• Well Saturday saw the two jockey premierships take centre stage with Bowman and Avdulla in Sydney and Williams and Mertens in Melbourne battling it out . It was one of these battles that bought out the highlight race of the day ! It was in the Schweppes BM78 over 1200m with the SEbring and Snitzel colts fighting it out . Checkout the days review below.  

• Sebring -- In the opening race at Randwick on Saturday we saw the Snowden trained, Sebring colt, Assimilate,win the 2 year old event over 1200m in good style. She is out of the Commands mare, Jesters Girl . While later in the day in the Schweppes BM78 we saw the breed come out on top again in an epic battle between the two top Sydney jockeys, Hugh Bowman and Brendan Avdulla showing all their skills.

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  The Sebring colt Argent Dór seem to have the race won when Avdulla secured an inside run to go past the Snitzel colt Spending to Win but Bowman almost magically got an extra stride out of his mount to go down by a pimple.This put Avdulla back in front in the Jockeys premiership but Hugh worked his magic, in the second last with Kings of Leon to get The I Am Invincible gelding home over a gallant Last Witness to draw level again. The battle continues on Wednesday in the premiership so we are likely to see more excellent riding skills on show.

       Sebring 

Stands at Widden Stud 

• Salerno -- The Snitzel gelding Salerno at the good odds of 30/1 saluted in the Spring Carnival Hcp at Randwick getting home to beat the I Am Invincible filly Cudabeen. Then in the following race the Bowman ridden Spending to Win went down narrowly so the Snitzel's were unlucky not to secure another race to race double. While the I Am Invincible crew were unlucky not to get a treble as Bowman got Kings of Leon home in the Winx is Coming BM81 over 1200m. In the last Invincible Knight was swamped late to finnish runner up .

• Pacodali -- The 4 year old gelding trained by Darren Weir and ridden by Mick Dee is building an impressive CV. Notching another staying victory at Flemington on saturday. Once Weiry gets these imported gallopers firing they seem to stay in the zone so next season as a five year old could see some high rated wins by this Paco Boy gelding. He is out of a Dansili mare so the staying blood is certainly dominant.

• Craig Williams -- The Williams and young Beau Mertens battle for the premiership continued on Saturday with Craig coming out on top on the day with two victories. One of them being on the impressive 2 year old, High Chaparral filly, Anchor Bid in the Byerly Hcp and Portman by Makfi in the following event. He also had five other placings on the day so he could easily of went further ahead than the two wins and with two meetings left young Beau Mertens has his work cut out for him. Beau may just have to settle for second place with his 72 wins this season, a good effort for an apprentice. 

• Danehill Dancer -- Danehill Dancers broodmares were producing a good amount of winners over the weekend. On Saturday the mare Caribean Sunset produced a Lonrho gelding Lovani to win the Trainers Trust Hcp at Flemington. While in the open July Sprint at Randwick , the Ron Quinton trained Boss Lane is out of Lyrical Works and Argent Dór's mum is La Goulue both Danehill Dancer mares. Danehill Dancer passed on early this year but has left a good deal of quality at stud. His son Choisir of course was Australia''s leading light back in 2000/2001 when he travelled over to Ascot  and won the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee and King Stand Stakes within five days of each other. He has over the years continually produced group winners and last year he had two group one winners including Divine Prophet. 

Choisir 

Golden Jubilee  

• Anchor Bid -- The 2 year old High Chaparral filly stamped herself as a possible stayer of the future with her dominant win in the 1800m Byerly Hcp. She is out of the Zabeel mare Zapurple so she is certainly a staying blueblood . The High Chaparral horses love the bigger tracks so Flemington is a definate plus for the breed. Just gives them plenty of time to wind up and avoid any interference.

• Other Highlights -- Young lady apprentice Raquel Clarke book ended the Morphetville card on Saturday with Alamonteel 4yo mare by Alamosa over 1950m, winning the first for Patrick Payne and then 9 year old Justify That winning for Peter Moody. While Trusting sired the winner of the Oaklands Plate, Terry ridden by Mathew Nielsen who is just starting to hit form after being out for six months with injury from a fall. He also got the winner of the class 1 at Kembla Grange when 3 year old gelding Weekend Affair scored. Trusting stands at Turangga Farm, Scone. 

Trusting by Tale of the Cat 
out of Zabeel mare Legible stands at Turangga Farm 

The Snitzel Train

     

         The weekend of 15th July 2017 we saw another Snitzel double at Caulfield with the males of the breed, doing their job. The first leg of the double was in the benchmark 90, 1700m event. When Potion Control stormed down the outside, then in the next race, we saw a super ride by Ben Allen get Nikitas, the half brother to Jameka, home in the open Jockeys Trust Hcp over 1400m. On Wednesday, Snitzel equaled a 15 year old record set by Danehill securing his 26th stakes winner of the Australian season with Calanda, winning the listed Ramournie Hcp at Grafton. On the Jockeys side the talented female Jamie Kah scored a treble at Morphetville while Adam Hyeronimus got a treble at Rosehill.

Portion Control -- I do believe the Snitzel's may have a liking for the Caulfield track and Saturday, we saw Portion Control ridden by Corey Parish for Hayes and Dabernick stable sustain a run down the outside to score. The stable said the 2000m last start was just beyond him and the drop back in distance to the 1700m, benchmark 90, made all the difference today.

Nikitas -- In the Jockeys Trust Open Hcp we saw the Snitzel race to race double completed but this win was helped by an excellent ride by Ben Allen who escaped from a pocket as they rounded the turn to burst through and hold off a gallant Revolving Door who sat three wide the trip. This half brother to Jameka,being by the General Nedyim mare Mine Game is trained by Darren Weir.

Nikitas beating a gallant Revolving Door 

Jamie Kah --  Jamie Kah as a seventeen year old, had a swift rise to fame in 2013, winning the Adelaide Jockeys premiership and the John Letts medal for riding excellence. Her biggest victory to date is the Group 3 Victoria Hcp on Sistine Demon in 2014 but the way she is riding over the past 12 months. I can see a major win is not far off, for this 21 year old. After having a years break from riding last season, she has returned a much matured and confident young jockey and Saturday she scored a treble to bring her tally of wins this season to 126 . Her winners yesterday were the I Love This City gelding, Bris Vegas in the 1000m open 2yo Sprint.The Mastercraftsman 5yo gelding ,General Custer in the 225om, benchmark 82 event. Her second Ryan Balfour winner, Balfs Choice won the BM 82 1400m race. The 4yo gelding is by Written Tycoon.

Jamie Kah

Queensland Cup -- The Mike Moroney trained import, Araldo Junior won the Queensland Cup over 3200m on the Sunshine Coast .

Fastnet Rock -- The beautifully bred, Seige of Quebec made it two from two with a win in the open 2yo at Rosehill for the Waterhouse/ Bott stable , ridden by Tom Berry. The 1.2 million yearling buy is out of Rose of Cimmaron, who is by Bite the Bullet.

Adam Hyeronimus --- Adam scored a treble at Rosehill with two of his winners being trained by Tim Martin. The Encosta De Lago gelding Pick Me Up who won the benchmark 75 and the last, saw him get the 7yo Hunter Jack home to knock punters out of the quaddie at 30/1 . Adam is riding in the best form of his career and he says Tim Martin has alot to do with it. Adam said " Tim has really helped me with my riding in the past couple of months and taught me a lot about the animal. He is an incredible horseman and has heaps of respect for the animal. Its great to be riding for him."

   

Ability and Royal Symphony

  The weekends racing saw a day of potential stars at Flemington with the wins of Ability and Royal Symphony. While in the jockey ranks Beau Mertens , Hugh Bowman and the ever consistent female jockey Linda Meech were the hoops in form.

 Ability --   The recently gelded son of Reward For Effort got a split , a couple of hundred metres out from the post in the All Victorian Sprint Final to burst through with brilliant acceleration to score easily. Dwayne Dunn rode him a treat and was impressed how he let down. While trainer, Robert Smerdon,was amazed at the progress he has made since his gelding operation. He will now be given a short break and be back for some major sprints in the spring.

Checkout this Reward For Effort filly out of Alteration being syndicated at Blueblood Thoroughbreds and to be trained by Darren Weir. A star waiting to shine, I reckon. Get on board with a 2.5 % share for only $1,345 .

Royal Symphony -- Another awesome victory for the unbeaten son of Domesday, blitzing his rivals with a great turn of foot in the Taj Rossi Series Final at Flemington. The 2yo colt is the 16th foal of his dam, Naturalist.

Royal Symphony after his win on Saturday

   

Super Haze -- The second leg of a winning double for the Tony Mcevoy stable at Flemington. The ever consistent South Australian galloper was ridden by Luke Currie who pulled him to the outside of the field in the Banjo Paterson Series Final for a good win. The 5yo High Chaparral gelding had promised so much early in his career and has finally found form this preperation. While at Kembla Grange, Level Eight, another High Chaparral scored in the benchmark 70 for the Snowden team,

Linda Meech and Bianconi -- One of, or possibly the best female jockeys in Australia Linda Meech had another successful day on saturday at Donald, notching up 125 wins for the season and is out chasing Dean Yendal for the Victorian jockey with the most wins in the season. How Linda is not getting rides in the city is beyond me. She has a great association with the Bianconi breed and her best ride was to get the Bianconi mare Contilla home in the 1000m sprint. While her second winner Hero Master in the 1600m benchmark 58 was another good ride. Linda said last year "I'm not fancy but I get the job done ". Here is Linda winning on the Smart Missile filly , Smart Coupe at Sandown last Wednesday. Her one ride for the day for a win.

Highlighted Stallion

Bon Hoffa -- The Belong to Me stallion stands at Bowness Stud near Young in NSW. He had a win in the 2000m benchmark 64 at Donald on saturday with 4yo gelding, Serious Hoffa and in the 2100m Event Hire Hcp at Gawler with the 5yo mare Bon Elise. The stud also stand Bullet Train and My Boy Charlie. 

Bon Hoffa Bowness Stud 

Hugh Bowman and Reward for Effort

   Today, Wednesday 5th of July we saw the Bowman/Reward for Effort show continue . After both showed off their infuence and dominance on the weekend. It was no surprise to see more success come their way. Bowman at Canterbury and Reward for Effort stamp his influence on the Sandown meeting with two of his progeny successful. 

     The boy from Dunedoo began his rise to the top of the mountain, when in 1999/2000 racing season he became, champion Sydney apprentice in his first year of riding .Bowman rode his first Group I winner in 2004 when successful on the Guy Walter , trained, Defier, in the Doomben Cup. Since then his record has just grown each year , reaching a new high, in an epic season of 2016/17. A year his riding association with the champion Winx  continued, undefeated. He had group 1 success in Hong Kong  and now he is in a showdown with Brendon Avdulla for the Sydney Jockey Premiership. Yesterdays three wins at Canterbury has taken him to within 3.5 of Avdulla. 

Hugh Bowman and Winx

    Hugh has said "If I win or don’t win it won’t make any real difference to me, but it is something to focus on during a quieter time of the year. It is a little bit of fun,’’ Bowman said.“I don’t feel like a break and I’m riding comfortably at 56kg so my weight is good.“I’m walking the Kokoda Track in August so I don’t want to take time off now and then go away for 10 days at the end of July. So, I plan to ride through to the last day of the season (July 29) then fly out the next day for the Kokoda walk.’’

   

   Reward For Effort breed continues to dominate in Australias off season and in South Africa, his daughter Effortless Reward recorded her fifth victory recently. Over the past few months his progeny have been winning at most victorian meetings and today at Sandown we saw Pakaya Prince win the benchmark 70, ridden by Ben Thompson and in the benchmark 78, Murphy's Reward, ridden by Jake Bayliss made it a double for the Exceed and Excel stallion. On  Saturday his son Gold Symphony was a very impressive winner at Rosehill . 

Reward For Effort

Chatswood Stud
Other stallions standing Anacheeva and All American 

  Gold Symphony -- The Reward for Effort gelding was successful in the listed, Civic Stakes over 1350m at Rosehill on Saturday. Ridden perfectly by Hugh Bowman to record a third victory for the top jockey. It was a well deserved win as he was caught very wide in the Stradbroke, having no luck. Paul Snowden trained horse has now won nearly 500,000 in prizemoney . The breed have been hugely successful over recent months, getting plenty of winners. They need just a little time and they can really perform.

  Kiwia -- The 3yo Reset gelding scored his third win from his 5 starts in Saturdays 2000m Hcp at Caulfield. The Weir stable says he's improving all the time. He was ridden by Jordan Childs and even though he was forced to sit on the outside of the leader until just after turning for home where he forged clear to win by one and three quarter lengths.

 Unique Lovely -- The 3yo Bel Esprit filly made it three in a row for trainer Frankie Stockdale in the Sheamus Mills Bloodstock Hcp. Ridden by his son Brandon she came storming home to grab the lead near the post just holding off Princess of Queens on her outside.

Supply and Demand -- Ridden by Josh Parr , the tough Sydney stayer trained by bott and waterhouse led all the way in the Caloundra Cup. The Sebring gelding has surprized the stable with his wins even though they keep increasing his distances. He is not really built like a stayer but after the 2400m win today he may have a crack at the Queensland Cup over 3200m.

Monsieur Gustave -- The Al Maher gelding is out of the STravinsky mare Saigon Moonlight which is the Lankan Rupee family. Adam Hyeronimus took him straight to the front and he was never headed. After winning the Eye Liner in Ipswich two weeks ago and the Glasshouse Stakes today. His trainer Daryl Hansen says he will be going for a well deserved rest. He has now won 340,000 dollars in prizemoney.

Hulalalai -- The 2yo colt trained by Bott/Waterhouse ridden by Bowman won the 1400m opening event. He has a super pedigree and could well progress to be a major contenderin the spring. He is by Street Cry from the Encosta De Lago mare Aloha . Adrian Bott says they are thinking of targeting the Caulfield Guineas with the colt. We will just wait for Gai to get back and we will access the spring.

Weekend of Deserved Victories

Egg Tart -- A big win from the Sebring filly in the Queensland Oaks over the reduced 2200m journey and it extended her picket fence to six pickets. The Chris Waller trained filly has now won in four different states. .Chris said , I have never tried this with any other horse.She really has the X factor. He is hinting at taking a similar preparation path to Winx in her four year old season. This could mean Winx may have a support act over the Spring . She looks high quality so its not out of the question that her and the champion mare may just clash.

Egg Tart 

Queensland Oaks Group 1  

Katsuro -- The I Am Invincible gelding got held up all the way down the straight at the Valley on Saturday and it was''nt until the last 50 metres that the gap appeared and Mick Dee drove him through the opening to score narrowly. It was well deserved win for the Mick Price trained horse because at his previous start he had his momentum halted numerous times.

Snitty Kitty -- The Snitzel filly is still learning her craft and has a tendency to over race at times but she is showing heaps of promise and on Saturday collected another win to add to her impressive record. The connections have decided to put her away now, for the later part of the Spring, where there may be some perfect races for her.

Deploy -- Tim Clarke scored a race to race double at Doomben on saturday and the Fastnet Rock gelding was the first of them. He is out of a Red Ransom mare. It was an excellent ride by Tim getting up along the fence to score a convincing win.

Camdus -- A gem of a ride by Craig Williams at the Valley completed a great week for the Street Cry clan. There are some real quality amongst the breed going around at the moment and if they return in the Spring with others like Winx, Harpers Choice and Raiment i can see a very successful spring for the breed.

Single Gaze -- In the P.J.Oshea Stakes the Not A Single Doubt clan continued on their winning way during the Brisbane carnival. It was a well deserved win for Single Gaze,who has tried so tenaciously over the last month to find the winning post before his rivals and finally today he did it. A good ride by Kathy O'hara ticked one up for the girls. She knows the gelding well and she had plenty of praise for him after the Hollingdale Cup on the Gold Coast . Payroll was successful earlier in the day at Doomben so it was a good double once again for the breed as they scored a double in Brissy last weekend as well. At Bendigo on a soft track saw Zoot Suit Riot another Not A Single Doubt gelding, score in restricted 58 grade.

Not A Single Doubt 

Arrowfield Stud 

Other Winners --
In the benchmark 70 over 1000m in Adelaide on Saturday. The 3yo filly Alta Stella was just one of a number of Star Witness progeny to win over the weekend. Another was First Hand at Rosehill successful over 1300m. Alasio by Foxwedge out of a Red Ransom mare, trained by Waterhouse and Bott scored in the maiden at Kembla. While the Snowden trained Foxwedge 2yo colt Silencia won the first at Randwick.

No Doubting Street Cry

• Clearly Innocent -- The Not A Single Doubt gelding who has promised so much, is finally beginning to show his class, after winning, the listed Yarraman Park Stakes last start. He came out on saturday and added a group 1 in the Kingsford Smith Cup at Eagle Farm to his career. Which now stands at 9 wins from 15 starts He stormed down the outside under strong riding from Hugh Bowman to score running away from the brave Jungle Edge who tried to steal the race by bursting clear on straightening. He is out of the Zabeel mare No Penalty.

• Melody Belle -- The Qld Sires Produce saw the 2yo filly by Commands trounce her rivals and start a good day for the NZers. Commands has been such a prolific stallion of winners over many years. and she is from an Ifraaj mare which leads us in the direction of the Grand Prix winner Order Again who is by the same stallion, Ifraaj .

 Ifraaj sire of Rosehill Guineas winner Gingernuts

 stands at Hanui Farm in New Zealand his 2017 fee is $25,00

• Eckstein -- Another NZ owned filly won the Glen Logan Park Stks over 1300m. She is by I Am Invincible who has been having a good run of late . The breed dont normally relish real heavy tracks but i think her class was the telling point here.

• Counter Pulse -- The full brother of Counter Spin, started the day off great for the family at Morphetville winning the Hughes Limousine Hcp. He was ridden by Clare Lindop and trained by Leon Mcdonald, the same partnership as his older brother who could'nt reciprocate in the last. The five year old Hard Spun gelding is out of Counter Sue. He led all the way holding off all challenges with that tenacious Hard Spun fight. 

• Rillito -- The Street Cry five year old mare, owned by Godolphin burst through an opening halfway down the straight at Sandown in the Security Services BM 78 to record a good victory.This made it 4 from 8 for the mare who is from the Commands mare Unswerving. 

• Allergic -- He won the main race on the Randwick card , the 2400m Mckell Cup and continued the great week for Street Cry. The six year old gelding came down the outside, to score. The Godolphin owned gelding is from the Encosta De Lago mare. Cajou. 

• In Times of War -- The 3yo Street Cry filly picked up the race before the Mckell cup to give the stallion a race to race double. Trained by Chris Waller who trains the champion Street Cry mare Winx. She could be one to watch for the future. 

Street Cry Tribute his Dubai World Cup win.

,Zenyatta his sons Street Boss,Street Sense ,Who Be Got You and Shocking and
WINX . 

• Winners -- A maiden double to Snitzel at Newcastle with the 3yo filly Bint Snitzel winning the first and later in the day, saw Live To Dream another Snitzel filly score.Lets head to Warracknabeal next for the second Victorian meeting. Where we find many of the stallions mentioned here, adding to their weekends winners list.In the 1600 m races, we saw Verreaux a Street Cry win the benchmark 58 and Superveloce a Savabeel scrape home in the other handicap event . Prime Suspect by Not A Single Doubt won the final 1200m event. 

•    There is just one more stallion i want to mention before closing this week and he was represented at this meeting by A Moving Place who was successful in the maiden. Canford Cliffs is the stallion and he also sired the winner of the first race on the Sandown meeting today. The promising two year old Cliff's Edge and he scored an easy win. Darren Weir trains a lot of this breed and holds them in high regard. 

Canford Cliffs Coolmores shuttle stallion 
stands for 10,000 pounds in the Northern Hemispher.
Winner of the group 1 Qneen Anne Stakes at Ascot.
He stood at Australias Blue Gum Farm in 2013

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Burning Front Continues

• Burning Front -- The front running class act continued on the weekend for the Weir trained Burning Front in the group 3 R.A.Lee Stakes. What a record this gelding by the Flying Spur stallion Primus is setting.He now has won 18 of his 48 starts with 1.26 million and has never contested a Group 1 event. Brad Rawiller rode him perfectly, having him rolling along in front and although headed in the straight kept finding, to win, well. Connections are likely to send the iron horse to Brisbane next start.

 Burning Front Keeps Winning

• Vega Magic -- The new member to the Hayes/Dabernig stable sat outside the leader for most of the Group 1 Goodwood Hcp and ridden out by Craig Williams scored well. The Lope De Vega gelding from W.A was well backed and made it a fourth group 1 in Australia for the breed.

• Exocet -- It was Craig Williams again on Exocet but this time, with a gem of a ride to get the Freedman trained mare home in the listed Centaurea Stakes,making it a double on the Morphetville card for the Smart Missile clan. Earlier in the day the National Stakes was taken out by the Smart Missile two year old I'll Have a Little Bit. Exocet is out of the Zabeel mare Crillion.

Smart Missile the Fastnet Rock stallion 

stands at Arrowfield Stud for $22,000 service fee.

• Sense of Occassion -- We saw Sense of Occassion  running on hard down the centre of the track at Doomben to take out the Group 1 Cup . He was very unlucky in the Hollindale Cup on the Gold Coast last start but was kept clear of trouble today. The gelding is by the Street Cry stallion Street SEnse and is out of the Zabeel mare Saywaan.

• Kenedna -- In the Magic Million Roses we saw Kenedna get the decision narrowly.  The mare likes the close ones after being nosed out in the Group 1 S.A. Oaks last start. This time the Not a Single Doubt mare survived a long protest from the Fastnet Rock filly, Oklahoma Girl. Kenedna is out of the Falbrav mare Miss Dodwell. This was a double for Not A Single Doubt as in the previous race the Bright Shadow Handicap we witnessed the four year old mare Bidii Babe score.

• Sovereign Nation -- The Encosta De Lago gelding has promised so much over the last couple of years and finally it fell into place at Flemington on saturday, winning the Lloyd Williams Hall of Fame. He's finally seems to be focusing in his races this preperation.  In the next we saw a double for Encosta with De Little Engine running out the 3200m of the Andrew Ramsden to get into the winners circle twice in a week.

• Ashdam -- Wanted to mention the win of Ashdam at Wodonga in the benchmark 78 on saturday, The full brother to Ashlor who won the last at Morphetville last saturday  These two brothers fight like caged lions and have noticed this trait of the Hard Spun breed,they are prize fighters. The brothers are out of the Keltrice mare Another Shot.

• Other Winners -- Tactical Advantage won the QTIS Hcp at Doomben he is by Bel Esprit from Above Perfection an Encosta De Lago mare. In a class 1 on Saturday at Newcastle Picardy Rose got the money another of the Smart Missile's. In the Winx Hall of Fame race at Flemington the Fastnet Rock Guangzhou was victorious while the same hall of fame race inn Sydney was won by the I Am Invincible horse Invincabeel out of Belle Noir a Zabeel mare.