Long-serving Assistant Manager of Tracks & Grounds, Darryn Blinksell (pictured above), has been promoted to the top job at Kembla Grange Racecourse. In his new role as General Manager of Tracks & Grounds he will oversee the day-to-day management and maintenance of the training and racing surfaces at Kembla, ensuring they meet the highest standards of safety, consistency, and performance. “Darryn has served as the 2IC of Tracks and Grounds for 15 years and has extensive knowle

BRAD Widdup was successful with his first runner at Gundagai’s iconic Snake Gully Cup meeting 12 months ago. Now the leading Hawkesbury trainer is striving to win the feature race itself – and has a very good reason for doing so. Widdup will start pre-post favorite Money Team in the $100,000 Snake Gully Cup (1400m), which carries eligibility for next year’s $3m Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick. “My older brother Warren rode for a few years and won a Snake Gully Cup on Albu

REX Lipp has a score to settle! The vastly experienced Queensland and dual Group 1 winning trainer, Toowoomba-based Lipp will start Cifrado in Saturday’s $1m Group 2 The Hunter (1300m) at Broadmeadow. Twenty-five years have passed by since his last runner at Newcastle. That was grey gelding Kenconcarne, who started favorite in the Cameron Handicap (then a Listed race over 1400m and now carrying Group 3 status at 1500m) in Sydney’s Olympic Year (2000). Ten times winner Kenconc

HAWKESBURY’S Evergreen Turf Ladies Day Cup is here to stay on a Saturday. A near 4000 strong crowd voted with their feet last Saturday, ensuring the switch from a traditional Thursday date proved a winner beyond doubt. “The new date was well promoted and it was a fantastic day where everyone on course enjoyed themselves,” Hawkesbury Race Club chief executive James Heddo said this morning. “Being able to run a $200,000 Listed race on a Saturday complimented the Five Diamonds m

WYONG trainer Nacim Dilmi is considering backing up last Saturday’s Hawkesbury winner Probability Theory for a shot at Group 3 glory at Newcastle on Saturday. Dilmi initially didn’t plan to nominate the daughter of Microphone for the $250,000 Spring Stakes (1600m) at The Hunter metropolitan stand-alone meeting, but changed his mind when he inspected her around lunchtime. “We got her out of her box, and she has definitely come on since the Hawkesbury race,” he said this aftern

BRAD Widdup was getting annoyed! Hawkesbury’s leading trainer couldn’t fathom why well-bred mare Sunset Park was getting beaten in midweek and Saturday Midway races in Sydney. “I was frustrated,” Widdup said today. “I knew she had the ability, but wasn’t getting the job done. “I started wondering whether there was something wrong.” A trip to Melbourne changed everything. To some observers, it might have seemed simply having a “throw at the stumps” taking on tougher opposition

BEN Osmond’s triumph on talented mare Harlem Queen in Hawkesbury’s feature race yesterday evoked both joy and disappointment. The joy arose as the Newcastle apprentice notched his first career stakes success in the $200,000 Evergreen Turf Ladies Day Cup (1500m) on the $21 chance for Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle. However Racing NSW stewards later took some of the thrill off achieving that by handing him a suspension. Osmond pleaded guilty to a charge of careless riding, with

TALENTED Wyong mare Oakfield Jupiter is on the Provincial-Midway Championships trail. A late riding change didn’t stop her from making it two city wins from as many starts this campaign, and taking her overall record to four wins from five starts. Newcastle jockey Aaron Bullock was booked to ride Oakfield Jupiter in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1300m) at Rosehill Gardens, but forfeited the mount on race morning when he was unable to make her allotted 57.5kg. RacingNSW st

LIGHTLY-RACED Damien begins his three-year-old season at Rosehill Gardens tomorrow as a gelding. A winner twice from six starts, the son of Hellbent resumes in the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1200m), and Tyler Schiller takes the mount. “With only 52.5kg, it’s like Tyler still being able to claim an allowance,” Newcastle trainer Kris Lees’ spokesman Danny Greer said this morning. “Damien trailed well twice last month after being gelded, and this race looks to set up nicely for him.

TRAINER Paul Niceforo says it’s time for Territory Express to “repay” at Hawkesbury tomorrow.  Last year’s brilliant Provincial-Midway Championships Final winner goes back to the races in the $200,000 Listed Evergreen Turf Ladies Day Cup (1500m) for only his third start in 12 months. To say he has been a real source of frustration to his trainer and connections would not even be close to the mark because of hopefully his past habit of not leaving the barrier stalls on terms w

BRAD Widdup had never been to a Perth yearling sale until he and major client, Mulberry Racing’s Mike Gregg, went there last year. They purchased four fillies; only two have raced so far and one of them, Bondi Blossom, got off the mark at Gosford today. Starting a $4.40 third favorite at her sixth start, Bondi Blossom (Christian Reith) broke through in the Provincial Maiden Handicap (1600m), comfortably defeating Kembla Grange four-year-old and $2.70 favorite Phoenix Legend.

OAKFIELD JUPITER FOLLOWING HIS RANDWICK WIN WYONG trainer Damien Lane will get another guide on Oakfield Jupiter’s Provincial-Midway Championships credentials at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. Successful first-up at Royal Randwick a fortnight ago, the lightly-raced mare will chase back to back city victories when she steps up to 1300m in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap. Jason Collett rode the four-year-old in her impressive 1200m triumph in similar grade on October 25, taking

SYDNEY won out over Melbourne as Terry Croft at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday attempts to clinch his first Golden Slipper Stakes runner. The long-standing Hawkesbury trainer opted to stay home with his debutante winner Thrill Hunter for the $1m Golden Gift (1100m) rather than head south for the $400,000 Inglis Banner (1000m) on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington. “There’s not much difference between the Sydney and Melbourne form,” Croft said this morning

KURRINDA Bloodstock principal Sean Driver didn’t mince words! The Hunter-based syndicate’s Royal Randwick victory yesterday with So You Pence really struck a chord with him. “That meant more to me than winning a Group 1,” Driver said en route home. “It has been such a long process to get her back to the races. “So You Pence won at Moruya in December 2022 at only her second start, and subsequently because of a serious problem we were advised by senior vets to retire this mare.

HAWKESBURY husband and wife trainers Mitch and Desiree Kearney will front up at Flemington tomorrow with their first Group 1 runner in Melbourne – with ample encouragement from jockey Rachel King. Team Kearney arrived in Melbourne late Tuesday morning with their three-year-old filly Sheeza Diva, whom King will ride in the $1m Crown Oaks (2500m). Sheeza Diva returns to her own sex in the fillies’ classic after taking on the “boys” at her last two starts when fourth in the Grou

WHAT a difference 12 months makes! This time last year as Godolphin’s then head Australian trainer James Cummings’ trusted Melbourne lieutenant, Nacim Dilmi was cheering Zardozi when she ran fourth to roughie Knight’s Choice in the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington. Come another edition of the great race today, Dilmi instead was at Royal Randwick and celebrated his first metropolitan success as Domeland’s private trainer on the Central Coast. Dilmi, who took over the role a

NEWCASTLE’S gun sprinter Private Harry is at the centre of a major stable switch. The Group 1 winning four-year-old will in future be prepared by Sydney’s all-conquering trainer Chris Waller. The announcement was made this evening by Yulong Investments, which bought into the horse earlier this year with a view to standing him at stud when he retires from the racetrack. “Private Harry will transfer into Chris Waller’s care for the remainder of his racing career,” Yulong’s chie

BRAD Widdup is hoping a late riding switch will help him win Royal Randwick’s Big Dance tomorrow with his first runner. Hawkesbury’s leading trainer says he was fortunate to be able to book Jason Collett for Ruby Flyer in the $3m 1600m feature when Dylan Gibbons took the mount on Lord OfBiscay for leading Newcastle trainer Kris Lees, with whom he served his apprenticeship. Gibbons qualified Ruby Flyer for the Big Dance when he partnered him to victory in the Goulburn Cup (140

JAY Hopkins barely had time to bask in the glory of his biggest payday in yesterday’s $500,000 Four Pillars Midway at Royal Randwick. The Newcastle trainer was back on the road again today with his winner Sonofdec’s older half-brother Super Freds for a Muswellbrook assignment (he ran second). But not before he made sure his favorite horse Got Unders was fed and watered. He had just completed the daily morning chore when ProvincialRacingNSW called just after 9am to discuss the

SIX times Group 1 winning jockey Dean Yandell would be riding in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup if all had gone to plan! Instead he has answered a call from Wyong trainer Nacim Dilmi to partner Aix En Provence in the $3m Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick the same day. The vastly experienced 51-year-old Victorian is returning to the scene of his maiden Group 1 triumph on favorite Yankee Rose in the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) in 2016. Yendall qualified Pakenham-trained mare Basi