New Zealand Racing

[my miss storm cat]

Sounds Xciting!

Jump up and down and blow smoochies and wave wildly to X for me!!!!!

(Poor Mikki Street).

[_ed_]

The weather was really bad at the start of the day but half way through the Newmarket the sun came out and it was awesome. Really big crowd:


Too lazy to put the videos on Youtube right now, so I'll post links to the videos on the Ellerslie website instead!

Newmarket Handicap: Needuask was a very impressive winner of this race. After he won the G2 Concorde last start we were wondering if it was a fluke...well, obviously it wasn't. This was an even bigger performance. Clifton Prince went well under the top weight for 2nd and Mary Ellen closed nicely for 3rd.

Eight Carat Classic: Satinka, very unlucky in more than one big race so far this season, finally got her turn. She was ridden brilliantly by Bruce Herd (who also won the Zabeel on Sir Slick), with a beautiful run along the inside, and just held out Pretty Vegas and Keepa Cruisin in a tight 3-way finish. Insouciant was very disappointing, it was her first time on a right-handed track and Michael Walker said it felt like she didn't like racing this way around at all.

Great Northern Guineas: This race had no pace at all, which disadvantaged a lot of the back runners, but Prince Kaapstad still won impressively. It was another great ride by Samantha Spratt (who also won the Newmarket on Needuask), but the horse was headed by Il Divo and fought very strongly to regain the lead. A really excellent performance. Six O'Clock News closed nicely for 3rd.

Zabeel Classic: A bit sad to see Xcellent's unbeaten NZ record broken, but if any horse had to do that I'm glad it was Sir Slick. He's just such a tough horse, he goes straight to the lead in every race and makes it almost impossible for anyone to get past him down the stretch. When he's in his best form there aren't many better horses to watch in NZ.

Now it's only 6 days until the next big day, January 1!

[my miss storm cat]

What races are Jan. 1st ed?

[_ed_]

In winter we're happy with 1 stakes race on a day, on Jan 1 we've got 6!

Eclipse Stakes (G3 1200m 2yo)
The biggest 2yo race of the season so far. Last year Grand Dancer won it at 40-1. Haven't heard of him since. It looks like most of the good early 2yos are going to be there, like Vincent Mangano, Silk Spur, San Bernardino and Minstrel Court.

Royal Stakes (G2 2000m 3yo fillies)
Satinka's going to try to do what hasn't been done for a long time, winning the Eight Carat Classic-Royal Stakes double. Not sure who else is going there at the moment, Satinka will be the favourite though. Last year Keep The Passion won it (25-1), she's been disappointing since, but Dorabella was 2nd.

Dunstan Championship (2200m Handicap)
This is a really good race for finding good horses for the following season. A horse called The Fuzz won it last year, now he's running some good races in Australia for David Hayes. The favourite for it is Aukay, who has so far only won 2 races but has been in the first 3 14 times out of 16. Looks like a talented horse.

Rich Hill Mile (G2 1600m Handicap)
Sir Slick's going in this! He'll have a massive weight, but that can't stop him when he's at his best. One of the best mile races of every year. Dezigna won it last year.

City Of Auckland Cup (G2 2400m Handicap)
Pasta Post: 7 starts, 6 wins. There are 2 last-start G2 winners in the race, Everswindell and Mirkola Lass, but Pasta Post is at even money. This is a really good horse. Last year Highflying was a 40-1 winner, she's been G1 placed since.

Railway Handicap (G1 1200m Handicap)
Our sprint championship. Is Needuask the real deal? Looked like it in the Concorde and Newmarket. He's favourite to make it 3 in a row but he's a long-priced favourite at 6-1. Others in the field are 2005 winner Baldessarini, back from a 18-month injury layoff, and some very fast fillies in Jazella, Crossyourheart, Martini Red, Magic Tryst, Imananabaa and Brianna. Should be awesome. Another 30-1 longshot won it last year, Donna Rosita. She never raced again, they decided to retire her.

[my miss storm cat]

Damn.

http://www.nzracingnews.co.nz/news-a...-survival.html

[_ed_]

Yeah.

I really hope he pulls through, I want to see little Jokers.

[_ed_]

New Year's Day was one of the best days of racing I've been to in my life! It was a hot, sunny day, the track was perfect and the racing was unbelievably good.

Eclipse Stakes: The favourite was the impressive San Bernardino, but it was a gutsy little filly with a big white face who took out the G3 Eclipse. Lady Alberton, who has never been further back than 3rd in her career, hit the lead at the top of the stretch and fought so bravely. Very strong win.

Dunstan Championship: Cross Roads won his 5th from 8 career starts when he got his nose down at just the right time in a 3-way photo to win the Championship against a deep field. This has been a good race for finding top stayers of the future in the last few years, I think Cross Roads is another one. Genuine contender for the Auckland Cup in March.

Royal Stakes: Satinka did the double! The Eight Carat on Boxing Day and now the Royal Stakes 6 days later. Kaatoon and Keffiya were impressive too, but the winner was way too good. One of the best performances of the day.

Rich Hill Mile: The best effort by any horse all day was Sir Slick, who carried 60.5kg (134 pounds) and missed by a neck. Full credit to Fiscal Madness though, he had the second highest weight and ran a great race, a well-deserved G2 win after being 2nd and 3rd in so many in the last few months.

Railway Handicap: Imananabaa looked like one of the best sprinters in NZ this time last year, like when she was unlucky in coming 3rd in this race last year. After that she had some injury problems and went missing for 9 months, but she bounced back to winning form today. Brilliant. Needuask was brave in 2nd, he's definitely a genuine G1 horse.

There was a fall in this race, the horse was fine but the jockey broke his collarbone. Hope Tomohiro has a quick recovery.

City Of Auckland Cup: PASTA POST! He's a star. He's now won 7 out of 8 in his career, and this was his best performance so far. One of the strongest handicap fields of the year, and he killed them, running away with his ears pricked.

Here's Pasta Post enjoying the applause: