28th September - WEEKEND WINNERS FROM LIMTLESS LODGE
Maluckyday killed off a big weekend of Group one racing by winning at Canterbury for team Hawkes and prominent owner Mick Moraitis of Might And Power fame. This son of Zabeel is building an imposing winning record and will no doubt travel to Melbourne for possibly a country cups campaign to be a top line Caulfield Cup/ Melbourne Cup horse for next season. Maluckyday was pre trained at Limitless Lodge prior to this preparation.
Marquadt won The Nivision for John Thompson and the Patinack team. This mare was able to return successfully from injury and add more black type to her pedigree. Marquadt was purchased in New Zealand at Karaka and sent to Tim to be broken in and pre trained prior to her first preparation which saw her compete in the Golden Slipper with honour just behind the placegetters.
Redoute’s Star won at Sha Tin for trainer Tony Cruz and jockey Douglas Whyte. Since being gelded this fabulously well bred son of Redoute’s Choice has started to live up to his looks and the hype surrounding his sale at The Hong Kong Jockey Club International Sale in 2008. He was sold for more than $1AUS million and recorded his first win on Sunday. Redoute’s Star was broken in, spelled, pre trained and prepared for sale by Tim and his team at Limitless Lodge for his major client, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Captain Sweet won for trainer John Moore and jockey Darren Beadman at Sha Tin on Sunday. This was a very good win as this young horse only arrived in Hong Kong in March as part of the HKJC Subscription Griffin draft. This is yet another winner for the next superstar sire, Fastnet Rock. Captain Sweet was broken in, spelled, pre trained and prepared for sale by Tim and his team at Limitless Lodge for the HKJC.
28th September – SCONE HORSE TRIALS
Scone hosted a great weekend of sport at their spring feature on the weekend of September 25/26th. The weather was hot throughout and all classes were competitive.
The 3 star was once again won by Emma Mason and the very much in form F1 Pharanelli. That is two 3 star wins in 7 days. Very good going! Kevin McNab, deputizing for his girlfriend Emma Dougall won the 2 star on a very high class horse – Kelecyn Ice H. Stunning in every phase and almost definitely a future super star at the highest levels. Interestingly, Tim competed the dam of Ice Age, being Ice Lady, for the owners more than 15 years ago up to 2 star level.
The 1 star resulted in a win for Mercator Du Ry at his second run back from a long spell. He convincingly won the dressage and held on to his lead without having to go too hard on the cross country..
It was also a good day for another horse making a comeback. Astronomical was having his first start at eventing this year after having been returned to racing by the owners in February. He was originally retired from racing in early 2009 after bleeding in a race. After a slow and steady introduction to eventing Astronomical was quickly very successful never finishing worse than 4th in five prelim starts and winning two. He is very well bred (half brother 1998 Golden Slipper winner Prowl) and as we prepared to start the 2010 eventing season at SIEC in February we received a call from Kim Harding and trainer Les Bridge to return to racing and have one more go. He was moderately successful with three placings but no wins. He was returned to Limitless Lodge in the first week of August and we have recommenced his eventing career. He won the dressage with 73% and jumped well in the show jumping but was very agitated in the cross country. He will improve significantly for the outing.
22th September – MEGAN JONES AND KIRBY PARK IRISH JESTER WITHDRAWN FROM THE AUSTRALIAN WEG TEAM
In a disaster for Australia’s team medal chances our most successful international rider for the last 2 championships has had to withdraw her top horse on the eve of the competition. Irish Jester suffered severe travel sickness and was unable to make the connecting flight from Los Angeles to Kentucky. In the interests of his long term health he was withdrawn immediately. Megan’s place in the Australian squad has been taken by Peter Atkins and Henry Jota Hampton. This combination probably wasn’t the next in line for selection but was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
For all updates and results for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, with the eventing starting next Thursday night (September 30) go to: http://www.aet.equestrian.org.au/
21st September – TIM’S EVENTING CALENDAR
The season is coming to an end with all the good events over the coming weeks. Now that Billy Elliot is 3 star he will have 4 more runs this season. He will next run at Goulburn CIC*** October 16/17, then 2 weeks later at Camden CNC*** October 30/31. He will then go to Adelaide November 10-14 to run in the CIC** as his final run before his first CCI*** at Lakes and Craters in the first week of December. He has had a busy and successful year. Looking forward to next season the plan will be to run at Melbourne CCI*** and then on to Adelaide CCI**** to try and stake a claim for the Australian team at the London Olympics 2012.
Untouchable, still only 6, has had an equally busy and successful season. He will remain in 2 star for his final 3 runs. He will next run at Goulburn CIC** October 16/17, then 2 weeks later at Camden CNC** October 30/31, before his end of season goal at Adelaide CCI**. Untouchable will probably have a season opener at 2 star and progress to 3 star early in the new season.
Mercator Du Ry, who made a pleasing return from injury, to run 3rd at Canberra CIC* will have a slow build up to his end of season goal at Adelaide CIC**. He will next run at Scone this coming weekend in the CNC*, followed by Goulburn CIC* October 16/17 and his final run before Adelaide at Camden CNC**. If all goes well he will also be 3 star by April 2011 after having a very successful 2 star season in 2009.
For full eventing NSW calendar go to: http://www.eventingnsw.com.au/default.asp?Page=22019
20th September – CANBERRA CIC***
GV Billy Elliot made a very successful start to his 3 star career at Canberra finishing 2nd in the CIC***. After winning the dressage on 69% Tim and Billy had a great run cross country but surrendered their lead to Emma Mason by .5 of a penalty due to time penalties. Emma Mason and F1 Pharinelli managed to retain their lead during the showjumping to record an exciting win over Billy with Natalie Blundell and Algebra very close behind in 3rd. The courses were very much up to height and were technically difficult at all levels.
The new sand arenas made a good amphitheatre for the crowd in the dressage and showjumping. The 2 star was won by Christine Bates and Adelaide Hill who has built up a very imposing winning record. 2nd place went to Shane Rose on the good ex racehorse Sir Dex, closely followed by his fiancé Nikki Chapman on Milford Monarch. In the 1 star Claudia Graham and Jocular Vision made a successful return from injury to beat Judy Clarke on Diablito and Tim on Mercator Du Ry in 3rd.
For further info and results go to http://www.nchta.com.au
20th September - WEEKEND WINNERS FROM LIMTLESS LODGE
As the Spring unfolds all the best horses are out racing and heading towards their targets. Two very promising horses produced by Limitless Lodge won on the weekend with bigger goals ahead of them in the coming weeks.
Slater, prepared by Chris Waller and ridden by Jim Cassidy won the first race at Rosehill on Saturday over 1200m. This horse is bred to be a superstar, being by a Group 1 winner, Redoute’s Choice and out of a Group 1 winner, Special Harmony. He has now won 2 of his 3 starts with his only defeat coming 3 weeks ago due to a heart irregularity. Slater was spelled and pre-trained at Limitless Lodge, prior to this preparation.
Rainbow Styling won the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes for Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes and jockey Chris Munce at Caulfield on Saturday. This bold front running Zabeel is dynamic up to 2000m and had a distinct fitness edge over his rivals in what will turn out a good guide towards the Caulfield Cup. Rainbow Styling pre-trained at Limitless Lodge prior to this preparation on the aquacizer and on the track. http://www.racenet.com.au/horse-racing-results/
14th September – RACING RETURNS TO HONG KONG
After an 8 week break racing returns twice a week to Hong Kong. At Limitless Lodge we keep a very close eye on the racing there, as each year we produce up to 25 horses that race in Hong Kong. In the first week’s racing so far, 2 winners have come from our farm. Healthy Blueberry (Danewin/Barawin) won for trainer Peter Ho and was a graduate of the 2008 Hong Kong International Sale. Real Supreme (Flying Spur/Irgunette) won for trainer Peter Ng and was a graduate of the 2009 Hong Kong International Sale. Both these horses were broken in, spelled, pre-trained and prepared for sale at Limitless Lodge.
For all Hong Kong racing information go to: http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/english/index.aspx
14th September – THE AUSTRALIAN EVENTING TEAM LEAVES FOR THE WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES IN KENTUCKY
The Australian based horses and riders today flew out of Sydney for the long haul to the East Coast of America. The team is Megan Jones (Kirby Park Irish Jester), Stuart Tinney (Vettori), Chris Burton (Holstein Park Leilani), Paul Tapner (Inonothing), Sam Griffiths (Happy Times) and Sonia Johnson (Ringwould Jaguar). We wish the team the very best of luck.
To stay in touch with all the results and news go to: http://www.aet.equestrian.org.au
