New Zealand Racing, 2012-13

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Pinzaara's still enjoying her winter break. It can only be a couple more weeks before she comes back into training, though. I think Stephen McKee will give us an update soon.

Great to see Fritzy back! But a tough race for him - huge weight on his back, and against some talented horses.

Looking forward to going up to Ruakaka tomorrow. Some really nice fields. It's great to see G2 winner ***** Willow (haha, censored again) back in action, and some horses later in the day have already won impressively during the winter at Ruakaka so far - particularly The Rich Lister and Candle In The Wind. Should be really good.

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Aw, Fritzy was so brave, but just too much weight on his back today. But he was close.

Some spectacular performances at Ruakaka today - Candle In The Wind and Zabinella in particular. Amazing efforts by both.

[my miss storm cat]

Pretty cool that Zennista won!

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Yeah, very cool! Good mare. They're aiming at a similar race in a couple of weeks now - the Grafton Cup.

Mixed feelings about this - http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times...for-Kiwi-champ
I love watching him run when he's at his best, but I really hope they look after him and know when to stop. He's done so much for them already.

[my miss storm cat]

Completely agree with you. VERY mixed feelings.

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I just heard Bruce Almighty is retired and is now working at Matamata Racecourse as a companion pony.

[my miss storm cat]

Oh that is awesome!!! So happy to hear it.

Bruce winning the Waikato Times Gold Cup at about a million to 1 (30/1?), just because. Hope he enjoys his new career!



Read about Cauthen on the Informant and just watched his win at Te Rapa.... very nice!

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Yeah, excellent win. He's heading to Melbourne for the Caulfield Guineas, I think.

[my miss storm cat]

For absolutely no reason I was thinking of Coniston Bluebird last night... whatever happened to him?

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Ah, one of the weirdest Derby winners ever! His career after the Derby reads 17:0-0-0. He hasn't raced since 3 Dec 2011, so I guess he's been retired now.

[my miss storm cat]

Oh my God I had no idea he didn't win again!

Yeah I remember how really surprised, to use a nice word , you were after that one!

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Haha, definitely. Of the 17 Derby winners I can remember seeing, I'd rate him... 17th best.

Look who's back this weekend! http://www.nzracing.co.nz/News/8933/...t-Ruakaka.aspx

I was thinking about going. That news made the decision a whole lot easier.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Haha, definitely. Of the 17 Derby winners I can remember seeing, I'd rate him... 17th best.

Look who's back this weekend! http://www.nzracing.co.nz/News/8933/...t-Ruakaka.aspx

I was thinking about going. That news made the decision a whole lot easier.

Oh! I don't know I was so surprised to see his name but I was!

Wish I were going!

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It would be great to see him win. But it's a nice field, and he's going to have to carry 64kg! That's 141 pounds.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

It would be great to see him win. But it's a nice field, and he's going to have to carry 64kg! That's 141 pounds.

Oh wow that is crazy!

You know how much I love this horse and I know you do too but wow Pus$y Willow with MDP up is a scary thought!

(Scary good!).

I remember reading something about Rogan Norvall last year (around the time he was coming back from his injuries) and could have sworn he said that a. Veyron is his favorite horses (awww) and b. that Veyron has taken Sir Slicks place now as the peoples champion.

Is he that popular a horse in NZ? I hope so!

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I think that's probably true, yeah.

His connections are so likeable and hard-working, and they hadn't really had that much success before Veyron came along. I don't think there's anyone in NZ racing who isn't happy for them. And they've taken such good care of the horse as well, which is always so good to see. He probably hasn't captured the attention of the mainstream public yet, the way Seachange, Xcellent, Jimmy Choux and especially Sunline did, but all the racing fans adore him.

Couple of really nicely bred 2yos running at Ruakaka on Saturday too. All Decked Out is the son of Diamond Deck, who's a three-quarter sister to Lonhro. And Diamond Deck was pretty good herself despite her career being cut short by injury, winning the G3 Gold Trail Stakes.

And Big Voices is a half-sister to stakes winner Mygoodgrace, who I always really liked.

[my miss storm cat]

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard any of these names before.

Have a fantastic time!

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All Decked Out was impressive!

Just too much weight on Veyron's back today. But he tried hard and should improve next time.

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Saw this on Facebook today...

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Saw this on Facebook today...

Awwww what a sweet picture! So glad you posted it. She looks good.

Originally Posted by _ed_

All Decked Out was impressive!

Just too much weight on Veyron's back today. But he tried hard and should improve next time.

Sad about Dancing Chief.

I did watch All Decked Outs race... very nice.

Nice winner in Veyron's race (I just blanked out... Alergio?) and yes too much weight. He broke nicely but just looked like he was getting tired.

Read about the incident at Wanganui and wow... amazed that everyone lived through that.

What's next? Any good races coming up next weekend?