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Randwick. Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Randwick, with Nature Strip a confirmed runner and Bivouac 50/50 after also being entered for the longer Canterbury Stakes (1300m) on the same program. They head the weights at 58.5kg for the Newmarket Handicap but connections revealed a fortnight ago that neither horse would run, a snub to the most revered sprint in the country especially given they were weighted to be competitive – using history as a benchmark – and also that the Newmarket purse of $1,25 million dwarfed the $500,0000 for the two Sydney races. The bypassing of the Newmarket by t...

RSN927 SYDNEY SPLURGE TO TURN STANDARD SATURDAY INTO A MARATHON February 25, 2021 4:20 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  The same day Racing NSW announced blockbuster prizemoney boosts, from picnics to pinnacle Group Ones, the crowd at Mowbray started spilling out of the track with two races still to be run. On face value, there would appear nothing to connect these two things but in order to accommodate the lavish prizemoney increase, Sydney will add at least one race to its nine-race Saturday metro programs. In its press release, Racing NSW said there would be: “at least” 10 races ru...

RSN927 FORMER GODOLPHIN BOSS’ WORD OF WARNING February 23, 2021 7:29 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  Henry Plumptre, the former head of Godolphin‘s Australian operations, who a decade ago urged for major trackwork reform, does not believe  WorkSafe charges relating to the death of a female jockey will accelerate change. WorkSafe on Monday issued six charges against the Cranbourne Turf Club and two against the Claridge perished before first light after an incident while aboard a horse trained by Ken and Casey Keys – of Saloon Park – in an unlit section of the training centre kn...

RSN927 GIRL POWER. IT EXISTS. BUT WHAT IS IT? February 22, 2021 12:50 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  It’s intangible, indefinable and impossible to grasp historically, given girls had barely been given a look-in for centuries. But is it possible that female jockeys possess an X factor that gives them an edge over the boys? Has modern racing evolved in a way that allows this X factor to become an advantage? For instance, a female jockey wouldn’t have the strength to throw the kitchen sink at a horse but no-one does that anymore anyway, and did it really help when Hall and Dittman were...

RSN927 MUM’S THE WORD AS RV PROBES ALLEGED SURROGATE SCANDAL February 16, 2021 2:31 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  A potential surrogate scandal that may result in a challenge to the bona fides of one of our finest racehorses, comes eight years after the courts tossed out a bid to legalise artificial insemination (AI) in thoroughbreds. While the circumstances might be quite different, the potentially explosive Racing Victoria probe and the case involving former leviathan bookmaker and breeder Bruce McHugh have a common theme; the ethics of tampering with the natural breeding proces...