New Zealand returns to level 2 restrictions
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced on Tuesday night that Auckland will return to lockdown and the rest of the country will go into level 2 restrictions, which comes after four cases of COVID-19 community transmission.
As of noon tomorrow, Auckland will move to level 3 for three days until midnight on Friday.
At this stage it is unclear how the week’s racing will be affected, however it is most likely there will be no crowds at any race meetings.
It has been reported that New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s executive team will meet tonight at 8.30pm AEST to confirm details.
First foal for Eminent
Eminent (Ire) is off the mark with the arrival of the first foal by the Brighthill Stud resident.
A colt bred by Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan has been safely delivered at Cambridge Stud with the youngster a son of Rose Meer (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}). Rose Meer is a daughter of the stakes- placed Redoute’s Choice mare Joy’s Choice (NZ).
The first foal by Eminent (Ire), out of Rose Meer (NZ)
"I couldn’t be happier with him. He is a smart, strong and correct colt with a lovely head and a bit of presence about him,” Brighthill’s Nick King said.
“It’s certainly exciting to have the first foal on the ground safely and leaving a good impression.”
A Group 2 and 3 winner and placed at the elite level, Eminent is the only son of Frankel (GB) at stud in Australasia and served a quality book of 114 mares last season.
Vancouver filly impresses
Coolmore stallion Vancouver has sired an impressive winner in the United States with Adelaide Miss (USA) successful on debut.
The Russell Brittany-trained filly got home strongly to make the perfect start to her career over 1000 metres at Colonial Downs.
Adelaide Miss is a daughter of Miss Judged (USA) (E Dubai {USA}) and from the family of the Group 1 winners Zoftig (USA) (Cozzene {USA}), Zo Impressive (USA) (Hard Spun {USA}) and Zaftig (USA) (Gone West {USA}).
Vancouver has been represented by 15 worldwide winners from 48 runners, including the G2 Turffontein South African Nursery winner Mount Pleasant. Among his 10 Australian winners are the Group-placed pair of Vangelic and Postcode.
Phoenix ends UK operation
Dubai-based Phoenix Thoroughbreds will cease its racing operation in the United Kingdom with the process to start with immediate effect.
“It is with a heavy heart that Phoenix Thoroughbreds will no longer have our racing operations in the UK. We have very much enjoyed working with our excellent partners in that market and seeing our colours race at Ascot, Newmarket and further afield has been a dream come true for myself and everyone here at Phoenix Thoroughbreds,” Phoenix Chief Executive Officer Amer Abdulaziz Salman said.
“This has not been a decision we have taken lightly. However, for the growth and wellbeing of our business and our partners internationally, we have taken the decision to leave the UK for the foreseeable future. “
In November, Abdulaziz was accused by OneCoin founder Konstantin Ignatov in a New York court of stealing €100 million (AU$165 million) from the cryptocurrency set-up, which has been alleged to be an international Ponzi scheme.
The investigation resulted in a guilty verdict for former lawyer Mark Scott on charges of fraud and laundering US$400 million (AU$550 million) in illegal funds for OneCoin.
Purse withheld
The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) has announced it will continue to withhold payment from the US$20 million (AU$27,971,289) Saudi Cup to the connections of Maximum Security (USA) (New Year’s Day {USA}) as it continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the horse and former trainer Jason Servis.
While that money is being withheld, a decision has been made to go ahead and pay the owners who had horses finish second through 10th in the February race.
Shortly after the Saudi Cup, Servis was among 27 people indicted on federal charges involving the doping of racehorses. In April, Saudi authorities announced they would withhold paying out the purse to all connections while an investigation was ongoing. The Saudi Cup winner is due to collect US$10 million (AU$13,982,644).
Monday’s announcement revealed for the first time that there was an “objection to the participation” of Maximum Security after the race. It did not spell out who lodged the objection and when. The JCSA said the objection and the indictments were what led to the investigation.
Moody’s Cup hope
Peter Moody will be guiding the G1 Melbourne Cup hopes of Nickajack Cave (Ire) (Kendargent {Ire}).
Last week’s G3 Ballyroan S. winner will go into quarantine at Newmarket in September ahead of his trip to Australia.
“The Melbourne Cup is our sole target. There was a suggestion that he would run in the G1 Irish St Leger, but we were worried that if he won that it might have given him too much weight in the Melbourne Cup, so we've decided to bypass that race,” Moody told Racing.com.
"Robert Roulston selected the horse and does a wonderful job in identifying these suitable horses for connections."
Out of a daughter of Montjeu (Ire), Nickajack Cave was trained by Ger Lyons to win four of his 10 starts up to 2800 metres.
Kiwis cleared to fly
There was an echoed sigh of relief in Waikato with a handful of trainers receiving travel exemptions on Tuesday for their staff to fly to Australia.
Cambridge trainer Tony Pike was one of the recipients of the good news and he has already booked flights for two of his employees to head across the Tasman.
Trainer Tony Pike has already booked flights for two of his staff to travel to Australia for the spring
Pike’s Australian team will be headed by The Bostonian (NZ) (Jimmy Choux {NZ}), who will target the G1 Winx S. first-up, and with fellow trainer Clayton Chipperfield unable to head to Sydney, he will take charge of Catalyst (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}).
“Catalyst will go when they are settled in over there. He doesn’t have to race until September 19,” said Rick Williams, Racing Manager for owner Dick Karreman.
Williams has already fielded calls from $15 million The Everest slot holders and he could be in for an exciting spring if he performs well in the G2 The Shorts at Randwick next month.
Series cancelled
The remainder of the 2020 National Apprentice Race Series (NARS) has been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The opening two legs of the series were held in Tasmania and Western Australia in March, before the final three legs were postponed in the wake of coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
This week, a joint decision was made to abandon the balance of the NARS, scheduled for Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
“The National Apprentice Race Series is a fantastic initiative for young apprentices across the country, so it’s unfortunate that the series couldn’t proceed this year,” Racing Queensland Chief Operating Officer Adam Wallish said.
Cambridge back on track
The construction of the Cambridge Jockey Club’s synthetic track is back on target.
Civil works for the track are nearing completion and the club was waiting upon the expertise of Australian-based company Martin Collins to be able to mix and lay the track surface.
The Cambridge Jockey Club synthetic track under construction
The Martin Collins cavalry is now set to arrive with the Cambridge Jockey Club’s application for a travel exemption granted last week.
“We are now in the process of just finalising their visas for them to come over,” Cambridge Jockey Club Chief Executive Mark Fraser-Campin said. “They will have to do their quarantine, but the biggest hurdle was getting an exemption to get them over and we received that last week.
“We are hoping that within a month they will be here and out of quarantine. By the end of this week, we should have all the visas wrapped up and they should be booked on flights.”
Major Taupo focus
Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman will roll out some of their highly regarded unraced 3-year-olds as well as a few proven stars at Taupo on Wednesday, while they wait to finalise plans for an Australian-bound contingent.
The Cambridge trainers have accepted with eight horses at the meeting and beforehand they will have six runners in the two open trials, including The Chosen One (NZ) (Savabeel) and Quick Thinker (So You Think {NZ}), the stable’s main prospects in Australia.
“The Chosen One and Quick Thinker are both qualified for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, but, until we know what is happening with the spring carnival in Melbourne with all this COVID-19 going on over there, they’ll be going to Sydney to start with if we can finalise the travel arrangements,” Baker said.
“If they can get to Sydney and Melbourne doesn’t open up the borders at least they will have some good races to run in. There are so many good opportunities in Sydney. I’ve won 22 Group 1 races in Australia and I’d like to think I can win more. We’ll be trying, that’s for sure.”
