Castletown celebration for Bivouac
Second season sire Bivouac added his seventh stakes winner when 2-year-old filly Actionbelle won the Listed Castletown Stakes on New Zealand’s Matariki public holiday. The father-son training partnership of Ben and Ryan Foote stepped her up off a debut third.
“It was great to get a stakes win for the team, they are big supporters of ours. She’s a nice horse with a bright future,” Ryan Foote said.
“This is one that Jim (Bruford) selected, he is a very good judge. We’re just happy to have backing from him. It (the race) didn’t really go as planned, I wanted to get off the fence, but they all came out wide and she just seemed like she handled the track conditions best. We’ll see how she gets home and pulls up as to whether we come back in two weeks.” The Listed Ryder Stakes runs at the same track in a fortnight.
Originally sold by Twin Hills Stud for $40,000 to Henley Park at the Inglis Great Southern Sale, she was put through Henley Park’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale where Jim Bruford’s Brewers Bloodstock purchased her for NZ$90,000. She is a half-sister to stakes placed Left Field (Deep Field) and their dam is stakes placed Balancing Act (Not A Single Doubt).
Home Affairs adds winner 16
At Scone on Friday, Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained 2-year-old gelding Home Missile (Home Affairs) narrowly won his second start to become winner number 16 for his first season sire. He was second on debut. Yarraman Park Stud sold him for $170,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to Straight Six Racing.
Home Missile is a half-brother to stakes placed Armed Forces (I Am Invincible) and their dam, stakes placed Royal Missile (Smart Missile) is a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Turffontein.
Bustling back to Melbourne
Trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr will run Bustling (Frosted {USA}) in Saturday’s G3 Sir John Monash Stakes, hoping to regain his earlier Melbourne form. “He ran a first-up third, we didn't think he could win over 1000 (metres) with a big weight, but he progressed nicely, ran second in the Bel Esprit, a Listed race, and went to Sydney looking for better ground, but hated that way of going,” Kent Jnr told racingandsports.com.au.
Mike Price and Michael Kent | Image courtesy of Price Kent Racing
“Fourth-up, he can't be much fitter, and Blake Shinn rode him on Monday morning in a piece of work and thought it was excellent. It takes a while to get rid of two years of fat from not racing.”
Sir Now seeking weight relief
Darryl Hewitt-trained Sir Now (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) runs in Saturday’s G3 Sir John Monash Stakes seeking some weight relief. “He can't race here (South Australia) because there's no races for him. He's running around 65 kilos on his back, but he's been pretty honest all the way through,” Hewitt told racingandsports.com.au.
“Ideally you would stay in your own backyard as he's been pretty competitive, but he deserves a chance over there. The track is going to be a soft five or six come Saturday, but he can handle heavy going, if it goes that way, and he comes down four-and-a-half or five kilos on his last run.”
Vale Graham Milligan
Queensland racing administrator Graham Milligan has died aged 84. He served as a board member for the Brisbane Turf Club for a decade from 1998. “Graham was one of my first and most loyal owners when I first started my own stable in Brisbane,” trainer Peter Moody told racenet.com.au.
“He had an easy going nature and was just the same win or lose.”
Boots Like Bruce running for farrier
Trainer and farrier Dexter Aiken will be chasing a stakes win with his second ever starter when Boots Like Bruce (Alfred Noble {Ire}) lines up in the Listed Beaufine Stakes at Belmont on Saturday. “Just to even go to the races and have a Saturday runner is a thrill,” Aiken told racingwa.com.au.
“I’m loving it – to have a horse like him to train is awesome and a good challenge as well. I think working as a farrier can have a big influence in the way I train – you know the saying, ‘no hoof no horse’. It’s a very important part of racing and training, you need to keep your horse sound. There’s a lot of impact that comes with galloping so it’s a major element.”
Stakes producing Mindarie headlines Inglis Digital
The latest Inglis Digital catalogue is open for bidding with 440 lots headlined by Mindari (Safeguard) whose first two foals are Do I Feel Lucky (Dirty Work) and Maria Lucia (Rommel) who both won the R.Listed Magic Millions WA 2YO Classic, last season and this season.
G3 Typhoon Tracy Stakes winner Ms Catherine (Shooting To Win) is offered in foal to The Autumn Sun, while another exciting offering is a share in promising young sire Wild Ruler.
91-year-old bows out a winner
Trainer Margaret De Gonneville ended her career with a win at Taree on Thursday thanks to Golden Galaxy (Outreach). The 91-year-old didn’t have her final day go completely to plan when her other runner Gold Something (No Nay Never {USA}) fell in an earlier race, with jockey Jeff Kehoe injured. “Jeff was unfortunately injured riding our other one and we had to quickly look around for a replacement for him,” De Gonneville told racingnsw.com.au.
“Kacie Adams was there and she’s ridden the horse before and was available, so that was lucky. I was busy doing that and I was worried about Jeff. We didn’t know if he was going to hospital in the ambulance or a car. Jeff’s got three broken ribs, a pierced lung and a very sore shoulder and we feel so sorry for him. It’s so disappointing because he would’ve been on the last winner.
“But I was thrilled to go out with a winner. You never get tired of having a winner and the race club at Taree was very kind to me on the day. And Gold Something came home OK after his fall and ate up last night, so that’s good.”
She plans to do some travelling, and her three horses are all being retired to a local riding school. “Old age has caught up with me. I’ve been training for over 50 years so I thought I’d have a try at not getting out of bed so early. I’ve been lucky with my health and everything. I can still get around without my walking stick.
“I’ve had an unbelievable career with horses and what they’ve done for me. I wouldn’t change any of it. You meet so many wonderful people in the racing fraternity and I’d do it all again. And what a wonderful way to go out, with a winner.”
Juvenile winner for Cool Aza Beel
Barbara Joseph, Paul and Matt Jones-trained 2-year-old filly Carricaz (Cool Aza Beel {NZ}) won on debut at Moruya on Friday. Sold by Newhaven Park Stud at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, her trainers spent $15,000 to buy her. She is the first winner for Carriages (Hinchinbrook) who won the Magic Millions Clockwise 2YO Classic.
Sire doubles on Friday
Maurice (Jpn) sired a double at Scone with 3-year-olds Joika and Avista, who made it two wins from three starts.
Star Turn sired a double at Moruya with 3-year-old filly Sunrise Ridge who made it four wins, and The Stars Align who was also winning for the fourth time in his career.
Kobayashi sired a double at Gatton with Surreal Ascot who has six wins, and Flitgrove who took her record to three wins.
Sea Force tops day 3 of Tattersalls July at 170,000gns
On Bahrain's big day in Newmarket, it was perhaps only fitting that the top lot on the final day of the Tattersalls July Sale should be destined to continue his racing career in that corner of the Middle East, with the dual winner Sea Force (Sea The Stars) (lot 765) soon to enter the care of leading local trainer Jaber Ramadhan after being purchased for 170,000gns (AU$340,000).
A clearance rate of 91% for this year's July Sale – up from 88% in 2025 – is indicative of the fact that Tattersalls benefited from the consistent support of a wide range of buyers over the past three days, friends both new and old. With 128 fewer lots being offered compared to 12 months ago, total turnover was down by 18% at 13,837,500gns (AU$27.9 million), but the average and the median both held steady. The average was down by just 1% at 29,822gns (AU$60,300), while the median was identical to last year at 15,000gns (AU$30,300).
At the conclusion of the July Sale, Tattersalls managing director Matthew Prior said, “The Tattersalls July Sale is one of the highlights of the bloodstock sales calendar and, together with top-class racing at Newmarket, makes 'July Week' an unmissable event for many and we have welcomed a wide range of domestic and international visitors to a sun-drenched Park Paddocks this week.
“Whilst the catalogue may have lacked some of the stars of previous years, we have nonetheless witnessed vibrant trade for top-class breeding stock and racing prospects, particularly among the highly sought-after consignments from Godolphin and Juddmonte, which included two of the top ten prices ever achieved at this fixture, both purchased by Ace Stud.”
Godolphin’s Rebel's Romance wins Group 2
Godolphin's storied globetrotter Rebel's Romance (Dubawi) defied a Group 1 penalty and took his European record to 12-from-14, and registered a 22nd career success, in Thursday's Kingdom Of Bahrain-sponsored G2 Princess Of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket.
“It's like watching one of your kids go up and down in the relay race and what can I say, everybody knows about him,” said Charlie Appleby. “He broke his turf maiden here back in the day and that's when he taught me that he was probably a turf horse rather than a dirt horse. I felt it was fitting for him to come up here and have this as his summer target. People asked why he wasn't at [Royal] Ascot and I just felt that that race might be just tough enough.”
Expensive Godolphin colt takes Group 2
Facing only two rivals in Thursday's G2 Kingdom of Bahrain July Stakes at Newmarket, Godolphin's 2-year-old colt Inner City Blues (Blue Point) simply had to deliver and made no mistake to provide Charlie Appleby with some cheer.
At €900,000 (AU$1.48 million) the top-priced colt at the Arqana May Breeze-Up, the 5-6 favourite took a while to get organised but was able to overhaul his peers in the last half furlong and assert for a 1.25 length success.
BBAG yearling catalogue released
A full-sister to German Oaks heroine Muskoka (Sea The Moon) (lot 67) is one of 227 lots catalogued for the BBAG Yearling Sale on Friday, September 4. Set to begin at 10 a.m., the sale is part of Baden-Baden's Grand Week, which also features several group races, among them the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden.
Four of the last five winners of the G1 Deutsches Derby (German Derby) have been graduates of the sale, while the first three past the post this year in Dardanos (Soldier Hollow), Chiefland (Study Of Man) and Salitos (In Swoop), are also alumni.
France Galop to present budget
France Galop will present the 2026 budget to the France Galop Committee on Thursday, July 16, Jour de Galop reported on Thursday. The Board of Directors will then vote, although a date has not been given as of yet.
This follows the unanimous adoption of the PMU's 2026 budget, which took place on June 30, after several months of discussion. Set at €725 million (AU$1.18 billion), compared to €802 million (AU$1.3 billion) in 2025, this new budget enables the two parent companies to finalise and submit their own 2026 budgets to their respective governing bodies. The SETF has already approved its own.
