Greg Eurell eyes G1 Stradbroke Handicap

The time honoured Stradbroke Handicap will have a slot component to it next year, with racing officials changing the condition of The Gateway next month to allow greater flexibility with Queensland's biggest race. Previous winners of The Gateway, a 1400m race restricted to four-year-olds, have been granted ballot-free entry into the $3m Stradbroke…

Antino is a $2.50 favourite to win in his Melbourne debut. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography Racing in the Victorian spring carnival is a different gravy to racing in Queensland, but Tony Gollan insists untapped Antino is the perfect horse to set for a major Melbourne assault. Antino is the hype galloper who has won eight from nine in the…

Racing in the Victorian spring carnival is a different gravy to racing in Queensland, but Tony Gollan insists untapped Antino is the perfect horse to set for a major Melbourne assault. Antino is the hype galloper who has won eight from nine in the Sunshine State and was at one stage fancied for the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap before missing…

Three days after farewelling his late father and Group 1 jockey Peter Mertens in a beautiful service at Caulfield, son Beau returned a winner aboard Spicy Margs to rollicking celebrations. Spicy Margs, a pacy all-female owned daughter of Deep Field prepared by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr, led all the way to win the 1100m 2YO Handicap on…

Track conditions will be of little concern for Grahame Begg with his runners in two of the feature races at Sandown. Begg will saddle Cardinal Gem in the Group 3 Victoria Handicap (1400m) and Lunar Flare in the Group 3 Easter Cup (2100m) with both holding form on good and wet ground. Rain is predicted at Sandown on Friday and Saturday. The Bureau…

Eleven Eleven winning the Magic Millions Cup in 2022. Photo: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography. Come State of Origin time Sydney trainer Greg Hickman doesn't have much time for Queenslanders but that changes when his stable star Eleven Eleven is in work. The Fastnet Rock gelding has won the vast majority of his $3.1m in earnings in the Sunshine…

Rothfire fought off the challengers to win the Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography Gun Sydney jockey Nash Rawiller helped to write another fairytale chapter in the extraordinary Rothfire story as the Group 1-winning gelding went bang in his own Eagle Farm backyard. Rothfire has staged several injury comebacks…

Hawaii Five Oh stormed into the conversation for the Group 1 $3m Stradbroke Handicap after his outstanding Hawkesbury Guineas win last Saturday. The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Hawaii Five Oh only defeated a Group 3 field of three-year-olds at Hawkesbury but it was the emphatic nature of his win that has him rated a Stradbroke…

White Marlin remains unbeaten after winning the Easter Cup at Sandown. Picture: Brett Holburt/Racing Photos via Getty Images Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott's year-long Melbourne Cup plan rolled on when imported stayer White Marlin remained unbeaten in the Group 3 Easter Cup at Sandown. Waterhouse and Bott have sent progressive stayers Goldman and…

Scallopini was made to work wide from his barrier, gave the rest of the Shaftesbury Avenue Handicap field 1.5kg and he still gave them a beating, bringing up his fourth win from four starts at the Flemington 1400m. After jumping from barrier 14, Damian Lane pushed forward and was made to work three-wide for the first 200m of the race, before…

Trainer Cameron Richardson with Zuma California and jockey Angela Jones. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography Cameron Richardson is a captain in the Australian Army but has given up full-time service to focus on his racing passion. And the Toowoomba trainer could on Saturday march away with a $3m Stradbroke Handicap golden ticket for his…

Sky Racing and Brisbane Racing Club's turf expert Nathan Exelby runs his eye over Saturday's Stradbroke Handicap meeting at Eagle Farm. Track: Good 4. Rail: +4m. Robusto, R1 No.10 - $4.80 Got into an awkward spot in the Sires and found himself with too much to do. Drops back several cogs here and drawn to get the gun run. Sweet Thomas, R3 No.4 -…

Apache Chase will kick-off his winter campaign in The Archer at Rockhampton. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography The central Queensland beef capital of Rockhampton would at first glance appear an unlikely first plank of a Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap mission, but such is the changing face of Australian racing. It's where Desleigh Forster and…

Lindsay Park has been a regular visitor to the Queensland Winter Carnival over their history but will break new ground this weekend. For the first time Lindsay Park will have a runner in north Queensland when Crosshaven starts in the inaugural staging of The Archer (1300m) at Rockhampton on Saturday. The Archer is a slot race modelled on The…

Within six months Apache Chase has morphed from the hunter to the hunted. The speed machine made his name upstaging boom horse Ayrton to book a last-minute ticket into the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap during the winter carnival, now trainer Desleigh Forster has the best part of six months to plot her way to the race after securing a spot by winning…

Apache Chase had no trouble winning the Nudgee Old Boys' Cup at Eagle Farm. Picture: Trackside Photography Desleigh Forster and Jim Byrne will consider braving 14 days in hotel quarantine to take top Queensland galloper Apache Chase to the super-rich Golden Eagle in Sydney later this month after asserting himself as one of the state's best at Eagle…

Victory Stakes winner Niccanova will be set for another Stradbroke Handicap. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photographer It was a case of so close but yet so far for Niccanova in the Stradbroke Handicap last year but jockey James Orman believes Saturday's Victory Stakes winner can now give him the Group 1 he has been craving. Orman wasted hard to…

Her antics in the unsaddling enclosure, when Apache Chase crossed the line to win the Fred Best, captured every emotion of a winner overcome with the joy of a special success. (With the win Apache Chase gained a golden ticket into the Stradbroke). Trainer Desleigh Forster went down on her knees, got up, punched the air, did a jig which broke into a…

Desleigh Forster is plotting a path to the Stradbroke Handicap as she puts her faith in Apache Chase being the horse that can provide her with a breakthrough Group 1 success. Apache Chase won his fourth race at Eagle Farm when he led throughout in the Listed Daybreak Lover (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Forster wanted to use the horse's high…

Sircconi will start a campaign that trainer Nick Ryan hopes may lead to a Group 1 contest in Brisbane at Sandown on Saturday. The only thing that will stop Sircconi making his racetrack return at Sandown will be if the track is too firm. Sircconi has been allotted 60kg for his return run over 1400m on Saturday, but trainer Nick Ryan said the…

In form Melbourne jockey Blake Shinn has been booked for the ride on Rothfire in his upcoming Group 1 engagement. Rothfire is set to contest the Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday for which he is the second favourite in latest markets. The Robert Heathcote-trained gelding has been plagued by injuries throughout his career after…

It's the jewel in the crown of the Brisbane winter and $3 million goes on the line in Saturday's Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm. Won by many stars of the Australasian turf throughout its storied existence, the 2023 Stradbroke Handicap field is again dripping with talent, and a terrific betting race has materialised. I've run the rule over the…