3 minute read
Humidor Perth bound
New Zealand-bred and part-owned galloper, Humidor , has been transferred to the Perth stable of Lindsay Smith.
A three-time Group One winner who was also placed behind Winx in two editions of the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) when prepared by Darren Weir, Humidor failed to find his best form in seven starts during the spring for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
Smith said the seven-year-old would enjoy a spell before returning to training and being aimed at feature races in the autumn.
"He's come from a very good stable so it's more a case of us having our fingers crossed that he can find his old form," Smith said.
"He is in the paddock at the moment.
"I'll speak to the owners but I think we might try to get him home (WA) to do a bit of work in the heavy sand."
Early in his career Humidor was trained by Otaki-based trainers Johno Benner and Hollie Wynard, where he recorded four wins from 10 starts, including the Gr.3 Manawatu Classic (2000m) and finishing runner-up in the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m).
Blueblood filly salutes for Trelawney Stud
Impeccably bred filly Zayydani maintained her unbeaten record when she scored over 1600m at Seymour on Sunday.
Owned by her breeders, Brent and Cherry taylor of trelawney Stud, the three-year-old Savabeel filly is a half-sister to multiple Group One winner Grunt who now stands at stud in Australia.
She is from the Van Nistelrooy mare Ruqqaya, the older half-sister of four-time Group One winner Ocean Park who stands at Waikato Stud and has enjoyed a purple patch of form with his progeny of late including the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) winner Kolding.
Trained by David Hayes, his son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig, Zayydani looks to have inherited plenty of the family ability as she sustained a long run from back in the field to grind down eventual runner-up Petruchio over the final 100m of the contest to make it two wins from her first two starts.
Rider Luke Nolen was quick to praise the filly's gritty effort.
"She was very good as she was stepping up to 64 (grade) as a three-year-old before Christmas and against the older horses is quite a creditable performance," he said.
"She showed real determination which is a good quality to have in a horse.
"She is bred very well so I think we need to find her a city-grade race and then hopefully some black type on the back of that."
Lloyd Williams set to sell Macedon Lodge
Six-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams is set leave his Macedon Lodge training establishment which has produced four Cup winners since the turn of the century.
Macedon Lodge will close as a private training base for horses owned by Williams and his son Nick next month and be offered for sale next year.
Williams has not been spending the amount of time at Macedon Lodge he once did.
While Macedon Lodge will no longer be the training base for Williams-owned horses, Nick Williams said the family racing operation would continue but with reduced numbers in Australia.
"We will be selling a number of horses, both privately and likely some through dispersal," Nick Williams said.
"(But) we will have a large number of horses in training in Ireland with Joseph O'Brien and we will continue to have horses trained in Australia by various trainers."
The Sheila Laxon-trained Ethereal was prepared at Macedon Lodge to win the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in 2001 while Williams-owned Cup winners from the property he bought in 2005 have been Efficient (2007), Green Moon (2012) and Almandin (2016).
Williams had previously won the Cup with Just A Dash (1981), What A Nuisance (1985) with his most recent, the O'Brien-trained Rekindling in 2017.
O'Brien had three Cup starters for Williams this year with Master of Reality, ridden by Frankie Dettori, relegated to fourth after being second across the line followed by Twilight Payment (11th) and Latrobe (18th).
Macedon Lodge has had 35 runners this season for Australian trainer Liam Howley, registering two winners, Homesman in the Feehan Stakes at The Valley and Spanish Point in a benchmark 78 race at Geelong, both in September.
Robert Hickmott, who trained Green Moon and Almandin, left Macedon Lodge in 2017 to train at Caulfield.