Off the top of his head Gary Portelli says he’d had nine or ten Golden Slipper runners since his training career began thirty years ago. He still tingles when he recalls the euphoria of She Will Reign’s emphatic win in 2017.

Our February award winner is Steven Royes from the Queensland mining city of Mount Isa. The talented horseman prepares a small team of eight horses in conjunction with his full time job at the famous Mount Isa Mines.

Shelby Sixtysix looked a classic study in soundness as he hurtled down the middle of the track to blow the opposition away in Saturday’s TAB Highway on a rain sodden Randwick.

Mark Newnham never ceases to be amazed by the deeds of freewheeling front runner Expat. The trainer could do little more than shake his head in disbelief as the chestnut daughter of Makfi defied all challenges to win Saturday’s Gr 2 Millie Fox Stakes at Rosehill.

The neverending Covid restrictions prevented Steve Hart from conducting his popular racing interviews for the best part of a year, but he’s back with a bang!

The long awaited return of It’s Me in the Triscay Stakes on Saturday was overshadowed by the hype surrounding the likes of Espiona, Very Elleegant, Lost And Running, Colette and a handful of other luminaries.

Danny Frahm strolled through the Sky Channel car park hauling a king sized two wheeled suitcase. It was a Sunday morning in 2009…

When Tim Clark gives an indication that he intends to lead in the early stages of races, most rival riders think twice about taking him on.

Thirty one year old Stirling Osland was a regular visitor to the winner’s circle on NSW country tracks in the first month of the new year. He won six races which included two doubles, one at Armidale and the other at Inverell on Cup day.

Trainer Joe Burges was confident Markwell Dreamer had enough ability to figure in the finish of Saturday’s TAB Highway provided he did everything right.

When Keagan Latham returned to race riding on December 4th, he felt his fitness levels were close to where they needed to be.

Gayna Williams wouldn’t have cared if half of Bathurst had witnessed her unbridled display of acrobatics as Zoo Station scored an emphatic win in Saturday’s TAB Highway at Rosehill Gardens.

“I’ve had some unforgettable thrills since the company commenced operations thirty five years ago, and Fireburn’s two city wins are right up there with the best of them,” said Louis Mihalyka

Nyngan’s Brett Robb was caught on the hop in August of last year when his father Rodney suddenly decided to quit his role as a full time horse trainer.

You’d wait a long time to get a quartet like this together again. The former star jockeys caught up by chance on the Gold Coast on Boxing Day.

George Moore told me in 2002 that his failure to win a Melbourne Cup in nineteen rides was of little concern to him. His wife Iris told me differently.

“Can you imagine the number of track gallops those blokes have ridden for Warwick Farm trainers over the years?” The question was posed by one of fifty guests at a recent Xmas gathering hosted by seafood restaurateur and racing devotee Mick Doyle.

Several jockeys rode winning doubles on metropolitan tracks around Australia on Saturday while ever consistent Kayla Crowther notched a treble at the Morphettville meeting.

It was going to be an uncomplicated ride for Michael Cahill when he bounced out of the gates on $2.60 favourite Why We Drink in the opening race at the Sunny Coast meeting on Friday night.

The horrors of Joe Ible’s recent relocation from Canberra to Kembla Grange paled into insignificance when stable favourite Sepulchre scored the easiest of wins in Saturday’s Midway Hcp at Rosehill Gardens.