Luberon Heads Cambridge Stud Saturday Charge

Media Release - Friday November 22

Lance Noble will attempt to add to a strong run of spring form for Cambridge Stud when he sends out five well-credentialled runners in Brendan and Jo Lindsay’s black and gold colours at Pukekohe on Saturday.

Noble trains privately for Cambridge Stud at Karaka and has collected six wins so far this season, headed by a dominant performance by Luberon in last month’s Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) at Rotorua. That came the day after the Lindsays won the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Te Rapa with the Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall-trained Snazzytavi.

Luberon will contest Saturday’s Gr.3 Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe.  Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)

Luberon will contest Saturday’s Gr.3 Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe. Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)

That winning sequence continued in last Saturday’s Gr.2 Tauranga Stakes (1600m), which was won by up-and-comer Bella Waters for trainers Moira and Kieran Murdoch.

Those racing successes have been backed up on the stallion front by the likes of Hello Youmzain, who sired his first southern hemisphere at Bendigo earlier this month, and Almanzor with Mehzebeen’s Listed Metropolitan Trophy (2600m) and Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) double in Christchurch.

“It’s been a really good spring for the Cambridge Stud-owned racehorses as well as the stallions,” Noble said. “Our own team has been going well, and it’s been great to see the big wins for other stables like Moira with Bella Waters and Richie with Snazzytavi as well. It’s always good to see the colours flying high.

“I think we’re heading to Pukekohe on Saturday with a nice team of horses that can all be very competitive, and hopefully they might keep this good run going. But it’s a big day of racing and they don’t give these prizes away.”

Luberon will shoot for back-to-back feature sprint wins when she lines up in Saturday’s Gr.3 Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m). The daughter of Cambridge Stud stallion Embellish will carry minimum weight with 53kg against a line-up that includes Group One winners Crocetti and Waitak along with multiple elite placegetter Babylon Berlin.

“She’s been doing very well since the Sweynesse,” Noble said. “I’ve been deliberately keeping her races quite widely spaced out, because that’s the way she seems to perform best. She’s trained on really well and trialled nicely about 10 days ago.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how she goes on Saturday. There are some quality horses in that line-up, but I think she can be competitive from where she is in the handicap. She’s very, very well.”

Advertisement

Stablemate Terra Mitica will carry that same 53kg impost in Saturday’s Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m). The Irish-bred daughter of Ulysses was a winner over the course and 2100m last December, and she was a last-start third placegetter in the Gr.3 Balmerino Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie behind El Vencedor and Wolfgang.

“The Counties Cup has come up a really even line-up, and with the topweight (No Compromise) compressing the remainder of the weights, I think you can make a case for a lot of runners,” Noble said. “But I’ve been happy with the way this mare built into this campaign, and she’s a previous winner at the course and distance, so I think it’s a good race to be targeting with her and I expect her to run a good race.”

The Gr.2 Dunstan Horsefeeds Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) is a big step up in class for Jaarffi, who has won four of her 11 career starts to date including a stylish last-start victory in an open handicap at Ellerslie on October 26.

“This is a step up in class, but she definitely deserves a shot at a race like this,” Noble said. “She hasn’t done much wrong in her whole career, and she has just kept getting better with age. La Crique and Campionessa are the benchmark horses here, and if she can hold her own against them, that will set her up nicely for some other nice targets around Christmas.”

Noble also has two runners on Saturday’s undercard. Last season’s Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2050m) winner About Time will line up in the Skycity Horizon (1600m), while last-start Rating 65 winner Frostfair steps up into Rating 75 company for the Stella Artois 1500 Championship Qualifier (1400m).

“About Time has just taken a few runs this time in, but I’m happy with the way she’s progressing,” Noble said. “She’s another one that has won at this track previously, and I think she can run a good race over 1600m.

“Frostfair has never been out of the first four in her career. She won very nicely last start and has trained on well. She’s quite a promising mare.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

Advertisment
More Reading...
Perle De Chocolat Breaks Maiden
Astern two-year-old Perle De Chocolat has always looked a filly with promise and she got the maiden out of the way when winning at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
Cool Aza Beel's Cool Archie Impressive in First Win
Cool Aza Beel’s promising son Cool Archie was already stakes placed but threw off the maiden tag emphatically at Doomben on Wednesday with better races beckoning over the winter.
1.4mil Gns Record at Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up - St Mark's Basilica 750,000 Gns
A colt by Acclamation eclipsed the record price for a lot at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale when selling to Godolphin for 1,400,000 guineas on the opening day of the sale with a St Mark’s Basilica colt second highest at 750,000 guineas.
Cambridge Stud Filly Luberon Ready for G2 Soliloquy
Luberon will bid to complete a hat-trick of wins on Saturday and remain undefeated this preparation ahead of her spring grand final at Riccarton next month.
Yes Yes Yes It’s Been a Big Week for Kate Nivison!
This time last week passionate owner breeder Kate Nivison was basking in the success of having bred and sold a $1.7million Extreme Choice colt at Inglis Easter and today she was enjoying a different sort of success as a winning owner at Kembla.
Blueblood Pierro Filly Returns a Winner
The John O’Shea and Tom Charlton trained Pierro filly Candlewick is bred to be well above average as a half-sister to Everest winner Classique Legend  and looks set for a good campaign after kicking off with a first up win at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
Embellish Mare Luberon Primed for G3 Sweynesse Stakes
The 2024-25 season is about to move up a gear for Lance Noble, who has eight entries this weekend including highly talented mare Luberon in Sunday’s Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1215) at Rotorua.
Luberon Keeps Winning Run Going for Cambridge Stud
Quality mare Luberon put a classy field of sprinters to the sword at Pukekohe on Saturday when she dashed away in the closing stages to score a handsome victory in the Gr.3 Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m).
Switzerland To Stand Alongside Fellow Coolmore Stud Stakes Winner Home Affairs at Jerry’s Plains
Following on from a phenomenal year in the sales ring, which saw first crop Home Affairs yearlings sell for an aggregate of more than $31 million, fellow Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland will join him in the stallion barn in 2025.
Pedigree Watch – Euro 3YO - Classic Potential
Interesting racing overnight at Newmarket with a couple of Classic key lead up stakes races for three year-olds and the winners were both first time stakes-winners, one from the family of Sydney autumn carnival staying star Alalcance and the other a homebred Dubawi filly for Juddmonte.