News

Lance Noble’s Karaka stable has made a fast start to the season and the momentum promises to roll on to Pukekohe on Saturday with an in-form team of five to do battle.

A respected vendor at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale throughout the last two decades, Kilgravin Lodge broke new ground at Karaka on Wednesday with the two highest prices in their history.

Ben Foote enjoyed an outstanding first session at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale and he’s got the firepower to continue the party at Pukekohe.

Former champion jockey Douglas Whyte boosted the ranks of his emerging training operation with a Karaka buying bench debut during the Ready to Run Sale on Thursday.

Classy grey mare Aromatic will attempt to follow in the footsteps of a former stablemate when she returns to Pukekohe on Saturday to defend her title in the Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m).

Thursday’s second day of the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale saw a new all-time record price of $825,000 for a Star Turn colt whose future lies in Hong Kong.

Saturday’s Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m) brings together four of the six winners of two-year-old races in the North Island so far this season, and Cambridge trainer Tony Pike is hoping to see his runaway debut winner Poetic Champion rise to the occasion in the star-studded Pukekohe clash.

It is often a case of catch me if you can with Johny Johny, and trainers Tim and Margaret Carter are hoping their pacemaking sprinter can outrun his rivals again in Saturday’s Gr.3 Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m).

Black-type performer Flower Of Wanaka will depart from Chrissy Bambry’s stable early in the new year, but the Foxton trainer is aiming high during her final few weeks with the Burgundy mare.

Cambridge trainer Tony Pike spent Sunday morning contemplating some mixed results from the racing action at Pukekohe twenty-four hours earlier where his stable picked up an impressive victory with Rudyard in the last race on the day after some frustrating placings earlier.

New Zealand import Jimmysstar kept his unblemished Australian record intact with a super-impressive win in Saturday’s A$175,000 Freeway Ford Shooting Stars (1500m) at Cranbourne.

John Thompson’s concerns about heavy track conditions were quickly extinguished by With Your Blessing at Kembla Grange on Saturday, powering to a commanding front-running win in the A$160,000 Evergreen Turf Australia Handicap (1200m).