Palentino - You Look, You Book

Racing fans and punters love a good debate, but if there's one thing they tend to unite on, it's the view that the retirement of talented young horses from the racetrack to the stud happens far too early for their liking!

Promising Wootton Bassett two-year-old SKIATHOS topped the fourth day of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale at 150,000 guineas with robust trade resulting in a clearance rate of 90% for the session. Turnover for the sale exceeded 33,000,000 guineas for only the fourth time in its history with a fifth and final session still to come on Friday, followed immediately by the Tattersalls Aut

Two time NZ Horse of the Year and a 14-time G1 winner, Melody Belle was a big ticket purchase for Yulong at the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale when  they paid $2.6million for the daughter of Commands and she produced her first winner for them at Cranbourne on Friday night.

An exciting opportunity is presented in the Inglis Digital November (Early) Online Sale next week when a share in a runner bound for Thursday’s $1m G1 VRC Oaks is offered.

Trainer Mark Walker will have a two-pronged attack on the Gr.1 VRC Derby (2500m) at Flemington on Saturday, headed by last start Listed 3YO Geelong Classic (2200m) winner Azazel, with lightly-tried McWoody also making the field.

The Group I VRC Victoria Derby at Flemington on Saturday is worth a whopping $2 million and the testing trip of 2500m means a lot of horses are not going to see it out strongly and this looks a competitive year with no G1 winners engaged and a full field of up and comers set to do battle, so let’s see what the pedigrees have to say.

Four heats for juveniles run at Warwick Farm on Friday and we saw winners by Trapeze Artist, Tassort, Exceed and Excel and first season sire Wild Ruler, while from a pedigree perspective a Godolphin filly that ran second was the obvious highlight.

The Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) has confirmed two major leadership appointments, naming Tanya Fullarton as Chief Executive Officer and leading business person, owner, and breeder Jonathan Munz as Vice Chairman.

Derby Day! It's the race day for purists, when the biggest and best pedigrees tend to be on show, and their merits are tested over all distances.

Australia's leading thoroughbred auctioneer Magic Millions has boosted it's impressive Bloodstock Team with news Tabitha Ridley-Thomas has this week joined the company.