“Even though the race was run on the Kensington track I’m claiming it as my first Randwick win,” said Canberra trainer Rob Potter

As Jason Coyle travelled to the Kembla Grange meeting on Saturday he was at sixes and sevens regarding a start for Catch The Glory in The Warra, the $300,000 Gr 3 co-feature to the The Gong.

“I was waiting for the horse transport when it returned to my Hawkesbury stables after the Rosehill barrier trials one day in July of last year,” recalled Brad Widdup.

Tash Burleigh doesn’t usually get emotional when one of her horses goes past the post in front, but it all got the better of the Goulburn trainer in the moments after Pokerjack’s emphatic win in the 1100m BM78 at Randwick.

John Sargent was surprised two years ago when stable client Michael Stokes called to say he’d purchased a two year old filly on New Zealand Bloodstock’s Gavelhouse.com online sale for the princely sum of $3200.

With only ten or twelve horses in work these days, veteran trainer Clarry Conners doesn’t expect to have a glut of city runners.

“If I could find a way to bottle the feeling I got on Saturday, I’d be marketing it all over the world,” said Todd Smart after So Magnificent’s win in the TAB Highway.

Brad Widdup knew it wasn’t ideal to back Savvy Hallie up in the Silver Shadow Stakes just nine days after her Super Maiden win at Newcastle, but made the decision to do so on three counts.

Steve O’Halloran’s Irish accent was more lilting than ever as he responded to our phone call on Sunday morning.

The Newcastle Jockey Club received an unexpected boost to TAB turnover when Saturday’s Randwick meeting was called off.

Denim Wynen arrived at Rosehill on Saturday with mixed feelings about her decision to bring Monkhana and Sunshine Law to the races.

Mark Minervini is quietly chuffed with the way his boutique stable has been chugging along since the beginning of 2025. 

Most country trainers agree it’s no pushover to win a TAB Highway. For a start they have to identify the right horse for the job and plan their programmes meticulously.

“Horse training is a business fraught with disappointments interspersed by the odd pleasant surprise” is a quote attributed to a veteran NZ trotting horseman many years ago.

The significance of Greg Hickman’s Midway win with Glounthaune (Ire) on Saturday was lost on many racing fans. It’s likely that Greg himself had forgotten he’d trained the winner of the very first Midway ever staged on July 3rd, 2021.

Most horse trainers agree there’s nothing more satisfying than having a long range plan come off without a hitch.

The opportunity to double his team numbers was the primary catalyst in Luke Pepper’s return to Canberra last November.

Joe Pride has never regarded himself as a hopeless sentimentalist, but he did confess to a hint of nostalgia after saddling up two winners at Wyong’s first ever stand-alone meeting.

Patrick Murphy was walking on air for a few days after Body Bob had won a midweek BM72 on the Kensington track last October.

With rarely more than fifteen horses in work at his long-time Hawkesbury base, Terry Croft doesn’t expect to win premierships. He’s happy to simply identify the capabilities of every horse that comes his way, and leave no stone unturned in finding the right races for them.