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Navy Ensign looking to go back to back

Navy Ensign delivered on his promise when winning his maiden over a mile at Pukekohe last month, and he will attempt to double his tally when he heads to Ellerslie on Saturday to tackle the MyRacehorse 1600.The U S Navy Flag gelding carries the silks of part-owner David Archer, whose colours have been to the fore this season through fellow three-year-old Belle Cheval, who was victorious in last Saturday’s Gr.1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m), and while Navy Ensign isn’t in the same tier, he has b...

Lady Iris on target for Breeders' Stakes

Genuine filly Lady Iris will bid to crown a rewarding preparation with an overdue stakes success.The Stephen Marsh-trained three-year-old is at the tail-end of her preparation and will head toward her final outing of the season in winning form.The daughter of U S Navy Flag accounted for a competitive age group line-up at Trentham on Saturday and will chase the first black-type victory of her career before a deserved break.“She’s only small, but she is as game as they come and was great again...

Guineas ideal fit for improving Flashback

Emerging three-year-old Flashback has progressed well during his fledgling career and higher honours beckon the son of Darci Brahma at Trentham on Saturday.Trainer Stephen Marsh believes the Gr.2 Taylor Property Plus Wellington Guineas (1600m) sets up as an ideal opportunity for The Oaks Stud-bred and raced representative to further his record.“It’s a good target for him and not as strong a race as I thought it would be, so I think he’s a really good chance,” he said.“Racing is improvi...

Group One winner Savaglee retired

Group One winner Savaglee has been retired from racing and a new home is being sought for the four-year-old entire as he transitions to a career at stud.Bred by Waikato Stud, Savaglee is by their Champion Stallion Savabeel and out of Glee, a full-sister to Group Three performer Symphonic, the dam of dual Group One winner Orchestral.They offered him through their 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft where he attracted the eye of The Oaks Stud’s General Manager Rick Williams, w...

Ritchie Seeking Fourth NZ Oaks crown

The Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) may have a new home, but Cambridge horseman Shaune Ritchie is hoping his strong record in the race continues as he seeks his fourth title in the race on Saturday.To be run at Ellerslie for the first time this weekend, the New Zealand Oaks was previously contested at Trentham where Ritchie won three editions of the fillies’ classic with Keep The Peace (2010), Artistic (2012) and Jennifer Eccles (2020).Ritchie, and training partner Colm ...

Navy Ensign seeking breakthrough win

Promising three-year-old Navy Ensign will be seeking to break through for an elusive maiden victory when he heads to Te Aroha on Wednesday to contest the Taylor Perry Insurance NZB Mega Maiden (1150m).The son of U S Navy Flag (pictured) was initially purchased as a pinhook prospect by part-owner David Archer out of Haunui Farm’s 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft for $47,500, but was retained after he failed to meet his $60,000 reserve at the Ready To Run sale later that ye...

Tajana in prime order for Oaks lead-up

Tajana is coming toward the sharp end of her season and co-trainer Shaune Ritchie is well-qualified to rate her chances of ending it on a high.The top-rated filly will attempt to add further winning momentum to her Classic campaign when she steps out in Saturday’s Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2100m) at Te Rapa.Ritchie has already won the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) with Jennifer Eccles (2020), Artistic (2012) and Keep The Peace (2010) and will bid for his first in the Al ...

Pukekohe detour pays off for Tajana

Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray elected to take a detour to Pukekohe on Sunday with their Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) bound filly Tajana, and it looks to have paid off.The Oaks Stud-bred and raced filly also accepted for the Gr.3 NZB Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) a day prior, but following a week of wet weather coupled with the long journey south to Trentham, the Cambridge trainers elected for a target closer to home.“It was hard with the weather and the rain coming in,�...

Stakes targets looming for well related filly

Stakes targets are looming for well-related filly Quello Dolce after she posted her second successive win in the Aztech Engineering LTD Sprint (1200m) at Trentham on Saturday, but she will have to wait until ANZAC Day to get her chance at black-type.Bred by Westbury Stud General Manager and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Chairman Russell Warwick and his wife Lesley, Quello Dolce is by U S Navy Flag and out of Group One winner Il Quello Veloce, and she is raced by the couple in partnership with ...

Speed Dragon's huge Valley victory

Francis Lui Kin-wai joined an elite group of trainers to reach 1,000 wins in Hong Kong when Darci Brahma gelding Speed Dragon stormed home from last for a stunning victory in Wednesday night’s Group Three January Cup (1,800m) at Happy Valley.Champion trainer in 2023-24 and the handler of champion galloper Golden Sixty, Lui joined John Moore (1,735 wins), John Size (1,629), Tony Cruz (1,583), Caspar Fownes (1,196) and Ricky Yiu (1,082) in reaching the major milestone when Winning Money and Spee...

Savaglee camp contemplating first-up targets

The connections of last season’s gun three-year-old Savaglee have some pondering to do over the next few days.The Group One-winning stallion pleased in his first public hit-out of the season when placing in his 1100m trial at Ellerslie on Sunday, and now trainer Pam Gerard is contemplating where to kick-off The Oaks Stud-raced four-year-old.“I was really happy with him yesterday,” Gerard said. “He went to the line under a hold, he was never asked for anything, and it was just a nice day ...

War Princess wins Eulogy battle

Well performed three-year-old filly War Princess proved a class above her age group rivals as she led from barrier rise to take out the Gr.3 Lawnmaster Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Trentham to claim her first success at stakes level.The Peter and Trent Didham-prepared daughter of U S Navy Flag went into the Group Three feature off the back of a luckless runner-up performance in the Listed O’Learys Fillies Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui last month where she flew home to finish behind Circus Dancer afte...

Penvose Lad thriving in Southland

Former Cantabrian Penvose Lad (U S Navy Flag) is loving life in the deep south.Formerly trained by Riccarton horsewoman Anna Furlong, the now five-year-old gelding won three races before joining Ebony Turner’s Riverton barn in search of more forgiving footing in spring.“I got approached by his owners. They felt that the tracks were getting too hard for him up there (Canterbury) and if he was going to be travelling south for softer track conditions, he may as well be trained down here, and I ...

War Princess to answer mile query

A tilt at next month’s $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) hangs in the balance for talented filly War Princess.The daughter of U S Navy Flag has yet to be tested over a mile in her seven starts to date, but has shown plenty of ability over sprint distances, winning four races between 1000m and 1200m, and was runner-up to Circus Dancer in last month’s Listed The O’Learys Fillies Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui.Peter Didham, who trains War Princess in partnership with his son Trent, was...

Kiwis seeking to recapture Jericho Cup

Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray took out the 2023 edition of the A$304,000 Jericho Cup (4600m) at Warrnambool with Nassak Diamond, and on Sunday they will be seeking to usurp their former stable runner in the marathon feature with Tempest Moon.Ritchie is in Australia with the daughter of Turn Me Loose, who like Nassak Diamond, carries the familiar silks of owner The Oaks Stud.The Cambridge trainer is excited to be back in Warrnambool and said the city gets in behind the race that honours past ser...

Tajana primed to take on the boys at Riccarton

Shaune Ritchie hopes his decision to bypass the fillies’ feature at Riccarton with Tajana will pay off on Saturday when she takes on the boys in the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).The daughter of Darci Brahma has been one of the best in her age group this spring, winning the Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) and Gr.3 Sunline Vase (1400m) before finishing third in the Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) to Well Written.While the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1...

War Princess soars to Tauranga success

Awapuni filly War Princess (U S Navy Flag) moved a big step closer to a summer target when she ventured to Tauranga on Saturday and scored an impressive come-from-behind victory in the Armory Standing at Mapperley Stud 3YO (1200m).The $40,000 race was the first time War Princess had travelled to the north, the first time she had raced right-handed, and after being left slightly flat-footed in the early stages of the race, the first time she had raced or trialled anywhere other than on the pace.W...

Tajana on target for Soliloquy after Taupo gallop

Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) favourite Tajana warmed up for her next feature assignment with an exhibition gallop between races at Taupo on Friday.The Darci Brahma filly has had two starts as a three-year-old this season for two Group Three victories, capturing the Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) at Ruakaka on August 16 and the Sunline Vase (1400m) at Ellerslie on September 20.Cambridge trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray are building her towards next Saturday’s Gr.2 Soliloqu...

War Princess outclasses Hawera rivals

War Princess was the hottest favourite on the card at Hawera on Saturday, and she lived up to her $1.40 odds with an effortless and confidence-boosting victory in the NZB RTR 3YO (1400m).The daughter of U S Navy Flag showed enormous promise as a two-year-old last season, winning her first two starts by a combined margin of four and a half lengths. She earned herself a shot at the big time, where she finished 11th in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) in March and then seventh when...

Tajana latest star for The Oaks Stud

It’s clear that Sunline Vase (Gr 3, 1400m) winner Tajana (Darci Brahma) is for real.  Her form at two was more than promising but in her two starts this season she has proved best of the fillies and maybe the best three-year-old at this point of the season. Although she performed fairly on top of the ground as a juvenile, her win on a heavy Ruakaka track (normally the best winter track in the country) was the only question surrounding Saturday’s Vase which was run on a Good 4 surface.Si...

Spring campaigns taking shape for The Oaks Stud pair

Cambridge trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray are hoping to spend plenty of time on the road this spring with a pair of The Oaks Stud’s representatives.The training partnership earned a winning treble across the weekend, with two of those carrying the familiar Oaks silks, headlined by Tajana’s gutsy victory in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (1400m) at Ellerslie on Saturday.The $150,000 contest was pinned as a match race between the Darci Brahma filly and rising star Lollapalooza, and it proved to...

Tajana takes out Sunline Vase in thrilling finish

Many pre-race pundits had labelled Saturday’s Ellerslie’s feature, the Gr.3 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Sunline Vase (1400m) as a two-horse contest between Lollapalooza and Tajana, the two hottest three-year-old fillies of spring racing to date.While that ignored the legitimate challenges of several well credentialled rivals, those early predictions played out exactly as expected with the Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray-prepared Tajana holding out race favourite Lollapalooza by the barest of mar...

Tajana ready to further press Classic claims

Fresh is best for top quality three-year-old Tajana who has thrived since her impressive return to competition last month.The Oaks Stud-bred and raced daughter of Darci Brahma was a resuming winner of the Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) ahead of a second-up tilt at Saturday’s Gr.3 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Sunline Vase (1400m) at Ellerslie.“She was very good last time and has done fantastically well, I’m pleased we ran her at Ruakaka,” said Shaune Ritchie, who trains in partners...

Weekend double for U S Navy Flag

Faraglioni’s retirement has left a big hole in Josh Shaw’s stable this season, but the Group One performer’s half-sister Chart The Stars has started to do her bit to continue the family legacy.Chart The Stars opened her winning account in the second start of her career in the Hoult Contractors & Crowley Forge Master Farriers (1200m) on the Awapuni synthetic track on Sunday.The four-year-old was sent out as one of the outsiders of the five-horse field at $13.30, but she went straight to...

Savaglee crowned Champion Three-Year-Old

The Oaks Studs' Savabeel colt Savaglee was crowned Champion Three-Year-Old on Sunday night, at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse Of The Year Awards in Hamilton.Savaglee headed off the hotly contested three year old section to take the title from an age group that included the likes of Alabama Lass, Damask Rose, Leica Lucy, Captured By Love and Willydoit.Savaglee’s haul last season included the Group 2 Hawkes Bay Guineas, Group 2 James & Annie Sarten Memorial Stakes, Group 1 NZ Two Thousan...