In today's Straight Shorts, there will be five inductees into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, betr pushes on with PointsBet ambitions, Hello Youmzain filly in New Zealand Listed win and Admiration Express ready to show best in Group 3 Strickland Stakes.
Moody, Purton to be inducted into Hall of Fame
Queensland bushie-made-good Peter Moody, the trainer of unbeaten champion mare Black Caviar, will be inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in August.
The trainer of 60 Group 1 races, Moody will be joined in the Hall Of Fame by top Hong Kong-based jockey Zac Purton, accomplished broadcaster John Tapp, who was behind the microphone for 33 years, and horses Mahogany and Hydrogen.
This year’s Hall of Fame ceremony, to be held in conjunction with the Australian Racehorse of the Year award, will be staged in Brisbane on August 31.
"The Australian Racing Hall of Fame is a testament to those who achieved the pinnacle in the sport, and the calibre of this year's inductees is nothing short of remarkable,” Australian Racing Hall of Fame Committee chair Jason Scott said.
“Mahogany as an eight-time Group 1 winner sits in the top echelon of Australia's modern-day greats, and dual Cox Plate champion Hydrogen is recognised as one of our most versatile thoroughbreds, winning anywhere from six furlongs to two miles.”
Betr bites back, ups its PointsBet offer
Betr’s ambitions to claim a 10 per cent share of the Australian wagering market still have a pulse as it amped up its pursuit of PointsBet once more.
On Friday, the publicly listed company offered to buy out its rival in an all-scrip, off market offer which it says values PointsBet’s shares higher than the current offer for the company by Japanese-owned MIXI.
MIXI looked to be firmly in the box seat when PointsBet’s board rejected betr’s previous proposal earlier this week, determining that the MIXI offer, worth approximately $400 million, or $1.20 per share, was superior, and questioned the values of the synergies betr said it could yield from any deal.
But just days out from shareholder meeting to vote on the MIXI proposal, the Matt Tripp and Andrew Menz-headed betr has counter-punched with a buy-out offer, which includes a $80 million share buy-back offer. It said it would provide $1.22 in value per share.
Tripp has also issued an open letter to other PointsBet shareholders – betr already owns 19.9 per cent of the company – urging them to reject the MIXI offer at next Wednesday’s meeting.
“Based on the comprehensive value assessment and for all the reasons outlined above, we intend to vote our entire 19.9 per cent holding against the MIXI Proposal at the upcoming scheme meeting,” Tripp said. “We strongly encourage all PointsBet shareholders to do the same.
“The current all-cash offer fails to reflect the true value and potential of your investment. Shareholders are under no obligation to follow the PointsBet board’s recommendation.”
However, PointsBet replied on Friday afternoon saying that it saw the implied value of the new offer at $1.086 per share, below MIXI’s offer.
Both companies went into a pause in trading on Friday.
Gold result for Latta with Platinum Diamond in Castletown
Cambridge Stud shuttler Hello Youmzain’s recent run of winners continued at Otaki on Friday with Platinum Diamond taking out the Listed Castletown Stakes.
One of seven first crop southern hemisphere-bred winners and second stakes winner by Hello Youmzain, Platinum Diamond made it two wins in succession, having won at Wanganui on May 31.
“She’s really going the right way,” Latta said.
Hello Youmzain’s rise continues as Platinum Diamond gives our freshman sire his second stakes winner from his first NZ crop with success in the Listed Castletown Stakes.
— Cambridge Stud (@CambridgeStud) June 20, 2025
Platinum Diamond was bred by Beaufort Downs from their Thorn Park mare Spritz & purchased by trainer… pic.twitter.com/uVz6hxzzP4
“She was a late foal, a December foal, and we’ve just waited on her and given her time. Every start, she’s got better and better.”
Ridden by Bruno Queiroz, Platinum Diamond won by three quarters of a length over the Gavin Sharrock-trained stablemates, race favourite Country Salon, and the third-placed Spandeedo.
Platinum Diamond was bred and sold for NZ$90,000 at last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
The Lindsay Park-trained Hello Romeo, a gelding by the Cambridge Stud sire, won first-up at Sandown last week.
Stakes-producing mare headlines latest Inglis Digital sale
Extra Olives, the dam of Group 3 winner and possible Tatt’s Tiara contender Spicy Martini, headlines a bumper Inglis Digital June (Late) Online Sale.
The Redoute’s Choice mare, a stakes-placegetter who is in foal to Coolmore shuttler St Mark’s Basilica, is among a catalogue of 475 lots which includes 173 racehorses, 157 broodmares, 66 racehorse shares, 42 yearlings and 41 weanlings.
Maiden six-year-old mare Searchin’ Rocs, a Group 3 winner by Awesome Rock, is also catalogued in the June (Late) sale.
Yulong is the leading vendor with 21 entries while Annabel Neasham Racing, Widden, Vinery, Ciaron Maher, Anthony Freedman, Taghadoe Stud, Waterhouse and Bott Racing, Blue Gum Farm, Sledmere and Lindsay Park have lots for sale.
Reduction sales from Glenlogan Park and Bell View Park also feature in the latest Digital sale, with the bidding countdown to begin from 10am on Wednesday.
Miller full of admiration for Strickland fancy
Group 1-placed mare Admiration Express is ready to peak for her Perth winter target as her trainer Jason Miller aims for his fourth Strickland Stakes success.
Miller won the Strickland, a Group 3 race over 2000m, as a jockey in 2004 and then as a trainer in 2021 with Naughty By Nature and a year later with Prince Turbo.
Five-year-old Admiration Express, who was runner-up to Light Infantry Man in last year’s Group 1 Northerly Stakes at Ascot, ran on from worse than midfield second-up in the Group 3 Hyperion Stakes on June 7 and she returns to Pinjarra on Saturday for the Strickland.
“Western Empire, Hemlock Stone, a few of them are going to be hard to beat, but she’s taken improvement from each run,” Miller told Racing WA.
“Up to 2000m I think she’s as good a chance as any. Fitness is good, everything is good, I’ve just had to keep her happy. She’s bouncing around behind the scenes and I’m happy with her.”
The in-form Lucy Fiore retains the ride.
Meanwhile, WA Derby winner A Lot Of Good Men appears to have run his last race after being ruled out of the Pinjarra feature with a tendon issue.
De Bortoli signs on as VRC’s official wine partner
De Bortoli Wines will become the official wine partner of the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) and the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
In a deal announced on Friday, the Griffith-based De Bortoli Wines will be served at Flemington racecourse, including during the VRC’s four signature days during the spring.
The new partnership comes after Penfolds and the VRC did not renew their contract earlier this year.
“The De Bortoli family believe in good wine, good food and good friends, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with them for the next three years,” VRC chief executive Kylie Rogers said.
Impressive depth for feature sprint at Royal Ascot despite Aussie absence
A cross-section of international sprinting form will come together for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
And there will be Australian interest on two fronts with Storm Boy stepping out for his second start for Aidan O’Brien in a race that will put the merit of Everest favourite Ka Ying Rising’s recent wins under the microscope.
Storm Boy shares the third line of betting despite an inglorious introduction to northern hemisphere racing.
The colt was beaten more than five lengths when last of nine runners as a short-priced favourite in the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at The Curragh last month.
His Royal Ascot rivals will include Satono Reve, the Japanese-trained sprinter who has been twice placed behind Ka Ying Rising in Hong Kong this season.
The most recent of those runs was a runner-up finish in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize in April.
A familiar name to Australian racing fans holds favouritism for the race with French-trained Lazzat rated a 3/1 chance after a dominant Chantilly win at Listed level.
Lazzat was sent to Australia last year and finished second to fellow traveller, the UK-trained Lake Forest, in the $10 million Golden Eagle at Rosehill.
Choisir scored a ground-breaking win for Australian-trained horses in the 2003 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee and nine years later Black Caviar’s heart got her home in front of Her Majesty.
There are no Australian-trained runners in the 2025 race.
