More than requiring a win to feel he’s on track, trainer Gary Portelli just wants to leave Rosehill on Saturday with confirmation Time To Reign is still the horse he thinks he is and can focus on what the spring might look like. The three-year-old half-brother to Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign has only raced once since he ran fifth in the 2019 Slipper and Portelli says his winter cameo in the De Bortoli Wines Handicap (1100m) is an important exercise. “It’d be good to g

Group Two-winning colt Time To Reign is set to return to racing at Rosehill for just the second start of his three-year-old season. Trainer Gary Portelli, who prepared the colt’s older half-sister She Will Reign to win two Group Ones including the 2017 Golden Slipper, has Time To Reign ready to race in Saturday’s 1100m Benchmark-94 handicap. The three-year-old missed last spring and his only start this year was a fourth placing in the Listed Kensington Stakes at Flemington in

Racing NSW today announced that owners will be able to return to NSW racecourses from Saturday, 20 June 2020 to watch their horse race. Owners will now be able to attend the racecourse, visit their horses in the raceday stalls and view their horses’ race, without being confined to a seated food or drink area. Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landys AM said: “Racing NSW has worked closely with the NSW Government to allow owners back to NSW racecourses to watch their horses race, as they

Very few are better at sniffing out a bargain than Darby Racing who look to have another lively prospect in the Bull Point filly Crazy Train who made a winning debut over 900 metres at Newcastle on Saturday. Purchased for just $3,000 from the Cressfield draft at the 2019 Inglis Scone Yearling Sale, the David Pfieffer-trained filly charged home from second last on the turn under Alysha Collett to defeat the German-bred Soldier Hollow gelding Apex (GER) by half a length with th

Smart colt Time To Reign (Time For War) looked set to return to winning ways in the near future following a dominant winning trial performance at Warwick Farm on Tuesday. The Gary Portelli-trained 3-year-old jumped quickly to lead and was kept under a tight rein throughout by Rachel King before crossing the line with 2.5l to spare. Time To Reign won two of his first three starts last season before adding the G2 Silver Slipper to his record and was spelled after finishing fift

Despite a torrid run, Darby Racing’s two-year-old filly Ashra Jahre did the right thing by punters in an open age maiden over 1000 metres at Nowra on Tuesday to ring up winner number six for Vinery Stud's Headwater. Considered highly enough by the Mark Newnham stable to make her career debut in the Group III Keeneland Gimcrack Stakes at Randwick last October, Ashra Jahre was making her fourth start. With Tom Sherry in the saddle, Ashra Jahre was caught three wide the trip fro

An ability to break quickly and race on the speed tells trainer Mark Newnham says Spirit Ridge isn’t your typical import. The lightly raced five-year-old is showing Newnham all the signs of being the type that will speed through his grades and likens him to a horse called Julienas, who was imported by former boss Gai Waterhouse in 2012 and went on to win four stakes races and be Group 1 placed. What Julienas didn’t do was win at his Australian debut, he took until start three

Having pinpointed the Dane Ripper Stakes as the most suitable option for Irithea during this year’s revised Queensland winter carnival, Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker believes the mare is on track to give the Group Two race a shake. Irithea is coming off a last-start win in the Group Three Dark Jewel Classic (1400m) for fillies and mares at Rosehill last month, the second time in her 34 start career she has won at Group Three level. Baker said a tilt at last weekend’s Group One S

With no Queensland Oaks this winter, Sydney trainer Mark Newnham has had to make The Roses in Brisbane the target for some of his stable’s up-and-coming fillies. Newnham is planning to have three runners in Saturday’s Group Two Roses (1825m) for three-year-old fillies at Eagle Farm, with Celestial Falls already in Brisbane after finishing a close second in the Listed Pam O’Neill Stakes (1600m) last start. Money Magic is set to head north later this week to race on a seven-day

A crack at a late-season stakes race in Brisbane looms for Sydney three-year-old Blazing Miss if she continues her good form at Rosehill on Saturday. The Mark Newnham-trained filly will chase her third-straight city win when she runs in Saturday’s 1100m benchmark 88 handicap, having posted back-to-back victories at Randwick last month. “Blazing Miss has been in very good form,” Newnham said. “She’s up in grade again to a benchmark 88 but her form warrants it. “She has always