He was named after the flagship of the Spanish Armada, which failed in its bid to invade England in 1588. But on Saturday Santa Ana Lane had far more success than his maritime predecessor when he sank all comers in … Read more
It was Winx versus the world – principally Godolphin – in this year’s spring carnival. After 30 years of trying, Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby finally delivered Sheikh Mohammed one of the few trophies he had never won when Cross Counter … Read more
Race 1 Pelican [6] Yulong Rockstar [3] Emoci Star [5] South Street Boss [1] Race 2 Kamien [2] Aliris [1] Left Hand Man [3] Regalo Di Gaetano [4] Race 3 Tongsai Boss [8] It’s Magic [7] Busker’s Ballad [1] Scout’s … Read more
The weight-for-age L.K.S. Mackinnon Stakes has traditionally been one of the most highly regarded races on the Australian racing calendar. The Victoria Racing Club introduced the event, as the Melbourne Stakes, over a mile-and-a-quarter, in 1869 when the winner was … Read more
NEALE DONNELLEY previews the two Group 1 races at Flemington tomorrow: Group 1 $1,000,000 VRC SPRINT CLASSIC. (1200m): DEFENDING champ REDZEL heads a stunning renewal of the Group 1 $1 million VRC Sprint Classic at Flemington tomorrow. The Everest … Read more
Sheikh Mohammed has broken his 30-year Melbourne Cup drought with the victory in Australia’s greatest race of lightly-weighted three year old Cross Counter, trained at Newmarket in England by Charlie Appleby and ridden by Sydney-based jockey Kerrin McEvoy. Second home … Read more
When Charlie Appleby got the job to train for the mighty Godolphin empire five years ago he made it clear that he had two major ambitions. To win the Melbourne Cup for Sheikh Mohammed, ending his patron’s decades-long drought in Australia’s … Read more
TRAINING juggernaut Darren Weir can tomorrow add the Group 1 $1 million Victoria Oaks (2500m) to his maiden Victoria Derby win with Extra Brut last Saturday. Weir will put the saddle on shortening favourite AMPHITRITE ($3.30), former Kiwi filly VERRY … Read more
Over the last four years Darren Weir has come to dominate the Victoria racing scene. Yet, remarkably, this has all come about quite suddenly after a humble beginning in his training career and then a number of relatively quiet … Read more
NOW we have all accepted the best stayers in the world come from Europe it’s time to join the winning team – them! It’s no longer an US versus THEM story on Melbourne Cup Day – ‘they’ have taken over, … Read more
Rain Lover (1968) Jim Johnson Makybe Diva (2005) Glen Boss Galilee (1966) J. J. Miller Saintly (1996) Darren Beadman Gurner’s Lane (1982) Mick Dittman Think Big (1974) Harry White Vintage Crop (1993) Mick Kinane Kiwi (1983) Jim Cassidy Gold And Black (1977) John Duggan Let’s Elope (1991) Steven King Doriemus (1995) … Read more
The Irish raider Yucatan – carrying the silks of the Williams family – is poised this year to end the losing streak of trainer Aidan O’Brien and of international favourites beaten in the Melbourne Cup. O’Brien, who was trumped by … Read more
They won’t quite start from the car park – but many of the overseas invaders in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup might feel as though they are. Race favourite Yucatan immediately drifted in the market after pulling barrier 23 at the draw … Read more
It’s not often a jockey returns to the winners enclosure on the most celebrated day in the Australian racing year and says that riding the winner of one of the country’s most-storied flat races is like booting home a winner … Read more
The Coolmore Stud Stakes has rapidly established a reputation as a stallion-making race, one which attracts the top sprinting colts. Victory in this group 1 contest usually adds several noughts to the value of a top class youngster whose post-racing … Read more
It is quite ironic that three of Australia’s greatest champions – Tulloch, Dulcify, tragically, and Kingston Town – were brought undone in unfortunate circumstances in the Melbourne Cup. Despite being burden with 10.1 (64kg) Tulloch was sent out a 3/1 … Read more
In the spring of a three-year-old colt or filly’s life, there’s no denying that the 2500-metre Victoria Derby and VRC Oaks are stamina-sapping tests of strength, staying power, mentality and maturity. Some have claimed, in the current Australian bloodstock climate, … Read more
Peter Cox knows better than most the reality of horse racing economics. Now retired, the former photographer and picture editor at The Age has spent a lifetime owning racehorses, usually with friends and in syndicates, and he can relate chapter and verse … Read more
NEALE DONNELLEY previews some of the Group 1 races on VICTORIA DERBY DAY at Flemington this weekend: Group 1 $1,000,000 COOLMORE STUD STAKES. (1200m): THE Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes has quickly established itself as a genuine sire-making race … Read more
Dulcify (1978) Brent Thomson Tobin Bronze (1965) Jim Johnson Mahogany (1993) Greg Hall Red Anchor (1984) Mick Dittman Grosvenor (1982) Mick Goreham Efficient (2006) Michael Rodd Taj Rossi (1973) Roy Higgins Stylish Century (1989) Kevin Moses Sovereign Red (1980) Mick Goreham Star Of The Realm (1991) Steven King Nothin’ Leica … Read more
Indications are that the families of three legendary trainers – Tommy Smith, Bart Cummings and Colin Hayes – will share in the major spoils of the $2 million Victoria Derby. During their illustrious careers Smith and Cummings both won … Read more
Damien Oliver was only 20 when he registered his first win in the 1992 Victoria Derby on Redding, who had only a second placing from eight starts going into the blue riband event. In the years since Oliver, who … Read more
Its arguably the result that changed the face of Australian racing. Vintage Crop’s success in the 1993 Melbourne Cup made the gelding, his trainer Dermot Weld and his jockey, Mick Kinane, not just history makers but game changers. For full story … Read more
I was uncertain more than sceptical, but now I have no doubts. Where Winx and her extraordinary career have been concerned, despite her 29 wins in a row, despite her world record 22 group 1 wins, I have always had … Read more
Chris Waller, Hugh Bowman and Winx’s owners Peter Tighe and Debbie Kepitis insisted all week that the great mare was, despite her advancing years, as good if not better than ever before as she approached her date with destiny. And … Read more
This is almost certainly the last time Victorian racegoers will get the chance to see Winx in the flesh. You never say never, but the chances of her turning up for a fifth Cox Plate as an eight-year-old are at … Read more
Hugh Bowman winning a group 1 race at Moonee Valley, beating Oisin Murphy in a driving finish. Could the conclusion to Friday night’s Manikato Stakes, in which the Bowman-partnered Brave Smash just ran down the Murphy- ridden Spirit Of Valor, … Read more
There are few people alive today who fully remember the horse dubbed the greatest of them all, Phar Lap, the depression-era hero who dominated the nation’s racetracks and captured the hearts and minds of the public in a way that … Read more
The Vertem Futurity Stakes, Gr-1. Hi guys, fasten your seat belts as tomorrow we’ll fly very high. Last Saturday, at Ascot, I didn’t throw myself out of the top of the King Edward Stand, because of the results, so … Read more
Irish jockey Oisin Murphy jets into Melbourne for the big group 1 festival at Moonee Valley fully aware that he could become the villain of the piece on Saturday if he can somehow dethrone the queen of the Australian turf … Read more