Splash Back wins Stocks Stakes
On Friday night, Grahame Begg-trained Splash Back (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) returned to form in winning the G2 Stocks Stakes by 0.75 lengths from Rob Heathcote-trained Abounding (Rich Enuff) with Chris Waller-trained Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High) in third.
The imported mare has now won seven of her 16 starts and over $475,000.
Outside barrier no impediment for Rivellino
Trainer Kris Lees isn’t too concerned about the wide barrier for Rivellino (Too Darn Hot {GB}) in Saturday’s G1 Golden Rose. “In a perfect world I probably would have preferred a bigger field which would have guaranteed a more genuinely run race,” Lees told racingnsw.com.au.
“Rosehill at any time in small fields they find their positions and it’s hard for the backmarkers. He can be a touch tardy away, I don’t dislike him drawing a little wide.
Rivellino | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“In his two good wins, the Millennium and the Skyline, he’s come down the outside but Nash (Rawiller) can work it out on how he steps.”
Doubtland juvenile filly wins a trial
Friday’s trials at Randwick featured one trial over 745 metres for 2-year-olds and it was won by Richard and Will Freedman-trained filly Doubella (Doubtland) by 1.65 lengths from Les Bridge-trained colt Audit (King’s Legacy) with Michael Freedman-trained colt Apostle (NZ) (St Mark’s Basilica {Fr}) in third. The other runner was Gary Portelli-trained colt Too Hot To Handle (Too Darn Hot {GB}).
Macedon Lodge locked down for Strangles
Racing Victoria has confirmed a case of Strangles at Macedon Lodge in John Symons and Sheila Laxon-trained 3-year-old gelding Forest Place (NZ) (Redwood {GB}). “Stewards officially declared the facility an “infected place” on Wednesday, 24 September pursuant to Australian Rule of Racing 89(4), thus requiring all horses to continue to remain at the property,” reported racingvictoria.com.au.
“This followed the Symons and Laxon stable reporting to the Stewards last Friday, 19 September that several of their horses had presented with elevated temperatures.
“Further testing will continue to take place next week, as previously announced, to ascertain whether there are any additional cases of Strangles within the horses at Macedon Lodge.
“The results of those tests will help determine when horse movement from/to the training property may resume. Until then, all horses located at Macedon Lodge remain under the watchful eye of stable veterinarians and are not permitted to exit the premises without prior approval of the Stewards.
“Strangles is an infectious bacterial condition that is transmitted via direct contact between individual horses and/or through indirect contact in several ways. Contaminated feed, water, bedding, stables, stable utensils, halters, brushes, boots, clothing and transport vehicles are important in the spread of infection.”
O’Shea to set up in Victoria
Having recently split from his Adelaide Premiership winning trainer’s partnership with Will Clarken, Niki O’Shea has announced he will set up in Victoria. “I've got a couple of good clients over in Victoria that are going to give me a few horses,” O'Shea told racenet.com.au.
Niki O'Shea and Will Clarken | Image courtesy of Clarken Racing
“That's the plan, we're going to move to Ballarat and start over there. We're going to start off reasonably small, one of the guys is going to give me 10 horses. I won't have much help when I get there, I'll keep it around that for the moment then try and build when I get some staff organised.
“It'll just be me and Ashton (Downing) to start, then we'll build up over the next six months. It (move) will hopefully be in the next month.”
Gollan aiming for hat-trick in Weetwood
Trainer Tony Gollan will aim to win his third successive Listed Weetwood Handicap at Toowoomba on Saturday. He won in 2024 with Hidden Wealth (Better Than Ready) and in 2023 with All That Pizzazz (Spirit Of Boom). In 2025, he has three runners Give Giggles (NZ) (War Decree {USA}), Nettuno (I Am Invincible) and All That Pizzazz.
“All That Pizzaz raced like he wants the 1200 metres but is just drawn a bit awkward. But in saying that, the last couple of Weetwood winners have been won from double digit barriers so if he can overcome the barrier, which they seem to do in this race, he can perform well,” Gollan told racenet.com.au.
Caulfield Cup hopes alive for Benalla Cup winner Plymouth
Lindsay Park-trained 4-year-old gelding Plymouth (The Autumn Sun) won Friday’s Benalla Cup to give himself a slender chance of a run in the G1 Caulfield Cup. “It was terrific to get a win for Rupert Legh in his colours and obviously the late Mike Moroney,” JD Hayes told racing.com.
“We’ve been so lucky to inherit so many nice horses and he’s certainly one of them. We’re not lost in that. It’s great that these horses can keep kicking on. Mike was the one to select them. He was a great horseman and a terrific judge of a horse.”
Plymouth is currently 32nd in line for a Caulfield Cup and needs a penalty weight to make the field. He has two wins from 12 starts and earnings over $260,000 and was purchased for $200,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale from Arrowfield Stud.
Celebrity Torque stays unbeaten
Matt Dunn-trained 3-year-old filly Celebrity Torque (Spirit Of Boom) stayed unbeaten in winning for the second time at Lismore’s Friday meeting. Sold by Widden Stud for $100,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Celebrity Torque was purchased by Dunn and Neil Jenkinson (FBAA).
Xtravagant (NZ) sired a double at Lismore with Lismore Cup winner Flywheel and Jimmy Nails.
Headwater filly makes it two
Nathan Doyle-trained 3-year-old filly Cool Waters (Headwater) made it two from two at Scone on Friday. The unbeaten filly was bought by Coolarest Farm from Barador Stud’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale draft for $180,000.
She is a full sister to Group 3 winner Mileva.
Bedourie wins his second at The Valley
On Friday night, 3-year-old gelding Bedourie (Written Tycoon) enjoyed his second career win when victorious in race two for trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman. He has now won two of his six starts and over $150,000.
Sold by Yulong to Moody Racing for $525,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, Bedourie is the second foal and second winner for Group 3-placed Talented (Snitzel) who had a Zoustar filly this spring.
Karaka Millions target for Ardrossan juvenile winner
Friday saw the first juvenile race in New Zealand and the 800 metre event was won by Johno Benner-trained 2-year-old filly De Armas (NZ) (Ardrossan). “She was very good. She has done a lot in a short time, she is definitely pretty smart,” Benner told Loveracing.nz.
De Armas (NZ) | Image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images)
“She is going straight to the paddock and she will have a few weeks off and all going well she will target the Wakefield at Awapuni on the 20th of December. We will possibly look at one more run at Ellerslie before the Millions, but we will just take it as it comes.”
Purchased by her trainer from Elsdon Park’s New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Online Yearling Sale for NZ$16,000, she earned NZ$23,000 for the win.
Lead Artist retired to Juddmonte
Group 1 winner Lead Artist has been retired and will stand at Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud next year. The homebred son of Dubawi won the G1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury in May. His Lockinge victory was the highlight of his four starts this term and his record stands at 11-4-3-1 and $713,878 in earnings.
Juddmonte UK general manager Simon Mockridge said, “Lead Artist represents a fantastic opportunity to further strengthen our stallion roster. The extremely talented Group 1-winning son of Dubawi is a product of Juddmonte's most prolific family, that of blue hen mare Hasili, herself dam of five individual Group 1 winners as well as the influential stallion, Dansili.
“Lead Artist is an outstanding physical with great balance, strength and movement all attributes which will appeal to the commercial breeder.”
He is the first foal out of the G2 Prix Sandringham winner Obligate (Frankel), who placed third in the G1 Prix Rothschild. His great granddam is the influential matriarch Hasili (Kahyasi).
Puca still for sale despite third Group 1 winner
Coming into the GI Pennsylvania Derby, Puca (Big Brown) may already have been the most valuable broodmare on the planet. But in the 1:48.03 it took to contest that race, she became worth even more. Baeza (McKinzie) won and is now the third son in a row out of Puca to capture a Grade I race.
Puca's owner is John Stewart's Resolute Racing, who announced in August that Puca will be sold at this November's Fasig-Tipton “Night of the Stars” sale. As much as he'd like to keep Puca, he said she will not be pulled from the sale.
“I go into the whole thing with a lot of reservation, just because she's the type of mare that literally loves on you when you go up to her,” Stewart said.
“I am very attached to her. But at the same time as a business person, with what just happened with Baeza, there's probably not a better investment that I've made in the industry so far. I love her. I love all the horses on my farm. At the same time, when you make a good investment you have to capitalize on it. Still, it's going to be hard to sell her.”
Seven figure Distant Storm adds Group 3
Continuing his education at Newmarket on Thursday, Godolphin's Distant Storm (Night Of Thunder) put a defeat in the Acomb behind him with a powerful display in the feature G3 Tattersalls Stakes.
Too free when third in that York contest last month, the €1.9million (AU$3.4 million) Arqana May Breeze Up topper who had beaten the subsequent Futurity winner Constitution River on debut at the July Festival was anchored in rear early. Set alight by William Buick heading to the downhill section, the 6-5 favourite brushed his rivals aside to register a 4.75 length success from Commander's Intent (Victor Ludorum).
“I think we've seen a nice horse in the making. William was very impressed and he got the feeling off him he did in his maiden. He said it was a straightforward assignment today. The question now is do we run him in the Dewhurst? We'll see how he is and see how he comes out of it, but my first impression is we should have a look at it, just with the way this season is stacking up with the 2-year-olds,” trainer Charlie Appleby said.
“I said before the National Stakes that would probably throw up the champion 2-year-old and I think it probably has, credit to them and I'm sure they'll run in the Dewhurst. Our horse is a 3-year-old really, but the Dewhurst is just over two weeks away and if he comes out of this well enough and the ground conditions were sound, I'd be happy to take them on.”
Starman filly tops Tattersalls Ireland
Breeder Barry Judge enjoyed his greatest day in the bloodstock business at what proved to be a record-breaking September Yearling Sale at Tattersalls Ireland when his Starman filly went to breeze-up handlers Jim McCartan and Willie Browne [JB Bloodstock] for €105,000 (AU$187,600).
The Thursday crowd was notably up on previous years and the Starman filly led the way on what proved to be the strongest-ever edition of Part 2 of this sale.
Turnover climbed by 51% to €1,871,800 (AU$3.3 million) despite the fact that the catalogue had been trimmed back by 44% to just 145 horses. There were sharp rises across the board with the median climbing a massive 150% to €10,000 (AU$17,800) and the average by 112% to €14,074 (AU$25,000). The clearance rate rested at 92%, which was up 28% on last year.
A-fib contributes to sudden death
A HISA pilot program released results from a study of advanced cardiac monitoring of Thoroughbreds that shows atrial fibrillation (AF)–traditionally considered a benign, performance-limiting condition–can worsen during exercise, cause a more severe arrhythmia that leads to sudden death, according to a press release from HISA on Thursday.
The group said that electrocardiogram data from affected horses that displayed AF both at rest and under exertion, underscores the need for early detection and highlighs the potential of integrating routine cardiac screening into pre-training and pre-race evaluations.
During the first six months of 2025, HISA's Exercise-Associated Sudden Death (EASD) Working Group–launched in October 2023–said that EASD accounted for approximately 8% of racing fatalities and 18% of training fatalities at racetracks subject to HISA rules (and training centres owned by them). Retrospective analysis of cases since HISA's inception shows that more than 50% of cases were likely related to cardiac issues, often classified as “Sudden Cardiac Death.” The majority of these EASD events occurred early in a horse's career, with the highest incidence occurring in horses with zero to five starts.
“Integrating cardiac screening into routine evaluations–whether through wearable devices or veterinary exams–could allow trainers and veterinarians to identify at-risk horses before exercise,” said Dr. Karen Hassan, HISA's Compliance and Research Veterinarian and chair of HISA's EASD Working Group. “This opens the door to scalable monitoring protocols and standardized response strategies that could save equine lives.”
Zoustar’s Oceans Four added to Arqana as wild card
Group winner Oceans Four is the latest wildcard for the Arqana Arc Sale on Saturday, October 4.
Set to sell as lot 19, the G3 Prix des Chenes hero is trained by Brian Meehan for Family Amusements & DBS Partners. A winner at second asking, the son of Zoustar was third in the G3 Solario Stakes prior to his Chenes tally.
HISA denies jockey Lopez a stay
Paco Lopez and his attorney Drew Mollica have been informed by the Horse Racing Safety and Integrity Authority that they will not grant Paco Lopez a stay of his six-month suspension for what HISA called a violation of the terms of his agreement stemming from a Dec. 4 incident involving the whip.
In that incident, Lopez struck his mount, National Law, on the head with his whip after the race had concluded. He was issued an indefinite suspension for that, which was later reduced to 50 days after agreeing to therapy and other conditions. The terms of the agreement are confidential.
“We are in the process of evaluating all legal remedies including but not limited to an emergency application to a court of competent jurisdiction to seek not only injunctive relief, but sanctions for this unilateral unprecedented decision to breach the terms of our valid agreement,” said Mollica.
Machine vision technology partnership announced
The horse racing industry will gain access to advanced machine vision technology through a new partnership between Equius AI and global surveillance provider IREX AI, the former said via a Thursday press release.
The collaboration will deliver video intelligence platforms designed for racetracks, training facilities, and equine operations, utilizing IREX's existing security infrastructure currently deployed across 30+ countries at airports, government facilities, transportation networks, and major sporting venues.
The technology suite includes real-time security analytics, fire and smoke detection, crowd monitoring, and biometric access control. Racing-specific applications will encompass individual horse identification, barn entry logging, quarantine compliance monitoring, medication administration oversight, and race-day surveillance.
