Veyron is well. :) He's running in this race on Saturday with an apprentice riding him to get his weight down (Jack Wong). It's his last warm-up for the Zabeel Classic on Boxing Day.

Thanks for that!

Danielle is riding so well this season.
http://www.nzracing.co.nz/RaceInfo/Jockeys.aspx

She had her best ever season last year with 95 wins, but she's already reached 60 this season and we're only four and a half months in! She's projected to get more than 150 if she keeps going at this rate.

That's amazing... good for her!

Exciting weekend coming up but am disappointed to see the always-hard-trying Eight Schillings scratched. Will be happy when he finally wins on again... it's been a while.

Can't wait to see Veyron, Amun Ra et al. :)

VERY nice debut win from Strata Lady. We have some good two-year-olds this year - Maritimo, Windborne, Rocanto...

Wow did she ever look professional! Very nice win!

Just watched Spin Doctor's win and read your piece (loved it, of course)... I can never be disappointed with Veyron so it's all good and you're right, he is super under-rated.

Just watched the Pure Champion race as well... man by the end of it though I was hoping Diademe would hold on! Now Pure Champion is who I thought would win (I was completely wrong about every other race though... all my picks were off the board and he is just so good so not like this is any shocking redboarding revelation) BUT I hoped for Ginner Hart (cause that would be amazing!) but yeah... what heart Diademe showed in that one! (Man, Scapolo looks HUGE :D).

THAT WAS NUTS!

A bit of Mom and Dad both? Indeed! :D

So Ed you will be at Ellerslie on Friday, right? When do the fields come out (I should know this by now but don't)?

I CANT WAIT!

Good to see they've finally put the replay up!

Yep, I'll be there on Friday. Noms come out in about three hours, and the final fields are confirmed tomorrow.

The Boxing Day fields are amazing, as always! So many outstanding horses in the Zabeel, and the Eight Carat is full of potential.

Pinzaara's got a good draw for her career finale in the Newmarket! It's a tough race for her but I know she'll try her heart out again.

The 2yo and 3yo races early in the card are really nice as well.

They ARE amazing fields!!!

Okay first off and most importantly, good luck to the beautiful Pinzaara. Hope she ends it with a win. What a great horse to follow... thanks for sharing her goings on. :)

Good luck to El Chico and to Dillinger at Wingatui (even if I don't know where that is!) , to Iamishwara at Awapuni (whoa I have not seen the name Crocodile Canyon in a long time!), to Dorian Grey at Pirongia (nor that...) AND oh Ellerslie...

Good luck to Lauren Tate and Allez Eagle in the 1st, Giant Turtle and Amun Ra in the 4th, half the field but especially Pinzaara :tro: in the 5th, an awful lot of horses in the 7th and 8th :D , Veyron and pretty much every horse in the Zabeel Classic which is one of the most exciting fields I've ever seen (!!!!!).

Have a beautiful Christmas, ed, and a very happy (and fun) Boxing Day.

Thanks! I have tomorrow and Christmas Day off, which is going to be nice, and then Ellerslie. Can't wait.

A very happy Christmas to you too, as well as anyone else who might be reading this thread and not posting. :)

My boss wrote a nice article about Pinzaara:
http://www.theinformant.co.nz/racing...-on-the-planet

Absolutely loved reading this... good luck to your little star who most certainly deserves to win.

A cool little horse indeed!

edit - How wonderful seeing this is the lead story!

I am getting such a kick out of seeing the Tavy and Sports Illustrated stories pushed aside for the Pinzaara piece! So awesome, ed! :)

Big crowd, a beautiful day and an exciting first race. This is going to be a great day!

Not Pinzaara's day. :( Nothing went right for her today. But that's okay.

There were some big surprises yesterday. But I was so happy for Soriano and Rory Hutchings when they got their first G1 wins in the Zabeel.

Sorry to hear about PInzaara and cannot wait to see the replays.

Soriano won??? Are you serious? Very happy to hear that and will catch up and watch everything tonight!

Is Miss beautiful Pinzaara now officially retired? What a great ride that must have been. :)

You of all people know how much I LOVE Veyron and Soriano etc but the only one I have watched so far was the most important one....

Pinzaara did well! What a ridiculously difficult field that was what with Ruud Awakening and Rollout the Carpet, Antonio et al... she was up there with the best of them though and you should be really pleased with her fantastic race record and the way she moved up continually.

I hope you have as exciting runner as her again very soon.

Give her a hug (and let her know my kids, who are both grown, have no clue who Sunday Silence was or Man O'War, Six Perfections, Zarkava, etc but damned right they both know the name Pinzaara. I kid you not).

I will get to the rest (SO much racing on Boxing Day) when I can... Veyron will be next up. :)

Okay well now, idiot that I am, I am in tears from watching Soriano's win.

That was... there are no words for how outstanding that was and probably the greatest field of the year (or my favorite anyway)... just thrilled that she finally did it and brilliantly!!!!!!!!

What a class act MdP is congratulating Rory immediately...

So happy for connections and that they all came home safe.

Brilliant field... she is amazing. Glad it was finally her day!

My mascara is ruined! :o :D