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Paris Rock impresses again

Curraghmore graduate Paris Rock followed up her winning debut on Boxing Day with another impressive win at Ballarat on Sunday. The Henry Dwyer-trained three-year-old was ridden by Damien Thornton to an easy 3.75-length victory, indicating she has a bright future. “That was a very good win,” said Thornton.  “I committed murder in front, they left me alone and we had an easy time. I just let her go a little bit quicker from the 500 so they didn’t get to me and she was always going t...

Fighting Sun Off The Mark

Fighting Sun (Northern Meteor) was credited with his first winner on Saturday when the Lisa Latta-trained Platinum Mam'selle opened her winning account in Saturday's Kilbirnie Sports Premier (1200m) at Trentham.Curraghmore Stud will offer a son of Fighting Sun as lot 534 at the upcoming Karaka Book 1 Sale, out of Australian winner Ruby Ninetails (Red Ransom).  This is the family of dual Group One winner Zipping.A son of Northern Meteor, Fighting Sun was unbeaten in two starts, includin...

Long Leaf out of Karaka Million

Pre-post Karaka Million (1200m) favourite Long Leaf (Fastnet Rock) is out of the Ellerslie feature. The Victorian youngster earned a $4.50 quote for the January 27 feature following his debut win at Morphettville and further success in the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Sandown. However, co-trainer David Hayes has decided against a trip to New Zealand, instead setting Long Leaf for next month’s Gr.1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield. “He’s going really well and as tempting a...

NZB Pedigree Updates

Curraghmore's Book 1 draft for the 2018 NZB Sale is comprised of 23 yearlings.  Since the pedigree has gone to print there have been several pedigree updates as noted below: Lot 3-  Charm Spirit (IRE) x Zakelina fillyFrom the same family as ON THE ROCKS (2014.c. by Alamosa-Cold Shoulder, by Volksraad-Refused the Dance).1st ARC Trevor Eagle Memorial S. L   1st BOP RC O'Connor Warren Insurance Maiden S.3rd ARC Great Northern Guineas Gr.2Lot 25- Fastnet Rock (AUS) x Amory Lane (AUS...

Telegraph build-up undecided

A decision has yet to be made whether Heroic Valour (Fastnet Rock) runs again before the Gr.1 JR & N Berkett Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham later this month. The Group One winner missed the Gr.1 Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day due to the slow track conditions. “He was spot on and it was disappointing when the rain came,” co-trainer Stephen Autridge said. “There’s a race for him in a fortnight’s time, but we’ll have to wait and see whether we run him.”Bred by the par...

Kuro comes full circle with John O'Shea

John O'Shea's return to training in his own right has enabled him to reconnect with a yearling he bought in New Zealand. Kuro (Denman) was snapped up by O'Shea and Jason Abrahams of Champion Thoroughbreds at the 2013 Karaka sale for $180,000 from the draft of Curraghmore Stud and the now six-year-old gelding has proved a wise investment. Although he raced in elite company as a three-year-old, Kuro's assignments are not as rich these days and he runs in Saturday's Listed Christmas Classic (1200m)...

Lisdoonvarna ploughs through W Farm wet

Former New Zealand filly Lisdoonvarna (Super Easy) has continued a promising start to her Australian career with a Warwick Farm win. Sent out a $6 chance, Lisdoonvarna made the running on a rain-affected track in the TAB Handicap before clearing out to win by 2-3/4 lengths. Left in her wake to fight out the placings were the runner-up and favourite Savatiano ($3.80) and Star Galaxy ($5) which finished a short neck away third. After one run in New Zealand for a placing on a wet track in a two-yea...

Price looks forward to the Autumn with Mighty Boss

Trainer Mick Price has said he expects Mighty Boss (Not A Single Doubt) to prove this autumn that his victory in the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas was no fluke. Mighty Boss, who returns to Price’s stable in the coming days following a spell, has been earmarked for a tilt in the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on 3 March. "He's a sound, tough colt with plenty of options for him," Price said. "I think he's still going to be a live chance (in the autumn). His Caulfield Guineas win - I know...

NZB Ready To Run Sale a success

The 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale of 2YOs reached new heights this week with a record average price of just over $100,000 and a healthy clearance rate of 77%. All six of the horses Curraghmore presented sold, for an average of $182,000 and aggregate of $1,092,000 making us the second leading vendor on average at the sale. “We’re delighted with the prices we achieved for our clients," said Gordon Cunningham. "Going into the sale, we had confidence that we were offering a ...

Fanatic gets Sandown Cup

Jockey Michael Walker has guided staying mare Fanatic to victory in the Listed Sandown Cup before being ruled out for the rest of the meeting due to illness. Walker was replaced on his final two rides at Saturday's Sandown meeting after struggling physically after the gruelling 3200m race. Walker said post-race he had been told the previous day by a doctor he's got pneumonia and that he "tried to ride through it". A winner of last year's New Zealand Oaks, Fanatic ($4) is in her first Australian ...

Long Leaf pleases Hayes

Curraghmore graduate Long Leaf added a valuable black-type victory to his stallion credentials at just the second start of his career in the Merson Cooper Stakes at Sandown on Saturday. Ridden by Kerrin McEvoy the two-year-old son of Fastnet Rock jumped well from the outside barrier, settling outside the leader Sanglier, before taking the lead at the 100m and staving off a determined effort by the favourite Ohood.   “This colt looks a beauty,” said Australian Hall of Fame trainer ...

Long Leaf to make stakes debut

A crack at New Zealand's richest race is among the options for well-bred two-year-old Long Leaf who will first chase a valuable stakes win at Sandown.Long Leaf made a winning start to his career at Morphettville on October 28 and lines up for his second start in Saturday's Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Sandown.The colt was a $750,000 yearling at the Karaka sales from the draft of Curraghmore Stud earlier this year and co-trainer Tom Dabernig said January's $1 million Karaka Million was ...

Fanatic on target for Listed Sandown Cup

Fresh from her first Australian win during the Melbourne Cup carnival, New Zealand Group One winner Fanatic (Shocking) will be chasing more success in the Listed Sandown Cup. Fanatic sprinted well at the end of 2800m to win on the undercard to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington and steps up to 3200m on Saturday against seven rivals. The Flemington victory was the 2016 NZ Oaks winner's first in six starts since joining the Lindsay Park stable and co-trainer Tom Dabernig is hoping the mare can go on ...

Autumn carnival beckons for Unforgotten

Well-bred filly Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) has underlined her promise with two wins in the space of seven days at Rosehill. Unforgotten ($1.50 fav) was dominant in victory over 1300m at Rosehill last Saturday and the Chris Waller-trained filly was just as impressive stepping up to 1500m in the Schweppes Handicap, eased down by rider Jay Ford to a 2-1/2 length win. By Fastnet Rock from a daughter of Galileo, Unforgotten is bred on a cross that has produced 54 winners worldwide since 2012, in...

Tribal Wisdom wins Flemington greys race

A great grandson of one of the most famous grey racehorses has produced a barnstorming finish to win the annual VRC Oaks day race named after another high profile grey. The Mike Moroney-trained Tribal Wisdom (Makfi), a descendant of 1989 Japan Cup-winning mare Horlicks, arrived just in time to grab Harbour Grey on the line in Thursday's Subzero Handicap (1400m) to win by a half-head. The annual race during the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington is restricted to grey horses and is named for the...

Fanatic fantastic at Flemington

The David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig trained-mare Fanatic showed her staying prowess with a win in the Ronald McDonald Charities House (2800m) on the Melbourne Cup undercard on Tuesday. Settled back in the field by jockey Michael Walker, Fanatic showed an exceptional turn of foot from the 300m to reel in her rivals, crossing the line 1.2 lengths clear of last start winner Sherlock Holmes and Sacadelic who was a further 2.5 lengths back in third position. “She was in season at her last sta...

Petite 3YO delivers warm homecoming

Shaune Ritchie’s end of holiday blues were quickly overcome at Tauranga where his diminutive filly Global Thinking (So You Think) stood tall on Saturday at the expense of her fellow three-year-olds. The Cambridge horseman only returned from a family vacation in Samoa late on Friday night and the daughter of So You Think presented him with a tidy welcome home present when she won the Gartshore 1200m. “We elected to ride her cold today, we’ve probably been riding her upside down and closer t...

Filly’s followers finally rewarded

Good things come to those who wait as supporters of Mongolian Beauty (Fastnet Rock) found at Avondale. The Fastnet Rock filly broke her maiden in Wednesday’s AJC Members’ 1400m at her seventh start after five previous placings, four of them runner-up finishes. “It was good to see her really knuckle down and hit the line like that,” co-trainer Andrew Forsman said. She’ll be better in the autumn and when she learns to relax and gets up over ground I thinkyou’ll see a really good horse....

Time called on Blizzard’s career

Cambridge galloper Blizzard (Any Suggestion) has been retired with the decision made in the wake of an unplaced last-start effort at Ellerslie. The grey seven-year-old won six races and made his mark in black type company with second placings in both the Gr.2 Championship Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie and the Listed Karaka Classic (1600m) at Pukekohe. He was also fourth in the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton. “He’s done such a good job for the owners,” co-trainer Emma-Lee Browne s...

Spencer to ride Tulip

European jockey Jamie Spencer will ride the Coolmore-owned three-year-old filly Tulip (Pierro) in Saturday’s Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m). One of three fillies in the race for trainers David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig, Tulip ran fifth last start in the A$10,000,000 The Everest (1200m) at Randwick.Tulip was sold for $400,000 from Curraghmore Stud's 2016 NZB draft....

Secret Win gives Daniel Meagher his first feature race at Kranji

Second-year trainer Daniel Meagher captured his first feature success with outsider Secret Win (Haradasun) landing a boilover win in the S$150,000 Gr.3 El Dorado Classic (2200m) on Sunday. Meagher, one of the long-time assistants to his father John at Kranji with brother Chris, has known the giddy heights of such Group acclaim with the likes of Kim Angel, Lim’s Objective and Mayo’s Music in the past, but was for the first time basking in the limelight on his own. The moment was eve...

Fastnet Filly wins Blue Sapphire

The $350,000 Group III MRC Blue Sapphire Stakes at Caulfield on Wednesday drew a strong field of three year-old sprinters with powerhouse Fastnet Rock filly Formality proving too good for Snitzel colt Jukebox. Prepared by the Hayes / Dabernig training partnership, Formality was a brilliant winner of the Group II ATC Silver Shadow Stakes and Furious Stakes in Sydney at her first two runs back from a spell before an unplaced effort in the Group I ATC Golden Rose. Winning rider Kerrin McEvoy blamed...

Fastnet Winner for Waller

The only filly in the 1250 metre three year-old maiden at Canterbury on Wednesday was Fastnet Rock filly Unforgotten, who made light work of beating her male rivals at her first run back from a break. Last seen finishing second to subsequent Gr.1 ATC Spring Champion Stakes winner Ace High at Kembla in July, Unforgotten settled at the rear for Brenton Avdulla and powered home out wide to run straight past the colts and post an easy two and a half length win.It was an impressive return for a fill...

High Class changes hands

The Stakes Performed racemare High Class (Shocking) changed hands in a deal negotiated by Adrian Clark on behalf of a New Zealand-based client.High Class – a brilliant debut winner at two years and Listed Race-placed in the Soliloquy Stakes at three years – has been immediately retired and will head to Australia at the start of next week for a mating with Australia’s red-hot Second Season stallion All Too Hard.“High Class is a horse who has been on my radar from the day she first went to...

Tulip for Coolmore

Gr.3 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) winner Tulip (Pierro) will continue her spring campaign and contest the Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on 4 November. The Lindsay Park-trained three-year-old filly ran fifth in The Everest on Saturday, the best performance of the three fillies in the race.Tulip, who was bred by Orpendale, was a $400,000 graduate of Curraghmore's 2016 NZB draft. -ANZ Bloodstock News...