Good for Southern Lord. How did he look? Will catch replay over the weekend.

I still haven't looked to see where my girl finished...

Southern Lord was great! He stormed down the outside. Brilliant performance, and a well-deserved win.

Park Princess was scratched after refusing to go into the gate. :(

Captain Cook field:

1 X4154 Mufhasa 6 110 59.0 Sam Spratt Stephen McKee, Ardmore
2 21X32 Veyron 5 110 59.0 Linda Laing, Cambridge
3 31672 Fritzy Boy 2 104 59.0 Hayden Tinsley Alby MacGregor, Opaki
4 222X5 Jetset Lad 10 103 59.0 Mark Du Plessis John Wheeler, New Plymouth
5 11214 Final Touch 8 107 57.0 Chris Johnson John & Karen Parsons, Balcairn
6 47X11 Lady Kipling 9 106 57.0 Opie Bosson Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman, Cambridge
7 X5423 Guiseppina 4 104 57.0 Jonathan Riddell Steven Ramsay & Julia Ritchie, Maungatautari
8 25721 Zennista 7 103 57.0 Lisa Latta, Awapuni
9 0X033 Platinum Princess 3 97 57.0 Lisa Latta, Awapuni
10 64733 Lady Chaparral 1 90 57.0 Kelly Myers Chris Wood, Cambridge

Wow that is some field!!!!!

I was trying to figure out around how many G1 winners were there and blanked out on Fritzy...

Had he won one a long time ago?

Rooting for Mufhasa of course but will be happy for about half of them should they win (especially Veyron).

(Lady Kipling still doesn't have a G1 win... or does she)?

G1 winners in the field are...

Mufhasa (x10)
Veyron (x4)
Fritzy Boy (x1 - yep, the 2008 Challenge Stakes!)
Guiseppina (x1)

Lady Kipling hasn't won one yet. She's won three G2s and has been placed in three G1s. Zennista and Jetset Lad have also been G1-placed.

Final Touch deserved that - such an underrated mare. Great performances by Mufhasa and Lady Kipling too. Veyron had a rough trip.

If you get the chance, watch the replay of the Concorde from Ellerslie - WOW.

A lot of catching up to do on my end but yes, I will.

Good for Final Touch.

Mufhasa doesn't need to prove himself every time.

Oh Veyron...

Love the way they changed the site! Very nice!

Good luck to Shez Sinsational and Bruce at Te Rapa and oh! The Hombre should be able to win that one (Awapuni), no? Is it a confidence builder or do I just not know anyone else in the field?! :D :wf

Would be thrilled to see him win! (It's been a while). :)

Yeah, the site looks pretty good! Still finding my way around it, but it seems better.

Shez Sinsational wins again! Naturally.

And it was so good to see Annie finally win a big one! She's had a second in a G2, two thirds in G2s, and two fourths in G1s. So she deserved her Gold Cup win. :)

Good for her! No idea why but I thought she ha a G1 win.

Riccarton on Friday... the incident with the cones?

How does that even happen?

When is the next big (aka Mufhasa :D )race, ed?

Hey how is Pinzaara?????

That was SO bad. I have no idea how that happened. No one's come up with any explanation yet. Someone has to be held accountable for that, surely. So dangerous.

Pinzaara's going well! She's had three starts this campaign for a second (beaten a NOSE), a close fourth and a nice third yesterday (at Ellerslie!). Really proud of her.

Not sure what the plan is for Mufhasa at the moment. He hasn't been entered for the big sprint handicaps coming up - he would just have to carry too much weight. So they'll stick to weight-for-age races. The Waikato Sprint in early February (which he's already won twice!) is the obvious one, but I'm not sure what he'll do between now and then.

Awesome about your girl an thanks for the update. :)

I just saw Mufhasas name in the Manawatu Challenge Stakes this weekend (along with BTE, Final Touch and Fritzy)... is that definite?

Forgot to mention but last time I checked on I'mabayboy this is what it said...

2012-04-06
jumped awk - post race vet lame r/f leg

...but this has been added...

Spell 51 weeks. :eek:

Doesn't that seem like a long time? Not to be horrible here but everything I've heard about Macau... well I am sorry he's there. Let's just leave it at that.

Oh, you're right! It definitely looks like Mufhasa's running in this race. Awesome! And it's WFA, so it looks like a great spot for him.

Wow, that does sound like a long break for Imabayboy. Poor guy. :(

When you can please tell me your thoughts on Open ‘N’ Shut.

Haven't yet watched the replay but he sounds like a good one!

Veyron (awww)! :)

Looked like he was having fun!

"... but the King, King Mufhasa, he raced away! It's all Mufhasa In the Challenge..." :cool:

That was amazing! It was a good field, but he made it look so easy. That's 20 career wins. Good to see a strong effort by Better Than Ever too.

Open 'N' Shut looks good! He's won four out of six now. I still haven't seen his latest one, but he's shown a lot of ability in his previous starts.

Yes nice to see BTE!

I'm going to be away but I see that The Hombre is running on the 26th and have to wish him well of course.

(Are you going to Ellerslie that day? If so I'm very jealous)!

Good luck to The Terminator who I don't think has won in a pretty long time and to Brave Centaur and Oak Park in their race.

Oh my God the Zabeel Classic!!!!! What a great field!

Good luck to Shez Sinsational, Veyron and about half the field. :D

Wish I were going!

Yep, I'll definitely be at Ellerslie for that. :D And again on New Year's Day - SEVEN stakes races. Can't wait.

That is awesome!

If you take pictures please post some of them.

Does it mean anything that Opie rode Noble Warrior in his last start but is on The Hombre? Just curious.

Merry Christmas, ed, and merry Christmas to all the fine fine horsies over there.

Thanks, and same to you! Hope you have a fantastic Christmas. I'm at work unfortunately. But I had a great Christmas morning with family and will see them again for dinner after I finish. :)

Good point about Opie. I'd say it's probably a wise choice. This race is just a stepping stone towards races over longer distances for Noble Warrior, while The Hombre is ideally suited to the sprints. The Hombre's also a good chance in the G1 Railway on New Year's Day, so Opie might want to secure the mount in that one. Noble Warrior's unlikely to run in that event.

Well, how about that?

The weather was terrible, so I was expecting a day full of disappointment and weird results. It wasn't that at all. Every one of those four stakes races was brilliant. Great day! Highlights have to be The Hombre and Veyron, although undefeated filly Habibi was amazing against the boys in the Guineas too.

Enjoying his work. :)

Pinzaara won a race at Ellerslie today!

OH ED!!! I actually was away but begged someone here (thank you, Golfer) to please please please just check the one race (VEYRON!) but oh my Mr.The Hombre won too!!! SO happy about that and when I am awake will watch all the replays.

Geez maybe I'm bad luck and should always go out of town when he runs, huh? :D

:{>:


CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! How exciting ed. Thrilled for you

Happy New Year. :)

Good luck to Habibi, to Shuka (You can do this! You don't have to be 2nd!!!), Postman's Daughter, Floria (is she black? Good Lord she is pretty) and Platinum Princess in the Rich Hill Mile (am sure I'm leaving a few out in that one) AND in the Railway go Durham Town, The Hombre (Sam Spratt up!), Antonio, Ginner Hart, Jetset Lad and whoever else I'm forgetting!!!!!

(edit - Annie in the Auckland Cup....

This can go on all day).

Happy new year!

What an amazing day at Ellerslie. Fleur de Lune got her G1 win in the Railway! She had been second in five of them - behind the likes of Mufhasa and Jimmy Choux - but never won one till today. So thrilled for her. Great race by Durham Town too. Not The Hombre's day - he messed up the start and wasn't really part of the race at all after that.

Habibi - wow. What a special girl. 5 starts, 5 wins. And this was a monstrous performance today.

Fix was fabulous in the Royal - Kidwelly got past her, but she fought back.

And there were some crazy upsets - Hiace at 40-1 in the City of Auckland, Miss Pelear at 28-1 in the Rich Hill...

Just an amazing day. 10 awesome races - worth watching all the replays if you have time.

Good for her! I'd forgotten how many 2nds she had had.

Yeah, my The Hombre... he wins so rarely so I didn't expect him to (doesn't he win basically two times per year? :D ) but it's always interesting to see which jockey has the mount since it always seems to change!

Habibi won again? That's awesome and yes i will watch ALL the replays throughout the day.

Hey ed anything on Xcellent lately? I wish his site werre still up...:(

For absolutely no reason I was watching the replay of... not the Trentham but the one where him and Sir Slick were one and two... :)

Watched ALL the replays... great races!

Fix was amazing (huge fan of her dad). :)

You are so lucky you got to be there!

Yeah, it was brilliant. It was a really long day, with trophies being handed out after almost ever race, but it went by so fast!

The weather was much better than Boxing Day too! Much more like what we expect in Auckland this time of year.

I haven't heard anything about him for ages! This is the last time I saw him mentioned in an article, back in August 2011:

I'd love to go there and see him some time. It's only about a 2-hour drive from Auckland, so there's no excuse not to!

I hope you get a chance to do it one day!

What's coming up... is the Telegraph this month or next?

Yep, that's right! The Telegraph is on the 19th.

And we're already starting to look ahead to the Derby on March 2. Habibi is the 5-1 favourite after her feats at Ellerslie.

I cannot wait for you annual Derby preview!

We haven't talked about Huffer yet.... any idea what the plans are for her?

Read that Habibi is the Lebanese word for dear one or darling.

Awww! :)

I think they're having a bit of a hard time finding races for Huffer - they've entered her in a couple of stakes sprints, and she hasn't quite been able to sneak into the field. She was four horses away from getting a spot in the Railway field, and I think it'll be the same for her in the Telegraph. Maybe they'll try to win another race with her before then to get her rating up.

Yeah, the owner (a lovely old lady) mentioned something about that when she was presented with the Championship Stakes trophy. And she said the filly was a dream come true.

There is a video profile of Veyron on the NZ racing site (dated tomorrow here so brand new). :)

That's a great video!

Pinzaara's back at Ellerslie again Saturday. Can't wait! Tough field, though - Barbaric looks pretty good. I'll be delighted if she's in the first three.

In other news, a couple of great photos of the lovely Habibi winning the G2 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie on NYD.

Best of luck, hope she wins! How exciting.

Lovely picture of Habibi but oh ed need to ask...

The silly hk name changes are kind of easy to adjust to (although I wish they wouldn't!) and adding the "King" before Mufhasa is at least fitting but changing Warhorse to Tougher than Ever? :confused:

What do you think? He will always be Warhorse to me. :wf

Yeah, I don't really like that. Warhorse was a great name.

I disagree with renaming horses in general, I think. It makes it harder to follow how they're going! I don't mind it so much in Australia - King Mufhasa, etc - because that's due to there being another horse registered there with the same name. It's fine to change the name then, but I don't like it when they're just renamed for no reason.