Highlights During the Holidays

During a brief holiday over Christmas and New Year, there was still plenty happening in the thoroughbred world. Here are a few news highlights, followed further down by all 31 Black Type events that were decided during the period:

• Alpine Edge (Better Than Ready-Freezethemillions, by Freeze) tops the latest 2021 Magic Millions 2YO Classic ballot order, released by Racing Queensland on 3 January.
• Jockey Lisa Allpress has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the racing industry. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Bernard Saundry told racingnews.co.nz, “Lisa has had an outstanding career. She’s had a lifetime in racing and her contribution to racing has been immense. She has won races locally and internationally in the top echelon of competition. She’s had nearly 13,500 rides and won more than 1600 races in New Zealand alone. And she’s ridden with success all around the world.”
• Fellow jockey Jamie Kah, who was on song during the first five months of the season, has started the new year with intent, claiming six winners from eleven rides in the first two days of 2021.
• Purchased at Echuca for only $382, Little Red Fox (Honalee-Tracerline, by Kenny’s Best Pal) gave her owners the best thrill when winning the $15,000 TB White & Sons Maiden Plate over 1350m at Burrumbeet. “We still haven’t come down from cloud nine,” Mikaela Lawrence told RSN. “It’s just a maiden at Burrumbeet but for us, given where the horse came from, it was amazing."
• Listed Super Impose Stakes winner Khoekhoe (Turffontein-Walvis Bay, by Cape Cross) will likely resume in the Gr2 Autumn Classic in mid-February, with trainer Matt Cumani telling racing.com, the 3YO will be aimed at the Australian Derby.
• Trainer Saab Hasan confirmed his Gr3 Standish Handicap winner Sirius Suspect (Wanted-Sirius Miss, by Galileo) will be aimed at the Gr1 Newmarket Handicap in March.
• Jason Maskiell rode his five hundredth career winner on Plymouth Road (Tavistock-Dastaria, by Stark South) at Sale on 3 January.
• Meanwhile, apprentice Madison Lloyd won her one hundredth race at Kyneton aboard Capecain (Americain-Cape Augusta, by Cape Town) on Friday 1 January.
• Seven-length Listed Bagot Handicap winner Tralee Rose (Tavistock-Star of Tralee, by Zabeel) will be aimed at the 2021 Gr1 Melbourne Cup, a decision confirmed by trainer Symon Wilde.
• Racing Victoria, Country Racing Victoria and the Seymour Racing Club announced on 30 December that the Seymour course will undergo a complete reconstruction to fix the ongoing issues at the track. The eight meetings scheduled to run at Seymour for the remainder of the 2020/21 season will be transferred to other locations.
• The $100,000 Listed Tasmanian Guineas was twice abandoned (Sunday 27 December, and Wednesday 30 December) due to the state of the Elwick track and will now likely be run on January 8 at Launceston.
• Victoria’s Minister for Racing, Martin Pakula, announced on 30 December that the new Racing Integrity Commissioner for the state will be Sean Carroll, who will begin his new role on 1 March 2021, and will replace previous commissioner Sal Perna.
• The Gr1 New Zealand Oaks is the key aim for Gr2 Royal Stakes third placegetter Il Affare (Dundeel-Pennacchio, by Align) reported racingnews.co.nz. Co-trainer Dawn Williams said, “She is a pretty relaxed filly and seemed to handle the 2000m okay which is a good sign. The Oaks is her main target so what we do in the meantime is the question. We’d like to freshen her up a little and then put a programme together to get there (to the Oaks).”
• Star Tsar (Fastnet Rock-Zarzuela, by Zabeel) is on target for Gr1 Auckland Cup in March after an impressive win over 2400m on New Year’s Day.
• Current leading HKJC hoop Joao Moreira became the third jockey in Hong Kong to ride 1,000 winners on Wednesday 23 December aboard Incanto Prepared (Per Incanto-Prepared, by Perfectly Ready), reported scmp.com. The other two jockeys to reach this milestone are Douglas Whyte and Zac Purton.
• Trainer John Sargent has Golden Slipper designs for his debut winner Four Moves Ahead (Snitzel-Doulmera, by Mr Greeley), reports racingnsw.com.au.
• Galileo (Sadler’s Wells-Urban Sea, by Miswaki) claimed his twelfth British and Irish Champion Sire title on the final day of 2020, with his progeny’s prizemoney haul being approximately double that of second placed Dubawi (Dubai Millennium-Zomaradah, by Deploy). He sired eight Gr1 winners in the region for 2020, and a staggering 89 black type winners. Galileo sired his fifth Epsom Derby winner with Serpentine (Galileo-Remember When, by Danehill Dancer) to make him the only sire to have five winners of the prestigious 3YO Classic. He also claimed the broodmare sire title for 2020 thanks to the likes of Ghaiyyath (Dubawi-Nightime, by Galileo).
• Continuing his exceptional run at the top of the boards, the US Champion Sire for 2020 is Spendthrift Farm’s stallion Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday-Leslie’s Lady, by Tricky Creek) who has started 2021 in similarly strong form.