Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Cummings’ swan song with Bletchingly triple threat

Saturday marks the last weekend that the Blue Army will be steered by James Cummings, who will depart Godolphin’s operation at the close of the racing season ahead of a move to Hong Kong in 2026. While metropolitan winners Drift Net (Exceed And Excel) and Tarpaulin (Harry Angel {Ire}) will fly the flag at Randwick, the headline act will be a trio of consistent gallopers in the G3 Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield.

The 6-year-old Kallos (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) leads the group by experience and prizemoney and gels with this track, having won the G2 Rubiton Stakes last February at the same venue. Four of his seven wins are at stakes level, and victory in the $200,000 contest would push his prizemoney to just below the $1 million threshold, which would be a satisfying close to his time in Cummings’ care.

Gallery: James Cummings' three runners in the G3 Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield

Inhibitions (Zoustar), a 4-year-old mare who won the G3 Triscay Stakes back in February, returned in fine form earlier in July with a speedy third in the Listed Santa Ana Lane Stakes behind Marble Nine (Kobayashi). However, it is 5-year-old Kin (Impending), winner of the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic in June, that carries Cummings’ hopes for Saturday’s race.

Cummings told SEN Radio on Thursday that he expects her wide draw to play in her favour; “She’s got the wide draw Saturday and she could really use that to her advantage at Caulfield. She enjoys being held up but then getting to the outside and with that good dash that she does possess, I’d like to think she’s got some chance.

“It was excellent to see her get another stakes win this campaign for her CV before she retires, but her second attempt at weight-for-age, it would be even sweeter for her.”

Whatever the outcome, it will be the close of a significant chapter for Cummings.

“There are mixed emotions,” he said. “While everyone has got to move on, there is no doubt there is great passion associated with this team.

“There is passion for the horses, and when those horses start getting on trucks and moving to different stables, it is tinged with some sadness. But they go in good order and we hope they do extraordinarily well, and I’m sure they will.”

Godolphin have announced that their horses will be dispersed between Chris Waller, Ciaron Maher, Bjorn Baker, Gary Portelli, Joe Pride, Michael Freedman, Tony and Calvin McEvoy, and Ben, JD, and Will Hayes, as well as expanding their number with Anthony and Sam Freedman.

Spring preparations intensify for juvenile stars

Some juveniles have their spring preparations ahead of others with returns to the races on the cards for this Saturday.

Ole Dancer (Ole Kirk) returns to the races for the first time since her debut victory in March in the $200,000 Magic Millions 2YO Classic; uncatchable in both of her jump-outs, she profiles to nab another win in the opener at Caulfield.

Open Secret (King’s Legacy) opened her sire’s account in January with a Saturday victory at Randwick, before being beaten less than two lengths in Rivellino’s (Too Darn Hot {GB}) R. Listed Inglis Millennium. Trainer John Thompson has witnessed the filly mature since her first preparation.

“She won well first-up (in the autumn) and I think it just took the edge off her,” he told sportsnews.com. “She was obviously up in grade in the Millennium and the fillies’ lead-ins to the Golden Slipper, but she still ran sixth in all of them and she has come back better now.”

She leaps back into action at the same venue on Saturday, where she could run into autumn underdog star Shaggy (Sandbar), who took out the $160,000 Pierro Plate in his hot streak earlier this year. He could be set for the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes if he performs well in the Listed Rosebud, followed by the G3 San Domenico Stakes and the G2 Run To The Rose.

“He looks like a bull now,” trainer Allan Kehoe told racenet.com earlier this week. “He didn’t grow any higher, just wider and he feels so much stronger underneath you.”

The same race also features Nashville Jack (Farnan), who went unplaced but not without merit in two runs at Group level, finishing just two lengths behind the winner in the G3 Black Opal Stakes at his second start, and Steel Knight (Capitalist), who came home a quarter of a length behind him.

Tasman-crossing Hello Romeo (NZ) (Hello Youmzain {Fr}) joins them, after eskewing the Listed Lightning Stakes in Morphettville, where he was engaged as the only juvenile against a full field of 3-year-olds.

“He's up, he's sound and he's firing, and I said, ‘while the sun's shining, make hay’,” Will Hayes said following Hello Romeo’s most recent victory. “He's come back in good order as a gelding, so hopefully he's got a long, successful prep ahead.”

Over at Otaki, the last start winner of the Listed Castletown Stakes Platinum Diamond (NZ) (Hello Youmzain {Fr}) will be endeavouring to make it three straight wins in the Listed Ryder Stakes. After winning at the same track and distance on a Heavy 10, the Lisa Latta-trainer filly should be ready for whatever the weather will be thrown at her.

Patience sends Mister Bianco back to Brisbane

Despite a heavy weight impost that will see talented 3-year-old Mister Bianco (Zousain) carry seven kilos more than most of the field, trainer Paul Shailer has elected to give the gelding another run at Saturday metropolitan level instead of taking a swing at interstate black-type. Mister Bianco, who wears the colours of Magic Bloodstock that were made famous by Winx (Street Cry {Ire}), will line up in the $85,000 QTIS 3YO Handicap at Doomben for his next start this winter.

“He's not ready for Sydney or Melbourne,” Shailer told the media on Friday. “He's not good enough at the moment, so we might as well race for good Saturday prizemoney here (in Brisbane) while we can. He'll have a spell and then we'll bring him back for some summer racing.”

The 3-year-old was a controversial late scratching from the G3 Winx Guineas after no suitable replacement could be made for the injured Ryan Moloney, and Shailer is content to wait until the summer to ask more of his rising star, who has won three of his last four starts.

“I'm certainly looking for reasons for him to show me that he's ready to go to the paddock, but he hasn't given me any,” Shailer said, indicating they would crack on with the preparation until the gelding was ready for a break. "Until that happens, he'll be racing. He's in fantastic order and his work on Tuesday was as good as I've seen from him."

Only second elect Savour The Dream (NZ) (Super Seth) carries more than 54.5kg - to Mister Bianco’s 61kg - when lumped with 57.5kg. He will be first up from a spell on Saturday.

Blue Point gelding ready for Classic step up

Trainer Ashley Maley recognises there’s stiff competition in Saturday’s Listed Belmont Guineas, but he believes that Lano (Blue Point {Ire}) can make the leap into stakes grade after winning three of his last four starts. The 3-year-old gelding has relished stepping up to the mile and beat the older horses at Bunbury last start to score on a Heavy 8 track.

“I’ve always had a big opinion of him,” Maley said on TABradio. “We didn’t give him enough of a break early in his career and it made him a bit sour. He’s quite a tough horse, you have to ask him for everything you get out of him, he’s a bit of an arrogant sort of customer.

“But he’s racing really well and racing really tough, he seems to be able to cop a bit of punishment in his run. He just finds the line, he’s just tough, he’s really tough.”

Maley believes the jump from mile to 2200 metres is within Lano’s capabilities, but he faces strong opposition; three of his opposition come from 1800-metre or shorter races, while the remaining four came from either the 2019-metre Listed Aquanita Stakes, won by Arcadia Park (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), or the Listed Belmont Oaks, won by Fancy Red (Sessions), who looms as the main threat. The Adam Durrant-trained filly is currently favourite for Saturday's race.

“The one of Adam’s ran a really nice race the other day,” Maley said. “I think all of the fillies ran nice races in the Oaks, but she’ll be hard to beat.”

Blue Point (Ire) currently sits second in the second season sires’ premiership behind Too Darn Hot (GB), but has not booked his return trip this season.

Who can add to their first season record?

Ole Kirk may have the first season sires’ premiership in the bag, but it’s never too late to nab another first crop winner. He is one of six first season stallions with maidens running around on Saturday, hoping to add to their tally; Beyond The Limits will line up in the starting gate for the first time at Belmont on Saturday for Susan Olive, after being well schooled with four trials.

Table: First season sires with maiden runners on Saturday

Farnan, the only stallion to match Ole Kirk for individual winners, has three winners accepted for Saturday, two of whom are maidens who give him the chance to draw ahead in one metric; Nashville Jack, who has shown talent in Group company, heads to Randwick’s juvenile opener and up at Doomben, Dragon Link bounces straight to metropolitan company off of a commanding trial win.

Anders has two chances over in New Zealand to add to his record, with Cosmopolitan (NZ) representing him in the Listed Ryder Stakes at Otaki, and Thanks Gorgeous (Peltzer) will endeavour to go one place better at Caulfield than her performance last start, where she ran second to classy Signature Scent (Written Tycoon) at the same venue.

Two Tagaloa fillies, debutant Just Curious and Australasia, will bid to break through before the turn of the season at Murtoa and Doomben respectively, and Dirty Work’s Pony Up will go toe to toe with Beyond The Limits in West Australia.

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Easy hit-outs for Private Eye and Lady Shenandoah

Autumnal star Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) and evergreen Private Eye (Al Maher) had steady trials on Friday morning at Warwick Farm; in a heat won by Bjorn Baker’s Bonita Queen (I Am Invincible), Private Eye was under no pressure to finish second by two and three-quarter-lengths, with Lady Shenandoah further back in sixth.

The heat also included rising 7-year-old Converge (Frankel {GB}), who hasn’t been seen at race day since January, former dual Group 3-winning juvenile Espionage (Zoustar), with Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) coming home steadily at the rear.

Unbeaten in her last five starts including three Group 1 contests, trainer Chris Waller told RSN on Friday morning that Lady Shenandoah will likely clash with Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock) and Fangirl (Sebring) first up in the G1 Winx Stakes.

Encap back in action

Rising 5-year-old Encap (Capitalist) may only have two wins on his record, but they are both at Group level and he spent the autumn throwing his weight around with the best, clinching third in the G1 Doncaster Handicap by less than a length. At his second trial ahead of the spring on Friday, the Gary Portelli-trained gelding sat second to G2 Autumn Stakes winner Glint Of Silver (Rubick) before letting down strongly in the Warwick Farm home straight to win by two and a quarter lengths.

A $200,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase for his trainer, Encap has amassed $1.4 million in earnings over 22 starts. His dam, G3 Vo Rogue Plate winner Enquare (Stratum), is due to foal to Lucky Vega (Ire) this season.

Boston Rocks throws down spring gauntlet

Matthew Dale’s progressive Boston Rocks (Hellbent) put in a smart trial at Warwick Farm on Friday morning under Ashley Morgan; the six-time winner tracked the leader Cape Byron (Capitalist) into the home straight before matching him stride for stride without much effort, winning by a nose on the line.

With his last two wins across two states, the rising 5-year-old gelding has his eyes firmly on a slot in this year’s $2 million Kosciuszko. He was a $100,000 Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale purchase for Kurrinda Bloodstock, who also bought his half-sister Queen’s Rhapsody (So You Think {NZ}) the following year at Inglis Easter.

Sharp return from Agarwood

Unbeaten juvenile filly Agarwood (Wootton Bassett {GB}) cruised home to a five length victory in her Warwick Farm trial on Friday morning. Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the filly led from the jump and only widened the margin in the home straight under little pressure from Tim Clark, with Curie (Anders) in second.

Video: Watch the replay of Agarwood's trial win, video courtesy of Racing NSW

A half-sister to Group 3 winner Lilac (Justify {USA}), Agarwood was a $420,000 Easter purchase for her trainers, and Coolmore’s Tom Moore revealed to TTR recently that she will most likely target the Darley Princess Series this spring. Her dam Paulownia (Fastnet Rock) was one of a handful of mares sent north to visit Justify (USA) last spring, and is due to foal to the stallion next month.

Captivant’s full brother nears raceday return

Outer Banks (Capitalist), a full brother to Kia Ora Stud’s resident Group 1 winner Captivant, has only had the one start to date, and his most recent trial on Friday at Warwick Farm revealed a more furnished gelding. The 2-year-old, trained by Peter Snowden, sat at the rear of the field until turning into the home straight, before weaving his way to victory by a head under Kerrin McEvoy.

Video: Watch the trial replay of Outer Banks, video courtesy of Racing NSW

China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock, and Trilogy paid $625,000 for Outer Banks as a weanling from Ashleigh Thoroughbreds’ dispersal at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale. Dam Speedboat (Commands) has since produced a full brother last spring, and is due to foal to Extreme Choice this season.

Banknote Hustler hustles home

The lightly raced Banknote Hustler (Capitalist) showed speed in his second trial for the preparation on Friday morning; turning the corner wide at the head of the pack, the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained gelding then picked up the pace and put a near three-length margin over eventual placegetter Goulburn (Lucky Vega {Ire}).

Video: Watch Banknote Hustler's trial replay, video courtesy of Racing NSW

A $475,000 purchase at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for TFI and Mick Price, Banknote Hustler is the fourth foal from dual Listed winner Torvill (Not A Single Doubt), who is deceased following delivering an Anamoe colt last spring.

Cover image courtesy of Equate

The 2025 edition of Equate, Australia’s leading forum for innovation and entrepreneurship in the thoroughbred industry, took place on Thursday at Flemington Racecourse. Over 100 participants from across all sectors of the industry gathered together for seminar sessions on everything from utilising artificial intelligence to streamline tasks, to the future of technology in the field of injury prevention.

“We couldn't have been more pleased with the turnout,” Tom Seymour, Equate’s convener and the director of Breedr, said. “And what was so satisfying was seeing such a diverse audience in the room. There was representation from every corner of the industry, we even had representatives from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.”

“We had more people in the room than we thought we would,” said Tai Ryan, event coordinator for Equate and the project manager of National Thoroughbred Week. “Everyone was really engaged in the conversations that were happening, and learning about all the new technologies that show not only what the potential is, but what's already out there.”

“I have three objectives for Equate,” Seymour said. “One is to showcase the amazing people and products that are transforming the landscape, mostly self-funded and all working tirelessly for the betterment of the industry. The second is to build awareness around the need to modernise and adopt new technologies, and the third is to build a movement of change through the industry.”

Seymour is pleased to see the event’s continual growth over its first three years, and at the same time foresees a growing urgency for the industry at large to engage more with the technological advancements being made across the board.

“We are at a slow canter in a fast moving world,” he said.

The forward march of innovation

“My desire is to convince the regulators that innovation requires a seat at the table, and it needs to be at the forefront of strategic thinking,” Seymour said. “As we heard firsthand on Thursday, the speed of technological advancement is moving at such a rapid rate that even the big tech companies are blown away at its trajectory. One of the speakers was Neal French from Google, and even Google is amazed at just how quickly things are advancing, even in the last six months.”

Kick Collective’s Nathan Skrivanic, who moderated an open forum on the state of thoroughbred welfare, found French’s sessions on the rapid advancements with artificial intelligence particularly interesting.

“I’ve been lucky enough to attend Equate all three years,” he said. “Neal French has spoken at all three events, and each year the progression of artificial intelligence has gotten stronger and stronger. The fact that he can do the same talk every year and it will be completely different because of the advancements in just 12 months is pretty cool to hear.”

Streamlining processes, particularly in administration and marketing, is where Ryan can see innovation with artificial intelligence having a huge impact.

“In the industry, there's so many people that are horse trainers or breeders, and that's what they do,” she said. “They need to do the marketing to keep their business and get clients, but that’s not necessarily their interest. You’ve got the technologies now to help you with all of this.”

One of the sessions focused around how technology has advanced in other agricultural industries, and how these practices could be applied to the thoroughbred industry. Ryan noted one of the most exciting discoveries was how the dairy industry has willingly taken advantage of available innovations.

“A lot of industry participants just started using it, and then the regulators realised it was happening and thought, ‘everyone’s doing this, we better step in and help’,” she said. Participant enthusiasm has been recognised and uplifted by support from dairy’s governing bodies.

“The amount of data they can get on their cows is incredible,” Skrivanic said. “The dairy industry pays into a research and development fund - which the thoroughbred industry does as well with AgriFutures - but they actively support trying to bring new products in to improve everyone. They really have had this change in mindset where they seem to really embrace it.”

Seymour would especially like to see innovation embraced at the heart of racing in the same manner, particularly when it comes to handling and recording data.

“It has been made very clear how important data will be in all facets of the industry,” he said. “And it just reinforced how critical it is that principal racing authorities build future proof systems that are able to cope and process all this data in a manner that we are all able to benefit from.”

Transparency at the heart of welfare

“The main thing I wanted to talk about was transparency,” Skrivanic said. The welfare forum concluded the day’s program, and Skrivanic put the emphasis on how industry participants could be the drivers of change around transparency.

“I think that as an industry we're quite afraid of talking about the uncomfortable stuff, and then to the public, that makes us look like we've got something to hide. So I was just encouraging everyone to try and be as transparent as they can.

"Obviously, we struggle to get a bit of transparency out of some higher ups, which is the challenge. I thought I'd bring it back down to the individual level, because it can be quite demoralising when you try to source data and you keep hitting roadblocks.

"So instead, I encourage everyone to try and be transparent as much as they can within their own environment, within their own workplace. Because if you start doing it within your own environment, it puts pressure on everyone else to start doing it.”

An example Skrivanic drew on is how tracks and trainers can be transparent about when a horse has to be euthanised due to catastrophic injury; by closing ranks and not releasing any information, the industry looks, to an outsider, like they don’t care. Being transparent means demonstrating how the reality is quite the opposite.

A desire for transparency is also what has given birth to National Thoroughbred Week, which takes place from November, 20-24 2025.

“I brought that up (in the forum) and said, ‘here's a great chance to be quite transparent and literally open our doors to the public to come and see’,” Skrivanic said. “Anthony Mithen from Rosemont Stud heard about it for the first time, and he signed up on the spot to be a host.”

Skrivanic hopes that the discussions had at Equate can send a ripple through the industry and make those at all levels reconsider how transparent they are, which will hopefully lead to the collection and release of welfare data, such as the number of horses rehomed or the outcomes of horses that fail to finish in a race.

“One thing I referenced is greyhound racing,” Skrivanic said. “They were going to be shut down several years ago, and they were able to make a comeback by protesting, but they realised that something had to change.

“Now, they post a quarterly report on injuries, euthanasia, and rehoming of all dogs, and just by posting that every quarter, you can actually see the number of injuries reducing, because there's a bit of accountability there.”

A simple transformation, brought about by transparency.

Data is the way of the future

A recurring theme was the need to accrue more data, industry-wide.

“If we start collecting data on what happens to horses that get injured on the track, we can start improving the breed,” Skrivanic said. “You can start to see recurring themes and diagnoses. If we notice that a horse’s mother had the same injury, and her mother before was the same, it will become more common to breed those traits out.”

The year-long trial of trainer monitoring devices taking place in the United States is one such example of ways the industry can harvest and analyse data for the greater benefit; six monitoring device companies, including StrideSafe and Arioneo, have committed to the trial where horses’ stride patterns will be recorded during every piece of fast work to assess and refine how well existing technology can pinpoint a problem.

“It’s something that you hope comes in sooner rather than later,” Skrivanic said.

Alexander So’s session on the technology being developed to assess sales horses touched on the same topics; being able to identify your personal optimal athlete goes hand in hand with fault detection.

“He’s got the backing of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and Hong Kong University to try this out and see where it goes, and I think that’s going to be a major advancement for buyers of the future,” said Skrivanic.

“People like Alexander are the future of our industry, and we need to provide the pathways for them, by opening up and sharing our data, and giving them the resources they need to do this research,” Seymour said.

Seymour’s hope is that Equate will continue to grow year on year, and that these kinds of discussions can permeate upwards through the industry.

“There should be an Equate in every state every year, and it should be industry-funded where they talk about the great things that they're doing in the industry, that’s my vision,” he said.

“I think from the conversations on Thursday, everyone has a tangible idea of actions they can take,” Ryan said. “They don’t need to do everything at once, they can just start with one particular device or concept. But the conversations are happening.”

“Events like Equate are exactly what people need,” Skrivanic said. “You can see the gears turning in these people’s heads, they’re thinking, ‘maybe I can give this a crack. This is the future, and maybe I don’t want to get left behind’.”