Taksu aiming for stakes race hat-trick

The Everest favourite Think About It resumes in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography Joseph Pride is trying not to focus on The TAB Everest favourite tag on Think About It as his boom sprinter attempts to put his rivals on notice in Saturday's Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Royal…

Trainer Michael Freedman maintains Communist is well-equipped to make the often difficult transition from classic-winning season to be competitive at weight-for-age as a four-year-old. Freedman's theory will be tested immediately when Communist makes his new-season debut in the Group 1 $1 million Winx Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on…

The Royal Randwick 1100m course record could be challenged when the speed machines clash in the James Tedesco Outreach Program Handicap on Saturday. With fast, shortcourse specialists like noted on-pacers Malkovich, Spaceboy, Tavisan, The Face and even Titanium Power in the field, it will ensure the sprint race is run at solid tempo. The Randwick…

Winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes is pivotal to Anamoe's international plans. Picture: Grant Guy Champion Anamoe can virtually lock in an international race campaign if he wins his final Australian start in the Group 1 $5m Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Anamoe has already secured Horse of the Year honours after an…

Anamoe is the first champion racehorse James Cummings has trained. It won't be his last. Cummings has managed Anamoe superbly over three seasons of racing and it has been fascinating to watch the evolution of the trainer and his elite thoroughbred. As his famous surname suggests, this is what Cummings was born to do. His great grandfather, Jim,…

Trainer Chris Waller had won Australia's top races for horses3 and up, but the biggest one for 2-year-olds eluded him until Saturday. Most famous for looking after four-time champion mare Winx, Wallergave England riding star Ryan Moore the leg up on Shinzo (15-1), who savedground from his rail post and won by 1 1/4 lengths in the Group 1,…

The Everest winner Giga Kick is set to trial at Cranbourne on Monday in preparation for a Sydney autumn sprint campaign. Trainer Clayton Douglas said Giga Kick is being readied to resume racing in the Group 2 $500000 Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Royal Randwick on March 4. Giga Kick will then go second-up into the Group 1 $3m TJ Smith Stakes (1200m)…

Sydney's summer sprint find Dehorned Unicorn has surprised trainer Joe Pride with his form surge. "If you said to me at the start of Dehorned Unicorn's preparation that he would do what he has done, I would have said I don't think he is that good," Pride said. "But the way he has been able to win his races and the times he has run has been very…

Star jockey Tommy Berry is ready to hit the ground running as he prepares for his first day back at the races from a timely break to recharge the batteries while preparing to fight a range of betting charges. Berry last rode in Sydney on December 9 but elected to hang up the saddle for a Christmas sabbatical to get his mental and physical health in…

Dehorned Unicorn ran one of the fastest 1200m at Royal Randwick in history last start - and didn't win! The Joe Pride-trained Dehorned Unicorn recorded a flying 1m 7.97s but was when beaten just over a length by brilliant mare I Am Me two weeks ago. Both sprinters are racing again this weekend but they won't be clashing this time with Dehorned…

Champion sprinter Nature Strip can edge closer to Winx's world prizemoney record if he wins the Group 1 $3 million Darley Champions Sprint (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday. Nature Strip, the world's number one-ranked sprinter, took his career earnings to just over $20 million when he ran fourth to Giga Kick in The Everest last start. In latest TAB…

The barrier is the biggest obstacle for 5. Bandi's Boy. The Danny Williams-trained sprinter made his debut in the group 3 Kindergarten last preparation as a two-year-old, catching the eye late as an $81 chance, before backing that up with an impressive win at Randwick, getting the better of race favourite Zougotcha despite still doing plenty wrong.…

Winter racing in Sydney is renowned for throwing up a decent horse or two, and Jojo Was A Man might just fit that bill. The gelding has been a revelation this campaign, showing courage and class to overcome wide runs in two of his three wins and again doing it the hard way when a narrow second to Taksu in the Winter Stakes (1400m) last start. He…

Diverting to Plan B could see trainer Joe Pride rewarded with more group 1 glory when stable weapon Private Eye lines up in Saturday's Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm. Pride had been campaigning his Epsom Handicap hero in Sydney with limited success as Private Eye was forced to battle through NSW much publicised big wet. The star son of…

Multiple Group 1 winner Eduardo will race on in the autumn after a series of tests found no physical issue with the gelding following his disappointing spring. One of the premier sprinters over the past couple of seasons, Eduardo's form tapered off after his first-up win in the Concorde Stakes in September, the usually consistent horse failing to…