NZ Racing News

While all eyes are on Stephen Marsh’s glamour mare Well Written ahead of next Saturday’s Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m), the Cambridge horseman’s attention is firmly focussed on this weekend’s racing as he bids to add another Guineas trophy to his mantle. 

Marsh will head to Wanganui on Saturday with talented fillies So Fear and Perfect Chaos, with the pair set to clash in the Listed HS Dyke Wanganui Guineas 3YO (1200m). 

Go Racing filly So Fear showed plenty of promise as a juvenile, winning her first two starts before placing in the Listed Star Way Stakes (1200m) behind stablemate Miss Janet, while Perfect Chaos has yet to finish outside the money in her four starts to date, and Marsh intends to keep that record intact this weekend. 

Marsh has been pleased with the way both fillies are building into their preparations, having placed in their lead-in trials, and he is looking forward to seeing what they can do first-up this weekend. 

“I am thrilled with them, they had good campaigns at the backend of their two-year-old seasons,” Marsh said. 

“So Fear was very good, she won two in a row and was stakes placed, and Perfect Chaos was probably unlucky not to win a race, but her worst race was third and never actually put in a bad race. 

“They have both come back well, they have had the one trial, and you just hope the track keeps on improving. I think they are going into it forward and ready, and I think they get through a little bit of rain.” 

Both fillies are on a path towards the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November, which Marsh won last year with Well Written, and he said the pair will likely follow a similar path to their stablemate. 

“It is their first-up run and it is a long overnight trip to Wanganui,” Marsh said. “You get them home and see how they are and put them on that programme to try and get down to a Guineas.  

“You have got Ellerslie for the Soliloquy (Gr.2, 1400m), and races like that, which we used last year. But we will keep an open mind what we do, depending on how they go and how they come through.” 

Perfect Chaos is currently a $3.50 favourite for the Wanganui Guineas, with So Fear the second elect, alongside Out Of The Blue, at $4.80.  

Marsh will also be represented at Wanganui by Unmistakable in the Wanganui Insurance Brokers Maiden (1200m).

– By Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk 

The past weekend provided a perfect microcosm for Go Racing, as the New Zealand-based global racehorse syndicators celebrated three wins across three countries. 

Exciting two-year-old Benjamin Hornigold got the weekend off to a winning start on Friday.

The Joseph O’Brien-trained colt claimed the UK’s richest maiden race, the £100,000 British Stallion Studs EBF Convivial Maiden Stakes (7f) at the York Ebor Festival in England, on debut in exciting fashion.

“He had a really nice debut,” O’Brien said. “He had a lovely ride from Colin (Keane), he relaxed well and he finished of the race very strongly.

“He looks to be an exciting colt for the future.”

That future could well include black-type success with his next start scheduled to be in the Gr.2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket on September 26.

Closer to home on Saturday, the Kylie Hoskin-trained With Grace posted back-to-back wins, taking out the $40,000 Ocean Park 2400, at Te Rapa in New Zealand, signalling bigger races in her future too.

“It was a really exciting win, particularly over the distance,” Hoskin said. “It opens up a whole lot of doors for her. When they can genuinely stay like that it opens all those cup options.”

Now the winner of three races for the Go Racing Double Parked Syndicate, the progressive six-year-old mare is on the path to the Gr.3 Martin Collins 163rd New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton Park on November 14.

Appropriately, it was Cigar Man who rounded out the weekend for Go Racing, with a brave win in the A$22,500 Happy 80thBirthday Colin Chesher (2160m) at Toowoomba in Australia on Saturday night.

“When I let him down he picked up nicely and he was actually quite tough today,” Jockey Aidan Keely said.

The Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained five-year-old carried the top weight of 60kgs to claim his third career win.

The weekend’s trio of wins further exemplified the success of Go Racing’s global approach to racehorse ownership.

“We have a great network of top trainers across these jurisdictions which allow us to provide our owners with unique opportunities to race horses in the UK and Europe, Australia and here in New Zealand,” Go Racing’s Albert Bosma said.

“We’ve had great success buying young horses in Europe to target their black-type races as two and three-years-old, before joining champion trainer Chris Waller in Australia.

“Next month, Joseph will bring one of those horses, Omni Man to Australia for the Caulfield Cup before transferring to Chris.

“It gives our syndicate members the opportunity to experience the best of both worlds and enjoy these race meetings and major racing festivals around the globe as owners.”