Daily News Wrap

5 min read

Angland returns to Sydney

Tye Angland has returned to Australia, two weeks after being seriously injured in a race fall in Hong Kong.

While the details of Angland's precise condition are unknown, the 29-year-old was cleared by doctors for travel and left Hong Kong on Sunday evening, accompanied by his wife Erin and a doctor.

Tye Angland

He arrived in Sydney on Monday morning and has been transferred to Royal North Shore Hospital as he continues his recovery.

Angland fell from the John Moore-trained Go Beauty Go (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}) at Sha Tin on November 25. He underwent surgery after the incident and since then his condition has been described as serious but stable.

He has been at the peak of his powers in the past 12 months, riding five Group 1 winners last season.

McLean banned for false statements

Only a month after winning his first Group 1, trainer Jarrod McLean has been banned for providing false statements to stewards.

McLean, who acts in a dual role as a trainer of his own team and the Warrnambool-based foreman of Darren Weir, is suspended from both for around six weeks after misleading stewards about the location of stable star Trap For Fools (Poet's Voice {GB}) ahead of a race at Caulfield.

The stewards charged McLean under AR 175 (gg) in that he had told them Trap For Fools was at his Yangery stables when he was in fact at Weir's Warrnambool stables ahead of the G3 Coongy Cup at Caulfield on October 20.

The horse was subsequently scratched when an early-morning stable inspection say the anomaly uncovered.

Trap For Fools then went on to win the G1 Mackinnon S. later in his preparation, giving McLean his first Group 1 win in his own right.

The trainer pleaded guilty and was suspended by Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board chairman Judge John Bowman until January 28.

Freedman, Duric win Singapore titles

Australians have dominated the premierships as racing wrapped up in Singapore for 2018 with Lee Freedman winning leading trainer honours in his first full year, while Vlad Duric made it back-to-back jockey titles.

Freedman, a seven-time premiership winner in Victoria, moved to Singapore last year when he took over nine-time premiership winner Laurie Laxon's stable.

Lee Freedman

With 67 winners for the year, he beat fellow Aussie Shane Baertschiger by eight winners, with a strike rate of 15.37%.

Michael Clements finished third, while last year's winner Mark Walker finished fourth.

Duric held off fellow Australian Michael Rodd to win the jockeys' title 73-71. It is ten fewer winners than he rode last year but he will be delighted to have gone back-to-back.

Glen Boss, fifth with 44 wins, and John Powell, sixth with 39 wins, were the other Australian jockeys to finish in the top 10, while New Zealander Craig Grylls finished seventh.

Cups targets for Andoyas

Andoyas (Ger) (Lando {Ger}) will return to Ellerslie as he looks to add stakes success in the New Year.

The former Hong Kong-based galloper claimed his second win in six New Zealand starts when winning the Dunstan Feeds Stayers Championship Qualifier 2200 at Ellerslie on Saturday.

Trainer Lance O'Sullivan, who trains in partnership with Andrew Scott, said a return to the same venue on New Year's Day looks the likely path.

“He will run at Ellerslie in the (G3) City of Auckland Cup, Andrew and I went through the program this morning and decided that is where we will head with him,” O’Sullivan said.

“We feel he will measure up to them, so we will give him a crack and see how we go."

“If he performs well in the City of Auckland Cup then hopefully we will head on to the G1 Auckland Cup a little bit later on in the season."

“I think the further he goes, the better he will go.”

Magic aims for Widdup pair

Brad Widdup is hoping he can plot a path to the $2m Magic Millions 2YO Classic with debutants Jailbreak (Rubick) and Islands (I Am Invincible) at Wyong on Wednesday.

The pair take on several more experienced rivals in the $200,000 Wyong Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1100m) with a view to booking a place in next month's Gold Coast feature.

“Obviously, it would be nice to get both two-year-olds into the $2m Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast next month,” Widdup said. “But they will have to earn sufficient prizemoney, and the Wyong race is a good starting point.”

A recent Hawkesbury trial saw the colt Jailbreak beat the filly Islands over 760m.

Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott's Unite and Conquer (Hinchinbrook), a last-start winner of the Listed Maribyrnong Trial, heads the field, with Listed Debutant S. winning filly Champagne Boom (Spirit Of Boom) also among the chief contenders.

Railway next for Princess

Co-trainer Ken Kelso is aiming high with Princess Kereru (NZ) (Pins) after her win over 1200m at Ellerslie.

Kelso, who trains in partnership with his wife Bev and Mark Donoghue, wants to aim the in form 5-year-old mare at the G1 Sistema Railway S. at the same venue.

“She has got exemption to get in (to the Railway), so she’s safely in the field now. That will be her next start, she’ll go to the Railway,” Kelso said.