Samadoubt made his first public appearance since the 2019 Craven Plate in the second 900m trial and showed his rivals a clean pair of heels. The Group One Winx Stakes winner, who has been sidelined for a year by a tendon injury, bowled along under his own steam to lead throughout for Tim Clark. Trainer Bjorn Baker said the seven-year-old had undergone a long and gradual build up and would trial again before resuming in the Group One Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick on Ma

Scott Darby was horrified when he watched Harpo Marx contest his first two Australian barrier trials. The founder and CEO of Darby Racing had purchased the royally bred horse in 2019 from the Coolmore draft at a Tattersall’s Horses In Training Sale at Newmarket. “His first trial was over 900m at Goulburn in March of last year and although the trip was way too short he finished a mile from the winner,” recalled Scott. “A couple of weeks later he beat a couple home in a Warwick

Mark Newnham will saddle up Scarzel, who makes his debut in the Paul Hoffman Handicap (1000m). A $220,000 yearling purchase for syndicators Darby Racing, Scarzel is by Snitzel out of 2016 Sweet Embrace Stakes winner Scarlet Rain and will sport blinkers on Saturday. “He will run well but this time of year, the two-year-old races are very strong because there are generally horses there that are aiming towards the good races,” Newnham said. “He is having his first start, he has

The Bjorn Baker-trained Harpo Marx continued his rich vein of form this preparation with a fast-finishing victory over 2000 metres at Rosehill. The Galileo five-year-old gelding has now had six starts this time in for three wins and two placings and the stable is planning for better races either in the Sydney autumn or in the spring. Harpo Marx ($3.70 fav) produced a withering burst late to run down tearaway leader Vadiyann ($6) by a 1/2 neck with First Courier ($17) a furthe

Mark Newnham will let his impressive import Spirit Ridge shoot for Group 1 glory in the autumn after he won back-to-back cup races at Randwick. The six-year-old was even better yesterday than he was when taking out the Summer Cup (2000m) a fortnight ago and that’s what Newnham needed to see. “I thought he had more improvement because last start when he won the Summer Cup he was probably only at his top for the last 150m,” Newnham said. “He was locked away and only got out lat

Malkovich has put next month’s $1 million Inglis Sprint back on his agenda after he bounced back from a flop on a heavy track for the Bjorn Baker stable to take out the opening race at Randwick. Stable representative Stephen McLean said Malkovich was back to his best on the drier Soft 6 surface to take out the Benchmark 72 Handicap over 1100 metres. Before his last start failure on a heavy track in the Gosford Guineas, Malkovich had put together impressive back to back wins a

Kim Waugh is enjoying a purple patch and is confident the run can continue on her home track this Saturday. Waugh saddled up five winners in a nine-day period in late December and believes either Trajection or Knight can add to that tally in the $150,000 Sky Racing Provincial Series Final at Wyong. The pair is part of a strong field of 15, that will contest the Final as part of Wyong’s eight-race program. Waugh’s runners are both in great form and shooting for three successiv