Trainer Tony Noonan felt the mare may need the run, being second up of an injury enforced lay-off, however after having a tremendous run in the race she was able to track into the race along the rails and had spent no petrol. When she got into the clear in the straight she sprouted wings and rounded up her opposition over the concluding stages to win convincingly at the juicy odds of 50/1.

The win also provided Tony Noonan with his first city winner ridden by son, Jake, which give us a tremendous thrill to be involved in.

Soul Diva is only expected to improve with the run under her belt and she faces a three race assignment before retiring to start a new career as a mum.

You Can Cal Me Al was scratched from his Gundagai assignment on Saturday due to the state of the track.

Trainer Keith Dryden was to use Canberra’s race as a fitness lead in to a suitable race at Canberra this Friday.

Dropping back from 1600m was always going to make it a tough assignment but a tremendous ride from Kevin Sweeney saw You Can Call Me Al track the short price favourite every inch of the way and in the run to the line, Al’s staying ability kicked in and he came away to victory.

The win meant he is now ineligible for Friday’s target but who cares!!

You Can Call Me Al will now be stepped back up to more suitable journeys and if he can hold his current form, more wins are in store.

You Can Call Me Al has been a frustration for his trainer, Keith Dryden, and his owners. He has had genuine excuses at most of his starts but Saturday saw everything fall into place and, “Al”, as he is known around the stables, was able to capitilise.

Given a fantastic front running ride by Kevin Sweeney, Al dictated in front and was able to balance up in the straight before fighting doggedly for a small but comprehensive victory.

Al has always shown signs of developing into a stayer but is still physically not there. He also has to carry the burden of living up to the deeds of his older half brother Albert The Fat.

While our Al doesn’t possess as much speed as his brother we hope he can show more stamina and take us on an enjoyable ride for the remainder of his career.

After a somewhat disappointing start to his career late last year, Spanish Halo was sent for a ‘maturing’ spell and he was brought back into work for a preparation with the tag ‘shape up or ship out’.

Shape up he certainly did!

Resuming at Nowra he showed a surprising finishing burst to run third beaten a neck by the winner. With our tails up, he then headed to Wagga where he came from well back to finish a clear second. Spanish Halo then headed to Queanbeyan as odds on favourite but went down gallantly after giving away weight and too big a start.

Due to lack of options we were forced to take on city maiden company and Spanish Halo showed his country form was no fluke with a gallant second placing. He looked the winner at the 100m mark but never being in front before didn’t know how to finish the race off and he was gunned down by the highly promising Al Nakhla.

Again, with a lack of options we were forced to head back to Wagga for a Maiden Handicap and asked to carry top-weight of 59kg. Under the impost, Spanish Halo could not overcome the weight difference and again, while looking the winner, was outgunned by a horse with a 6kg pull in the weights.

Coming to the end of his tether, Spanish Halo had one run left in him and headed to Warwick Farm for a set weights maiden. After being trapped wide for the majority of the run, Spanish Halo again loomed on straightening but was looking for the spelling paddock at the 200m mark and ended up finishing fifth beaten just over 2 lengths.

All in all it was frustrating not being able to break his maiden status but it has been a very consistant preparation from Spanish Halo with 5 placings from 6 outings and he has not missed a cheque all preparation.

Trainer Keith Dryden believes Spanish Halo is still a good 6-12 months from peaking so we hope he is able to come back and continue on where he left off and his owners will be in for an enjoyable ride.  

Jockey Ben Melham took up a forward position from her good gate and Lady Pachira travelled well to the corner. On straightening Ben Melham, rolled off the leader’s backs and once in clear running Lady Pachira accelerated superbly to record an easy victory.

Lady Pachira has always show above average ability and her trainer Tony Noonan would like to try and qualify her for this years Queensland Oaks.

Lady Pachira will head to Sydney for her next target and if successful she will continue to Queensland.

Pingus, a 3yo filly by Falbrav, has tested the patience of her owners for some time. She has battled through injury and immaturity but has always been touted an above average horse by trainers Gary & Troy Portelli.   

Ridden superbly by Nikita Beriman, Pingus was well poised behind the leader in the run and on straightening shouldered her way out of a pocket and let down well to take victory under hands and heels riding.

Pingus will now be aimed at greater glories and is one to be followed over the next year as she matures further both physically and mentally.

Vilakazi Street began well from his wide barrier and Josh Adam was able to slot into a position one off the fence just off the leaders.

Vilakazi Street settled well in this position and on straightening a gap appeared and he dashed through and gave nothing else a sight.

Vilakazi Street is yet to miss a place in his short career and today’s victory was his third in six starts, with his earnings (including BOBS) creeping above $60,000.

While impressive, Vilakazi Street, trained in Canberra by Keith Dryden, still has plenty to learn about racing and that will come with race experience, so his large, and happy, group of owners has a lot to look forward to.

Special congratulations too many of his owners who recorded their very first city winner, and by the manner of the victory they may have many more to celebrate.

If you would like to join in the fun and excitement of owning a racehorse with Laurel Oak and Keith Dryden, then contact our office on 02 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

Using the current NSW Benchmark system, Gary Portelli has placed this gelding perfectly and his owners have been reaping the benefits as he makes his way through the grades.

Although jumping from a wide barrier, Litigate settled towards the tail before Robyn Freeman allowed him to stride into the race around the circle and join the leaders on straightening.

In the straight Litigate let down well and although he had to battle to gain the eventual lead, he ended up recording a comfortable victory.

Given he didn’t have the easiest of runs the win gives us encouragement for his future.

Litigate will continue to race his way through the grades, and chase BOBS Bonuses, around the country and provincial tracks before tackling higher city ambitions.

Saturday, 13th March 2010 - There was nothing unlucky about 13 last Saturday.  Be Positive was TAB #13 on 13 March, and led all the way for a game and impressive win in the Group 3 Jockey Celebration Victoria Plate over 1400m, a race which is traditionally known as the Frances Tressady Stakes. 

Inspired pre-race tactics from Tony Noonan to take this fit mare to the lead, and a well-judged ride by Danny Nikolic, enabled her to fight back once she was headed in the straight to come away for an impressive victory that will enhance this mare’s future stud value.  Now, as a Group 3 winner and Group 3 placegetter, and winner of $174,000 with the prospect of more to come, Be Positive has been a major success story. 

She was part of a plan hatched three years ago with our breeder clients to upgrade the quality of yearlings we were buying with a view to developing a commercial broodmare team.  The victory was Be Positive’s fourth from 15 starts. 

Be Positive has been a wonderful advertisement for the flexibility of Laurel Oak’s racing syndicates.  Originally bought by breeder clients, part of her was leased out as some of our clients will buy well-bred yearlings but lease their share out for racing purposes.  There were some very happy lessees in Be Positive after Saturday’s races. 

Sunday, 7th March 2010 - Winning a race on Black Opal Day is always good fun and a highlight for owners, and on this occasion it was no different. 

Vilakazi Street resumed in the Benchmark 65 1200m handicap, and after a good ride from Kevin Sweeney, who found the fence, followed it and then got to sleuth at the right time, Vilakazi Street accelerated away from the field, winning by a convincing 4¼ lengths.   

It was an impressive first-up win, and took his record to two wins from four starts.  He is shaping as a promising horse.

Thursday, 4th March 2010 - Dab Touch returned to form second-up from a spell with a good win in the Benchmark 50 handicap over 1200m at Wagga. 

After being well-beaten from a wide barrier first-up, a better barrier and a good Kevin Sweeney ride that had him well-placed got him out at the right time to finish the race off well and arrive in time.  This 3yo Untouchable gelding has now won two of his four starts, and picked up a BOBS bonus with this victory.

Monday, 1st March 2010 - Litigate had a setback after his most recent start when running third at Nowra, but returned to racing in good style with a solid win in the Benchmark 50 handicap at Wagga, earning himself another BOBS bonus. 

This was his second win from nine career starts, but the first five were spent educating him to relax and settle, and since he has been ready to start winning he has won two of his four starts.

This big, strong gelding by Anabaa will be taken through his grades, and once he turns four, the fact he can run over 1600m and further means he will be eligible to earn BOBS Extra bonuses as well.

Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 - Since getting up to suitable distances and the right grade Mass Exodus has started to race more consistently. 

At Queanbeyan he won his second race from three starts.  Late replacement jockey Robyn Freeman got him into a position once off the fence from an awkward barrier, and after a good run in transit Mass Exodus joined in at the right time once they straightened and fought off stable-mate Shwedagon for a good win. 

Mass Exodus’ trainer, Keith Dryden, scored the trifecta in this race with his three runners when Numerosa got home late to run third.  Once we discovered the staying promise in this 6yo and planned his races accordingly his form has improved dramatically. 

Sunday, 21st February 2010 -   If ever a wait for a patient group of owners was worth it, it was the case with Denunciate, who won the $75,000 Provincial Stayers’ Championship at Bendigo over 2400m in tremendous style. 

As well as the $42,000 first prize, the owners also picked up a Saturday Class SuperVOBIS bonus of $16,000 to make it a very worthwhile payday and reward for their patience. 

After getting the dry track he so rarely finds, and then getting a good run in transit from jockey James Winks, the Tony Noonan-trained 6yo hit the lead on straightening and came away for a comfortable and impressive victory. 

Saturday, 20th February 2010 -   Be Positive skipped the formalities of a city Saturday victory when she almost won the Group 3 Mannerism Stakes over 1400m at Caulfield. 

After having been given a great run in transit by Danny Nikolic, who got one out and one back from his wide draw, Be Positive dashed to the lead on straightening and looked to have the race won at big odds before race favourite, Tootsie, caught her on the line. 

Previously the winner of three races and metropolitan-placed on a number of occasions a Group 3 placing in a prestigious mares race has now enhanced Be Positive’s future stud value. 

It was also a great thrill for her owners who would have had some very good collects with their each-way bets at big odds.

Tuesday, 2nd February 2010 - Surge Draw completed a winning hat-trick with another professional win at Cessnock. 

For the third time in a row she picked up a BOBS bonus, and for the third time in a row Robyn Freeman did a great job in positioning her well during the race and bringing her in a well-timed run to grab victory. 

Very few horses can win three in a row, so it is a great credit to horse, jockey and trainer, Gary Portelli.

Sunday, 17th January 2010 -   Denunciate has been a terrible frustration for his owners as he has always shown ability but has also shown a liking for dry tracks.  It is over 18 months since he last raced on one because he has this inordinate ability to cause rain to fall on the day where he races.

Finally a dry track and a well-judged ride from jockey Mick Carson saw this Tony Noonan-trained 6yo salute at his third run back from a spell over 2000m at Cranbourne.  Coming from the back of the field Michael Carson tacked on to the swoopers and came to the outside to arrive just in time at big odds. 

He was one run short of his peak so we were pleasantly surprised by the victory.

Tuesday, 12th January 2010 -   Surge Draw backed up from her good first-up run in what was her fourth career start to score her maiden win at Cessnock. 

Given a good trail on the fence behind the leaders from the good barrier, Robyn Freeman had her perfectly positioned coming to the corner and in the straight she was too strong for her opposition to come away and score her first win at her fourth career start.

Monday, 11th January 2010 -   Mass Exodus and Reigning Rhythm both went to Nowra with some level of expectation, and it was a thrill to see both of them salute. 

Mass Exodus had been threatening to win a race once he reached the right distance, and duly saluted under a strong ride by Josh Adams. 

In the following race Reigning Rhythm was having his fourth race start, the first two of which he spent learning the ropes, and on this occasion, ridden patiently and like a stayer by Kody Nestor, he came with a late charge to arrive just in time to score his maiden win and pick up a BOBS bonus in the process. 

Sunday, 27th December 2009 - This was an exciting day for Laurel Oak owners with two runners at Mornington producing two nice-priced winners. 

Be Positive continued the good form she showed at her previous start when she duly saluted at Kyneton under a good ride from Ben Knobel, while earlier in the day Easy, also ridden by Ben Knobel, broke her maiden status at her third career start with a good win. 

Both horses looked headed in the straight and both fought back for courageous wins, and were part of four Tony Noonan-trained winners on the day.  

Easy was bred by a Laurel Oak breeding syndicate and was bought off that syndicate for clients at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale.

2yo Face Value filly Etoile Vitesse gave her rivals no chance when dictating in front and scooting away in the run home to record an impressive victory at just her second start.

Etoile Vitesse will now be given her chance to come to town and see if she can measure up to some stronger opposition.

3yo Johannesburg gelding, Hannesburg, came out immediately after his stable mate and repeated the dose, when he dashed away in the straight to record an equally impressive victory in the 1100m maiden.

Hannesburg has taken time to mature, but now that the penny seems to have dropped there may be some exciting times ahead for his large group of owners.

Congratulations go to Keith Dryden and Kevin Sweeney who combine for the two winners. Both horses were turned out in fantastic order and ridden a treat by Kevin.

If you would like to become involved in the excitement of owning your own winning racehorse, contact Laurel Oak and we can tailor a package to suit your needs.

Tikit To Glory settled well midfield and looked to be travelling underneath Jim Byrne on straightening. Once straightened things looked grim when Tikit To Glory didn’t have clear galloping room with 250m to go.

Jim Byrne patiently manoeuvred the Kind Of Danes filly to the outside and she gradually gained momentum and charged late to take the lead in the final strides.

It is fantastic to see Tikit To Glory show great tenacity in her races. She has been through a lot in her short life to date, with her mum, Win Tikit, tragically died after giving birth to Tikit To Glory. From that moment on Tikit To Glory had to be hand reared and it is a tremendous thrill to see her succeeding on the racetrack.

Tikit To Glory will head to a 1500m race in a fortnight’s time where, on the merit of today’s performance, she will be very hard to beat once again.

Coming off a barnstorming win at Ballarat, Cut And Run started favourite in today’s event and after settling well back in the field, put herself in a challenging position on straightening.

In the straight Cut And Run took a long time to get warmed up and overhaul the leaders until she and eventual winner, Wilsons Promontory, claimed the lead over the final strides.

It was a pleasing performance and Cut And Run remains on target for the Rivett Fillies Classic Series over the next month.

The 2yo Face Value filly, Etoile Vitesse began well and went head and head with favourite Hemem. On straightening it was a race in two with both fillies going hammer and tong before the race experienced Hemem was able to gain the upper hand and draw away near the line.

Etoile Vitesse stuck to her guns in terrific fashion holding down second place three lengths clear of the third placegetter.

With natural improvement this Keith Dryden trained filly will be hard to beat wherever she heads next start, and it looks as though she will give her large group of owners some exciting times through her career.

From The Shadows, a 3yo Rhythm gelding, showed he has returned to racing in good order with consecutive third placings since resuming.

From The Shadows had two below par performances to start his career and was sent to the paddock ‘on notice’, but seems to have turned the corner this preparation with two promising performances over unsuitable distances.

From The Shadows is bred to appreciate further and by his first two starts this preparation a win or two is not too far away.

If you would like to join Laurel Oak Bloodstock to race a horse with Keith Dryden, please contact our office to see what is currently on offer.

Cut And Run settled at the rear of the field in an even tempo with things looking grim approaching the turn where she was still second last.

On straightening, Cut And Run was urged along by Nick Hall and on coming down the Ballarat dip was able to move into the clear. At that point, Cut And Run let down impressively to have the opposition covered with 100m to go and the Dash For Cash filly came away to win by a widening one and a half lengths.

Trainer Tony Noonan was rapt with the performance and feels Cut And Run will only improve with racing and getting up over a little further.

Cut And Run has now had 8 starts for one win and 2 placing and earned over $20,000 in prizemoney.

While it took this tenacious filly 8 starts to break her maiden, Cut And Run has faced some stiff opposition in her short career to date running into the likes of Cats Whisker, Lamarr & Bequests in her earlier quests to break her maiden.

Now that she has got her first win on the board, the manner and style of the win suggest an exciting future ahead for this promising filly.

Tikit To Glory travelled well in the run, a little better than midfield. Approaching the turn Tikit To Glory looked to be losing touch but picked up well under the urgings of Brad Stewart and on straightening hooked out from behind the leaders to mount a challenge.

In the straight Tikit To Glory fought tenaciously with little galloping room and gained the lead shortly before the post to record victory with a margin of a head.

Today’s victory was Tikit To Glory’s second from thirteen starts and takes her prizemoney to $37,300.

We are still learning about this daughter of King Of Danes, but on the back of today’s performance we are in for an exciting preparation.

Tikit To Glory is trained on the Gold Coast by Gillian Heinrich and if you would like to become involved in racing a horse with Laurel Oak and Gillian Heinrich please contact Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

Lucetius took up the running in the early stages before handing up, and electing to sit off another runner in second place. On straightening Lucetius took over and set sail for home, looking the winner for most of the straight until the backmarkers began to fly late.

Lucetius fought well but was unable to hold off the fast finishing Gold Sultan. Lucetius was the only on pace runner to figure in the finish which added merit to the quality of his performance.

The race showed that Lucetius is well and truly up to Open class sprints around the country area and he may be given his chance at a race like the Wagga Town Plate during the Wagga Cup Carnival.

Lucetius record now stands at six wins and ten placings from 31 starts with prizemoney earnings a tick over $82,000.

Finding 1000m about 10m too far we thought this would be his perfect race. Single Bound was tardily away over the short course and he was always in bother, but he did run home well to finish third.  For a horse that is a natural leader it was unusual to see him actually finish a race off, but then again it was only over 900m.

The plan prior to this race was always to sell him and thankfully he will be going to a good home with one of his part-owners purchasing him to continue racing around South-East Queensland with the aim to find some suitable metropolitan options for him.

After only just making the field Kaapstad Lad showed that he really was looking forward to that distance in hitting the line strongly from back in the ruck he was able to grab second place right on the line.

With a SuperVOBIS bonus attached to the race he earned $19,000 in total for his second placing in what was a tremendous return for his patient group of owners.

Lucetius jumped well and enjoyed the run of the race in behind the leader and on straightening, jockey of the moment, Kevin Sweeney guided the chestnut along the rails and Lucetius dashed away with an unassailable lead to win by two lengths eased up on the line.

A big congratulation must go to trainer Keith Dryden who trained 3 winners on the day and Kevin Sweeney who rode 5 winners on the card including the 3 main events. Kevin is a valued member of Keith’s stables and his, and Keith’s; hard work certainly reaped the rewards yesterday.

Kaapstad Lad has always appreciated the longer distances and yesterday’s result showed this is certainly the case with Kaapstad Lad enjoying a good run mid-race before obtaining runs along the inside in the straight to work home solidly and hold down second place in the run to the line.

Kaapstad Lad will now chase staying races in the metropolitan area where Tony Noonan feels he will be competitive in anything over a mile and a half.

After competitive runs in much stronger grade, trainer Tony Noonan, set Be Positive a much easier assignment with Be Positive settling on pace in a solid tempo before challenging on straightening and pulling away for a comprehensive win on the line.

Tony Noonan has always had a good opinion of Be Positive and now with her maiden out of the way we are confident she can continue on her winning way.

Ridden a treat by Nick Hall, Soul Diva sat in behind the leaders until the straight where she was taken to the middle of the track and ground down the leader, and held off all challengers in the run to the line.

Soul Diva showed great determination and will to win, and has certainly not lost the zest for racing.

As mentioned, the victory was Soul Diva’s 10^th from 28 career starts and took her prizemoney to over $305,000.

Credit must go to her trainer Tony Noonan and his staff at Mornington who has nursed Soul Diva back from a career-threatening tendon injury.

Soul Diva may now be given her chance to complete some ‘unfinished business’ and return to Tasmania to chase greater glories in the Hobart & Launceston Cups. Soul Diva ran 6^th behind Blutigeroo in the 2007 Hobart Cup before she succumbed to the tendon injury only days prior to the Launceston Cup.

We are hoping 2009 will be her year.

It was the only one of the twenty-one heats to be held on the Kensington course rather than the grass training track.

Hugh Bowman rode Fist Of Fury, and he jumped well from the widish gate and worked a little early without being pressured to get to a good spot sitting in second place chasing Sebring.  At no stage did Hugh Bowman ask Fist Of Fury for any extra effort and he went around under his own steam and always seemed to have the leader 'covered'. 

Fist Of Fury didn't appear to get out of second gear, and while none of the horses was under a lot of pressure (which was reflected by the modest time of 47.6s), it was a very impressive trial on Fist Of Fury's part and it did appear that he could have gone straight to the lead at any time.

Sea Eye Pea was ridden to perfection by star Sydney apprentice Nathan Berry, who dictated the pace of the race to suit the mare and set up a demanding lead on straightening before being to strong over the final stages to hold on by a half length.

Sea Eye Pea was sent to Victoria by trainer Gary Portelli, to chase Open mares races in town, however was unable to break through in her two Victorian starts. She was then brought back to Sydney, where all her successes have been to date, and showed she hadn’t lost any talent disposing of a strong field of mares tonight.

Sea Eye Pea has been a tremendous money spinner for her connections amassing over $130,000, a great return on her $23,000 purchase price.

Sea Eye Pea’s record stands at 21 starts for 5 wins (three in the city) and 5 placings and there looks to be plenty more in store for the 4yo mare.

If you would like to join the fun and excitement of owning a successful racehorse then call Laurel Oak Bloodstock and we can show you how easy and enjoyable owning a racehorse really is. Laurel Oak can be contacted on 02 8883 1066.

Lucetius jumped well from the gates and settled outside the lead before taking control on entering the straight, and, found the line strongly to hold off any challenger’s in the run to the line.

Today’s win was Lucetius’ 5th from 25 starts and took his prizemoney to just over $64,000.

Keith Dryden has done a fantastic job having Lucetius spot-on for his racetrack return and we look forward to an exciting preparation from Lucetius in the coming months.

If you would like to join us in racing a horse with Keith Dryden then call our office on 02 8883 1066 to enquire about current shares available.

Due to lack of nominations at Doomben the week prior trainer, Gillian Heinrich was forced to run Tikit To Glory over the unsuitable distance of 1400m in order to have her ready to step up to a mile and beyond.

Tikit To Glory was able to settled one off the fence in the run and on straightening was able to shoulder into the clear and make her run. In the straight, Tikit To Glory was very green and was also under pressure from an outside runner laying-in which added merit to her performance to be so close at the finish.

Tikit To Glory will have at least two more starts this prep over 1600m then 2000m with a view to testing the water over these distances, and, if successful, a possible tilt at the 2009 Queensland Oaks.

Trainer Gillian Heinrich believes Tikit To Glory is showing enough ability to suggest she deserves a crack at those sorts of races and if the plan come to fruition, there are some exciting times ahead for her owners.

The win also took Private Dan’s career earnings over the $100,000 mark.

Private Dan was given a terrific ride by stable jockey, Kevin Sweeney, who had Private Dan settled in sixth position through the run. On straightening, Private Dan was taken to the outside and he found the line too well for his opposition to come away for a tough win under his big weight of 58.5kg’s.

Private Dan has come through the win extremely well and he will now be nominated for the Listed Canberra Cup, where he will get in with a light weight and be a live chance, especially if there is rain about.

Mass Exodus settled back in the field and was forced to make a long run from the 800m mark and made solid ground in the straight, only to find the first too placegetters too strong on the day. Mass Exodus defeated the remainder of the field quite comfortably and showed he is ready to step up over distances of a mile and beyond, where he should come into his own.

Steel Titan always had the task in front of him having to carry top-weight in the large field, and also contend with a wide barrier. Steel Titan was able to settle in sixth position through the run and approaching the straight, tracked up behind the leaders into a challenging position. Deep into the straight, Steel Titan took the lead and looked set for victory before he laid in with 50m to go and lost all forward momentum, which in turn, enable two closer’s to grab him in the shadows of the post to relegate him to third. It was still a very good performance and showed he has his hoof on the till.

Both horses will head back to the races within a fortnight where Keith Dryden is confident they will be very competitive.

Rocket Radar needed every inch of the long Newcastle straight to run down the second placegetter in a driving finish that saw Rocket Radar bob at the right time to win.

While only a short margin, it was a good win over an unsuitable distance and showed that he is on track for a successful preparation.

Rocket Radar has only recorded two wins in his short career to date, but has been in the prizemoney on most occasions with his record standing at 2 wins, 3 seconds and 4 thirds from 14 starts.

Settling midfield, Tikit To Glory was brought to the outside on straightening and took a little while to wind up before attacking the line to win going away by a half length.

Tikit To Glory has always shown her trainer, Gillian Heinrich, a fair amount of ability and Gillian is of the opinion that Tikit To Glory can turn into a nice staying filly.

Tikit To Glory will be given her chance in the city over a mile and beyond and hopefully she can graduate to a higher grade in the near future.

After settling in the back half of the field down the straight six, Fist Of Fury made his run approaching the clock tower and looked to be a major threat to hot favourite Northern Meteor. The two battled it out over the concluding stages, but the easy early sectionals meant that Fist OF Fury was unable to run down Northern Meteor and the two clear out on the rest of the field with Fist Of Fury going down by a fighting half length.

Fist Of Fury has now emerged as one of the hottest young colts of his age and will be targeted towards the major sprints in the Autumn.

Congratulations to John O’Shea and his staff for the manner in which they have produced Fist Of Fury for a successful first campaign.

Trainer Gillian Heinrich, has always shown a liking to this filly and believes she will improve when she gets out to distances of a mile and beyond.

In her first preparation Tikit To Glory, ran well without winning and ran into some of the best opposition around in Listed and Group racing over the Queensland Winter Carnival. If she is able to progress forward in the manner we expect we will have some fun with this filly.

Tikit To Glory’s life has been all smooth sailing. As a very young foal, Tikit To Glory’s dam, Win Tikit, became very sick with laminitis and after many attempts to rectify the problem had to be euthanized. Not only was Tikit To Glory left alone at this crucial stage of her life, there was no foster mare available to take over as her ‘stand-in mum’ and she was left at a very young age to fend for herself and was hand reared at Glenlogan Stud.

With time and persistence Tikit To Glory made it through some very tough times and has now developed into a lovely filly with some galloping ability.

We are hopeful Tikit To Glory future is much brighter than her beginning. Thanks must go to Steve Morley and the staff at Glenlogan Park Stud for their help in the early stages of Tikit To Glory’s life.

Again, Laurel Oak has a large group of clients attending the Panorama Restaurant on all four days of racing at Flemington plus a host of other activities throughout the week, including; Friday’s Late Mail Lunch, Tony Noonan’s Annual Stable Visit & After Derby Barbie & Mornington races, Rugby League World Cup – Aus Vs Eng, & the Call Of The Card, all guaranteed to add to what is already an exciting week of racing.

Laurel Oak will also have a team of horses racing over the carnival.

Spearheading the group is gun three-year old colt Fist Of Fury, trained by John O’Shea, in the Group 1 Coolmore Stks (AKA – Ascot Vale Stks). The unbeaten son of Hussonet will be taking on another crack NSW colt Northern Meteor along with many other useful 3yo’s, and we are very much looking forward to this race. Fist Of Fury has settled in well in Melbourne and will be spot on for his assignment on the first day of the carnival.

Other runners for the team will be lightly race 3yo filly Be Positive in a stakes race on Oaks Day, Magic Zulu in the Grey Stars Hcp also on Oaks Day, and rounding out the team will be mighty mare, Soul Diva, who will be chasing black type in the Group 2 Matriarch Stks on the final day over the ideal distance of 2000m.

We look forward to an exciting week of racing and wish the best of luck to all connections involved in these runners throughout the week.

Soul Diva enjoyed a good run from barrier one and began to stoke into the race approaching the turn. After being knocked off balance she knuckled down terrific along the fence and was in a bunch of mare which crossed the line together but unfortunately on the wrong end of the placings.

Never the less, Soul Diva’s trainer, Tony Noonan, believed the run would have Soul Diva cherry ripe for her main spring ambition, The Group 2 Matriarch Stakes, on the final day of the Flemington carnival.

Go the Diva!!

Following a long, injury enforced spell Soul Diva returned to the races in May this year for a terrific first up win at Flemington before heading to Queensland for a crack at the Group 1 Winter Stakes.

Soul Diva spelled and did her foundation work in Queensland under the care of Mick Robins and has returned to Tony Noonan’s Mornington stables in fine fettle. She was in need of the run heading into her first-up run at Flemington, and again in yesterday’s race, however, we now head into the Inglis Mile on Cox Plate Day nearing peak fitness before Soul Diva will tackle her major aim this spring in the form of the Group 2 Hilton On The Park Stakes (aka Matriarch Stakes) on the final day of the Flemington Carnival.

Soul Diva is idling along beautifully and, come cup week, we cannot wait to see her put into top gear and be ultra competitive in the Hilton on the Park.

Appreciating some give in the ground, Private Dan settle back in the field before making ground coming to the corner and finding room through the middle of the field in the straight to grind away and gain third spot near the line.

It was a pleasing effort from Private Dan who has not had the best of luck in the past 18 months as he has battled through EI and a little soreness.

Hopefully he is now able to hold his form and break through for another well deserved city win, not only for the horse but for his patient owners!

Fist Of Fury settled in the box seat and travelled well under Glyn Schofield before being taken to the outside on straightening where he unleashed for home and took care of his rivals.

Glyn reported that the colt had a bright future and still had plenty of improvement once he learns what he is at the races to do.

John O’Shea and his staff have done a terrific job with Fist Of Fury and his group of owners are in for some exciting times ahead.

Fist Of Fury will be given his chance for Group 1 glory when he is set for the Coolmore Stakes (Old Ascot Vale Stakes) on Derby Day at Flemington.

With natural improvement from his first two starts Fist Of Fury is sure to make his presence felt down the Flemington straight.

Fist Of Fury settled in the back half of the field before jockey, Hugh Bowman, guided the Hussonet colt through the field in the straight before dashing clear near the line.

It was a very impressive debut from a highly promising colt that has a lot of improvement to come.

Congratulations must go to John O’Shea and his staff who have done a marvelous job with Fist Of Fury. John has been very patient with the horse and it looks like we will reap the rewards in the future.

Laurel Oak was given the opportunity to join O’Shea in search for a colt with the potential to become a stallion. After many sales, we came upon Fist Of Fury and he was purchased from the 2007 Gold Coast Magic Millions for $470,000 and from the moment he was broke-in he has always shown tremendous ability.

Today’s victory, we hope, will be the first of many and we look forward to an exciting ride with an exciting horse.

During the spring carnivals in Sydney and Melbourne, Laurel Oak horses: Typhoon Fury, Fury, Fists Of Fury, Tikit To Glory, Soul Diva & Be Positive are all in work with Spring targets on their agenda’s.

While it will be a tremendous thrill if just one horse races over the carnival, having six live chances is unbelievable and there are exciting time ahead for many Laurel Oak owners.

If you would like to experience the thrill and excitement of owning a share in a thoroughbred then contact Laurel Oak and we can tailor a package to meet your ownership needs. Laurel Oak can be contacted on 02 8883 1066 or by email at lauroak@bigpond.net.au .

In an 11 out of 10 ride by apprentice Logan McGill, Lady Zhivago travelled on the fence in third position and tracked up behind the leader stylishly approaching the turn. In the straight Lady Zhivago dashed to an unbeatable lead and held on to win by a length and a half.

This was just the third win of her 35 start career but was also her third city win.

While Lady Zhivago has been frustrating for her owners at times, she has also been enjoyable to race as she has been placed on 13 other occasions, also mainly in the metropolitan area.

Lady Zhivago is set to head to the breeding barn at the end of this season and she will be given two more chances to add to her record before motherhood beckons.

Due to an impossible barrier draw, Rocket Radar was scratched from the Grafton Guineas and forced to look elsewhere for a race.

In the race, Rocket Radar settled towards the tail of the field and was forced to make his run in traffic approaching the turn. Once straightened, Rocket Radar balanced up well and finished the race off in a workman like manner and again indicated he is nearing a win.

This placing was his seventh placing of his career and his fourth from four starts this preparation. While he has only recorded the one win to date, he is one horse that has had legitimate excuses on many occasions, and once he finds the right set of circumstances in his races we are confident he will string many wins together.

Ridden to perfection by Danny Nikolic, Magic Zulu dictated in front and looked to have a winning break on straightening but was eventually worn down by the winner in the concluding stages.

Magic Zulu has shown in his past two starts that he is well and truly up to Saturday company and we hope he can break through in the coming weeks.

Magic Zulu’s recent performances also give us high hopes for his rising 2yo full brother, which Laurel Oak purchased at this year’s sales. He will be trainer by Keith Dryden in Canberra. If you are looking to become involved in the Thrill and Excitement of owning a share in your own racehorse, contact Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066 and we will make owning your racehorse Easy and Enjoyable.

Lumping 59.5kg, Sea Eye Pea, with a ten out of ten ride from Blake Shinn, fought off all challenges in the straight to record her fourth career victory in 17 starts and took her prizemoney (including BOBS bonuses) to over $111,000. A terrific return on her $23,000 purchase price.

Sea Eye Pea is raced by a group of colleagues who approached Laurel Oak to source a yearling for them to race and Sea Eye Pea was purchased from the Inglis Classic Sale. The ownership group has had such a great time racing Sea Eye Pea that they have again purchased another yearling filly this year, also by Commands, who we also have high hopes for.

Due to a postpone meeting earlier in the week, trainer Tony Noonan, could not avoid the two mares clashing and the end result came down to luck in running.

Pyrenees Jewel was back in the field and faced traffic problems making her run at the top of the straight and once in the clear the bird had well and truly flown but Pyrenees Jewel found the line in a manner suggesting she will appreciate further than 1600m and a win is not too far away.

Trainer Tony Noonan is confident Pyrenees Jewel is stayer in the making and with patience now we hope to reap the rewards in the coming preparations.

Following two consistent placings at Bathurst and Canberra, Rocket Radar was well supported in the ring and sent out a firming second elect to the talented Third Estate.

Ridden a treat by Peter Robl, Rocket Radar was given every opportunity in the run but was unable to match the sprint of Third Estate and he was strong all the way to the line to be in a photo for second, narrowly missing out.

Trainer Gary Portelli felt the run warranted a shot at the Grafton Guineas and we will head to that carnival with Rocket Radar confident about our chances.

Jumping from the outside alley, Cut And Run had no option but to go back to last and in a slow run race hit the line impressively to go down by a half-head.

Cut And Run has always shown above average ability and she will be given a chance to break her maiden in the coming weeks before having a break to consolidate physically and mentally.

Trainer Tony Noonan predicts a bright future for this filly and she will be one to follow.

Ridden slightly out of character, Sea Eye Pea settled in fifth position before striking a traffic jam on entering the straight.

Once in clear galloping room she made solid ground to the line but was unable to catch the race leader, who was able to dictate terms of the race to suit itself.

Sea Eye Pea will continue to chase BOBS through the remainder of her three year old season.

Both mare were given great chances by their respective stables, however, unfortunately both mares didn’t have an ounce of luck in running.

Lady Zhivago had a perfect run in transit and on straightening was unable to find a clear passage with the leader rolling in and out off the rails. Once a run did emerge, Lady Zhivago took the opportunity only to have the gap closed by the eventual winner and second place horses with Lady Zhivago and unlucky third, only a neck from the winner. Troy Portelli lodged an objection, however it was to no avail, and stewards dismissed the protest much to the surprise of not only the owners but also the many media outlets that were certain Lady Zhivago would have won with clear running.

Power Of Love also had a good run in transit, but again, on straightening was caught up behind tiring horses and once in the clear she flew to the line to finish fourth beaten a half length by the winner!

No doubt, if both mares had their share of luck it would have been a Laurel Oak quinella.

Be Positive was sent to Sydney by trainer Tony Noonan to chase BOBS bonuses against fillies and her performance on Saturday left us encouraged by her future racing prospects.

Be Positive was given no peace in the lead and she fought on well in the straight, but looked to run into a quality filly, however, she comprehensively beat the remainder of the field.

Tony Noonan was impressed with the effort that he has now decided to spell Be Positive in preparation for 3yo Filly stakes races in the later part of the Melbourne Spring carnival.

Be Positive is a well named daughter of Anabaa out of the mare Red Blooded and was purchased from the Conrad Jupiter Magic Millions Yearling sales on the Gold Coast.

On a heavily leader biased track, Denunciate made a long sustained run from the 600m mark to go down by just over two lengths.

This lightly raced 4 year-old hasn’t had the best of luck in his past couple of starts since breaking his maiden, but with patience trainer Tony Noonan expects him to graduate through to city class racing over a mile and beyond.

We look forward to the coming weeks, and preparations, with this promising individual.

Soul Diva settled in the back half of the field and was allowed to move into the race under her own steam and when balanced up in the straight she found the line very well giving nothing else a chance.

While her work this time in had been good, trainer Tony Noonan, was cautious about her chances, being first up in 15 months plus coming back from a serious tendon injury. We were pleasantly surprised when she found the firmer Flemington surface to her liking to perform as she did.

With that impressive victory, Soul Diva booked herself a trip to Queensland to tackle the Group 1 Winter Stakes for Fillies & Mares at Eagle Farm. We look forward to Soul Diva adding to her already impressive career record of 20 starts for 9 wins and 3 placings and over $240,000.

Soul Diva bowed a tendon when preparing for the 2007 Launceston Cup following an impressive 6^th in the Hobart Cup behind Blutigeroo. Her owners decided to treat her with the revolutionary Stem Cell Surgery and following 9 months paddock rest and 4 months of long slow foundation work, their patience has paid off.

Congratulation must go to her trainer Tony Noonan and his staff at Mornington for the wonderful job they have done in getting Soul Diva successfully back to the races.

Soul Diva will be put away following the Winter Stakes with some major races in the Melbourne Spring Carnival her aim later in the year.

Over an unsuitable 1200m Rocket Radar was caught three wide around the circle and gave away a good 8 lengths on straightening.

In the straight the grey gelding knuckled down and found the line extremely well to go down by a head to the up and coming Kelectron who had a better run in transit. The pair gapped the rest of the field indicating they were classes above their opposition.

Rocket Radar will now be aimed by trainer Gary Portelli at off-season metropolitan racing and we look forward to him returning to the winners stall shortly.

On this occasion Power Of Love came out on top with an unlucky second placing while Lady Zhivago finished a creditable fourth.

Power Of Love had the gun run in the box seat and on turning was bailed up inside runners under a throttle hold. Once straightened, Power Of Love obtained clear galloping room and set out after the leader and was making solid ground on that horse but the post came up to quick. With an ounce of luck it was clear to see that Power Of Love would have easily won the race. Nevertheless, it was a terrific performance and Power Of Love is showing consistant racetrack performances indicating another year of racing may be preferred over the breeding barn this year.

Lady Zhivago was also unlucky in the run and it was a sad case of barrier one not being ideal on the day.

Lady Zhivago had a perfect run in transit behind Power Of Love but was caught up in traffic when she wanted to be moving into the race. In the straight, when free, Lady Zhivago found the line well to claim fourth place and indicating a win in Melbourne is not too far away.

From an outside gate, jockey Michael Carson, took Denunciate to the rear of the field to settle four wide about twelve lengths off the lead.

Approaching the corner, Denunciate had the task ahead of him and was a clear second last on straightening. Carson directed the Diatribe gelding through the field and when looking like he would run a good placing, Denunciate sprouted wings and flew to gobble up the leaders as if they were nailed to the fence to record an impressive victory.

Denunciate has come through his win well and trainer, Tony Noonan, is looking towards taking Denunciate through his grades now and has high hopes for him.

Although her current form was quite good, Power Of Love was sent out the $11 outsider in the field of six due to her form on wet tracks but after enjoying a good run in transit in the box seat, approaching the turn jockey Craig Newitt urged Power Of Love to chase the runaway leader and on straightening Power Of Love had moved into second position two lengths off the leader.

In the straight Power Of Love chased gamely and took the lead in the shadows of the post to be drawing away for a well deserved win.

Congratulations go to Tony Noonan and his staff at Mornington who have done a fantastic job with this mare, having to manage her work to make it through to the races.

With today’s win on the board we hope Power Of Love can continue forward and this will be the first of many city wins.

Heartbreak Pass went straight to the lead after jumping and travelled well and put a gap in the field on straightening and looked set for victory. Over the concluding stages, his lack of fitness showed and he was nailed right on the line by the talented Guru.

Heartbreak Pass was given a short let up by Gary Portelli to dodge the Autumn carnival and Sunday’s result showed a good preparation is in store for this lightly races gelding.

The Easter Select session was a very hot sale and we were delighted to acquire a Falbrav filly from Danzero mare Dane Vintage. This quality filly is a half sister to multiple Group 1 placegetter Perfect Drop. The filly will be trained by Gary Portelli in Sydney, who co-incidentally trained Rena’s Lady to Group 1 success in the AJC Oaks defeating Perfect Drop into second placing!

The Easter Select II session was a little easier to find some impressive yearlings at value prices.

First on the list was a grey colt by Johannesburg out Mardi’s Magic. Being a full brother to our good three-year old Magic Zulu, this colt was one of the first on our inspection list, and looking a spitting image of his older brother we were extremely pleased to be able to buy him for Keith Dryden to train, where, from his Canberra base, he can easily race in NSW to chase lucrative BOBS bonuses.

Our second purchase was another high quality colt by Al Maher out of Alemar. This colt was a terrific specimen and is a half brother to up and coming Brisbane three year-old, Albert The Fat, who look’s to be a real candidate for the major races during the Queensland carnival and we hope this colt has snuck ‘under the radar’ and will represent good value. Keith Dryden will also train this colt from his Canberra base.

Our final purchase was another colt by Rhythm our of the Marscay mare Castellana. This colt’s pedigree drew us towards him as he is bred on the same cross as our super sprinter Into The Night. The colt passed all inspections and we were very excited to buy him to race. If he is half as good as Into The Night, we will be in for some fun. This colt will be trained by Gary Portelli at Warwick Farm and is eligle for the BOB Bonus scheme.

If you would like to become involved in the excitement of owning your own racehorse then contact Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066 and we can tailor a package to suit yours needs and male racehorse ownership Easy and Enjoyable for you.

Lady Zhivago settled at the rear of the seven horse field and remained in that position through the middle stages of the race. Approaching the turn jockey, Adrian Robinson, brought Lady Zhivago to the outside of the field and was in a challenging position on topping the rise.

Lady Zhivago was asked to extend at the furlong but was unable to run down the two boys Command Raider and Hells Bells in the run to the line and she went down a gallant third.

Gary Portelli is finding it difficult to place Lady Zhivago and is now forced to send her to his brother Troy in Melbourne, where their program caters for mare better than Sydney.

In a nerve wrecking seven days leading up to the race, we sat and watched the final lead up races the week before knowing Typhoon Fury was borderline in making the final field for the Slipper if results fell our way.

Alas result didn’t fall our way and on acceptance time on Monday morning Typhoon Fury was 2^nd Emergency as horse 18 in the final field.

Needing two horses above us not to take part in the race we sat on any news report in the slipper and being emergency all the owners were invited to attend all official functions for the final field. The most interesting was the barrier draw at Martin Place in the city where Typhoon Fury was the last horse called to draw their barrier and Louis Mihalyka went and picked our gate, which we already knew was 15.

As the week progress our chances were diminishing until the Thursday afternoon reports came with the news that Krupt and Stripper were in doubt with injuries. This sparked up the camp and while unfortunate for the connections of those horses we were warming to the idea of having a runner in the Slipper.

By race morning it was confirmed that both horses were scratched and we were in the field with our chance at glory.

Typhoon Fury’s owners headed to Rosehill en-mass and the nerves were apparent early in the day. When the race cam around we found ourselves in the Rosehill mounting yard shoulder to shoulder with some royalty in racing and we new we were ‘taking on the big boys’ on this occasion. But just to be a part of it was a massive thrill.

The race was on and all eyes were glued in anticipation as Typhoon Fury was forced to go back from his bad gate, but as luck would have it jockey Hugh Bowman was able to more along the rails and take up a position around midfield. Typhoon Fury travelled well but was left flat footed when the field straightened and found him in last position. Once balance up though, Typhoon Fury lengthened and found the line very well to finish in the middle of the pack in a photo for tenth position. The importance of the photo was that prizemoney for the slipper was paid down to tenth with $50,000 depending on the bob of a head.

In the new Connections room at the STC we watched intently until it was confirmed that Typhoon Fury had got there in time to claim tenth position unfortunately to the downfall of stablemate Over The Wicket, but the excitement from the owners was as if we had won the race.

Typhoon Fury came through the run surprisingly well and trainer Gary Portelli decided that he will stay in for one last run this preparation being the Inglis Classic on Sydney Cup Day. This is a $500,000 race and with entries restricted to horses from the Classic sale we felt it was to be taken lightly.

Typhoon Fury has progressed well since the Slipper and will take his place in the Inglis Classic and will be very hard to beat.

It was a tremendous thrill for all of Typhoons Fury’s owners to be right in the thick of the action on such a Major race day. Congratulations must go to our trainer, Gary Portelli, who not only got Typhoon Fury into the race but also Over The Wicket. So to have two runners in the Slipper was a fantastic achievement by Gary.

If you would like to enjoy the thrill of owning your very own Golden Slipper runner then contact our office and enquire about our recent quality purchases at this years sales which we hope can emulate Typhoon Fury’s performances this year.

Tikit To Glory settled just off midfield in the fast run scamper and was asked to improve through the field on straightening but was unable to get into clear galloping room until well into the straight. Over the final furlong Tikit To Glory knuckled down to her task and hit the line in a workman like manner that impressed trainer Gillian Heinrich.

Tikit To Glory came through the race well apart from receiving a black eye from being hit with a clod of dirt. Due to treatment Tikit To Glory will not be able to race for a fortnight but we remain confident a win is not too far away for this filly.

Single Bound again showed his liking for the Heavy track with an all the way front running display giving nothing else a chance from the time the gates opened.

Similar to his last victory two weeks earlier, apprentice Tasha Chambers, rode to Single Bound to perfection and has really struck up a winning combination on the horse.

Trainer Gillian Heinrich has placed Single Bound well throughout his career and Saturday’s victory took his record to 3 wins and 3 placings from 7 starts.

Single Bound will now be given a chance to add to this record when he tackles City Company over the coming months.

With no other option than to go back from the barrier, Power Of Love moved into the race stylishly on straightening but was unable to run down the placegetters who were able to settle closer to the lead.

Power Of Love will head back to Sandown in three weeks time to again tackle the mares in a bid to crack it for a well deserved city win.

Be Positive travelled in second place to the turn and looked to be in a challenging position on straightening, however, due to greenness and inexperience, Be Positive was unable to neither pick up the leader and eventual winner, nor hold off the fast finishing second placegetter.

Be Positive indicates that she possesses above average ability and at this stage will be heading back to races in a fortnights time to attempt to break her maiden status.

After beginning well Be Positive settled outside the leader, and eventual winner, in the run however, wobbled a little around the turn and straightened up two lengths behind the leader. Be Positive knuckled down to her task in the straight and took ground off the winner in the concluding stages to go down by a half length in an extremely encouraging debut performance.

Be Positive will derive plenty of benefit from the run and we are greatly excited about her future as a racehorse.

At only his second start, Showbiz Whiz, jumped well and was sent forward by jockey Kevin Sweeney but was made to do it tough in the run three wide with no cover.

On straightening Showbiz Whiz was entitled to fade, however, under hands and heels urging from his jockey he balanced up and set sail for the judge alongside race favourite Kar Ketch Me. Showbiz Whiz got the upper hand over the concluding stages and was able to comfortably hold off the other runner to win by a head.

Showbiz Whiz showed he still has a lot to learn about racing as he was inclined to wait for the other runner over the final stages and jockey Kevin Sweeney felt he always had that horse covered.

It was a terrific effort from Showbiz Whiz and with further physical and mental maturity this gelding will be a horse to follow over the next few seasons and we expect him to graduate into a city class galloper.

Ridden by apprentice Billy Egan, Kaapstad Lad was in an awkward position on straightening but Billy managed to get him into the clear and balanced up and Kaapstad Lad lengthened and drew away close to the line for an encouraging win by this inexperienced stayer.

Kaapstad Lad’s trainer, Tony Noonan, will now take, depending on track conditions, the gelding to the Warnambool carnival for a 2300m staying event before sending Kaapstad Lad to Queensland for the winter in search of dry tracks.

Kaapstad Lad took his career tally to two wins and two placings from nine starts and the best is yet to come for this talented stayer.

Magic Zulu settled third in a frantic tempo and travelled well to the turn and on straightening was forced to make his run closest to the rails, which was not the place to be on Saturday.

Magic Zulu toughed it out right to the line and was able to hold down third comfortably in a pleasing result for his owners, especially at the odds of $6 a place!

Magic Zulu pleased his trainer, Tony Noonan, and will now head to an identical race in two weeks time where we hope he can improve on his third placing last Saturday.

While delirious with a Group 2 placing on a major carnival day the result left a slight bitter taste in our mouths after looking like we had a Golden Slipper runner with twenty metres to go only to be nailed in the shadows of the post by the debutant Related.  

After drawing the outside in a small field, it was decided to chance our arm and settle forward and hope the luck finally came our way. Alas, yet again, luck didn’t come the way of Typhoon Fury and he was posted three wide in the small field facing the breeze just off the lead. Jockey Peter Robl did his best to give Typhoon Fury the easiest run as possible and on entering the straight Typhoon Fury looked to be struggling following the tough run around the tight circle and was entitled to drop right out, however, he had the audacity to fight back and move into second position with a furlong to go.

Typhoon Fury still held down second until the final metres when the fast finishing, and also unlucky, Related managed to obtain clear running and nailed Typhoon Fury right near the line.

While we where centremetres away from automatic entry into the Golden Slipper, we still hold a glimmer of hope that Typhoon Fury can scrape into the final field depending on results of the final day of qualifying races this weekend.

Typhoon Fury took his record to 5 starts for 3 seconds, a third and a fourth and has never missed a prizemoney cheque, earning a total of $95,300 to date. He is fast earning the tag of Australia’s best Maiden, well, for his owners at least!

Gary Portelli has done a fantastic job with Typhoon Fury and will now wait with bated breath to see if he can make the Golden Slipper field. If so, Typhoon Fury will line up there at his next run and if he isn’t able to make it into the final field he will more than likely head to the Inglis Classic Race at Randwick on 3 May.

If you would like to enjoy the thrill and excitement of owning a quality thoroughbred aimed at the Major juvenile races then call Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066.

Laurel Oak Bloodstock will be attending the upcoming William Inglis Easter Select and Classic sessions, the same place Typhoon Fury was purchased, so register your interest now and we can tailor a package to suit your budget and needs.

Monday, 31^st Mar – Last week’s Magic Millions sales on the Gold Coast proved a successful sale with Laurel Oak purchasing some quality yearlings.

Laurel Oak’s first purchase was a smart looking filly by Danbird out of the Woodman mare, Forestress. Laurel Oak formed and manages the syndicate that sold the filly and we were delighted to be able to buy the filly back for a partnership of breeder clients as she represents the prolific Easy Date family. The filly will be heading to Victoria to be trained by Tony Noonan at Mornington as she is Super VOBIS qualified. We have high expectations from this filly and hope she can develop into a quality broodmare when she finishes her racing career.

Our second purchase came in the form of a quality colt by Anabaa out of Grand Juror. Having raced Grand Juror, we were very keen on acquiring this colt and Louis Mihalyka was rapt when the hammer fell in our favour and this colt will head to Gary Portelli in Sydney, who also trained the dam Grand Juror.

We were over the moon when the opportunity arose to buy back into the General Nediym/Ancient Song colt purchased by Peter Moody. A Laurel Oak Syndicate, in conjunction with Stuart Ramsey’s Turangga Farm, bred the colt and when Peter advised of the available share Laurel Oak clients jumped at the opportunity to be involved in this potential top class racehorse and stallion.

Overall, it was a very successful sale for Laurel Oak and we look forward with anticipation for this group of yearling’s making a name for themselves on the racetrack.

On the vendor side of thing’s, Laurel Oak was involved in the sale of two yearling’s, being the Danbird/Forestress Filly and the General Nediym/Ancient Song colt, both mentioned above and we are delighted to be able to retain one and part of the other for their racing careers.

The sales season moves to Sydney now for the Inglis Eater and Classic sales and Laurel Oak will again be present, looking for a future champion. If you would like to enjoy the thrill and excitement of racehorse ownership then contact Laurel Oak Bloodstock and we can make ownership Easy and Enjoyable for you.

Magic Zulu began well and found the lead very easily, and jockey Logan McGill was able to dictate the race from there.  Magic Zulu got away with some soft sectionals in the early stages and turned the race into a sit-and-sprint event, which was always going to make it hard for the other horses to run him down.

On straightening, Magic Zulu extended and looked to put the race beyond doubt before the second horse started taking ground off Magic Zulu in the final stages, however we had enough in hand to hold on and win by a neck in the end.

It was Magic Zulu’s second career win in seven starts and his trainer, Tony Noonan, will now target metropolitan racing with this talented horse.

Set an enormous task by jockey Nash Rawiller, Typhoon Fury was dragged back to last position three wide in a slowly run race and was always going to find it difficult to run down the leaders. Last on straightening and a goo eight lengths off the leaders, Typhoon Fury hit the line encouragingly down the outside to finish a courageous fourth beaten only a length and a quarter by the winner.

This has now made his task of qualifying for the richest two year-old event in the world a little tougher and Typhoon Fury will no head to either the Todman Slipper Trial or the Darley Stakes in a final attempt to qualify for the Slipper.

It has been a very exciting time for his large group of owners and we look forward to the coming weeks with great anticipation.

If you would like to become involved in the excitement of racehorse ownership with Laurel Oak Bloodstock and our Group 1 winning trainer Gary Portelli, then call our office on 02 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

Fury found the front on jumping and was able to dictate from there and kicked away on straightening and was never in doubt down the running.

Fury has always shown above average ability and it was extremely pleasing for him to transfer his track work to the racetrack.

Fury, a full brother to the talented Dr Green, was purchased in conjunction with Stuart Ramsey of Turangga Farm with a long term view of developing into a commercial stallion.

Fury could not have got his career off to a better start and we look forward to the coming weeks where he will be tested against stronger company.

In a slowly run race Private Dan settled just off the speed before taking control at the 600m mark and holding his opposition at bay in the straight.

Being third up from a spell Private Dan will derive plenty of benefit, fitness wide, from the run and we are looking forward the coming weeks as Private Dan heads towards the Wagga Cup in May.

Whether you are looking for a large or small share, 100% to 2.5%, owning or leasing, we can tailor a share to suit your needs and budget.

Laurel Oak provide second to none communication updating you on your horse’s progress and we organise many social functions including race days, racing and stud tours, racing functions and golf days to name a few, all combined to make owning a racehorse Easy and Enjoyable.

If you would like to join the Laurel Oak team and own a horse trained by one of our top class trainers like Gary Portelli, Keith Dryden, Tony Noonan, John O’Shea, Peter Moody & Gillian Heinrich then contact Laurel Oak Bloodstock by email at lauroak@bigpond.net.au or on 02 8883 1066.

Lady Zhivago dropped out to last early and settled well around 12 lengths off the lead through the middle stages.

Jockey Adrian Robinson began to tack onto the field at the 800m mark and Lady Zhivago moved stylishly around the outside poised to challenge. Although 8 horses wide, Lady Zhivago, straightened in a challenging position and ran home powerfully to finish third behind the two other Zabeel runners, who had cushy runs just in behind the lead. It was a pleasing run from Lady Zhivago and showed a win was not too far away for this out of form mare.

Rising to 2,100m for the first time, Kaapstad Lad settled well a little worse than mid-field and 800m out, jockey Ben Melham, set Kaapstad Lad alight and he whipped around the field to take the lead and make it a true staying test.

Kaapstad Lad wobbled around the tight turn and looked gone at the 300m mark after being swamped left right and centre, but to his credit, Kaapstad Lad, knuckled down to his task and still found the line strongly to hold third comfortably on the line only a length from the winner.

Considering the slightly unorthodox tactics it was a tremendous effort for this up ad coming stayer who was giving away years of experience to his rivals.

Trainer, Tony Noonan, will give Kaapstad Lad one more start this preparation before sending him for a spell and heading to Queensland to tackle some staying races.

Laurel Oak will be actively looking for more quality yearlings at the upcoming yearling sales and if you are looking to become involved in the glamour and excitement of owning your own racehorse then call Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

At Laurel Oak, we not only syndicate successful racehorses, but we also have a small band of broodmare syndicates. In conjunction with Stuart Ramsey of Turangga Farm, the Laurel Oak managed, Radiant Star broodmare syndicate offered for sale a colt by Lucky Owners. This colt was the first foal of out this city winning and stakes placed mare and he was sold to the bid of Victorian trainer Danny O’Brien for $160,000, which was a fantastic result for both Turangga Farm and Laurel Oak Bloodstock.

Radiant Star was purchased as a racing and breeding proposition and raced successfully following her purchase under the care of Peter Moody. Radiant Star had 12 starts following her purchase, for 2 metropolitan wins and a stakes placing, which further enhanced her value as a broodmare. Also helping the cause was the emergence of a younger half sister to Radiant Star, Nediym’s Glow, who is now a multiple stakes winner and great asset to Radiant Star’s pedigree page.

The purchasing side of the sale was a little slow for Laurel Oak, with only the purchase of a quality Danzero colt out of Royal Celebrity, in association with Canberra mentor Keith Dryden. This is not the first time we have raced a horse in conjunction with Keith Dryden, in fact, this combination has produced quality gallopers such as Into The Night and Lucetius as well as many more smart types yet to venture to the races. We have high hopes for this impressive colt to join this list.

We expect to be more active purchasing at the upcoming Magic Millions and Easter Yearling sales and if you would like to race a quality racehorse with Laurel Oak Bloodstock and one of our high quality trainers such as Gary Portelli, Tony Noonan & Keith Dryden then contact Laurel Oak Bloodstock on 02 8883 1066 or by email at – lauroak@bigpond.net.au  and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership is with Laurel Oak Bloodstock.

With a lightning fast tempo, Power Of Love settled in the back half of the field and tracked into the race nicely at the 600m and was ready to strike on straightening. In the straight, the Tony Noonan trained mare, let down well to claim the lead with 50m to go and move away to score an impressive victory.

After showing tremendous ability at the start of her career, Power Of Love has been quite a frustration over the past 18 months, due to injury, tying up, bad barriers and track conditions. She has always shown above average ability on the training track and Tony Noonan has always advised persevering with the Bahhare mare and we are hoping our patience is starting to pay off.

Power Of Love is from a good staying family, including closely related Waitoki Dream and Southern Courage, and following her win on Sunday we look forward to having a crack at races beyond a mile, which she indicated she will handle.

Congratulations to her patient group of owners and we look forward to many successes with Power Of Love in the near future.

Typhoon Fury settled about 6 lengths off the leader, and eventual winner, Sarthamare, who was able to control the speed in a muddling run race. On straightening the leader skipped clear and Typhoon Fury set out after the filly, giving he a good 6 lengths start at the 300m mark. He was still 4 lengths off the leader with 75m to go and really motored late to cut the margin down to ¾’s of a length on the finishing line.

Trainer Gary Portelli has been crying out for a race with solid speed for the Hurricane Sky gelding, but in his three career starts has yet to find the right tempo.

Typhoon Fury’s record now stands at 3 starts for 3 second placings with prizemoney of $63,000.

Encouragingly, Gary Portelli, will be aiming the gelding at major 2yo races during the Autumn carnival, so there are exciting times ahead for his large group of owners.

If you would like to become involved in racing a quality racehorse, just like Typhoon Fury, with Laurel Oak Bloodstock and Group 1 winning trainer Gary Portelli, then give our office a call on (02) 8883 1066 or email us at lauroak@bigpond.net.au   and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

Thursday, 21st Feb – Three year old O’reilly gelding Rocket Radar ran a solid race at Randwick last week to achieve his first city placing in his short career.

Rocket Radar was stepping up to 1800m for the first time in his career and showed his liking for the distance toughing it out in the straight to be beaten by a length by the very smart Kettledrum. Rocket Radar stepped up from a third at Hawkesbury over 1400m to this race and the extra distance, along with three weeks between runs took its toll in the end, with his fitness giving out at the 100m mark.

It was a very good run though and left his trainer, Gary Portelli, encouraged about his prospects as a stayer later on in his career.

Rocket Radar has come through he race well and will head back to the races in the next fortnight where we expect him to prove hard to beat.

Magic Zulu was sent out odds-on favourite and never gave punters, or his owners, a moments worry, settling outside the lead and booting away in the straight to win eased down by 3 and a quarter lengths with a further 5 lengths away to third.

Magic Zulu has shown tremendous talent since his debut but has found terrible luck in his races so it was extremely pleasing for his owners to see him win convincingly.

Magic Zulu is trained at Mornington by Tony Noonan, who enjoyed a successful day training 3 winners and 2 placegetters including Arrowsweep running second in the Mornington Cup.

Anamanor was sent to America after a short but successful racing career in Australia under the guidance of Gary Portelli, which resulted in 3 Sydney metropolitan wins from 5 starts!

Her racing career in Australia was cut short after being barred from racing for being found to have bled twice. As she was a mare of such talent and still had plenty to offer on the racetrack, her owners decided to send her to America where horses can be treated for bleeding and still race, which is not allowed in Australia.

Anamanor was sent to California where she joined the stables of Irish born Patrick (Paddy) Gallagher, who trains at Santa Anita & Hollywood Park. She settled in well but only had one start in a stakes race finishing last only to be found to have a slight fracture in her shoulder which required 6 months recuperation.

Off to the paddock Anamanor went and returned to work towards the end of 2007 and was moving freely and strongly and her owners were anticipating an enjoyable preparation. Alas, the programming in the US is much more complex than Australia and there were no suitable races for Anamanor to start in.

Eventually Anamanor found a race in December, a Group 3 sprint, however, found the task a little too tough first up from a long spell and finished towards the tail of the field.

Following this run, Anamanor had much difficulty finding a suitable race, not only from programming but from lack of nominations as at least 4 races she was nominated for were abandoned due to three to four horses only nominated to contest the event.

This was extremely frustrating for her owners back here in Australia and Paddy was forced to give Anamanor solid workouts on the training track to have her fit enough to go to the races whenever a race was available.

Finally a race was programmed, and even better, there were enough nominations to constitute a race and Anamanor lined up this morning in a Fillies & Mares Handicap over a mile at Santa Anita.

This hardly looked a suitable race, being second up after a long spell following a month after her first up run and stepping up to the mile for the first time in her career.

Anamanor jumped well and bowled along in front to lead by four lengths entering the straight. Challengers emerged down the running and looked to have the better of Anamanor, but she fought back on the rails to make them earn victory and eventually went down fighting finishing 3^rd approximately three-quarters of a length by the winner. It was a fantastic effort considering all the negatives going into the race.

More encouraging news followed when it was revealed the winner of the race is a Group 1 winner in Brazil which meant it was a hot little field she was up against, although it did have us confused as to why a Group 1 winner was able to run in a Fillies & Mares restricted race! …… Only in America we suppose!

All in all we are delighted for Anamanor to have found form and we look forward to her next start, hopefully in a more logical timeframe after today’s race.

Congratulations to Anamanor’s patient owners who have waited a long long time to get her to the races and we hope this is the beginning of an enjoyable ride with Anamanor.

The race began in torrential conditions and Typhoon Fury settled in fourth position on the rails travelling comfortably behind the leader Montana Flyer, in a ridiculously slow tempo. On straightening the leader quickened and Typhoon Fury was under pressure and struggling to get traction in the heavy going. Half way down the running Typhoon Fury was passed by another runner, however, at the 200m mark, he was able to get balanced and grip into the track and he found the line encouragingly to take second spot convincingly and was taking some ground off the winner.

Typhoon Fury showed great determination for a two year old not to give in on such an unsuitable surface and find the line after looking in trouble. His jockey, Jeff Lloyd reported he was totally unhappy in the conditions so for him to finish off as he did left him happy with his performance and indicated that he will appreciate much firmer surfaces in the future.

With two starts for two Saturday city placing, trainer Gary Portelli will test Typhoon Fury against tougher opposition next start in the Black Opal Stakes at Canberra, with a tilt at the Golden Slipper a possibility depending on how he measures up at his next couple of starts. Either way, exciting times ahead for his group of owners.

Laurel Oak will be attending all of the major yearling sales in the coming month’s, so if you would like to race a horse with Laurel Oak Bloodstock and Group 1 winning trainer, Gary Portelli, then contact our office on  (02) 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership with Laurel Oak Bloodstock really is.

Monday, 11^th Feb – Fantastic Light gelding, Lucetius, finished a gallant second at Canberra on Friday in the Burley Griffin Sprint, which is the lead in to the National Sprint on Black Opal Day.

After jumping well from a wide gate, jockey, Brendan Ward, was able to position Lucetius with cover in the one-one and he settled well. On straightening, Lucetius hit his normal flat spot and looked to be struggling but balanced up and dug deep to find the line well to finish second, two lengths from the talented winner, A Country Girl.

Lucetius has been “on trial” for the National Sprint, however, trainer Keith Dryden, has been working overtime to teach Lucetius to settled in his races, and Lucetius is gradually rising to the challenge being presented to him

Lucetius has warranted a start in the National Sprint on Black Opal day and that is where he will next be returning to the races.

It is looking to be an interesting day for both Keith Dryden and Laurel Oak. Not only with Lucetius running in the National Sprint being owned in partnership between Laurel Oak and Keith Dryden clients, but the two will clash in the main race of the day, The 2008 Black Opal, with Keith having the favourite and boom unbeaten filly De Lightning Ridge and Laurel Oak will have Typhoon Fury in the race out to break the filly’s terrific record.

Rocket Radar was forced to race three wide in a muddling tempo and on straightening was struggling to stay in touch. In the straight he knuckled down to his work and finished the race off strongly only 2 lengths off the winner with a widening margin to the rest of the field.

Rocket Radar has been indicating in his work that he is going to appreciate longer distances and his trainer Gary Portelli has set the bar high, with a possible target of the Canberra Guineas in mind. Rocket Radar needed to step up to the plate to warrant this sort of campaign and yesterday’s result was a step in the right direction.

Rocket Radar is race by a big syndicate of owners who look as though they are in for some exciting weeks ahead.

Laurel Oak will be attending all of the major yearling sales in the coming month’s, so if you would like to race a horse with Laurel Oak Bloodstock and Group 1 winning trainer, Gary Portelli, then contact our office on  (02) 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership with Laurel Oak Bloodstock really is.

Mass Exodus was allowed to stride to the lead early and came back underneath jockey Kevin Sweeney to control the race there after.

On straightening Mass Exodus extended and gave nothing else a chance, winning eased up by four lengths.

It was an impressive victory at his third race start and this Keith Dryden trained galloper will now go to the paddock for a well earned break.

Congratulations to his patient owners and we can look forward to a successful career in the years to come.

After settling in the one-one position, Sea Eye Pea was given time to balance up by in form jockey Blake Shinn and she set out after the leaders on straightening and claimed the lead at the 150m mark and was able to hold off the fast finishing Gently Bently and Sung.

It was a terrific effort by the Gary Portelli trained filly that was having her third run in as many weeks.

Sea Eye Pea has come through the run well and will head back to the races again in the next fortnight where she will again be very competitive.

Monday’s win took Sea Eye Pea’s earnings over $73,000, which is a tremendous return for her group of owners who outlaid $23,000 for her as a yearling.

Sea Eye Pea is raced by a group of accountants who approached Laurel Oak to buy a horse for them at the sales in 2004. She has now had 10 starts for 3 wins and 4 placings.

If you would like to enjoy the thrill and excitement of owning a thoroughbred, then contact Laurel Oak Bloodstock on 02 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

After enjoying a nice trail on the fence behind the two leaders, Typhoon Fury found himself in a spot of bother on straightening when those two horses came back in his lap and forced him to have to switch across heels. By this time Dubai To Sydney was off and gone with Typhoon Fury setting out after him. While looking as though he would go straight past the winner, greenness and a little fatigue set in and he was unable to gain the lead. With any even luck on straightening, there was no doubt the result would have been reversed.

Typhoon Fury, importantly, has pulled up a treat and will now head to Rosehill in a fortnight where he will no doubt be very hard to beat.

After his encouraging debut, Typhoon Fury’s owners will have a lot of fun with this gelding throughout his career.

In an experiment, with the National Sprint on Black Opal Day in mind trainer, Keith Dryden, took the blinkers off Lucetius in a bid to help him settle and get an indication if he would run a strong 1400m.

Lucetius raced keenly in the lead but pleased Keith in the run to the line and at this stage is still on target to run that race.

Lucetius will run in the Burley Griffin Sprint at Canberra next week as a final lead in race to the National Sprint.

• New Zealand Yearling Sales - January 28th - February 4th
• William Inglis and Son Premier Yearling – Part I  - March 2nd – 4^th
• William Inglis and Son Premier Yearling – Part II  - March 5^th
• Magic Millions – Adelaide – March 10^th – 12^th
• Magic Millions – Gold Coast – March 24^th – April 2^nd
• William Inglis and Son Easter Yearling Select Sessions I & II  - April 20^th - 24^th
• William Inglis and Son Easter Yearling Classic Session – April 27^th – 29^th

The race was slightly delayed due to concerns over a section of the track and after going onto the track and being asked to return to the mounting yard, the track was given the all clear and runners returned to the barriers.

Lucetius began fairly, but quickly mustered speed to find the lead and control the race. He travelled well in the lead and look to be a top chance on straightening. When asked for his supreme effort, Lucetius laboured a little and eventual winner, Sovereign Blaze was able to sneak up inside Lucetius and take a commanding lead. Lucetius fought on well to go down by a length and a quarter and comprehensively beat the other runners to the line.

The race time was very quick, eclipsing the 1000m track record, which added to the merit of Lucetius’ performance.

Trainer Keith Dryden is wrapped with the way Lucetius has come back this preparation and will be giving the gelding his chance at city racing in the coming weeks.

If you are interested in racing a horse with Laurel Oak and one of our exciting trainers like, Keith Dryden, Gary Portelli, Tony Noonan or Gillian Heinrich, then call the Laurel Oak office on (02) 8883 1066 and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable owning a thoroughbred with Laurel Oak Bloodstock really is.

Prepared early in his career by Gold Coast trainer Gillian Heinrich, Heartbreak Pass showed above average ability as a two year old, with 4 starts for a win and two placings in metropolitan grade in Brisbane earning an impressive $72,000 with the help of the QTIS bonus scheme.

At the end of his two year old season, Heartbreak Pass had some minor leg issues with knee chips, and needed surgery to correct the problem and following more than a year of recuperation which meant missing his whole three year old season and no longer being eligible for bonuses, his owners decided they would like to race the horse Sydney as the majority all lived in the Harbour City.

Heartbreak Pass was then transferred to our main Sydney trainer, Gary Portelli and joined his stable in June 2007 and following a long slow build up was ready to race when EI hit Sydney. This meant that Heartbreak Pass, along with all Sydney horses, had their preparation totally interrupted and following the passing of EI Heartbreak Pass began another preparation aimed at getting him back to the races.

Following an impressive trial win in late December, Heartbreak Pass was ready to race and he met a very strong field yesterday at Kensington. Over the 1000m scamper, Heartbreak Pass lead into the straight but was collared by Global Warming and the very impressive, Wasted Emotions, shortly afterwards and Heartbreak Pass battled on extremely well to finish third to these very smart horses.

It was a pleasing return by the horse, not only to have him come through the run injury free but to show he still has the ability to match it with metropolitan horses.

Heartbreak Pass will return to the races within the next two weeks and with yesterday’s run under his belt it won’t be long before he returns to the winner’s stall.

After two disappointing runs at his home track of Canberra, trainer Keith Dryden felt a trip away would suit the horse and off to a 1650m Maiden Mass Exodus went.

While very green and new to it all at his first two starts, Mass Exodus improved significantly, and even though he still showed signs of inexperience he found the line well over the extra distance of 1650m to finish third and showed the penny is gradually dropping.

Keith Dryden believes Mass Exodus will be a bigger and better horse next preparation and with that in mind plans to give him one more start this preparation before going for a spell to consolidate physically and mentally.

Kaapstad Lad was first up for six months and was expected to find the 1200m of yesterdays race too short for him at this stage of his preparation.

Kaapstad Lad was run off his feet early, settling last in the fast run race. On approaching the turn, Kaapstad Lad was being stoked along by his jockey Matthew Allen and was taken to the outside entering the straight. Although a good 8 lengths off the lead, Kaapstad Lad savaged the winning post reaching the lead in the dying stages to record an impressive maiden victory.

Kaapstad Lad’s trainer, Tony Noonan, has always had a good opinion of this horse believing he would be a quality stayer and has given him time to mature and we may see the result of his early patience from this preparation on.

Kaapstad Lad’s is a older half brother to 3yo rising star Schilling, and while Kaapstad Lad has a fair way to go to match the results of his younger brother, yesterday’s win means he is heading in the right direction.

Congratulations go to Kaapstad Lad’s patient group of owners and we look forward to an exciting preparation ahead.

If you would like to become involved in racing a horse with Laurel Oak and enjoy the thrill and excitement of thoroughbred racing then contact the office at Laurel Oak on (02) 8883 1066 and we can make thoroughbred ownership easy and enjoyable for you.

Following a solid unplaced run first up, at Rosehill, Rocket Radar went to Newcastle still in need of the run and from a perfect draw of barrier one was able to have a quite run settling midfield in transit and on rounding the corner railed through to be in a challenging position.

In the straight Rocket Radar set out after the leader and looked a big chance to win, however, his condition gave out with 50m to go and Rocket Radar went down fighting being beaten a neck at the finish.

It was pleasing second up run for Rocket Radar’s big group of owner’s and with that run under his belt we look forward to heading back to the races in the next fortnight.

Rocket Radar parading at Newcastle                                  Rocket Radar narrowly missing his second career win.

Thursday, 3rd Jan - Sea Eye Pea ran a terrific race on New Year's Day at Randwick finishing third to stablemate Weekend In Paris.

Sea Eye Pea began very well and coasted along in the lead with Weekend In Paris at her girth. On straightening the two Gary Portelli trained fillies set sail for the line neck and neck and after looking like the winner several times down the running, Sea Eye Pea found Weekend In Paris and the fast finishing Now Now a little too strong going down by a length.

It was a very encouraging run and showed that Sea Eye Pea is well and truly up to city class racing.

Sea Eye Pea is raced by a group of accountants who approached Laurel Oak to buy a horse for them. Several of them had already been in a Laurel Oak Syndicate on an individual basis and they decided to form a syndicate of work colleagues to race a horse together.

With a budget of $70,000 we were thrilled to purchase Sea Eye Pea for a bargain buy of $23,000 at the Inglis Classic Sale. Yesterday’s result takes her record to 7 starts for two wins and four placings and $35,850 in prizemoney.

If you would like to experience the fun and excitement of owning a racehorse with Laurel Oak and Group 1 winning trainer Gary Portelli, please contact the Laurel Oak office on (02) 8883 1066 information on how easy flexible the options available to you are.

Tuesday, 18^th Dec – Commands filly Sea Eye Pea resumed in fine style this afternoon at Cessnock, convincingly taking out the Rating 70 900m event.

Sea Eye Pea began well and took up the running through the early stages. On straightening, jockey Mark Lister, allowed the filly more rein and with hands and heels riding was able to defeat the fast finishing Sir Rivercorp by three quarters of a length with a further 3 lengths to third.

The manner of today’s victory suggests a good preparation is in store for this Gary Portelli trained filly and we look forward to her return to the racetrack in the new year.

Sea Eye Pea salutes, first-up at Cessnock

Sea Eye Pea returning to scale following her victory.

Facing quality opposition against the likes of New Edge and stablemate Coolroom Candidate, Lucetius showed great speed out of the gates and led the field comfortably into the straight. After looking as though he may weaken, Lucetius fought on for the length of the straight only to be outgunned by the race fit Kiss My Fuji by a half length with Coolroom Candidate close third.

Lucetius will derive plenty of benefit with the run and we are eagerly awaiting his return to the races in the coming weeks.

 Lucetius parading.

Aided by a terrific ride from regular jockey Kevin Sweeney, Steel Titan saved ground along the rails and in the straight set out after the break away leader. After a short battle, Steel Titan took the lead and came away to win by 2 lengths.

Steel Titan has been very consistant this preparation and it was a great thrill for his owners to win at his home track on Canberra Cup Day. We look forward to many more victories with this promising galloper.

STEEL TITAN returning to scale following his win.

Monday, 3rd Dec - Carnegie gelding, Steel Titan ran another pleasing race at Canberra yesterday finishing second.

Monday, 3rd Dec - King Of Danes 2yo filly Tikit To Glory ran an encouraging race on debut at the Gold Coast on Saturday, finishing second and narrowly missing out on a debut win.

The dates for next years Laurel Oak Golf Days are still to be decided, however if you would like to be included on the Golf email list please contact our office by phone (02) 8883 1066 or email lauroak@bigpond.net.au

Coming off a four week break between starts, we were cautious when Steel Titan was engaged in the last race of the meeting with heavy rain falling throughout the day. After having a nice run in transit, Steel Titan railed through on straightening to join the leaders and looked a genuine chance of winning. With 200m to go it was a two horse race between Steel Titan and Rustic Sky, however over the final stages Steel Titan’s condition gave out and Rustic Sky, with the advantage of having raced two weeks prior, was able to fight off Steel Titan to win by a length.

This was Steel Titan’s third run in three months and we are confident that with a more orthodox space between last Thursday and his next start, Steel Titan will be ultra competitive next time at the races.

Many of the Laurel Oak team around Australia are now back in work with their respective trainers and we are eagerly awaiting the upcoming months when they return to the races.

Planning for Cup Week now starts in late March or early April when the VRC’s Melbourne Cup brochure is issued.  Once the flyer goes out to Laurel Oak’s Cup Week email list, the process of taking bookings and catering for individual requests about any aspect of the trip starts to evolve, and we estimate that by the time we reach Melbourne we have spent approximately fifteen to twenty man-days in organising and coordinating our Melbourne Cup Week trip.

The week began on the Friday before the Derby with 40 people at the increasingly popular Late Mail Luncheon where several leading trainers express their views on their Cup Week runners and are supported by high-quality entertainment, which this year included cast members from the musical Priscilla, old rocker Ross Wilson, and James Reyne. The following day we had 70 people in the Panorama Restaurant for the first day of Cup week, Derby Day.

Traditionally the biggest social day of the week is After Derby Day at Tony Noonan’s stables in Mornington, however that was already affected due to EI, which made the After Derby Stable Visit and After Derby Barbie impossible, leaving only Mornington races on the schedule.  They were washed-out this year, which resulted in an impromptu lunch.

The Call of the Card remains an enjoyable lead-in to get into the Melbourne Cup mood, and we had 25 booked to this event at Crown Casino.  Another 70 the next day for Melbourne Cup Day saw another page in the history of Australia’s greatest race written.  Wednesday is quiet, with more individual arrangements, and then this year we had 46 come to Oaks Day.  On the Friday we organised a tour to the Living Legends home for retired racing champions.  This is currently closed to the public due to EI, but tours are allowed and, while very interesting, it may have been below expectation due to the fact that we could not get near the horses because of EI restrictions.  A return visit should be on the cards next year so we can get closer to the champs to give them a pat and have photos taken.  Stakes Day proved more popular than Oaks Day this year with 58 people attending the Panorama Restaurant to round off a big week, both socially and from the racing point of view.

The four days at Flemington remain the highlight and while there is no doubt that the quality of the fields throughout the Melbourne Spring Carnival was affected by the absence of interstate horses and the reduced number of overseas visitors, once the Carnival and racing got under way their absence became irrelevant because the task of finding winners and cheering good horses put the focus on the horses that were there as opposed to those that were not.

Melbourne Cup Week provides an intense social schedule, and each event is organised independently.  By that I mean that it is not exclusively for Panorama Restaurant attendees as many Melbourne clients who don’t come to the Panorama Restaurant attend other events, while many Panorama Restaurant attendees make their own social arrangements or Victorian tours independent of Laurel Oak.

Overall, it was a great week of racing and social activities and importantly, we have spoken with the VRC and they have decided that they will put the Melbourne Cup Carnival on again next year . . . . . and at around the same time!

Here is another update on the EI situation.  Hopefully this will be the last.

Firstly a general thanks for all the positive responses we have had to our EI updates.  They appear to have achieved to a large extent what we set out to do, and that is to provide a consolidation of the various bits of EI information, truths and mistruths that were floating around at various stages of the evolution of the virus.

It is over three weeks since the last update, and the reason for that is simply that in the past few weeks, the evolution of the virus and its impact on horses and various racing and breeding jurisdictions has been so varied that it is now almost on a horse-by-horse, farm-by-farm, case-by-case basis, whereas in the early days there were big-picture decisions being made. 

Here is a general summary now to consolidate the most important pieces of news throughout the eastern seaboard regarding EI.

Melbourne

In Melbourne, not a lot has changed and fortunately Victorian racing has survived EI free and the Carnival has proceeded.  All horses in training have been vaccinated and as vaccine become available, horses in spelling paddocks and breeding stock will also be vaccinated so that the thoroughbred population will reach a stage where they will be protected.  Until that time, I imagine Victoria will remain somewhat gun-shy about allowing NSW & Queensland horses into Victoria while there is any element of risk to affecting their racing.

At this stage there has been no discussion that I am aware of as to when horses may be allowed into Victoria from the north.  That may become the subject of discussion after the Melbourne Cup Carnival is over. 

The industry remains on the defensive, though, and bio-security measures remain in force at all stables in Victoria, where only trainers and registered employees with photo ID can enter stable environs. 

One unfortunate casualty of that is our annual after-Derby stable visit at Tony Noonan’s, which is usually our biggest of the year.  Basically we are not allowed into the stables to see our horses, so that cannot take place.

New South Wales Racing and Breeding

NSW is gradually moving towards a situation where they expect that on 1 January 2008, normal racing can resume throughout the state.  In the meantime there will be a gradual improvement in the circumstances with what is allowed and not allowed, once again varying depending on the different zones and jurisdictions, and how they have been affected by EI.

From a metropolitan racing point of view, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel.  Horses were allowed into Randwick this week to commence light exercise and similarly by the first week of November, Warwick Farm and Rosehill will be in the same position.  All horses allowed into the stables will either have been vaccinated or have had EI, and racing will be able to gradually move forward from there.  The first metropolitan meeting open to all horses is earmarked for Randwick on Saturday, 1 December, with metropolitan meetings scheduled for each Saturday in December, the 8th and 15th at Rosehill and then the 22nd at Randwick.  These will still be “formulated” programmes as opposed to the normal advertised calendar.

Those horses that were on EI-free pretraining properties and have been vaccinated and put into training, and therefore have come into the stable at a fairly advanced state of fitness, are the horses that are best-placed to compete at the early races in December.  The majority of the racing population that comes in now would not be ready to race until January.

There are also meetings scheduled at the provincials.  Starting at Kembla this Saturday, there will be racing with public access and on subsequent Saturdays at Gosford, Coffs Harbour, Wyong and Kembla Grange.

In Canberra they are similarly heading towards some form of normality.  They have had fortnightly closed meetings and the last one is due on Melbourne Cup Day.  After Melbourne Cup Day all horses in training will have received their vaccination booster and therefore the ACT will be considered immune, and from then on they expect to run open meetings.

In the meantime, the red, green, amber and purple zones still exist, and restricted movements are allowed between, or within, these various zones, with varying levels of permission.  The permutations of these are evolving at such a rapid rate I would not attempt to try and summarise them here because by tomorrow they will be out-of-date.

Throughout NSW and Queensland there are still new farms contracting EI but the opportunity for spread is gradually decreasing as farms on the perimeter are being vaccinated and as these farms are gradually vaccinated and then receive their second booster, the opportunities for spread are being eliminated.  Some farms that have had one vaccination are contracting EI but the impact has been significantly reduced.

Farms that contract EI though still have to go through their own individual quarantine period, which can impact on the horses on those particular farms.

Meanwhile in the Hunter Valley, which is in the purple zone, the breeding industry is working overtime.  There have been a number of mares and stallions whose fertility has been affected by EI, but it is generally only temporarily while they are affected by the virus, and they recover from it.

Ultimately it will have an impact on the foal crop, and one thing that will happen is that there will be a far greater percentage of later foals from this season, and that will flow through to next season, when more mares will have to miss a season because they are late this season. 

Racing NSW is currently meeting with the raceclubs to formulate programmes for next year’s Autumn Carnival, however the dates that have been established are Saturday, 19 April, for the Golden Slipper, and Saturday, 26 April, for a combined Doncaster/Derby Day.  The Randwick Carnival will be reduced from four days to three days, with the second day being Wednesday, 30 April, and the last day being Saturday, 3 May.

Queensland Racing and Breeding

The Queensland situation appears somewhat more diversified than NSW, where they appear clearer on their timetable for recovery.

In Queensland they hope to resume TAB racing in South-East Queensland on Saturday, 1 December, and I imagine that that will commence at the Gold Coast and/or Sunshine Coast which have remained the two EI-free areas in the south-east of the state.  Normal racing is expected to resume in the state by 1 February 2008. 

Light trackwork has commenced at some of the affected training centres, however the big problem that trainers still face is that horses are not allowed to move out to spelling paddocks, which many of them will need before they can return to training.

On the breeding side, there is also a greater degree of fragmentation with studs in some areas being in quarantine because they have EI, and farms in other areas operating closer to normality because they are EI-free.

Yearling Sales

One of the higher-profile areas of disagreement was quite when the two major sales companies have their yearling sales.  These have now been agreed.

Inglis will run the Premier Yearling Sale on 2, 3 and 4 March, with the second session on 6 and 7 March. 

The Australian Easter Yearling Sale will be held on 21 & 22 April, while the second session will be held as evening sessions on 24 & 25 April.

The Classic session (replacing the traditional Classic Yearling Sale) will be held on 27 & 28 April

The Australian Broodmare Sale will be held at Newmarket on 1 & 2 May as a select session, with a general session for broodmares being held at Newmarket on 4 & 5 May.

The volume of nominations for the sales has caused Inglis to add the additional sessions to the Melbourne Premier Sale and the Easter Yearling Sale. 

The Magic Millions will conduct a yearling sale in Perth on 15, 16 & 17 February, with a second session on 21 & 22 February. 

The Adelaide Yearling Sale will take place on 10 & 11 March, with an additional session on 13 March.

The main Magic Millions Yearling Sale will commence on Monday, 24 March, which will also be Magic Millions Raceday (this is Easter Monday).  At this stage eight sessions of selling are scheduled, but split into three tiers 1-4, then 5-7, then 8-9.

At this stage the Magic Millions have their giant winter thoroughbred sale scheduled for similar timeframe as last year, starting on 26 May with select weanlings and followed by broodmares and then yearlings, concluding on 13 June.

It will be an interesting year from both a buying and selling point of view. 

That summarises the situation as it now is and provides a road-map, as Peter V’Landys refers to it, going forward.  All things being equal, if normal racing resumes in NSW from 1 January, and in Queensland from 1 February, then we can possibly mark 1 February as the day that the whole industry returns to some semblance of normality across the eastern seaboard.

Somewhere in that general timeframe, horse movements will revert to normal and the one thing that we can be definite about is that EI is here to stay and that in future vaccinations will become a standard treatment for the thoroughbred population.

To finish I can leave you with one thought, in case you have not heard it before.  The Minister for Primary Industries is old Ian Macdonald.  Apparently, when he first heard about equine influenza, old Macdonald said EI, EI … ohhhhhh!

Hopefully this will be the last update needed on equine influenza. 

We will briefly summarise each one below as it impacts most people involved with the racing and breeding if not in Australia then certainly in NSW.

WARWICK FARM

The spread of EI into Warwick Farm means that Warwick Farm is now in total lockdown and quarantine.  The discovery of two horses on Saturday morning is just the tip of the iceberg, just as it was at Randwick, and Warwick Farm now becomes another Randwick replica situation.  After the initial discovery of EI on Saturday morning, around 40% of all horses at Warwick Farm were infected by yesterday afternoon which was a very quick spread in the space of only 48 hours.

Because the virus incubates for around five days before any clinical signs, whichever horses were the first to become infected with the virus would have been mixing with the general horse population on the training track at Warwick Farm for around five days before the first clinical signs were shown.  That is the reason why it spreads so quickly because by the time it is first discovered many horses will have been actually infected and it snowballs from there.

Based on the Randwick experience, every horse in Warwick Farm will get the EI virus and the basic procedure is that after the last horse shows symptoms that starts a 30-day period at the end of which horses will be allowed to move.  Based on that, expect the horses at Warwick Farm to be quarantined there for about 45 to 60 days.  After that, Warwick Farm is effectively fumigated and horses are allowed to return.

It is likely that the horses that have been in Warwick Farm for that time would then need a spell of 4-8 weeks before returning to training.

The most asked question is whether horses at Warwick Farm can move to spelling paddocks sooner because so many spelling farms within the southeast corner of Sydney in the Cobbity area  are now infected.  At the moment they are not allowed to move because there are uninfected areas between Warwick Farm and Cobbity, even though it is only a short distance.  The virus is considered so virulent that simply driving through an uninfected area can spread the disease.

VACCINATION

The vaccination of horses in Australia has now been approved.  Whether or not to vaccinate has been much-discussed in the past few weeks and the decision to vaccinate now has proven the pro-vaccination lobby were correct from the outset.  There is a number of subtleties involved with the vaccination in terms of what type of vaccinations to use and the strains to vaccinate against that have impacted the timing of the decision to vaccinate, but we won''t go into those here.

Vaccination will come too late for Warwick Farm but the announcement that the first vials of vaccination will land in the country on Thursday followed by further shipments means that priority will be given to vaccinating those racing areas that are not EI infected such as Rosehill, Newcastle and then other provincial and country areas.  Following that, the next vaccinations will be in the spelling paddocks and pre-training establishments where the next wave of horses that can come into training will be coming from.

The same is expected to apply in Queensland with non-infected areas such as the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and spelling and pre-training farms to be vaccinated first.

Horses that have been infected will be the last group to be vaccinated, if at all, because horses have immunity to the flu virus once they have been infected.

Significantly, Victoria will now start a program of vaccination as well, focusing initially on Carnival horses and then gradually including the entire racehorse population. 

A similar approach to that in NSW will take place in Queensland as well.

The spread of the EI virus into Doomben is Queensland’s kick in the guts as the feeling was that the Doomben/Eagle Farm area was fairly well protected by a buffer of suburbia.

Early indications yet to be totally confirmed are that the cost of vaccinations will be funded by the Federal and State governments.  I will believe that one when I see it, though.

Once the policy of vaccination has replaced the previously prevailing policy of containment and eradication, we are effectively vaccinating for life.  However, as unfortunate that may sound compared to what we had before, this is the norm in other countries that have had EI, such as England, Japan and South Africa and pretty well other racing country in the world, other than New Zealand, and EI vaccinations simply become part of the normal racing life and racing carries on as per normal into the future.

ASSISTANCE PACKAGES FOR RACEHORSE OWNERS

There is a well-publicised $110m assistance package for the racing industry, which will apply to many levels of the industry.  Included amongst that is a per-horse assistance scheme that will be backdated to 25 August.  Basically, the payments will be made by Racing NSW to the trainer of horses on the basis of $50 to metropolitan-trained horses (split $35 owner/$15 trainer), $45 for provincial-trained ($31.50/$13.50), and $40 for country-trained horses ($28/$12).

The payment will be made by Racing NSW to the trainer who will credit the owner. 

A very unusual means test is that the controlling owner must not have $300,000 or more in a personal (not business) bank account.  If any of our owners does have $300,000 or more in a personal bank account they should see me as we have some horses available for purchase that will help bring your bank balance below that $300,000 mark! 

There was some early discussion that the assistance package will not apply to horses in areas that have been able to race however my understanding (subject to confirmation) is that will apply to all horses in NSW however any prizemoney the owner has gained since 25 August will be taken off the entitlements.

At this stage I do not believe that there is any assistance to horses in spelling paddocks or in pre-training but this is still to be determined.

NSW ZONING

NSW has been split into four zones, the map of which has been well-publicised in the media. 

The green zone, which is effectively southern and western NSW, is EI-free and in this area you are able to move horses within the zone from property to property and to and from registered racing equestrian other events.  Horse events are able to be held at a registered with the NSW DPI and that will include race meetings.  You are not allowed to move horses out of the green zone without a permit and you are not allowed to move any horse from other zones into the green zone.

The amber zone is an area where there is no confirmed disease however it borders on the infected areas.  In the amber zone, you can apply to your local Rural Lands Protection Board (RLPB) for a permit to move horses for essential movements only.  You can move horses to and from registered racing events after obtaining a ''movement permit''.  You cannot move horses or horse products without a permit and you cannot move any horse or horse products into the green zone.

The red zone are restricted areas of at least ten kilometres around infected premises.  Here, high containment and bio-security applies to individual premises and the area.  You have to apply to the RLPB for the movement of any horses and you cannot move horses or products without a permit or move horses or products to an amber or green zone.

The purple zone is a special restricted area that has been set up and allows movement of horses and equipment within the purple zone.  This is basically the Hunter Valley and an area just north of Sydney.  You cannot move horses or products out of the purple zone and you must disinfect yourself, horse vehicle and equipment if you have contact with horses before leaving the zone.

It is expected that all horses within the zone will become infected due to the movement that is allowed and that infection will start the process whereby all horses will ultimately become infected and therefore immune.  My understanding that the last horses will be allowed into the purple zone on 19 October so the purple zone will have a finite life.  The introduction of the purple zone is effectively to allow the breeding industry to continue in NSW. 

Parameters regarding limited movement of horses in Queensland are being formulated as well.

CONFIRMATION OF STALLION MOVEMENTS

The major studs have had to make commercial decisions as to which stallions will be allowed out of quarantine into the purple zone to serve an Australian season.  In most cases, the decision was whether or not they would then serve a Northern Hemisphere season because the majority of stallions that are released into the purple zone will stay here and not return shuttle to the Northern Hemisphere. 

Coolmore stallions available in Australia will be Antonio Pius, Aussie Rules, Choisir, Encosta De Lago, Oratorio, Rock Of Gibraltar and Stravinsky, who is originally scheduled to go to New Zealand.  Shuttle stallions already on the farm, currently serving mares, which have stayed here are Dehere, Fastnet Rock, Fusaichi Pegasus, Royal Academy and Spinning World. 

Tale Of The Cat, Johannesburg and Lion Heart were there but have been returned to the United States to avoid becoming infected.  Stallions returning to the Northern Hemisphere without covering the Australian season will be Holy Roman Emperor, Ivan Denisovich and Danehill Dancer. 

Darley stallions that will be available will be Elusive Quality, Exceed And Excel, Grandera, Noverre, Tiger Hill and Tobougg.

Already serving mares in NSW are Carnegie, Untouchable, Nadeem and Reset, along with Gonski in Victoria. 

Those returning directly to their Northern Hemisphere bases without covering a mare in Australia will be Bernardini, Consolidator, E Dubai, Henny Hughes, Cape Cross, Country Reel, Dubawi, Librettist, Refuse To Bend and Shamardal. 

Indications from other studs are that Ad Valorem will be available for covers at Woodlands Studs while at Vinery Red Ransom will not be available to Australian breeders this season. 

Between the announcement of stallion availability and the introduction of the various zones, the studs and Laurel Oak are frenetically trying to establish which mares are able to go to which stallions.  There are many confirmed bookings which will now be able to happen while others will not be able to take place due to the inability to move the mares into the right area or due to the unavailability of the stallions.

That brings you up-to-date with the EI and its implications as they currently stand.

After jumping well from an outside gate, jockey Kevin Sweeney had Steel Titan in a forward positon three wide, travelling sweetly through the run, and on straightening Steel Titan took the lead and was too strong for his rivals over the concluding stages.

Steel Titan was bought by Laurel Oak and Keith Dryden at the 2006 Gold Coast Magic Millions for $57,750 and the manner of today's victory indicates exciting times ahead for his group of owners.

Wednesday, 19th Sept - Sequalo colt Single Bound broke his maiden status in fine style at the Gold Coast this afternoon.

The most significant news is in relation to the NSW breeding industry.  A Hunter Valley ''purple zone'' has been approved in principle, which will allow restricted movement of mares onto properties for the breeding season within that zone.

The significant feature of the approval though, is that once the technical issues and conditions have been resolved, mares that are based in the Hunter Valley can be bred this season, even if they are not on the farms where the covering stallion stands.  That obviously will have long-term positive implications on the racing industry as well.

Significant for the return to some form of normality is the fact that, for the past few days, all new cases of Equine Influenza in NSW have occurred within established containment lines in restricted areas.  That gives some confidence that the standstill of horse movement is preventing the spread into new areas.  That simple fact will speed up the process of getting areas such as Southern NSW and the northeast corner of NSW where there is no outbreak of EI back to a normal racing scenario where meetings can start being held on a regular basis.

The introduction of the purple zone in NSW should hasten a similar level of restricted movement between horse farms in Queensland as well so that they can increase the number of mares being bred this season.

Also significant is the announcement that systematic vaccination of horses is planned, and the NSW Minister for Primary Industries has announced that 10,000 shots of horse flu vaccine will be imported for use in special equine influenza buffer zones that are designed to prevent the spread of EI beyond the current containment lines which, in turn, should ultimately speed up its eradication. 

Exhibition of Racing Photos

On a totally separate subject, I can highly recommend the Bruce Postle Photographic Exhibition at the Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Melbourne.  This is a high-quality exhibition and a must for racing fans that is a mixture of brilliant photography combined with photos capturing some magic moments in racing over the past 30 years.  The exhibition only goes to the end of September, so if you work or live in Melbourne or are going to spend any time in Melbourne over the coming weeks including for football reasons, then I strongly recommend that you allocate an hour to go and see this exhibition at the Museum. If you are a racing fan you will love it!

A highlight of the Ball is the DVD recap of the Noonan racing year as we get to relive some magic moments.  For the stable, highlights were, without doubt, the three wins of Benedetti and Smart And Mighty in Dubai in February, while Tony trained eight Laurel Oak winners to cheer for the year with SOUL DIVA (2), TIRELESS (2), KLONDIKE KID (2), PRECEPTOR and DIVINE PROPORTION (1 each) all saluting.  In a case of what might have been, the summary of results on each table highlighted that there were, in fact, 15 Laurel Oak seconds with Tony during the year.  But, as per above, I am not going to complain as that is better than 15 unplaceds. 

One downer on the Ball, however, was the fact that being a Swans supporter in a room full of Collingwood fans was not the place to be last Saturday night!

Friday, 24th August - Keith Dryden trained Private Dan made a welcome return to the winner's stall at Canberra taking out the the 1,900m Class 5 event with authority.

Now we are probably in a position once again where we can at least consolidate the equine influenza situation as it affects various states.

The confirmed news today that now eight of ten horses from Anthony Cummings Randwick stables have tested positive to equine influenza has a massive bearing on the NSW racing industry.

It is the news that the industry has dreaded.

It does mean that the quarantine and standstill order in NSW may be in place for another thirty days, and that could even be extended to fifty days, certainly as it extends to Randwick-based horses as Randwick is now in complete lockdown.

Here is a summary of the various situations.

Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania:  there have been no instances of equine influenza in any of these states and the standstill orders in each of these states are expected to be lifted at midday on Friday, with the result that thoroughbred racing will be able to resume on Saturday. 

As indicated in yesterday''s message to Grandstand View readers, the Victorian Department of Primary Industry (DPI) has restricted racing to one meeting per day for the first five days.  As a consequence of that, as you may already be aware, there is an eleven-race meeting scheduled for Caulfield on Saturday and a twelve-race meeting scheduled for Cranbourne on Sunday. 

This afternoon Racing Victoria announced very conservative measures with regard to not just the movement of horses into the state, but also the movement of humans involved with horses.  Hugh Bowman and Darren Beadman have been prevented from riding at the Caulfield meeting, while interstate trainers whose horses are running at the meeting have also been prevented from attending.

At the race meeting itself they are also setting up exclusion zones so that humans and horses are kept well apart other than the necessary professionals such as Victoria-based jockeys, strappers and trainers.

Other news impacting Victorian racing is that John Moore has announced that his horses will not be coming from Hong Kong to the Melbourne Spring Carnival, while it was earlier announced that the Japanese horses will not be coming to the Spring Carnival, more due to their own equine influenza problems rather than Victoria''s.

From the breeding point of view in Victoria, once the standstill orders cease on Friday afternoon, then mares can move as per normal to their various studs to be covered, and with the exception of those shuttle stallions that are still in quarantine, the Victorian breeding season will operate fairly normally. 

While the restriction of the shuttle stallions in the quarantine station at Eastern Creek has been extended I am not sure at this moment in time whether that ban also applies to the Victoria quarantine-based stallions otherwise they will be out of quarantine around 20 September.

NSW Racing:  As a result of today''s devastating news from Randwick, there will be no racing at Randwick for somewhere between thirty and fifty days, and no Randwick-based horses are expected to be allowed to race in that time.

On the positive side recent precautionary tests that have taken place on horses at Warwick Farm, Rosehill, Dubbo and Newcastle have all been clear of EI, and at this stage all of those training environments are operating normally.  The exceptions are when an individual stable has shown an elevated temperature, then that stable has to have a total shutdown until the results of the tests have come back and the horses cannot work during that period.  With the processing of suspected EI tests being sped up those shutdowns have been generally well under 24 hours. 

As of yesterday, there was discussion of trying to kick-start the NSW racing by having quarantined meetings at Randwick for Randwick-based horses and Warwick Farm for Warwick Farm-based horses.  Rosehill has not entered such a discussion as I suspect there are probably not enough horses trained at Rosehill to create a race meeting.  The idea was to conduct races separately at the two venues with only trainers, jockeys and strappers present and no public.  Canterbury would be converted to a betting auditorium with bookmakers and full raceday facilities for the public to attend and bet on the races.  The confirmation of EI at Randwick has now put this plan on hold, however an announcement this afternoon is that Racing NSW and the AJC will be applying to the DPI to have permission to run a race meeting at Warwick Farm for Warwick Farm-based horses only as soon as next Saturday week, 8 September.  I know that Warwick Farm trainers have been asked to provide details of potential runners at such a meeting including class of horse, distance etc. so that they can formulate the races to suit the horses rather than the other way around. 

A similar meeting has also been mooted for Newcastle on Saturday 15 September.  The biggest problem is the circumstances of individual horses at the moment, as those that are in work cannot go for a spell and those that are spelling cannot come into work.  Others that are for example currently at pretraining venues can continue to pretrain at those venues.

NSW Breeding:  NSW breeding is also in turmoil.  The announcement today that the forty stallions stuck in quarantine (I think on Sunday I said the figure was only sixteen, perhaps I mistook that for Darley, who have around sixteen stallions in there themselves) will be obliged to stay in quarantine until the middle of October as there have been instances of a number of stallions becoming sick with the virus.  Rumours persist that one very high-profile stallion is genuinely sick and has no chance of covering this season, but that is not something that I want to publicise here in case it is just a rumour. 

Shuttle stallions coming out three weeks late were already going to be a major issue and if they come out six weeks late then for many the breeding season is as good as over anyhow, and there becomes a greater likelihood that stallions will simply be returned home by their Northern Hemisphere owners without covering here. 

The continuing outbreaks of the virus (all continually linked to the prime sources of Centennial Park and Maitland, I must point out) mean that the standstill orders for horses will continue for some time yet in NSW.  The immediate impact of that is in the fact that mares cannot be moved to the properties where the stallions are to be covered.  Consequently while the breeding season has started the only mares that can be covered at the moment are those that are on a property where the stallion actually is.  As a consequence of that situation there are a lot of late changes with broodmare owners with mares ready to cover taking the opportunity of being covered by an available stallion rather than risking any further delay.

As the majority of broodmares are on broodmare farms with no stallions there are a lot of mares that would be ready to be covered in the next few weeks that at the moment are not able to go to stallions.

If things settle down then there will be applications from broodmare farms for special licence to be able to move the mares off the farms to the studs where the stallions are.  Quite what restrictions are put on those are yet to be seen, because the options include literally walking a mare to the stallion farm, all mares to one farm only but the mare must stay there, rather than be walked in and walked out, etc.  And then different broodmare farms will have different protocols and risk profiles which may impact on who does get a licence and who does not, or the timing of the licence.  That in turn will impact on when and whether individual mares will be able to be covered.  Regardless of whatever happens there is no doubt that the foal crop for this year will be down significantly, even if things settle down in the not-too-distant future.

Queensland Racing and Breeding:  there is less actual news coming out of Queensland than from the other states however at this stage they are theoretically on the same timeframe as NSW.  However as all their EI outbreaks are linked to Centennial Park and Maitland, they may reach a point sooner than NSW where they are comfortable that the virus has been contained and normal horse movements can resume. 

At the moment, the standstill requirements are in place in Queensland as well, although after being locked down for three days horses are now allowed to walk to the track to be trained, or certainly that is the case in Brisbane and at the Gold Coast.

The EI Virus Status:  In big-picture terms the DPI continues on the basic tactic of confinement and elimination of the virus rather than vaccination.  Apparently vaccination is not 100% effective and is very costly, and in all countries where the virus has previously existed it has been eradicated.  The main mission of the DPI is to achieve that in NSW and Queensland as well.

There are apparently over 400,000 horses in NSW, which makes the task somewhat more difficult and while there are approximately 488 confirmed of EI on sixteen different properties (and those numbers change very regularly) the DPI is comfortable that the spread of the virus has been restricted.  If the standstill procedures were not in place then it would be rampant throughout the horse population and the current status in terms of the potential damage done is considered to be a satisfactory result and an indication that they are on track with containing and then eradicating the virus.

At this stage all the evidence points to the fact that a horse came in from Japan with the flu virus;  somehow that got to Centennial Park;  and four horses from Centennial Park went to a show at Maitland where they had over 200 horses and all subsequent outbreaks of the virus can be linked to either the Maitland or the Centennial Park horses.  That in itself provides the DPI with solid evidence that the virus has been contained and providing the standstill restrictions remain in place that it will run its course amongst the horses that currently have it and currently have been exposed to it. 

One difference between previously-reported strains of the virus and the one that currently exists in Australia is that the virus can remain dormant in horses without any clinical evidence of the virus, and it is some days later before the horses actually show signs.  If they showed signs earlier then it would be a lot easier to control because at the moment horses with the virus are in stable environments contaminating other horses in the same stable while nobody actually knows that the carrier has the virus.  Short of blood-testing every horse, which would stretch facilities to the limit, there is no way of identifying which horses have it and which horses do not. 

That is all the news for the moment, and hopefully another report to you won''t be necessary because the news starts to become all good. 

Best regards, Louis Mihalyka

Louis Mihalyka
Laurel Oak Bloodstock Pty Ltd
Making racehorse ownership Easy and Enjoyable
02 8883 1066 Phone
02 8883 1266 Fax
0418 962 858

Louis Mihalyka
Laurel Oak Bloodstock Pty Ltd
Making racehorse ownership Easy and Enjoyable
02 8883 1066 Phone
02 8883 1266 Fax
0418 962 858

August 3, 4 & 5 saw another very intense and enjoyable round of social activities for Laurel Oak owners and clients.

3 August was the 53^rd Occasional Laurel Oak Golf Day, held at the impressive Castle Hill Country Club.  Once again sponsored by our main Sydney trainer, Gary Portelli, it was another enjoyable day despite a sight that is unusual for  - persistent rain.  With the help of Gary’s sponsorship and a number of other sponsors, there was a generous prize pool including a very popular main prize of a photo of Miss Andretti winning the King’s Stand Stakes at Ascot this year.

The following day, Saturday 4 August, saw the second of the Laurel Oak days in the Private Boxes at Rosehill.  Filling a 50-person suite, the buzz around the room throughout the day highlighted what a good time everyone was having.  Winners were hard to come by in the in-house Tipping Competition with Kathy Dean beating a hotly contested field.  Our principal Victorian trainer, Tony Noonan, was a guest on the day in the room and enjoyed catching up with many of his Sydney-based owners.

The next day the opportunity was there for Tony’s Sydney-based owners to catch up once again for Sunday lunch.  Another enjoyable afternoon was had by all and the main criterion for the selection of the lunch venue was that it would be near a TAB as Tony had three runners that afternoon.  The win of Silver Service, trained by Tony and paying more than $10, more than paid for lunch!

Upcoming social events organised by Laurel Oak will focus on Spring Carnival activities, including Melbourne Cup Week and Cox Plate, while we are also organising tables for clients at industry events such as the NSW Racehorse Owners’ Night of Champions, and the Hall of Fame Awards being held in Sydney this year.  Further, Tony Noonan will  have his annual Greendale Ball in the Palladium at Crown Casino in September, which is also always well-attended by Laurel Oak owners who get another chance to cheer the winners from the season during the re-cap of season highlights for the Noonan Stable.

Sat Aug 4 - Stakes-winning mare Yolo had her first run for her new connections including a syndicate of Laurel Oak owners.  This is the third time that we have bought a mare in a joint venture with Stuart Ramsey of Turangga Farm.  Yolo has a lot to live up to in that regard as the first two mares were Ancient Song, who went on to Group One glory after purchase, and the second was Radiant Star, who raced very successfully for 12 months after purchase.

At Yolo’s first start at Caulfield, she was well supported in the betting ring but struggled at her first race experience the Melbourne way of going.  Despite looking to be in trouble turning for home, she responded well to Damien Oliver’s riding in the straight and, just when she looked to have the opposition around her covered and victory in her sights, she was nailed on the line by Speedalot.  Nevertheless it was a very good second placing in Open Saturday company and a promising run for the future as we expect Yolo to improve as the distances get longer.

Thurs Aug 2 - Magic Zulu celebrated his third birthday with another encouraging run at his second career start at Mornington.  In a fast-run 1000m race he was struggling to keep up in the middle stages and was forced wide on the home corner before running home well to finish third to make it two placings from two starts.  Provided he pulls up well, Tony Noonan will give him one more start before going for a spell to consolidate physically and mentally.

Fri 27th July - Divine Proportion ran another very good race on Friday to finish second at Benalla.  Not unlike last start, she looked to be travelling well coming towards the corner and tracking into the race to look a real winning chance on straightening. 

In the straight, Divine Proportion battled away strongly to just grab second on the line in a run that pleased her trainer Tony Noonan.  The run was an ideal lead-up run to next Sunday’s (5 August) 1600m fillies and mares Class 2 handicap at Werribee where Divine Proportion will get a distance much more to her liking. 

Fri 27th July - Sequalo two-year old Single Bound ran a mighty race on debut at the Gold Coast last Friday to be just beaten into second place after looking all over the winner for most of the way down the straight.

Single Bound was still a little awkward away from the barriers, however, was able to make use of his good gate and his momentum took him very comfortably to the lead.  Single Bound travelled kindly and things were looking good coming to the corner and looked even better he kicked a couple of lengths clear soon after straightening.

Unfortunately the field was starting to gain on him in the final 50m and he was nailed right on the line for what was a frustrating second after we could taste the victory.

Importantly, though, Single Bound showed plenty of ability and given that he was giving away age and experience to all his opponents, including in particular the winner, who is a metropolitan placegetter and a year older, it was a good effort and a bright start to his career.

Sat 21st July - Private Dan ran well on Saturday at Kembla to finish third although, again, had circumstances against him.

The race was run at an extremely slow tempo and Private Dan simply gave too much head start and was unable to run down the first two place getters in the run to the line and battled on well with his final 50m the best part of his race.

This preparation has been somewhat frustrating for Private Dan’s owners with many of his proposed starts called off due to the massive amounts of rain over the past two months. Private Dan, an untapped stayer, resumed at Canberra in May with a slashing second over the unsuitable distance of 1,200m. Trainer Keith Dryden then mapped out a sequence of races aimed at having Private Dan primed for 2000m at his fifth run in. Alas then heavens opened and two races on Private Dan’s programme were washed out and we have been forced to run over unsuitable distances without the fitness base under his belt.

With Saturday’s race now under his belt, Private Dan will be able to step up to staying distances that he will relish and we are now looking forward to his next couple of starts where hopefully a win is not too far away.

Thur 19^th July - Two-year old Johannesburg colt Magic Zulu, trained by Tony Noonan, made his much-awaited debut at Cranbourne today finishing second.

Magic Zulu was hampered at the start but mustered speed to settle outside the leader. On straightening Magic Zulu moved to a narrow lead but was unable to hold off the eventual leader, who came again near the line to snatch victory.

Magic Zulu has shown above average ability on the training track and today’s effort has not dampened our enthusiasm and we a very much looking forward to heading back to the races to go one better next time.

If you are interested in racing a horse with Laurel Oak and international winning trainer Tony Noonan, please contact our office and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racing a horse with Laurel Oak really is.

Sunday July 15 - After having an interrupted campaign from abandoned trials and races it was great to see Zabeel mare, Divine Proportion run well to finish third over an unsuitable distance at Mornington on Sunday.

After settling a little worse than midfield, Divine Proportion began to make her run approaching the home corner and on straightening moved into second position and set out after the break-away leader. However with 50m to go her lack of fitness kicked in and she was nailed right on the line for second placing.

We are very encouraged by yesterday’s result and extremely pleased with Divine Proportion’s racing manners as she is beginning to show signs that the penny is dropping and we are now looking forward to the rest of this preparation where Divine Proportion will only get better as the distances of her races increase.

Friday July 13 - Fantastic Light gelding Lucetius recorded his fourth career win in fine style on the Canberra Acton track on Friday.

With fitness finally on his side, Lucetius settled in second position and dashed to the lead on entering the straight and held on comfortably to win by three-quarters of a length. In winning Lucetius broke the Class record for the 1280m, which adds further merit to his win.

Being BOBS eligible, trainer Keith Dryden may now give Lucetius one more chance to boost his potential earnings by winning a BOBS bonus in town before his 3yo season finishes at the end of the month.

Tues – 10^th July - Zabeel mare, Lady Zhivago showed she is beginning to find form when she finished a good third at Warwick Farm.

With a slow early tempo Lady Zhivago was allowed to stride to the lead and coming to the corner we were hopeful of figuring in the finish. Soon after straightening Lady Zhivago looked to be struggling but to her credit battled back well to hold down third placing.

With this run under her belt, Lady Zhivago will be able to step up in distance and we expect her to very competitive when she reaches distances of a mile and beyond.

The second half of the year generally has more intense social activities than the first, where yearling sales restrict the opportunities.  The start of those occurred over the past week with the annual Canberra Golf Trip last Thursday and Friday, followed by the first of our two visits to the Private Boxes at Rosehill on Saturday. 

The Canberra Golf Trip proved another enjoyable sojourn to the nation’s capital to play two of their better golf courses, Royal Canberra and Gold Creek. 

The overnight trip did teach us two things.  Firstly, never cancel anything based on a weather forecast because the forecast for the two days could not have been worse, particularly for last Thursday when we were scheduled to play at Royal Canberra.  A maximum of 8º and wet and windy was the consistent forecast for three days before and the six locals who had planned to join us gradually dropped out over Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning due to the forecast and the prevailing inclement weather.  Thursday morning was so miserable as we were driving down that we had already worked out where lunch was going to be.  However, on arrival in Canberra we were welcomed by a rainbow and rainbows mean sunshine so we were able to play and only got caught with occasional drizzle despite the horrendous forecast and the prevailing morning weather. 

Aside from not trusting weather forecasts, we also learned that the local Canberra people are not as tough as you would expect them to be, given the climate they live in, as they all preferred to stay indoors while the hardier souls from Sydney played golf! 

The Rosehill Private Boxes are always super, enjoyable days and last Saturday was no different with many winners and another enjoyable in-house tipping competition.  One group of six put in $20 each and picked a horse each in the Melbourne quadrella and there was much cheering when the fourth leg got up and the quadrella paid $10,000, of which they had 30% to share around.

Fri July 6 - Two-year old Rory’s Jester gelding Just Rory continued his good form with an excellent 3^rd placing at Nowra today.

After settling towards the rear of the field, Just Rory drifted back to last on straightening but once balanced up he hit the line solidly down the outside to grab third position right on the line.

His record now stands at 4 starts for a win, a second & two thirds, which means he has earnt prizemoney every time he has faced the starter and is a delight for his group of owners to race.

Just Rory will now go for a well deserved break to consolidate physically and mentally and his trainer Keith Dryden believes he will come back a bigger and better horse next time in.

If you would like to experience the thrill and excitement of owning you’re very own racehorse. Then contact the Laurel Oak options and we can show you how easy and enjoyable racehorse ownership really is.

Thurs 28 June - Sea Eye Pea ran an unlucky but gallant second at Canterbury yesterday, going down by ¾’s of a length.

Following her win at Bathurst last week, trainer Gary Portelli reported that Sea Eye Pea had pulled up a treat and was “bucking her brands off”, so it was decided that she would back-up 6 days later in an 1100m 2yo No-met Win race.

After beginning well, Sea Eye Pea was unable to cross to the lead and her jockey; Zac Purton decided to settle in third position right in the leaders heels. The race was being run at a solid tempo and approaching the turn, Zac decided to make his move around the two leaders and on straightening Sea Eye Pea challenged for the lead. Unfortunately the eventual winner, who travelled inside Sea Eye Pea in the run, was able to force his way through the two leaders one off the fence and was able to out gun Sea Eye Pea in the run to the line.

Fortunately for her owners, Sea Eye Pea will be able to return to an identical race at Canterbury in a fortnight’s time where we expect Sea Eye Pea will be extremely competitive once again.

Sea Eye Pea is raced by a group of accountants who approached Laurel Oak to buy a horse for them. Several of them had already been in a Laurel Oak Syndicate on an individual basis and they decided to form a syndicate of work colleagues to race a horse together.

With a budget of $70,000 we were thrilled to purchase Sea Eye Pea for a bargain buy of $23,000 at the Inglis Classic Sale. Yesterday’s result takes her record to 4 starts for a win and two seconds and $16,900 in prizemoney and her syndicate of owners have many exciting times ahead.

If you would like to experience the fun and excitement of owning a racehorse with Laurel Oak and Group 1 winning trainer Gary Portelli, please contact the Laurel Oak office on (02) 8883 1066 information on how easy flexible the options available to you are.

Fri June 22 - Rory’s Jester 2yo Just Rory (aka Roscoe) broke his maiden status in fine style at Canberra on Friday and provided Laurel Oak with our first winner on the Acton Synthetic track.

Trained by Keith Dryden and ridden by stable apprentice Carissa Lambert, Roscoe was given the perfect ride in behind the speed before making his run on straightening. In the straight, Roscoe let down extremely well and came away for a decisive by 1.5 lengths. This was an extremely encouraging win being a 2yo taking on older horses and we are looking forward to the coming weeks with Roscoe.

The win took his record to 1 win, 1 second & 1 third from three starts and there looks to be many more exciting times ahead for his lucky owners.

If you would like to experience the thrill of winning with Laurel Oak and Keith Dryden then contact our office for information on horses available.

Sunday was an exciting day for Laurel Oak when the Gary Portelli trained 2yo’s Rocket Radar and Sea Eye Pea ran first and second in the 2007 Bathurst Gold Nugget, (pictured below).

Whilst it was not the plan to have both race against one another, a wide barrier draw earlier in the week for Sea Eye Pea and balloting conditions for Rocket Radar at Newcastle on Saturday meant that there was no other option so the team headed for Bathurst confident of running well and at worst both horses earning prizemoney. The pair were first up into the race with two trials a piece under their belts.

 
The very speedy Sea Eye Pea, ridden by George Scimone, pinged the gates and set the tempo in front while Rocket Radar began well but was asked to travel mid-field by his jockey Greg Ryan.

Both horses travelled well in their respective positions through the middle stages of the race and on approaching the turn Sea Eye Pea was off and gone, straightening with a 5 length lead with Rocket Radar coming through the field to move into second position. Half way down the straight Sea Eye Pea looked to have the race won until Rocket Radar hit top gear and rounded her up and went on to win the Nugget by two lengths with Sea Eye Pea easily holding down second position by another two length from race favourite Starry Light.

It was a very exciting time for Rocket Radar’s owners who had made the trip to Bathurst to watch their charge win impressively and a bright future looks in store for their grey son of O’Reilly.

Sea Eye Pea was also very impressive in setting such a good tempo and holding her form down the straight to comfortably beat the rest of the field and a win is not too far away for this daughter of Commands.

It was a tremendous result for the team and congratulations to Gary Portelli (pictured left) and his staff for having both horses spot on for the race and we are looking forward to many successes with Rocket Radar and Sea Eye Pea in the very near future.

The only disappointment of the day was that the trophy for the Golden Slipper is a Golden Slipper and for the Blue Diamond it is a Blue Diamond but for the Gold Nugget there was no Gold Nugget for the owners!!!

However we were very appreciative of the crystal glassware that was received as a trophy.

If you to would like to enjoy the thrill and excitement of thoroughbred racing with Group 1 winning trainer Gary Portelli then please contact the Laurel Oak office and we can show you how Easy and Enjoyable racehorse ownership is.

20 May 2007 - Fantastic Light gelding Lucetius, arguably turned in a career best performance at Queanbeyan on Sunday when winning the final race on Queanbeyan Cup Day.

Anchored by 58.5kg and barrier 15, Lucetius did it tough in the run travelling three wide around the tight Queanbeyan circuit and on straightening moved up to take the lead and hold off all challengers down the running to win by a neck in what was tenacious victory.

Lucetius (below) has always shown his trainer, Keith Dryden a fair bit of ability and this win went some way to justify the stables opinion of the horse. Congratulations to Lucetius’ owners, who are having a fantastic time collecting BOBS bonuses with each win whilst taking their talented horse through his grades.

If you would like to race a horse with Keith Dryden and Laurel Oak then please call the Laurel Oak Office on (02) 8883 1066.

20 May 2007 - Tireless made it two in row at Mornington on Sunday when taking out the 1500m Class 4 event on the programme.

Following his superb win a fortnight earlier, Tony Noonan decided to step Tireless up in class hoping that his tremendous home track would negate the rise in grade and the plan worked perfectly.

After jumping well, Tireless was able to settle midfield and travel comfortably for Daniel Moor through the middle stages of the race. On approaching the 600m mark Moor allowed Tireless to move into the race and on straightening had Tireless in a challenging position around four lengths off the leader Chinotto. That horse kicked half way down the short Mornington straight with Tireless chasing in second and looked to have the race parcelled with until he began to hit the wall in the last hundred metres and Tireless was able to run him down just before the line for his third career victory.

It was a very courageous effort from Tireless and took his record to 3 wins and a second placing from five starts at the Mornington track.

Congratulations again go out to his big syndicate of owners in the Greendale Laurel Oak 1 & 2 Syndicates we hope we can continue on the winning way.

20 May 2007 - A large contingent of over 50 owners, family and friends made the trip to Tony Noonan’s Mornington stables on Sunday morning for the first of our two annual main stable visits at Tony’s Greendale property.

With a majority of the Laurel Oak team either in training or in close proximity of the stables 13 horses were paraded including this year’s new purchases and all looked to be in fantastic condition.

The day was purposely organised to coincide with that afternoon’s Mornington race meeting and many took the opportunity to spend the day with their fellow owners and headed to the races for a fantastic social afternoon of racing.

We were lucky enough to have three runners at the meeting, with Untainted Love, Tireless and Power Of Love engaged. Whilst Untainted Love and Power Of Love were unplaced, Pentire gelding Tireless stole the show when he made it two wins from his last two starts (Please see story above).

We would like to thank all who were able to attend the stable visit and races, and a special thank you to Tony and his staff for organising and catering for the morning.

7 May 2007 - Untainted Love, trained by Tony Noonan, below left, ran a super race to finish third at Sale on Monday, 7th May.

Barrier draws have certainly stopped her from breaking her maiden status at both her last two starts and, after beginning fairly, Untainted Love was taken to the rear of the field and made up many lengths in the straight to finish a very impressive third.

On the line, we all thought she got second, but she was beaten a nostril and we just missed out on that extra little bit of prizemoney.

Untainted Love is showing a liking for some give in the ground and with the winter tracks slowly approaching a win is not too far away for this promising daughter of Desert Prince.

There are options for Untainted Love in the coming fortnight and she is one worth following from the Laurel Oak team.

4 May 2007. A different Tireless turned up at Mornington on Friday, 4 May to score a comprehensive victory in the Class 1 event over 1526m.

Tireless did look to be in bother 800m from home when he was struggling to keep up but, once he warmed into it, he got a beautiful run along the fence and jockey Ben Melham peeled across the heels of the leaders and Tireless did the rest to come away and win easily by two lengths.

Tireless was becoming a frustration for his large group of owners however he has now earned a reprieve (we love him again!) and will more than likely head to another race at Sale or Werribee in the next fortnight.

Tireless is raced by the Greendale Laurel Oak Number 1 & 2 Syndicates and is the brainchild of Tony Noonan where a syndicate of 40 people were formed to race 4 horses. Congratulations to all syndicate members and we hope for many successes to come.

If you, too, would like any further information about getting involved in a racehorse ownership, whether it be a small share or a whole horse, please call the Laurel Oak office on 02 8883 1066 or email us at lauroak@bigpond.net.au

20 April 2007 – The 52^nd Laurel Oak Golf Day sponsored by Portelli Racing was held under beautiful blue skies at the Castle Hill Country Club and, with a solid turn out of players, a great day was had by all. This stableford event was the first of our three Golf Days this year with the remainder to be held in August and November.

Results for the day were –

Singles competition - The winner was Michael Regan with 36 points defeating Ben Mahony on 35 points and in third Glenn Fraser on 35 points.

Four ball placings – the winners, capping off a good day for Michael, were Michael Regan & Peter Caldwell 42 points with Steve Cook and Norm Chapman second on count back, also with 42 points.

Other prizewinners on the day were;

Longest Drive - Michael Edgerton.

Nearest the Pin on the: 2nd - Tim Gleeson, 4th - Norm Chapman, 11th - Chris Hudson & 17th - Steve Cook.

Best front and back nine (outside the placegetters) Front - Norm Chapman 20 points and Back - Tim Millard 18 points.

The first golf day of each year also sees the presentation of the previous year’s Golfer of the Year. This prize is awarded to the player who not only regularly attends the golf days but also shows consistent golf over the whole year. We are pleased to announce that the 2006 Golfer of the year was Ray Anderson.

We would like to thank our sponsors of the golf day who contribute to boost the prize pool allowing everyone attending receiving a prize. Sponsors were Portelli Racing, Laurel Oak Bloodstock, Bruce Burrows, Mahony Dominic Lawyers, Mahoney Landscapes Pty Ltd, Galmark Security, Total Ground Logistics, Glenn Fraser, Ian Mathieson, Tim Millard and Danny Howitt.

19 April 2007. Laurel Oak manages around fifteen broodmares at any one time, which are bred principally to sell the offspring at yearling sales. We focus on mares whose offspring we would be happy to race because that gives our breeder clients an alternative buying source as we become potential buyers for the resultant yearling.  While there is no guarantee that we will do that as we do go through our normal purchasing protocols, there have been many times when we have bought horses off our breeder clients and raced them successfully.

A new mare was added to the Laurel Oak breeding team when Fiddly was purchased for a syndicate of breeders at the Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale.  Fiddly was purchased for $135,000 plus GST, and is in foal to Dubawi.  She is already booked to go to the promising young stallion Fastnet Rock next breeding season, and we look forward to more success in the sale ring and on the racetrack for this breeding syndicate in the future.  If you would like to know more about share ownership in broodmares, please contact Louis Mihalyka at Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066.

14 April 2007. A large group of 45 Laurel Oak clients and friends attended the NSW Racehorse Owners’ Association Raceday at Royal Randwick on the final day of the Autumn Carnival, Sydney Cup Day.

With a superb view of the racecourse from the Vista Room at the top of the Queen Elizabeth Stand, all attendees had the best seat in the house to watch a fantastic day’s racing with four Groups 1s on offer. The drinks flowed freely and the seafood buffet went down a treat, and again this day provided a fantastic end to the Sydney Autumn Carnival.

Laurel Oak has organised tables for this ROA Raceday for the last four years now, and the event just keeps getting bigger and better each year. Special thanks must go to Max Whitby and the NSW Racehorse Owners’ Association for putting on this fabulous event, and we will be returning each and every year for many years to come.

If you enjoy meeting new people and attending social functions such as Racedays, Golf Days, Stud Tours, Stable Visits and Awards Nights then contact Laurel Oak and we can show you how easy and enjoyable owning a racehorse with us really is.

10 April 2007. The William Inglis Easter Yearling Sales gathers the cream of the crop for each breeding season and it was with great excitement that Laurel Oak, in association with Stuart Ramsey of Ramsey Pastoral Pty Ltd, was able to offer our Group 1 winning mare Ancient Song’s first foal, a brown filly by brilliant racehorse Lonhro.

The filly presented well and Stuart Ramsey and her syndicate of owners formed by Laurel Oak were thrilled when she was knocked down for $500,000. Steve Brem bought the filly on behalf of clients and we wish them all the best for her future racing and breeding career.

7 & 11 April 2006. Congratulations go to Laurel Oak’s main Sydney-based trainer Gary Portelli who broke through for his maiden Group 1 victory when Rena’s Lady took out the Group 1 AJC Oaks over the Sydney Autumn Carnival.

Following her barnstorming win in the Group 3 Adrian Knox Stakes on the Saturday, Rena’s Lady, under a well-rated ride by Michael Rodd, lead all the way to take out the time honoured event for 3yo fillies and giving Gary every trainer’s dream, Group 1 success.

Congratulations must also go to Gary’s brother Troy Portelli, who looks after the Melbourne stables and has also made an enormous contribution to the stable’s success.

Well done boys!!

9 March. Carnegie mare Lady Lockyer, trained by Keith Dryden, broke her maiden status in good style when winning over 1000m at Cowra.

After enduring a tough run from a wide barrier around the tight Cowra track, Lady Lockyer hit the lead on straightening and showed great tenacity to hold off her rivals in the run to the line.

A good ride from Kevin Sweeney and patience by her trainer and owners rewarded them with a well-deserved win.

Lady Lockyer has been immature and at her second career start was placed at Canterbury.  She has run good races throughout her short career and we hope with further maturity she will race through the grades and prove to be a bargain buy for her $15,000 purchase price.

Lady Lockyer’s trainer Keith Dryden has had great success from his Canberra base with horses such as Into The Night and more recently with Coolroom Candidate. If you, too, are interested in becoming involved in racehorse ownership with Keith or any of the other Laurel Oak trainers please ring Louis Mihalyka at Laurel Oak on 02 8883 1066.

12 February. Tough staying mare Soul Diva, trained by Tony Noonan, ran a solid race at her first crack at black-type company when competing in the Group 3 AAMI Hobart Cup won by subsequent BMW Stakes winner Blutigeroo.

After enjoying a good run through the middle stages, Melbourne’s gun apprentice Sebastian Murphy began to make his move turning for home, however on straightening Soul Diva was hampered by another runner, losing all her momentum before regaining balance and finding the line solidly to finish a brave sixth, beaten just over four lengths.

A group of owners and friends made the trek to Tasmania to cheer on “The Diva” and a brilliant time was had by all. There was plenty of excitement at the Calcutta on Cup Eve and Tasmania’s fine food and beverages were enjoyed by the group.

Soul Diva was a $30,000 purchase at the Perth Magic Millions and her owners have shown great patience through the early stages of her career and have reaped the rewards, with her record now standing at 19 starts for 8 wins and 2 placings and prizemoney in excess of $190,000.

Unfortunately Soul Diva suffered an injury whilst preparing for the Launceston Cup and has been sent to the paddock for some R&R. Due to the patience shown by her owners, we are very confident she can make a successful return to the track in the near future.

Fri 9th Feb. - Tonight’s Moonee Valley results proved consistency finally pays off!! Zabeel (NZ) mare Divine Proportion (NZ) finally broke through for her maiden win after five consecutive places from six starts. Having never been out of the money, the Tony Noonan trained mare was sent out a warm punters elect based on her recent form, and at no stage did she ever look like letting punters down with an authoritive win.

Ridden by Caulfield Cup winning jockey Dwayne Dunn, the mare sat handy with the top weight of 57 kg’s, proving too good for the field of  11 runners over the mile journey.

Meanwhile at Canterbury this afternoon, the Gary Portelli trained Lady Zhivago (NZ), incidentally another Zabeel (NZ) mare, recorded another city placing when finishing third over the 1900m. Having collected prize money cheques at all four runs this campaign, Lady Zhivago (NZ) (pictured left winning last start), like Divine Proportion (NZ) is showing with maturity, and extra distance, that they are getting better.

On a side note, Laurel Oak would like to congratulate trainer Tony Noonan for the win of stable favourite Benedetti in Dubai last night. Sent over to contest a few races, the last start winner scored by a length in the US$110,000 event.

Congratulations to all the above mentioned horses, and with the William Inglis & Son Classic Yearling Sale commencing tomorrow, it is now a great opportunity to contact Louis or another member of the Laurel Oak staff on 02 8883 1066 if you are interested in becoming involved in a successful syndicate formed by Laurel Oak.

Sun 4th Feb. – Keith Dryden ventured from his Canberra base to the Sapphire Coast today to see Fantastic Light (USA) Light 3Y0, Lucetius, record his second career win from five starts.

Ridden by regular jockey Kevin Sweeney, Lucetius was sent out the 6/4 favourite based on a recent form. Not letting punters down, the striking chestnut scored by ¾ of a length.

Based on earlier form in his career, Lucetius is capable of mixing it with the best of them, as he was only beaten 2 ½ lengths on debut by Universal Queen, who on Saturday recorded a Group 2 victory at Moonee Valley.

If anyone is interested in being invovled in an up and coming racehorse, or feels they would be interested in purchasing a yearling at the myriad of sales coming up, please contact Louis Mihalyka on 02 8883 1066

Sat. 27th Jan. – Recording her eighth win today, the Tony Noonan trained Soul Diva scored by a half length when she took out the $70,000 Robert Hunter Hcp for 4YO and upwards mares. Racing over 1600m on the Hillside course at Sandown, the Grand Lodge mare has now delivered connections back to back wins.

Ridden once again to perfection by Sebastian Murphy, the well-bred mare jumped from barrier 9 and travelled in a lovely position throughout. Rounding the turn, it was evident that Soul Diva would play a hand in the finishing. Have earned connection over $180,000, the ‘Diva’ appears to have an affinity with the trip, winning 5 of 8 over the mile.

Congratulations to the connections of this extremely talented galloper. If you too would like to be involved in the racing of a quality galloper, do not hesitate to contact the Laurel Oak office on 02 8883 1066.

Fri. 26th Jan. – Ridden a treat by champion hoop Darren Beadman, classy Zabeel (NZ) mare Lady Zhivago (NZ) proved too good today at Randwick scoring in the AJC Cadbury Schweppes Class 1 Handicap over 1550m.

The Gary Portelli trained mare was having her second start this campaign after a very good 3rd on her home track a few weeks ago where she rattled home from well back, as she did today.

Being by Zabeel (NZ), the mare appreciated the longer distance of today’s race, and as her pedigree suggests she will appreciate even further. With the eventual aim to gain some black-type for the mare, therefore making her a valuable broodmare commodity when she retires.Congratulations to the winning connections, and like most Zabeel’s (NZ), the best is yet to come!!

The office is always available to help out prospective owners at any time on 02 8883 1066. If you interested in being involved in the exciting thrill of race horse ownership, do not hesitate to give us a call.

Wed. 24th Jan - Tony Noonan appears to have Klondike Kid all worked out, as he is starting to really put it all together on the track. Winning two of his last three, while having approx. three weeks off in between each run is working. Settling towards the tail, the American Odyssey (USA) gelding, in the words of the race caller, “Down the outside, Klondike Kid will beat them all.”

Ridden by regular jockey Mark Pegus, and jumping from barrier 12, the gelding settled very well and as his distances have increased slightly, it has aided him in being able to finish off so well in his races.

Raced by a combination of breeders and first time owners, today’s win was Klondike Kid’s fourth, taking his prizemoney just shy of $70,000. Congratulations to his patient connections, and best of luck with future performances.

If you are interested in being involved in the thrill of racing or purchasing a horse at one of the many sales coming up over the next few months, please contact the office on 02 8883 1066, while Louis's mobile is 0418 962 858.

Wed. 24th. Jan – Consistency above any other factor is what we all want to see in a racehorse and the Tony Noonan trained Divine Proportion (NZ) earned her sixth prizemoney cheque today at her sixth start. The 4yo Zabeel (NZ) mare ran 3rd at Mornington over the 1512m journey with Chris Symons in the saddle.

Being by Champion New Zealand sire, Zabeel (NZ), the mare will appreciate further time to mature and more than likely an increase in distance.

Patience is a virtue in the racing game, and especially with the bred. Congratulations to the owners for persisting with this exciting staying prospect!!

With a continue supply of sales over the next few months, if anyone is interested in being invovled in one of our purchases please let the office know. Once again we will be on the look out for suitable yearlings for our various trainers. If you would like a catalogue for this sale, or any of the future sales, give us a call on 02 8883 1066 and let us know and it can be arranged for you.

Sat. 14 Jan – In what was not only a great days racing for Laurel Oak, but also for Laurel Oak Trainers, where the results kept coming. The highlight of the day was the win of the Tony Noonan trained Soul Diva. Having her third run back from a break, the 5yo daughter of Grand Lodge (USA) was ridden a treat by young apprentice Sebastian Murphy. Settling in the leading two, the mare made her move rounding the home turn where she showed much tenacity to score by  1.3 lengths in a 1600m 4yo and upwards mares event at Caulfield.

Having an excellent affiliation with the 1600m in which Soul Diva has started 5 time for 4 wins and a narrow places, the mare appears to be really coming of age as she matures.

Being very well-bred, from the Marscay mare Marcia, Soul Diva will be a very valuable broodmare proposition when she retires as she is a city winning mare in both QLD and Vic. Congratulations to her owners, and many future wins!!

Laurel Oak trainer Gillian Heinrich also had a great day taking out the first race on the Magic Millions Race day, when Tour Guide scored in the $100,000 Maiden event. A further highlight came for the Heinrich camp when Dance The Waves scored in the Group 3 Rubiton Stakes at Caulfield. A huge congratulations to the Gillian and Hoss Heinrich on their great day.

Lady Zhivago (NZ) saluting last campaign at Canterbury.

Mon. 8th Jan - 3YO Fantastic Light (USA) colt, Lucetius broke his maiden status in a fine way today, scoring by 3 lengths in a 1010m Moruya Maiden. After jumping ok, the Keith Dryden trained colt sat midfield before making his run rounding the turn. The second placed Nuclear Drama had set up a 4 length gap, but once jockey Sweeney asked for the effort from Lucetius, he gathered in the leader and raced away for a comprehensive victory.

Keith Dryden has always had a very big opinion of this colt and now that he has broken through, it appears as if he may go on with it. Having his first start back in May, Lucetius bumped into Universal Prince’s full sister, Universal Queen, finishing a gallant second. At Universal Queen’s next start she sacred in the Gr 3 Sweet Embrace Stakes before taking her place in the Gr 1 Golden Slipper field.

Congratulations to the connections of Lucetius and best of luck with his future racing career.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in race horse syndication, please contact Louis Mihalyka on 0418 962 858. With the Sales season starting this week, it is a great opportunity to let your intentions be known.

Fantastic Light (USA), the sire of Lucetius

Thurs. 4th Jan – More Than Ready (USA) mare Texarcana showed that her campaign is well and truly on track with a slashing second on Thursday night. Settling at the rear of the field with the eventual winner, Texarcana made her run down the Canterbury straight to go down by a long neck to the John Hawkes trained Tin Pan.

Ridden by apprentice Tye Angland, the Gary Portelli trained mare has recorded two consecutive places, indicating that as she is getting fitter, she is starting to show her talent on the track. It would be of no surprise to see the grey mare in the winners stall at her next start. Congratulations and best luck to her connections.

If you are interested in being involved with racing a syndicated racehorse that has the potential to become a broodmare later down the track, please give Louis Mihalyka at the Laurel Oak office on 02 8883 1066.

• Magic Millions - Gold Coast - January 11th - 19th
• New Zealand Yearling Sales - January 29th - February 4th
• William Inglis and Son Classic Yearling - February 10th - 12th
• Adelaide Millions - February 19th - 23rd 
• William Inglis and Son Premier Yearling  - March 4th - 6th
• William Inglis and Son Easter Yearling  - April 10th - 12th