THE PETLEY REPORT (JULY 18 TO JULY 21): NEWS FROM NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, NZ, IRE, FR, THE UK & THE USA

By Jack Petley | Tuesday, July 21, 2020

A spell of at least two years on the sideline. That's what Sydney jockey Adam Hyeronimus faces after being found guilty by stewards to 30 odd charges of betting on races. The inquiry was told that the jockey made many transfers of money into the account of his cousin, Blake Paine. The stewards reasoned the money was not a gift to Paine but for betting activities. The top rider will be handed down his punishment next month and he faces at least two years on the sideline with that being the minimum penalty for a charge like this.
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Racing in Sydney was on the Kensington track and the going certainly suited runners up front … with back markers having little luck during the day.
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There was another solid winner for the Chris Waller yard, the two-year-old Giovana Run in the hands of Tom Berry. She is a good-looking filly by Press Statement and won like a filly heading for black type three-year-old races.
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Killin won for Kris Lees and gave the Newcastle trainer is 2000th winner with his team red-hot. Lees, like Chris Waller, has a big string in work and he places his team ever so successfully throughout Australia.
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Still in Sydney, Paths of Glory caused an upset in the Seltzer Handicap for Richard and Michael Freedman in the hands of Rachael King and Spaceboy showed great courage to win his third race on end for Gary Portelli … and his fifth overall. I thought he showed real courage to hold on under pressure.
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Top horses are gradually filtering through to trials and Godolphin had some of their spring stars out at the Hawkesbury Trials including Avilius, Flit, Cascadian and Subedar who is on the comeback trail. Flit, by the way is aiming at some of the majors this spring for James Cummings and she is solid in the market already for the Golden Eagle and the Epsom. Avilius was not asked for much in his trial and he looked in wonderful condition for the spring.
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Colette, the super winner of the Australia Oaks, was also out and about and she went to the line hard held in third possie behind winner, Budhwar.
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Jamie Richards reports that he is pleased with the progress of Probabeel in Sydney. He said she is a little behind Melody Belle in her preparation but is in " good shape and coming along well." He said the rising four-year-old would trial in seven day’s time and then, a couple of weeks later, she will run in a Quality Handicap. "We are just trying to stay away from the weight for age races initially," said the Matamata trainer of the powerful Te Akau yard.
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Meanwhile, Melody Belle looked in wonderful order for her spring campaign for Jamie Richards when she galloped between races at the Kensington track on the weekend. Tommy Berry handled her and was greatly taken by her work. Richards said that Melody Belle will now kick off her spring campaign in the Missile Stakes and then she will tackle the Winx Stakes a fortnight later. "We are keen to have her rock and roll early," said Richards." He reasoned that the mare will meet some smart gallopers in the Winx so said the Missile would have her "cranked up" for the Winx.
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Richards also confirmed that Te Akau Shark, who is making improvement from that lung infection which followed after his successful optic inplant surgery, will return to NZ next month and hopefully be back in the autumn.
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Ace Perth jockey William Pike has a good book at the Belmont meeting tomorrow and he needs just two more wins to equal his Australian record of 234 set last year. What a rider!
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Alysha Collett, sister to Jason, recently informed the Singapore Turf Club that she would not return racing there and has relinquished her Singapore licence as have Michael Rodd and Patrick Moloney.
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Meantime, Alysha's brother Jason is the jockey of the moment in Sydney showing rare judgement on winter tracks, but then he learned that, for sure, in his homeland, with heavy tracks the norm through many months. He has made a big impact in recent times and now I can say he is certainly not under rated these days.
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Chief de Beers, one of the great racehorses in Queensland, has died, at the age of 28. He faced the starter 51 times and earned money for his connections on 42 occasions.
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The brilliant Sun City has been added to the ranks of the stallions at Telemon Thoroughbreds in Queensland and joins Sidestep and Jungle Cat on the roster for 2020.
And still on Queensland I note that a spring schedule will kick off late in August. Included on the agenda will be the listed Queensland Cup on Caulfield Guineas day.
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Damian Oliver was taken off a couple off a couple of mounts when he broke protocols rjding work for Danny O'Brien at his Barwon Heads property when limitations had not been lifted for riders to travel outside their zone. It had been announced that those limitations were being lifted and the top rider understood that it was with immediate effect, which was not the case. He was subsequently cleared to ride on the basis of that misunderstanding.
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I did like that win at Flemington by the Ocean Park galloper Bumper Blast for Craig Williams and Robert Hickmott. The grey has won four of his seven starts and Hickmott is looking to bigger prizes in the spring.
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Another NZ bred winner I thought impressive was Romancer, the son of Redwood from Romantically, trained by Grahame Begg for OTI and a host of owners. “His Flemington form is good and I might back off him a bit and have him back for the spring," said Begg. Romancer started his racing with the Logan yard at Ruakaka, then with Darren Weir before linking up with Begg.
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Patrick Payne had one successful day at Pakenham, producing three winners, a quinella in one race and of course he gained that massive win with Tallyho Twinkletoe. Tallyho Twinkletoe is yet another export from Kiwi trainer Kevin Myers, a close friend of Payne, and is from the area in NZ where the Payne family lived before the family moved across the Tasman when Patrick was a lad.
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Payne kicked off the day with a win with Eckhart (by Pentire), and boy was that jumper impressive. He then followed up with Tallyho Twinkletoe and then the quinella with Slowpoke Rodriguez and Killarney Kid in the Ecycle Chase.
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As I said Eckhart was so impressive gaining his win ever so easily but it was the win by Tallyho Twinkletoe that was one heck of a win. He carried 72kgs to victory, but not before there was drama at the finish with the Payne runner having to withstand a protest from runner up, another NZ bred, Bee Tee Junior (Nom de Jeu). The placegetter closed hard and fast late and all but caught the hot favourite at the post with the rider saying the winner moved in … but Tallyho Twinkletoe kept the race and now heads towards defending his National Hurdle/Steeplechase double of last winter. Gobstopper, well backed, faded off the home bend and finished third.
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Slowpoke Rodrigeuz (Istidaad) came back to form with his solid win over stablemate Killarney Kid (Pendragon) and that gave him his sixth win of his career while Tallyho Twinkletoe now has 12 wins on the board. Interesting I see both were brought cheaply. Tallyho Twinkletoe was first sold for $2000 at a weanling sale and then re sold for $9000 to co-owner Jo Rathbone, the same price given for Slowpoke Rodriguez.
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It was also a good day for another Kiwi, jumps rider Tony Ihaka. He gained his first jumps win in Australia on the Francis Finnigan trained Wolfe Tone (by Mettre EnJeu). Ihaka has been back riding since May after some four years off the scene.
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And on jockeys, the NZ TAB has paid out those who backed ever so popular Lisa Allpress to win the Premiership. She gained two wins at Awapuni on the weekend, Happy Star (Fabulous) and Penelope Cruise (Ocean park) and that put her 12 ahead of nearest rival, Kozzi Asano. This will be her fourth Premiership win in a career which commenced back in 1995-96 with top Wanganui trainer, Kevin Gray.
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Allpress now has 1593 wins to her credit in NZ, has ridden with success in Singapore and Japan and also gained that memorable win at Saudi Arabia earlier in the year.
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The close-down of borders in Australia is not only hampering plans for top horses to cross the Tasman but also holding up work on the synthetic track at Cambridge. Civil works for the track are nearing completion, said a report from the NZ Racing Desk, but the club is waiting for the expertise of the Australian based company, Martin Collins, to be able to mix and lay the track surface. "We are just working through the process now of getting the team from the firm over to mix," said Mark Fraser-Campin, the Cambridge Jockey Club chief executive. But while there is a hold up Fraser-Campin said they would wait for the expertise from Martin Coillins. "They have 10 years experience mixing and a delay is better than having a track which is not properly mixed." Once this track is completed then work will be undertaken on proposed synthetic tracks at Palmerson North and Christchurch.
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At least this is not bad news for the NZ racing industry hit by a lockdown in recent weeks, poor management of the NZ TAB costing millions and many a good horse sent into Australia, or sold further overseas .The NZ Thoroughbred Racing boss, Bernard Saundry has announced that stakes levels for the forthcoming season will return to those of the 1019-20 season. "It is our intention that stakes levels will remain the same" he said in a media release. "However, we need to be aware that we continue to operate in an uncertain environment.”
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An old firm of trainer John Parsons and ace jumps rider Tom Hazlett joined together to win the Ken and Roger Browne Memorial at Te Rapa. Hazlett revealed that he had his first ride for John Parsons when just seventeen and that, he said, helped him get started in the game. A Waikato Chase tilt is now likely, said Hazlett.
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One of the most stylish winners on the day at Te Rapa over jumps was Revolution who is now likely to tackle the Waikato Hurdle.
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That was some win by the Lloyd Williams owned Twilight Payment for Joe O'Brien at the Curragh easily beating stablemate Master of Reality. An OTI owned galloper, Camphor, finished third.
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In the US smart galloper Authentic gave Bob Baffert is ninth Grade 1 Haskell Stakes win lifting the spirits of Baffert who just a day or so before being handed a 15-day ban over two of his horses failing drug tests. The Kentucky Derby, said Baffert, is on the agenda for the three-year-old.
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At Chantilly in France smart three-year-old Persian King showed his quality with a fine win in the Gr1 Prix d'Ispahan and he will now head to the Prix Jacquest le Marois.
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Also in France smart Punatubo came back to winning form for Charlie Appleby with a win in the Gr1 Qatar Prix Jean Prat. That win had bookmakers making him a firm second favourite for the Sussex Stakes behind the brilliant Siskin, but the trainer said that race may not be on the radar. "I think he deserves a little break, but I will talk to Sheikh Mohammed.”
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It has been a great season for trainer Ger Lyons winning the Irish 2000 Guineas with Siskin and now taking the Irish Oaks with the Coolmore filly, Even So. "I couldn't watch Siskin," said the trainer,” but I did watch this one. She is a classy filly indeed."
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I'm looking forward to this race in the UK this weekend with the great mare Enable lining up in the King George and Queen Elizabeth. I see in the UK press that Aidan O'Brien has entered six for the race, including Magical and Japan. "We will see how things go but I am pretty certain that we will put forward six runners," said O'Brien. So far as Magical and Japan are concerned, they have not had much luck against Enable, Magical being beaten five times by the great mare and Japan has been behind the mare in his latest two clashes.
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If Enable wins the King George and Queen Elizabeth this weekend she will stand alone as the biggest winner of the race having two to her credit alongside Dahlia and Swain. In latest betting she stands at 8-11 ahead of 3 Magical, 6 Japan, 10 Fanny Logan, 12 Anthony Van Dyke, 20 Magic Wand, Sir Dragonet.
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October 1 the aim for 5000 racegoers to be on hand for Glorious Goodwood in the UK.
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NZ bred Karaka graduate Sacred Capital was far too strong for his rivals in the Chairman Memorial Cup at Macau on the weekend. He has now won nine of his 22 starts after beginning his career in Australia and then heading to Macau.

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