Racing NSW eases border restrictions
Victorian horses can now compete in NSW unencumbered after racing officials lifted the protocol requirements for interstate thoroughbred travel.
The racing industry has received a shot in the arm with the lifting of restrictions over the movement of horses between Victoria and NSW, effective immediately.
Horses entering NSW from Victoria can now travel directly to a racetrack or stable after racing officials made changes to the COVID-19 protocols following advice from biosecurity experts.
Racing NSW has also confirmed people entering the state from Victoria will no longer be required to self-isolate before attending a licensed racing location, effective from November 23.
Bendigo abandoned
Only the first two races were run at Bendigo on Wednesday after the meeting was abandoned due to lightning activity.
There was a delay after the second race but stewards opted to call the meeting off with further storms predicted in the area.
First for Worthy Cause
First-season stallion Worthy Cause sired his maiden winner on Wednesday when 2-year-old filly Ain’t She Lovely won at Ipswich.
Ridden by Georgina Cartwright, the Dovedeen bred and raced filly was quick out of the gates and led the trip before kicking away in the straight to win by 1.8l.
Worthy Cause, a Group 3-winning son of Choisir, stands at Clear Mountain Fairview Stud for a fee of $5500 (inc GST) in 2020.
Worthy Cause | Standing at Clear Mountain Fairview Stud
No Zipping for Baby
Surpise Baby (NZ) (Shocking) will not run in Saturday’s G2 Zipping Classic and will instead head for the paddock.
The gelding was not an acceptor for the Sandown feature on Wednesday with trainer Paul Preusker opting to give him a break and set him for the autumn.
"He is good. Just for me, he stretched out at Hamilton this morning and he worked good but I'm just not 100 per cent happy that he has fully recovered," Preusker told Racing.com.
"You have to tick all the boxes. Holly (McKechnie) rode him and she knows him backwards and she said the turn of foot was back, but not quite happy yet.
"It's a shame. But why waste the run? You don't want to get them beaten, you want them on top of their game.
"You can get caught up finding the next run, and the next run and you miss that spring grass. He will come back nice and strong.
"It's a good opportunity for him to have a spell now and come back strong for the autumn."
Beat The Clock retired
Champion Hong Kong sprinter Beat The Clock (Hinchinbrook) has been retired after sustaining a tendon injury. He retires with an amazing record of four Group 1 victories, 25 starts for 10 wins, only missing a place once in his career and amassing HK$52,891,525 (AU$9,324,775) in prizemoney.
Beat The Clock was purchased by Mitchell Bloodstock for NZ$200,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale in 2015, and will return to Australia to live out his days at Living Legends alongside former Hong Kong Champion sprinter Silent Witness (El Moxie {USA}) and many other champions.
"We are very proud of his efforts and happy to have provided long time friends and clients, the Chung family, with such a great horse," Bill Mitchell said.
Spring in Montefilia’s step
David Payne has not given up on winning an Oaks with Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}) despite the filly's defeat as an odds-on favourite in the Victorian classic.
Payne has no doubt Montefilia has the stamina to run a staying journey.
While the plan was to ride her quietly in the G1 VRC Oaks, she ended up trailing a hot speed and was a sitting shot for the backmarkers over the concluding stages.
"She stays. She fought them all off until the last 20 metres and that's when she'd just had enough," Payne said.
Montefilia
Montefilia is already in the spelling paddock and will have a six-week break before returning for an autumn carnival preparation.
Payne will map out a program once she is back in the stable but says the G1 Australian Oaks at Randwick will be her major goal.
Beer hunts Newcastle riches
Mitchell Beer is confident The Kosciuszko runner-up Redouble (Redoute’s Choice) will be a big player in Saturday’s $1 million The Hunter at Newcastle.
Beer will be making the 700-kilometre journey from Albury to Newcastle but believes the journey will be worthwhile, with his 7-year-old gelding Redouble off 55.5kgs.
"We had him nice and fit and fresh for that run (Kosciuszko), we haven't had to do a lot with him in between,'' Beer told Racing NSW.
"He's just bursting to go to the races. He's in really good at the weights, I'd hate to think what price It's Me would be starting and we gave her six kilograms the other day and she beat us a head. I wasn't afraid to say how well I thought the horse was going in, at one stage he was 40-1 in that race, and he ran accordingly.
“I think the horse has got a new lease on life. It's not far to go for a million dollars.
“If he brings his Kosciuszko run he will run in the first three, that's my summation. There's some bloody good horses there but for a $1 million race you don't not take that opportunity.”
Redouble
Prince Oz honours Ridley
Emotions were running high after venerable galloper Prince Oz (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) landed a knock-out blow in the G3 Lindauer Stewards' S. at Riccarton on Wednesday.
Sent out a NZ$31 chance, the 9-year-old gelding wound back the clock to win the Stewards' S. for the second time in his career, having saluted for trainer Neill Ridley in 2018, who prepared the son of O’Reilly (NZ) to win on eight occasions, including seven in succession.
Ridley, 67, who had cancer, died peacefully at his home last month, 13 days after he had his last two starters, including Prince Oz, who ran sixth on that occasion.
Now in the care of local trainer Terri Rae, Prince Oz became Rae’s sixth winner of New Zealand Cup week in a fitting tribute to the late Ridley, with several of his family and friends on track.
“It’s a pretty emotional win,” Moseley said.
“Full credit to Terri and the team. She has produced this horse in great order but as you can appreciate we’re a man down this year and we’re really missing a good mate in Neill.
“He was a great man in racing and a good supporter of mine.
“It panned out exactly how I thought. The pace was on, there was good tempo and I knew he could get over the top of them.
“His form had been a little bit lackluster over the past twelve months and he had only won one race, but in his defense, he had never really gone a bad race and he is always super competitive.”
Untapped Aimee’s Jewel impresses
Aimee’s Jewel (NZ) (Proisir) scored a stunning win in Wednesday’s G3 Valachi Downs Canterbury Breeders’ S. at Riccarton under a gem of a ride from Lisa Allpress.
Prepared at Stratford by Trudy Keegan, the 4-year-old mare was having just her fifth raceday start.
Snagged back to the rear of the field from a tricky draw (barrier 11), Allpress saved ground closer to the rails before presenting the mare inside the final furlong, finishing over the top of her rivals.
“It’s amazing, I can’t breathe and I have been told to settle down,” an ecstatic Keegan said.
“I was thinking ‘wow Lisa, you’re brave’ as she was riding for luck. Lisa knows how good she is, that is why she was there.
“She is not just special to me, she is special to a lot of people. She has just got that something extra.”
Hypnos dazzles
Cambridge visitor Hypnos (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) showed a good turn of foot to put his rivals to the sword when winning the G2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile at Riccarton on Wednesday for Roger James and Robert Wellwood.
The son of Reliable Man entered the NZ$230,000 feature in good form, having finished runner-up to subsequent Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint winner Mascarpone (NZ) (Shooting To Win) fresh-up, before winning the G3 Red Badge Spring Sprint at Hastings last month.
“That was brilliant,” Wellwood said.
“We have been down here a week just with him and just thinking about this race, so it is a big relief to get the job done and it’s lovely to see him win so nicely.
“We sat down at the start of the season and looked for a target for the horse and identified this race.
“To get it done is awesome. It's not a Group 1 but it is probably my biggest win and it is just super to have a plan and see it come off.
“He travelled down here well, we got the right draw (barrier four) and they ran the race at the right tempo for him just to be there in the right order. It couldn’t have worked out better.”
Tiz The Law to return in Pegasus
A rarity in the modern era for a top-class 3-year-old, Tiz The Law (USA) (Constitution {USA}) will race again next year and is being pointed for the G1 Pegasus World Cup on January 23 at Gulfstream Park. But who will be aboard him that day? It appears the answer is not Manny Franco.
After trainer Barclay Tagg criticized Franco’s ride in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, echoed those sentiments Tuesday. When asked if there would be a jockey change, Knowlton said it is under consideration.
Franco has become a top jockey on the New York circuit and has ridden Tiz The Law in all but his first start. But he is short on experience when it comes to major races.
Tagg was disappointed that Franco wasn’t immediately able to get Tiz The Law off the rail in the Classic and that he didn’t go after Authentic (USA) (Into Mischief {USA}) more aggressively in the early part of the race. After breaking sharply, Tiz The Law settled into fifth before finishing sixth. The first time in his career he has finished out of the money, Tiz The Law was beaten 5.5l.
