All the latest racing news from New Zealand.
Stablemates Bound For Hastings
Karen Zimmerman has Hawke’s Bay spring carnival hopes for a pair of rising five-year-olds in her Otaki stable.
The Gr.2 Travis Stakes runner-up Gwynethanne and open handicap performer Grace With Power are both heading toward the Hastings meeting.
“They are back in the stable now and we’ll nominate them for the Windsor Park Plate and the Spring Classic,” Zimmerman said.
“They won’t be going to the 1400 metre race (the Makfi Challenge) and we’ll be looking for a softer option for them somewhere to kick off.”
Gwynethanne and Grace With Power are both by Handsome Ransom and the similarities don’t end there - they also have identical records of four wins from 18 career starts.
Bosson Back On Karla Bruni
Opie Bosson will have an overdue opportunity to reacquaint himself with a mare he part-owns when he teams up with Karla Bruni in Saturday’s Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic.
The leading jockey hasn’t ridden her since her three-year-old season when he partnered the daughter of Pins five times for a win and three placings.
Karla Bruni has subsequently added a further five victories to her record with Bosson’s partner Danielle Johnson aboard when she won last year’s Gr.3 Winter Cup, a race trainer Roydon Bergerson again has on the programme.
Kiwi 4YO Steps Up To Big Time
New Zealand-owned galloper Spalato will put his unbeaten record on the line when he takes on top company in the Gr.1 Patron’s Bowl at Kranji on Sunday.
A son of Elusive City and Ellington, the four-year-old is raced by Graham Mackie and was bred by his partner, top racing photographer Trish Dunell. She owns the mare who has a Per Incanto weanling filly and is in foal to Niagara.
Spalato is trained by John O’Hara and has won both his starts by wide margins to earn a shot at the second leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge.
“He has trained on since his last win and I couldn’t be happier with his condition going into the Patron’s Bowl,” he said.
“I’ve worked with a few good horses like Glider Line and Chevron, but Spalato’s probably the best horse I’ve ever trained.”
