Strong hand for Newgate

Newgate Farm looks set to be a major force in Saturday’s Inglis Nursery at Randwick.

The Hunter Valley operation is a shareholder in both the favourite Strasbourg (I Am Invincible) and Enforcement (I Am Invincible) while Blazing Miss is a daughter of their stallion Sizzling (Snitzel).

“A lot of our model is based around 2-year-old speed and precocity so it's nice to have an interest in three horses running in the race,” General Manager Bruce Slade said.

Instrumental in the selection of the two colts was Newgate's Managing Director Henry Field and Michael Wallace from the China Horse Club, who also races Strasbourg and Enforcement.

“They purchase anywhere between 10 and 15 colts a year and we've been lucky enough to secure Capitalist at a young stage in the past and Russian Revolution at a young stage as well and they've gone on to be stallions on our roster at Newgate,” Slade said.

Enforcement has won both of his trials, the latest at Hawkesbury in fine style.

“He's a horse Peter Snowden has always held in high regard, he hasn't been bedded down in the trials and he's come through that well,” Slade said,

“We're looking forward to seeing what he can do under race day conditions.”

Breeze back in business

Kentucky Breeze (Pierro) broke a lengthy drought with his last-start win at Ballarat.

A year ago he was successful in the Listed Airline H. during the Melbourne Cup carnival, but a virus in between times held him back.

Trainer Levi Kavanagh is now hoping Kentucky Breeze can kick on and has the 4-year-old ready for the VRC Employee Volunteer Program H. at Flemington on Saturday.

“I've been able to drop him back in grade to get him in winning form after he paid the penalty of being up in the weights a bit in the autumn,” he said.

“He's still only lightly raced, but he's still been able to amass $150,000 in prize money.”

Kentucky Breeze steps out to 1720 metres on Saturday and Kavanagh expects him to get over further.

“I've always thought he was a 2000 metre horse, but we weren't able to get there in the autumn,” he said.

Piggott in recovery

Legendary retired English jockey Lester Piggott, 83, is recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery to have a pacemaker fitted.

One of the sport's all-time great figures, Piggott has been in hospital since the beginning of this month.

His daughter Maureen Haggas, wife of trainer William Haggas, confirmed a pacemaker had been fitted to help her father's heart beat normally.

“"He had a pacemaker fitted around 10 days ago, but he's going okay,” Haggas told Press Association Sport.

“He's still in hospital at the moment. We're hopeful he might be out by the weekend, but they're not 100 per cent sure yet.

“He obviously wants to get out of there, but they won't let him go unless they're 100 per cent happy with him."

Piggott, who had a spell in intensive care in 2007 in a Swiss hospital with a heart complaint, won the Epsom Derby a remarkable nine times.

Elliot bags Ellerslie treble

Apprentice Ryan Elliot was the star of the show in Ellerslie’s Jockeys’ World Cup on Thursday night in front of a bumper twilight crowd.

The 19-year-old rode a treble of winners from just five rides, upstaging some of the international stars which included Sydney jockey Tommy Berry and South Australian champion rider Jamie Kah.

Elliot struck early, partnering Chief Sequoyah (NZ) (Redwood {GB}) to victory for Stephen Marsh in the opener, before producing a gem of a ride to score on the Nigel Tiley-trained Standing Ovation (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}).

Elliot then notched his third winner aboard the longshot Spancilhill (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}) for Mark Forbes.

“I thought two of them looked alright on paper, but I was a bit surprised by the other one,” Elliot said.

“It was a great experience. It was really good to ride with the international jockeys.

“I had a pretty good chat with Tommy Berry all day. He’s a very nice guy.

“He spoke about his time in Hong Kong and what a good experience it was for him and he encouraged me to have a go in Australia at some stage.

“I guess the main things I learned from him was to take your chances while you’ve got them.”

Rain welcomed by trainer

Trainer Robert Heathcote will be happy to see the rain tumbling down at Doomben on Saturday.

Noted wet tracker No Annamossity (Mossman), who is a three-quarter brother to outstanding sprinter Buffering, will run in Saturday's Listed Lough Neagh S.

In his first run from a spell, he finished sixth behind I'm A Rippa (Love Conquers All) in the G3 George Moore S.

“They walked early and then got home in 32.9 seconds for the final 600 metres and my bloke had no chance,” Heathcote said.

“With the race out to 1350 metres on Saturday and with a decent early pace he would be a chance on any surface.

“But on a wet track I give him a real chance. His trial before his first-up run was very good and I have always felt he will be a stakes horse."

Maiden a chance in Salver

Tony Pike has eight runners entered between meetings at Te Rapa and Ellerslie this weekend, including Heavenly Emperor (Echoes Of Heaven) in the Listed Barfoot & Thompson 3-Year-Old Salver at the latter venue on Sunday.

“We've always thought he had the makings of a really nice staying three-year-old,” he said.

“All his runs have been at Te Rapa, and two of his runs when he has trailed there, he's really resented the kick-back.

“So up to Ellerslie and on a better track surface I think he's not without a chance, even though he is still a maiden.”

Pike celebrated a victory at the Auckland course on Thursday with the highly-regarded Sacred Day (Azamour {IRE}).

“We’ve always had a massive opinion of the horse,” he said.

“He was on a very short run-up trying to get to the New Zealand Derby as a 3-year-old, which was never going to happen, it all came up too quickly for him.

“He actually had a tiny chip in his fetlock which we had to take out. Hence he had a long break between runs. In hindsight that was probably the best thing for him.

“He was still quite physically and mentally immature as a 3-year-old, but he's just come back a lot stronger and a lot more mentally mature this time in.”

Pike said that although Sacred Day was only progressing through the grades, he believes there is a big-race win in the gelding within the next six months.