An autumn trip to Canterbury has turned out to be career-defining for Matamata mare Sassy Merlot, who added a valuable black-type win to her record in Saturday’s Listed Daphne Bannan Memorial Great Easter Stakes (1400m) at Riccarton.
Underrated three-year-old filly Moonlight Magic employed a barnstorming finish from last to secure a valuable stakes victory when she captured the Gr.3 Trelawney Stud Championship Stakes (2100m) at Ellerslie in spectacular fashion.
A week after his remarkable front-running heroics on Pride Of Jenni in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), in-form jockey Declan Bates pulled off another wire-to-wire performance with New Zealand-bred mare Disturbia in Saturday’s Evergreen Turf Handicap (1600m) at Mornington.
Exciting juvenile Domain Ace maintained his perfect record with a dominant win in Saturday’s Listed TAB Starway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
Premiership-leading jockey Warren Kennedy was the first to crack the 100-win mark for the season at Matamata on Friday when guiding Lightning Dream to victory in the Auto Super Shoppe Matamata 1600.
Local trainer Rosie Gibbs made a welcome return to the winner’s stall following Glimmer’s commanding debut performance in the Treadwell Gordon 1200 at Waverley on Thursday.
Sailor Jack ended his campaign on a winning note at Waverley on Thursday and now the four-win gelding could be set to further his career in Australia next year if everything goes to plan.
Gail Temperton is hoping her promising hurdler Harry Harrison can gain valuable fitness ahead of an exciting season with a resuming run in the Chillco (2850m) on Sunday at Hawera.
Dual European Group One winner Chaldean will shuttle to Cambridge Stud for the 2024 Southern Hemisphere season from Juddmonte, where he stands alongside his sire Frankel.
Andrew Forsman will be chasing several repeats of history with seven runners across the two features events at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Stephen Marsh has made a habit of excelling at this stage of the season with his emerging two-year-old talent, and the Cambridge trainer is hoping to continue that trend in Saturday’s Listed TAB Star Way Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
Fresh off his rich payday after taking out last Saturday’s $350,000 TAB Southern Alps Challenge (1600m) at Riccarton, Matscot will return to the Christchurch track this weekend in search of more feature spoils.
