THE PETLEY REPORT (JUNE 10 - JUNE 15)

By Jack Petley | Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Jack Petley has gathered a wealth of racing experience in many roles over several decades and in recent times he has produced a very informative daily racing news feed on Facebook. Jack will continue to post on facebook, where he has built up a healthy support base, but his commentary, across a broad section of racing precincts, will now also have a regular place on the HRO website.

This is THE PETLEY REPORT!

One heck of a tough win by Wu Gok in the Winter Cup at Rosehill; a brilliant win by the filly Vanna Girl in the Group 2 The Roses; Chris Waller got most of the money in the Tatts Cup and Winter Cup; James McDonald, rode a treble at Rosehill and lost $1500 to the stewards in the process and Andrew Adkins rode a Rosehill double … these are some of the highlights of an excellent days racing in Oz on Saturday.
______________________________________________________________________

That was some win by Wu Gok in the Winter Cup. He looked headed inside the last 50 by his stablemate Carzoff after going for an all the way win but, just as Carzoff was being hailed the winner, Wu Gok came back and won and, of course, it was a 1,2,3 result for Waller with Yulon Prince finishing third. Wu Gok's win put another Cup on the sideboard with him having already won the Premiers Cup, the Wyong Cup and Lord Mayors Cup. He is one tough stayer.
_____________________________________________________________________

Talking about Waller, and it is hard not to every race-day, he was 1,2,3,4 in the Tatts Cup with Brimham Rocks getting the money from Savacool, Shraaoh and Le Juge.
____________________________________________________________________

Waller had no such joy at Canterbury in midweek though when the half-sister to his champion mare Winx, Covent Garden, beat only one home on a heavy track which did not seem to suit her one iota.
_______________________________________________________________________

And again, while on the Waller yard, I see that former NZ PM John Key and successful businessman and ever so successful cricketer in his time, Terry Jarvis race the mare Word for Word, who was back in winning form again.
_______________________________________________________________________

Chris Waller has gained yet another smart galloper from NZ, the stakes winning mare Polly Grey. She just recently joined the Rosehill barn of the NZ born champion trainer and is in Sydney with a good Matamata Cup win last year on her record and placings, before the lockdown of racing, in the WRC Thompson Handicap and the Japan Trophy.
______________________________________________________________________

The Wu Gok result was a good lift for jockey Adam Hyeronimus, who faces charges over alleged betting offences. Meanwhile, jockey Ric McMahon has been disqualified for 15 months after being found guilty of tampering with a urine sample at Mount Isa and Townsville last August.
______________________________________________________________________

One had to be impressed with that win on the weekend at Rosehill by the German bred mare Attention Run for Kris Lees and the syndicate headed by Australian Bloodstock. She now heads to the McKell in two weeks time and maybe the Grafton Cup. In her favour is that she is best with cut in the tracks.
______________________________________________________________________

Adelong, who won so well at Rosehill on the weekend, will have a short break and then be aimed at majors of the spring.
_______________________________________________________________________

James McDonald, rode three winners at Rosehill … Lady Banff for Matthew Dunn, Word for Word for Waller and Adelong for Brad Widdup. McDonald was fined $1500 for over-use of the whip on Word for Word. His vigour got the mare, by So You Think, home narrowly over Bound to Win. Lady Banff was ridden from the back by McDonald and those tactics proved spot on with the filly going to the front 150 out and then showing courage to hold out Meadow Land. Her trainer Matthew Dunn also enjoyed a winner in the Highway Plate with Ready to Humble in the hands of the brilliant Hughie Bowman.
______________________________________________________________________

The Freedman yard of Richard and Michael saddled up the winner Outback Diva and I see that at Kembla they won three so they had a very good day all round.
______________________________________________________________________

Andrew Adkins was successful on the Kris Lees-trained Attention Run in the Bortolli Wine Handicap over 1800 metres and then turned up again later in the day with a win on longshot Monegal to complete a double.
______________________________________________________________________

And what about that win by Monegal who cost a mere $3000 at a Scone sale and has now won six races and $240,000 in stakes. What a bargain!
______________________________________________________________________

Smart galloper Masked Crusader is back with Team Hawkes after a break. He looks one of the rising stars on the Sydney horizon.
_______________________________________________________________________

Vanna Girl made her rivals look second rate in The Roses at Eagle Farm, dashing clear inside the last 150 and easing right down for a cracking win. That took her record to seven wins from ten starts and now her connections are looking at some major races in the spring, even the Cox Plate.
______________________________________________________________________

Another Edmonds runner, another feature race winner. That was a solid win by the filly Smart ‘N’ Sexy in the Dalrello Stakes in the hands of Robbie Fradd. Team Edmonds and Fradd were the same combo that took out the Stradbroke last week.
________________________________________________________________________

Some roughies got home at Eagle Farm. What a win for Tracey Bartley and In Good Time at odds of 70-1 in the Ascot Handicap and for Love You Lucy in the last of the day at odds of 41-1 for 79-year-old trainer Barry Squair as the mare added to her success in the Silk Stocking at the Gold Coast recently.
______________________________________________________________________

The NZ bred colt Not an Option, who ran unplaced in the JJ Atkins last week for the Freedman yard, will return to Tony Pike later this month. “He is spelling at present and is due to come home on the 29th," said Pike who added that he believed that the colt would be, “a much better three-year-old."
______________________________________________________________________

More good news for punters in Oz. The Victorian Government has named June 22 as the day for re-opening TABs and pub tabs will also be in operation. Of course, protocols are still in place … but yet more movement to open Australia up.
_______________________________________________________________________

This is such bad news …. the great galloper Black Heart Bart bled in the Hyperion Stakes in Perth and, after finishing well back in the field, he has bene retired with the wonderful racing record of 17 wins from 62 starts and a very healthy $4.7million bank balance. He retires with majors to his name like the Goodwood, Memsie and the Underwood.
_______________________________________________________________________

Talking of quality Danny O'Brien has news that his star staying three-year-old, Russian Camelot will soon resume work and the dashing SA Derby winner has races like the Cox Plate on his spring agenda. He is quoted at $12 for the Cox Plate and solid in the market for both Cups - $11 for the Caulfield Cup and $9 favourite for the Melbourne Cup.
_______________________________________________________________________

Bookmakers in the UK have agreed to donate all of their profits from the Brittannia Stakes at Royal Ascot to Covid 19 and cancer charities … the members include Paddy Power Betfair, Bet365, Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill to name several.
________________________________________________________________________

Great result for the O'Brien family in the Irish 1000 Guineas with the family gaining a 1,2,3,4 result with Aidan saddling up the winner, Peaceful, over his son Donnacha's runner, Fancy Blue .The winner is by Galileo and that edged him past the record set by Danehill, with Galileo now on 85 at the highest level. The O'Brien family countdown to the Royal Ascot carnival has well and truly begun.
_______________________________________________________________________

The outstanding Gey Lyons trained colt Siskin ran out a brilliant winner of the Irish 2000 Guineas. The trainer said the colt won't be running at Ascot. He said next run is likely to be in the Sussex Stakes. And I note that a Breeders Cup tilt is on the cards for that outstanding Group 1 winning mare Con Te Partiro.
_______________________________________________________________________

Further news out of Ireland is that the O'Briens have several Team Williams stayers getting ready for racing and likely trips ‘Down Under’ including Yucatan, Latrobe and Master of Reality.
________________________________________________________________________

Frankie Dettori has gained the mount on the brilliant Sceptical in the Kings Stand.
________________________________________________________________________

I note that the much-travelled mare Magic Wand was successful in the Lanwades Stakes at the Curragh. She has put together a remarkable racing record having taken the Mackinnon Stakes in Melbourne and also raced with distinction in France, the UK, the US, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
______________________________________________________________________

Even though showers are expected at the track for the first day of the Royal Ascot meeting it is expected to offer up good to firm footing. The meeting is to be staged behind closed doors in keeping with restrictions British racing must abide to with temperature testing of all those on the track.
________________________________________________________________________

One race I'm looking forward to at Royal Ascot is the Prince of Wales on the second day. That star of the Sydney carnival, the William Haggas trained Addeybb, is one of seven to go to the post and others include Bangkok, trained by Andrew Balding and Charlie Appleby's Barney Roy. English jockey Tom Marquand teamed with Addeybb in Sydney and he will keep the Prince of Wales’s ride. Solid in the betting I see is the Aidan O'Brien trained Japan, the mount of Ryan Moore. Japan, the Juddmonte International winner, finished fourth in his last start in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
_______________________________________________________________________

And while on the UK it is sad not to see an Aussie sprinter on hand especially Nature Strip who had the trip in hand before the virus wrecked everything. I see that he is due back into work with Chris Waller in the next few weeks with his main aim, of course, being the $15m Everest, already being a confirmed slot runner.
_________________________________________________________________________

Interesting to see that the talented American filly Sharing will be on hand for Ascot aiming for the Coronation Stakes. She has excellent form in the US including a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile over Daahyeh and Albigna and has had one run under her belt this term to prepare her for the trip to England. Top rider Oisin Murphy has been booked.
_________________________________________________________________________

Sharing’s trainer is Cambridge born Graham Motion, who has had runners at Ascot before … Animal Kingdom and Miss Temple City. "I have so much respect for how difficult it is to do this," he said when also paying tribute to fellow US trainer Wesley Ward who has enjoyed success at Ascot.
________________________________________________________________________

Such wretched luck, that globetrotting sprinter Gordon Lord Byron died suddenly at Tom Hogan's yard after a workout. He was a wonderful racehorse who travelled the world and won Group 1 races in France, Australia and Britain. All up he won 18 races from 108 starts and more than two million pounds in stake-money.
_________________________________________________________________________

France Gallop has ended its temporary halt on foreign entries after the Government in Paris indicated it would not support an extension of the current closure on European borders imposed at the height of the epidemic.
_______________________________________________________________________

At Chantilly on the weekend last season’s European champion three-year-old Sottsass was successful over Way to Paris in the Prix Ganay at Chantilly. That meant he became only the third colt in the last 40 years to win the Prix Ganay after taking out the Prix du Jockey Club last year.
________________________________________________________________________

In the US, it has been announced that The Breeders’ Cup will be held in Lexington in Kentucky on November 6 and 7 with some $US35 million stakes available. The Breeders Cup has been kicked up $1m to US$ 7million, the Breeders’ Cup Turf up $2m to $6 million. Purse payments will be modified to pay down to 10th position from the current 8th position.
_______________________________________________________________________

In stud news, the smart colt Strasbourg, a member of the powerful Team Snowden, will stand at stud this spring at Rosemont Stud, Victoria, in partnership with the China Horse Club.
______________________________________________________________________

I note that the NZ stud farm Valachi Downs has gained a further high-class international racehorse for duties this spring … the dual Group 1 winner Ten Sovereigns. Ten Sovereigns, who is by the leading young stallion No Nay Never, was unbeaten at two with majors in the Gr3 Round Tower Stakes and the Middle Park Stakes for Aidan O'Brien. At three he won the July Cup beating the very good Advertise and he retired to Coolmore rated as the Champion three-year-old sprinter in Europe, GB and Ireland.
_______________________________________________________________________

Ten Sovereigns will join another Coolmore owned stallion US Army Flag and the stud now has five in the barn, the other three being Vespa, Zacinto and Saville Row. Ten Sovereigns' fee has been set at $20,000 plus GST; US Navy Flag stands at $17,500 plus GST; Zacinto is $8,000 plus GST; Vespa, $5,000 plus GST and Saville Row, $2,500 plus GST.
______________________________________________________________________

Brighthill Farm, Cambridge, have come up with a unique offering for breeders into the new season. The stud farm has elected to reduce stud fees for Preferment, Eminent and Dalghar with an offer of two payment options to breeders. Preferment will now be at $9,500 plus GST; Eminent $7,500 plus GST and Dalghar,$3,000 plus GST.
______________________________________________________________________

Chequers Stud reports the death of their resident stallion Battle Paint with the son of Tale of the Cat put down after a bad attack of colic. Battle Paint sired 72 winners from 131 starters.
__________________________________________________________________________

News from Haunui Farm, their shuttle stallion Belardo has kicked off his career in Europe in fine style with three winners, Golden Melody, Got Luck and Isabella Giles. Belardo stands at Haunui at the fee of $10,000 and I see that he has covered some 314 mares in his first three seasons in NZ.
________________________________________________________________________

It has been reported that Seabrook has been sold to Japanese breeding interests, Northern Farm, and the NZ bred will be kept to racing for the time being in Australia with Mick Price and Michael Kent.

More articles