The Straight Daily News – McEvoy’s Hall Of Fame honour | Horse Of The Year nominations released | NSW washout continues
Tony McEvoy inducted into the SA Thoroughbred Hall of Fame
With a decorated career that continues through a training partnership with his son, Calvin, McEvoy holds a special place in Australian racing history.
He has tasted Group 1 success as a trainer and a jockey, and Hall of Fame panel member and legendary broadcaster Bruce McAvaney says McEvoy’s recognition is well-deserved.
“That Group 1 as a jockey was almost 50 years ago and came coincidentally in the same race that he won his first Group 1 as a trainer – the Oaks at Morphettville,” McAvaney said.
McEvoy has trained 16 Group 1 winners, including five in partnership with his son.
Home-state honour for ‘the epitome of a high-class horse trainer’
NSW rain impacts race meetings, barrier trials
A star-studded set of barrier trials pivotal to the spring build-up of some of Australia’s best racehorses have figured in the latest Racing NSW rescheduling as wet weather continues to play havoc with its early-season calendar.
Seventeen barrier trials programmed for Randwick on Tuesday have been moved to Thursday with more than 150mm of rain recorded over the past five days.
In the past week, NSW has lost meetings at Narrandera in the Riverina, Scone in the Upper Hunter Valley and Tuncurry, Newcastle, Wyong and Taree in the Central Coast region.
Two meetings in the Northern Tablelands – Gunnedah on Tuesday and Quirindi on Thursday – have also been affected.
Both racetracks have been declared unsuitable for racing with Gunnedah abandoned and Quirindi transferred to Tamworth.
Big wet causing headaches for NSW racing authorities
Finalists unveiled for Australian Racehorse of the Year
Via Sistina, the winner of seven Group 1 races during the 2024/2025 season, headlines the list of nominees for the Australian Racehorse of the Year.
The imported mare, trained by Chris Waller for Yulong’s Zhang Yuesheng, dominated her rivals in two states with an emphatic Cox Plate victory, a crowning moment.
Via Sistina also claimed the Winx Stakes, Turnbull Stakes, Champions Stakes, Vetry Elleegant Stakes, Ranvet Stakes and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the highest level.
Also in the running for Australian racing’s top gong will be Antino, Bella Nipotina, Treasurethe Moment and Broadsiding.
The Australian Racehorse of the Year Awards acknowledge performances on domestic racecourses, as well as international performances by locally trained horses.
This year’s awards will be held in Brisbane on August 31 and will be hosted alongside the Sportsbet Australian Racing Hall of Fame ceremony, which will see both Winx and Black Caviar elevated to ‘Legend’ status.
Hydrogen (horse), Mahogany (horse), Peter Moody (trainer), Zac Purton (jockey), and John Tapp (associate) have already been unveiled as this year’s Hall of Fame inductees.
Contenders for the champion two-year-old category include the Queensland-trained JJ Atkins winner Cool Archie as well as Nepotism, Vinrock and Golden Slipper winner Marhoona.
In the champion three-year-old colt and gelding category, Broadsiding is up against gun sprinter Private Harry whose perfect five-start career includes the Group 1 Galaxy, with Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker, and Switzerland, whose stunning victory in the Coolmore Stud Stakes rounds out an outstanding lineup.
The three-year-old filly category will be hotly contested and features two three-time Group 1 winners in Lady Shenandoah and Treasurethe Moment as well as ATC Australian Derby heroine Aeliana and the unbeaten Autumn Glow.
Hadouken in back-to-back Darwin Cup wins
An affinity for dirt racing has carried the Queensland-trained Hadouken to successive Darwin Cup victories.
Ridden by newly crowned Melbourne premiership-winning jockey Blake Shinn for his close friend, Gold Coast trainer Peter Robl, Hadouken made his own luck and held on grimly to win the Northern Territory’s biggest race.
Hadouken sat outside the leader before Shinn made his move at the 500m to ensure the Cup was a true staying test.
The seven-year-old, a $3.50 chance, dashed clear before rallying to stave off Prince Joffra ($21) with the favourite Motorace ($3.40) taking the minor placing.
“It’s a shame he doesn’t have that will to win on the grass, but on the dirt he loves it,” Robl said.
It was a race that went to script for Shinn.
“He can absorb pressure and keep fighting till the end and he had to display those qualities at the backend of the race,” Shinn said.
“And, you know, this is a testament to Peter and his training ability.
“He’s making a name for himself as a really astute trainer … when he puts them down and he says they’re going to go close, they really do.”
Shinn celebrated his first Darwin Cup success after missing the ride on Hadouken last year because of the horse’s light weight.
Caulfield Guineas winner Griff lands in Tasmania
Caulfield Guineas-winning son of Trapeze Artist, Griff, will kick off his breeding career in Tasmania at Weona Park Stud, after a change of plan saw him on-sold.
Griff, who defeated Veight and Steparty in the 2023 Caulfield Guineas, was originally set to stand at Larneuk Stud in Victoria in 2025, but a deal on the eve of the breeding season saw him move across Bass Strait.
Weona Park Stud, located in the Southern Midlands of Tasmania about an hour north of Hobart, is operated by Fiona Methorst.
With a focus on both racing and performance horses, she has taken on five new stallions for 2025, with Griff joined by fellow newcomers Bon Aurum, Sports Edition, More Than Value and Utopian.
Master Of Design, the Group 1-winning son of Redoute’s Choice, has stood at Weona Park Stud since 2022.
Griff is the first son of Trapeze Artist to stand at stud and will stand at $8250 (inc GST) in his first season.
A son of stakes-placed filly Chateau Griffo, he won four of his 15 starts and over $2.1 million in prize money for his trainer Ciaron Maher. Among his other racetrack victories was the 2023 Bill Stutt Stakes.
Among those is Bodyguard, the regally bred multiple juvenile stakes winner and one-time $1.6 million yearling, who stands at Armidale Stud for $8800.
The big blue change
The change of training strategies at Godolphin has precipitated the greatest movement of horses between stables in Australia since 2019. This week’s Run The Numbers breaks down which trainers have been the winners.
Run The Numbers
Picklebet adds Wodonga to race club sponsorship list
Online bookmaker Picklebet has added to its portfolio of racing-related sponsorships in a long-term partnership with Racing Wodonga.
Under the terms of the agreement, Wodonga will be rebranded Picklebet Park Wodonga.
The wagering firm will also have naming rights to the Wodonga Gold Cup in late November.
“This landmark agreement sees Picklebet join with Racing Wodonga as our exclusive major partner for a minimum five-year period,” the Victoria-NSW border club said.
Key features of the deal include high-profile branding opportunities, fan engagement, including VIP experiences, merchandise and customer activations as well as the creation of a dedicated fund which will be created to support local community groups.
Picklebet has a similar naming rights sponsorship agreement with the Werribee Racing Club.
It has also just signed a deal with the Warwick Turf Club in regional Queensland.
Magic Millions sales entries open as March format change confirmed
Magic Millions has opened entries for its 2026 yearling sales series, which will feature a revamped format for its March sale, as it looks to build on positive results in 2025.
Among the achievements by Magic Millions in 2024 included the highest priced yearling in Australia, the filly by Home Affairs out of Sunlight which sold for $3.2 million.
Managing Director Barry Bowditch said the Gold Coast-based sales company was looking forward to its 2026 yearling sales which starts on the Gold Coast in January, then to Perth and Tasmania in February and the Gold Coast and Adelaide in March.
“With proven performance at all levels of the market across our Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide and Tasmanian locations, we present a Sale Series that is backed by our energy and drive to achieve commercial success across the 2026 yearling crop,” Bowditch said.
“The Gold Coast Yearling Sale is a festival like no other celebrating equine excellence – with the the strongest buying bench in the country on hand, as the finest Australasian yearlings take centre stage in the theatre created by the buzz of the Magic Millions Carnival.”
“We are proud to boast about the best auctioneers in Australia and achieving more individual buyers than any other yearling sale in the Southern Hemisphere, in turn providing greater year-on-year returns direct to our vendors.”
The traditional QTIS-only March Sale will be opened up to horses bred outside of Queensland.
“In 2026 we introduce an exciting new format for the Gold Coast March Yearling Sale with the sale now open to all Australian and New Zealand bred yearlings,” Bowditch said,
“The sale will continue to showcase outstanding QTIS stock plus providing a new opportunity for all breeders to participate on the Gold Coast this Autumn.”
“Each and every year we provide the perfect springboard for the next stars of the racetrack in the sale ring. Our team looks forward to working with our breeders and vendors in placing stock in an auction where the best possible returns are realised.”
Bountiful on offer in Southern Hemisphere Pop-Up Sale
Stakes-placed Bountiful and recent Ascot winner Many Men are being offered via the Tattersalls Online Southern Hemisphere Pop-Up Sale, which is being held in collaboration with Inglis Digital Australia.
The sale will run on Wednesday August 6 to Thursday August 7, with racing and breeding prospect Bountiful, a daughter of Zoustar, the star attraction.
The well-bred filly is out of the Group 2 May Hill Stakes winner and Group 1 Fillies’ Mile fourth Rich Legacy, from the family of German champions Boreal and Borgia.
A winner of two races as a two-year-old, Bountiful resumed this season to finish third in the Listed Spring Cup at Lingfield.
“I have seen Bountiful and she makes obvious appeal to an Australasian audience. She is good looking with some quality form and good depth of pedigree. Zoustar is a champion stallion now and a likely champion broodmare sire of the future, so it makes sense that his daughters would be well sought after,” Inglis Bloodstock Sales Manager and European Representative Harry Bailey said.
Many Men, consigned by Jim Boyle Racing, won a recent two-mile handicap at Ascot last week.
“Tattersalls Online is pleased to continue its unique partnership with Inglis Digital, following the success of the inaugural Southern Hemisphere Session in December last year,” Katherine Sheridan, Tattersalls Online Sales Manager commented.
“The aim of this pioneering initiative is to expand on the opportunities available to vendors and purchasers in the global thoroughbred marketplace. This sale has been strategically timed to align with upcoming racing carnivals in the southern hemisphere and we are delighted to be taking a collaborative approach to presenting these horses to the widest possible audience.”
Le Crique team weighs up spring after barrier trial return
Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander are contemplating options on both sides of the Tasman with their multiple Group 1 winner La Crique following a pleasing barrier trial at Taupo on Monday.
The seven-year-old daughter of Vadamos comfortably took out her 900m heat by 1-1/4 lengths, giving her connections plenty of confidence heading into the spring.
The Alexanders have had their patience tested with their star mare, with feet issues curtailing a number of her preparations, and they reared their head again in autumn when prematurely ending her Australian campaign.
Australia has always been the main aim for La Crique this spring, however, her trainers haven’t ruled out remaining in New Zealand to tackle the spring carnival triple crown, which is set to take place at Ellerslie and Te Rapa this year.
“That (Australia) was our original thought,” Katrina Alexander said. “We have obviously opted to come here (Taupo trials) and will most likely stay here (New Zealand) for at least the first race of that series (Group 1 Proisir Plate, 1400m), and we are just going to play it by ear.
“Physically she looks great, but I am mindful that she is a seven-year-old mare.
“We have been to Australia and struck a problem before, and we don’t want a repeat of that costly exercise.
“We want to go with a good, competitive article. That first race (Proisir Plate) is going to be at Ellerslie, which gives us a little more confidence to hang around.”
