance in the Warwick Stakes, a race first run in 1923. And befitting a horse rated the world's best on turf, she is likely to start the shortest price of her career with TAB currently quoting her at $1.08. The race will mark the beginning of an historic spring campaign for the 12-time Gr1 winner who will attempt to join the legendary Kingston Town as the only horse to win three Cox Plates. Brought to you by International Animal Health Products, below in AET order are Saturday's scheduled stakes races incorporating integrated fields, form and runner news:
  • 12:00pm: Gr2 Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) Royal Randwick
  • 1:05pm: Gr2 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate (1200m) Te Rapa
  • 2:25pm: Gr3 Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) Royal Randwick
  • 2:40pm: Gr3 Quezette Stakes (1100m) Caulfield
  • 3:00pm: Gr2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) Royal Randwick
  • 3:20pm: Gr3 Vain Stakes (1100m) Caulfield
  • 3:40pm: Gr3 Toy Show Quality (1300m) Royal Randwick
  • 4:00pm: Gr2 Charge Of The Light Horse P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) Caulfield
  • 4:20pm: Gr3 Show County Quality (1200m) Royal Randwick
  • 4:40pm: Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) Caulfield
  • 4:51pm: Gr3 Spring Stakes (1200m) Morphettville

  

• Saturday 12:00pm: Gr2 Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) Royal Randwick

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 1:05pm: Gr2 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate (1200m) Te Rapa

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 2:25pm: Gr3 Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) Royal Randwick

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 2:40pm: Gr3 Quezette Stakes (1100m) Caulfield

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 3:00pm: Gr2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) Royal Randwick

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 3:20pm: Gr3 Vain Stakes (1100m) Caulfield

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 3:40pm: Gr3 Toy Show Quality (1300m) Royal Randwick

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 4:00pm: Gr2 Charge Of The Light Horse P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) Caulfield

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 4:20pm: Gr3 Show County Quality (1200m) Royal Randwick

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 4:40pm: Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) Caulfield

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• 4:51pm: Gr3 Spring Stakes (1200m) Morphettville

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  

• Kiwi Gr1 Winner Snapped Up For Hong Kong

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Gr1-winning colt Hall Of Fame has been purchased for a seven figure sum by offshore interests. NZ Racing Desk reports that, in a deal brokered by Brian Hedley Bloodstock and the Australian Bloodstock Agency’s Greg Zarra, the four-year-old son of champion stallion Savabeel will be doing his future racing in Hong Kong. “Obviously, he’s been a great horse to us,” said Jamie Richards, who trains in partnership at Matamata with Stephen Autridge. “It was a pleasure to have a horse like him to train, he’s such a lovely horse.” Hall Of Fame has won five of his 11 starts to date, including the Gr1 Levin Classic at Trentham, where he defeated Savile Row and Jon Snow, and the Listed Zacinto Stakes at Riccarton. Hall Of Fame was originally purchased out of Lyndhurst Farm’s NZB Ready to Run Sale draft at Karaka in 2015 by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $230,000.

• Melbourne Cup Favourite to Race on Sunday

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Melbourne Cup favourite Red Cardinal will bid to prove he is worthy of heading markets for Australia's most famous race when he contests the Gr2 Prix de Kergorlay in France on Sunday, reports racing.com. Owned by Australian Bloodstock, the Irish-bred Red Cardinal is a winner of 5 of his 9 starts to date including the Gr2 Oleander Rennen (3200m) at Hoppegarten in Germany in May, and a last-start victory in the Gr3 Gold Cup Invitational Stakes at Belmont in the US (3200m). "We are very much looking forward just to see where he's at," said co-owner Jamie Lovett of Australian Bloodstock. "It will be a much stronger field than he met at his last start so it will just give us a better gauge as to where he's at. It will just be a real good gauge because it's going to be strong edition of the race, I'm told." Red Cardinal (Montjeu-Notable, by Zafonic) is trained by Andreas Wohler, who also prepared Protectionist on behalf of Australian Bloodstock to win the 2013 edition of the Kergolay en route to his victory in the Melbourne Cup that same year.

• Cup Candidate Looking Good

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Caulfield Cup hope Chance To Dance is making sound progress toward his seasonal debut, reports NZ Racing Desk. Trained by Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards for Fortuna Syndications, the 8YO galloped well over 1000m at Te Rapa yesterday morning ahead of a trial at Avondale next Tuesday. "This morning's gallop was his first serious piece of work since returning from his spell," Fortuna director John Galvin said. "He has put on over 40kgs of weight since his run in the Sydney Cup and has not put a foot wrong in his preparation to date." Galvin added: "After two trials, he will resume over 1600 metres and then head to the Gr1 Livamol Classic at Hastings on October 7 where a good strong performance could see him head to Melbourne to contest the Caulfield Cup." Formerly owned by Nick & Lloyd Williams, the Irish-bred Chance to Dance (Teofilo-Crystal Ballet, by Royal Academy) was purchased by Galvin's Fortuna syndication company at the Inglis Chairman's Sale (Racing Prospects) for $260,000 earlier this year.

• Australian Sires Premiership Update

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  With just over two weeks of the 2017-18 racing season completed, Arrowfield Stud's incumbent Champion Australian Sire Snitzel has established an early lead at the top of the national sires' leader board with progeny earnings of $670,000. Occupying second position is Darley's deceased shuttler & Gr1 Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry, runner-up in last season's Sires' Premiership, while Yarraman Park's Gr3-winning stallion I Am Invincible rounds out the top three. According to arion.co.nz, the Top 10 ranked stallions in Australia (as of 17 August) are:
  1. Snitzel (Redoute's Choice) - $671,469
  2. Street Cry (Machiavellian) - $471,630
  3. I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) - $371,720
  4. Bel Esprit (Royal Academy) - $342,411
  5. Star Witness (Starcraft) - $305,005
  6. Written Tycoon (Iglesia) - $302,599
  7. Sebring (More Than Ready) - $297,290
  8. High Chaparral (Sadler's Wells) - $283,622
  9. Nicconi (Bianconi) - $256,689
  10. Exceed and Excel (Danehill) - $250,498

• Our Ivanhowe To Stand in France in 2018

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Dual hemisphere Gr1-winning stallion Our Ivanhowe will commence stud duties at Haras du Thenney in Normandy next year, reports Racing Post. The 7YO is currently in quarantine and is set to arrive in France next month. "We are very excited about the new arrival," said Niccolo Riva, who brokered the stud deal. "He's been an exceptional racehorse, winning four Group 1s in two hemispheres between ten and 12 furlongs. He's an impressive individual, provides an interesting outcross for most mares and should be of great interest for both Flat and jumps breeders." Trained in Australia by Lee & Anthony Freedman, Our Ivanhowe won 7 of his 24 starts for over $1.8 million in prize money, including two Gr1 races in Australia - namely the Ranvet Stakes & Doomben Cup. Originally prepared by Wilhelm Giedt & Jean-Pierre Carvalho in his native Germany, Our Ivanhowe was a dual Gr1 winner of the Grosser Preis von Bayern (2400m) and Grosser Preis von Bayern, in which he defeated subsequent German Derby winner Sea The Moon. Testament to Our Ivanhowe's class is the fact that he polled third behind Sea The Moon and Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist in Germany's 2015 Horse of the Year award.

• Eclipse Award Winner Finest City To Be Sold

  Friday, 18th August 2017
  Champion US mare Finest City (City Zip–Be Envied, by Lemon Drop Kid) will go under the hammer at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale to be held 6th November in Lexington, Kentucky, reports Thoroughbred Daily News. The 5YO chestnut will be offered by trainer Ian Kruljac on behalf of owner Seltzer Thoroughbreds. A winner of 5 of her 19 starts for US$1.25 million in prize money, Finest City's biggest victory came in the 2016 Gr1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint which earned her the Eclipse Award for top female sprinter. Finest City will make her final race start in this year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar before going through the sale ring. "We are blessed to have one more chapter to write in this year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint before she goes to auction and begins a well-deserved career as a broodmare, and passes on her brilliance for years to come," said Kruljac. Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning commented: "Finest City is a truly special offering; an Eclipse Champion and Breeders' Cup Champion with the looks and pedigree to match. We're honoured that her connections have chosen our November Sale for such an exceptional racemare."