New Zealand Racing, 2012-13

[my miss storm cat]

Good for her! I'd forgotten how many 2nds she had had.

Yeah, my The Hombre... he wins so rarely so I didn't expect him to (doesn't he win basically two times per year? ) but it's always interesting to see which jockey has the mount since it always seems to change!

Habibi won again? That's awesome and yes i will watch ALL the replays throughout the day.

Hey ed anything on Xcellent lately? I wish his site werre still up...

For absolutely no reason I was watching the replay of... not the Trentham but the one where him and Sir Slick were one and two...

[my miss storm cat]

Watched ALL the replays... great races!

Fix was amazing (huge fan of her dad).

You are so lucky you got to be there!

[_ed_]

Yeah, it was brilliant. It was a really long day, with trophies being handed out after almost ever race, but it went by so fast!

The weather was much better than Boxing Day too! Much more like what we expect in Auckland this time of year.

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Hey ed anything on Xcellent lately? I wish his site werre still up...

I haven't heard anything about him for ages! This is the last time I saw him mentioned in an article, back in August 2011:

Millionaire gallopers Rough Habit, Christopher Vance and Xcellent are all resident at Cambridge Thoroughbred Lodge, which is set on a 40-hectare farm in a picturesque, rural setting on the Rotorua Thermal Highway on SH1, approximately 25 minutes' drive from Hamilton.

I'd love to go there and see him some time. It's only about a 2-hour drive from Auckland, so there's no excuse not to!

[my miss storm cat]

I hope you get a chance to do it one day!

What's coming up... is the Telegraph this month or next?

[_ed_]

Yep, that's right! The Telegraph is on the 19th.

And we're already starting to look ahead to the Derby on March 2. Habibi is the 5-1 favourite after her feats at Ellerslie.

[my miss storm cat]

I cannot wait for you annual Derby preview!

We haven't talked about Huffer yet.... any idea what the plans are for her?

Read that Habibi is the Lebanese word for dear one or darling.

Awww!

[_ed_]

I think they're having a bit of a hard time finding races for Huffer - they've entered her in a couple of stakes sprints, and she hasn't quite been able to sneak into the field. She was four horses away from getting a spot in the Railway field, and I think it'll be the same for her in the Telegraph. Maybe they'll try to win another race with her before then to get her rating up.

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Read that Habibi is the Lebanese word for dear one or darling.

Awww!

Yeah, the owner (a lovely old lady) mentioned something about that when she was presented with the Championship Stakes trophy. And she said the filly was a dream come true.