Dundeel lands stakes success
The Michael Costa-trained Purrfect Deal provided prominent Arrowfield Stud stallion Dundeel (NZ) with his fifth individual stakes winner this season when winning Thursday’s Listed The Maclean Hotel Grafton Cup.
The lightly raced mare settled in the box seat and once asked the question by Ben Thompson let down quickly to put up a margin on her rivals before holding out a fast-finishing Laure Me In (Ad Valorem {USA}) by 0.3l.
Dundeel will stand this upcoming breeding season at Arrowfield for a service fee of $66,000 (inc GST).
Dundeel (NZ) | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
Churchill notches another
Coolmore stallion Churchill (Ire) notched up another Northern Hemisphere first-crop winner with the Carlos and Yann Lerner-trained Dancinginthestreet (Ire) saluting by 2l at Chantilly on Tuesday night.
The four-time Group 1 winner will return to Coolmore Australia this upcoming breeding season at a service fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
Churchill (Ire) | Standing at Coolmore
Merger to proceed
Auckland Racing Club (ARC) and Counties Racing Club (CRC) are to merge after members of both clubs voted overwhelmingly in favour of amalgamation.
A new combined club named Auckland Thoroughbred Racing Incorporated (ATR) will be formed on August 1 and is to consist of two board members from the ARC, two from the CRC along with three independent members.
“With this vote and a clear mandate from our members, we now have a solid foundation to create a financially viable, internationally recognised racing club for the Auckland region that delivers for all industry participants,” ARC Chair, Doug Alderslade, said.
“Crucially, the amalgamation will allow the new club to realise significant combined assets to be reinvested into the industry, and increase stakes.”
Free raceday entry
The Melbourne Racing Club has announced that they will be opening Caulfield's gates to the general public free of charge at this Saturday’s Winter Raceday meeting.
No pre-registration is required to attend the meeting that will feature star hoop Jamie Kah who currently requires only one more winner to become the first Victorian hoop to ride 100 metropolitan winners in a season.
Jamie Kah
Lo back in SA
Talented apprentice Gary Lo will resume his apprenticeship with the South Australian arm of the Phillip Stokes stable after returning from Hong Kong.
The 3kg claimer spent close to three years under the tutelage of Stokes from late 2017 to March 2020 before returning home to ride in the Asian racing mecca.
However, he was left in limbo after the Hong Kong Jockey Club withdrew his license to ride just days after arriving.
"Gary was a very accomplished 3kg apprentice in the metropolitan area prior to him leaving, so it's exciting to have him back in SA's apprentice jockey ranks,” Racing SA Apprentice Academy Master, Briony Moore, said.
Rubi returns
Prime Thoroughbreds’ Joe O’Neill expects a rain-affected surface at Randwick on Saturday to pave the way for talented mare Rubisaki (Rubick) to return to the winner's stall.
Rubisaki
Despite putting in solid performances in recent times, the 4-year-old hasn’t won since taking out last April’s G2 JB Carr S. at Randwick.
“I think she'll be very hard to beat on Saturday, as she probably should've won first-up at Caulfield, and with a bit more luck she would've gone close in the Sangster at Morphettville,” O’Neill told Racing.com.
Autumn audition for Malkovich
The Bjorn Baker-trained galloper Malkovich (Choisir) is set to use Saturday’s G3 Sir John Monash S. at Caulfield as a litmus test.
Baker’s Racing Manager Stephen McLean said the talented 3-year-old could be targeted towards feature Group 1 sprints in the autumn if he rises to the task at hand.
"Bjorn has always had a high opinion of the horse, but you're never going to know until you put your foot in the water. The times that he runs suggest that he's definitely up to this grade but Saturday is going to really tell us where we're going with him," McLean told Racing.com.
Malkovich | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Regal cherry ripe
Co-trainer Gai Waterhouse believes consistent gelding Regal State (Redoute’s Choice) has what it takes to win Saturday’s Listed Pavscorp Rockhampton Cup H.
Waterhouse, who trains in partnership with Adrian Bott, said the 6-year-old has settled into his environment with local trainer Chris Munce superbly.
“He has been working the place down and he is most capable of taking out a race like this,” Waterhouse told Racenet.
“I don’t know much about the track. However, I know it will be a good, fast surface which will suit him down to the ground.”
Bell searching for success
Cambridge-based trainer John Bell is confident smart mare Palm Springs (NZ) (Super Easy {NZ}) can rise to the occasion in Saturday’s G1 Turf Bar Sprint at Te Rapa.
Bell believes the impressive last-start winner is well placed in the 1200 metre contest despite drawing wide in barrier nine.
Palm Springs (NZ)
“She had a little sprint-up this morning with Joe Kamaruddin on and she is very well, she also comes down to 51kgs after Joe’s claim, which is a very big positive,” Bell told New Zealand News Desk.
“She is really strong, she is as wide across the front as she is high. She has got the power.”
Attorneys allege “hypocrisy and backdoor tactics"
Bob Baffert’s attorneys have alleged “hypocrisy” and “backdoor” tactics on the part of the defendant in a 434-page “memo” supplied to the federal judge in an attempt to overturn a temporary ban which New York Racing Club (NYRA) imposed on the seven-time G1 Kentucky Derby winner.
NYRA’s exclusion of Baffert from Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack was mandated on May 17 by the association because of the Hall of Fame trainer’s repeated equine medication violations in other jurisdictions.
“Nowhere in NYRA’s response is there any contention that Baffert has violated any New York statute or racing rule,” Baffert’s attorneys wrote in the filing.
“In fact the opposite is true, over the course of his 46-year training career, including more than 30 years of racing in New York, Baffert has never even been accused of violating a New York rule and has never faced discipline from either NYRA or the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC)."
Medina Spirit's (USA) (Protonico {USA}) positive has not yet been adjudicated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, but the gaming corporation Churchill Downs, Inc., has already barred Baffert for a two-year period from its five Thoroughbred tracks.
