Page 9 - Racing Editor News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

RSN927 FIVE STRIKE LIMIT A SAFETY ISSUE, SAYS APPRENTICE February 15, 2021 5:49 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  Laura Lafferty, who rode the winner of the first race conducted under Racing Victoria’s experimental whip rules, said a five-strike limit compromised jockey safety. Lafferty won a benchmark 64 aboard Jazz Star at Colac yesterday, the first of five races being held as RV puts into practice its push for further whip reform. The series, conducted only in 1600m races, will culminate on All Star Mile day at Moonee Valley on March 13. Lafferty said Jazz Star’s win shed little l...

RSN927 WHY ARE OUR TOP SPRINTERS RUNNING AWAY FROM THE NEWMARKET? February 15, 2021 1:28 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  Over the course of well over a century, the Newmarket Handicap had established itself as Australia’s most famous and sought-after sprint race. It always enticed big fields, ranging from proven stars with big weights to hopeful lightweights, and carried a big purse that was the holy grail shimmering at the top of that famous straight. Like so many historic and famous races, Saturday week’s Newmarket is under siege from the far richer pop-ups. Most of the marketing m...

RSN927 RAY HUXLEY; ROGUE, RACONTEUR, RACING POET February 12, 2021 4:49 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  I was having a coffee this morning with that great writer and raconteur Andrew Rule. We were talking about our great mate; marvelling at the many shades of Ray Huxley. Huxley died this morning, beaten to the wire by cancer. He confronted cancer head on, without blinking, as he did with every battle, including the epics Hucca waged at the racetrack. In the early days, first as a copy boy at The Truth then junior writer at The Sporting Globe, Hucca had been a fearless, leviathan punter. I...

RSN927 PADDOCKS ARE FOR COWS. WHY NOT A SEAMLESS SUMMER OF SPRINTING? February 11, 2021 12:23 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  Would program continuity – as in eliminating the gap between spring and autumn – bolster flagging sprint fields in Melbourne through the summer? Spartan sprint ranks, highlighted by a lacklustre field of six in last month’s Australia Stakes at The eight-horse field for Saturday’s Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington is hardly spilling over but at least it’s elite and suggests timing is important; the Australia Stakes falls too early, the Lightni...

RSN927 PSST, THE LIGHTNING IS ON THIS SATURDAY, PASS IT ON. February 11, 2021 4:44 pm By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor  The pop-up races are polarising but you can’t say they’re not talked about. And talked and talked about, and marketed to the hilt. Every single feature race run in Sydney has been cast into the shadow of The Everest. First, Sydney over-promoted the half-disappointing and waterlogged Championships, at the expense of the Golden Slipper Stakes, which for decades had shared top billing with the Doncaster as Sydney’s signature race. A crowd of 24,000 watched Kaimichi win ...