Since late September, Northern Tahnee has reeled off three consecutive wins in Australia at distances ranging from 1 3/16 miles to 1 9/16 miles.
A fourth consecutive win would be an achievement.
At Wagga Wagga Racecourse on Thursday evening, Northern Tahnee will be tried at two miles for the first time against a slightly higher class of runners than the 4-year-old gelding has faced in recent starts.
Lady Redwood has won 4 of 24 starts in her three-year career in Australia, but has yet to win consecutive races.
A recent victory in a handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Warwick Farm Racecourse in Sydney on Oct. 2 could lead to another win in a handicap at 1 3/16 miles at Gosford Racecourse on Wednesday evening.
Gosford has an eight-race program beginning at 10:10 p.m. Eastern or 7:10 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.
Yet He Moves, the Australian 4-year-old gelding, has yet to win beyond a mile and may do so in his fourth attempt in a handicap at 1 1/8 miles on the Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Tuesday evening.
Yet He Moves was second by a neck in a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Hawkesbury Racecourse on Oct. 8, and third by a slightly less than 1 1/2 lengths in a handicap at 1 1/8 miles on the Kensington course on Oct. 25.
Yet He Moves raced in traffic in the latter race and still closed with interest.
Seasons Wit went a long way to confirming some of his early promise this afternoon (Sunday, 29 October) as he romped to a fourth straight win in the HK$2.84 million Class 2 Kwangtung Handicap Cup (1000m) at Happy Valley.
Expertly handled by superstar jockey Zac Purton, who collected a four-timer at the fixture, Seasons Wit (119lb) – trained by Jamie Richards – extended smartly for a three length first-up success in 56.91s over Reward Smile (115lb) and Carroll Street (113lb).
The winning streak stands at five. The legend is growing.
Equinox was the easy winner of Sunday’s Grade 1 autumn running of the $2.8 million Tenno Sho at 1 1/4 miles at Toyko Racecourse in Japan, the second consecutive year he has won one of Japan’s top late-season races for older horses.
Ridden by Christophe Lemaire, Equinox ($2.70) closed from third in a field of 11 to win by 2 1/2 lengths, finishing 1 1/4 miles in course-record time of 1:55.20 on good-to-firm turf.
Justin Palace (37-1) finished second, 1 1/4 lengths in front of 11-1 Prognosis.
A slow start cost Twigman any chance of winning a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Hawkesbury Racecourse in Australia on Oct. 19. He recovered to some extent, closing from fifth in the stretch to finish third by 1 1/4 lengths.
Overall, Twigman has had a promising start to his career, winning 4 of 10 starts. He will be favored to extend the success in a handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Grafton Racecourse on Monday evening.
Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby made a prudent choice just a few days ago supplementing Ancient Wisdom into the Group 1 Futurity Trophy Stakes on Saturday at Doncaster Racecourse in England. Two weeks after he bowled through a soft Newmarket course to win the Autumn Stakes by more than three lengths, Ancient Wisdom handled heavy going Saturday better than any of his six rivals, posting a 1 3/4-length win in a straight-course mile that’s often a pointer to 3-year-old Classic success.
Apache Belle, the 8-year-old Australian mare, won a handicap at 1 7/16 miles at Newcastle Racecourse in September before she was tried in three starts in tougher races at tracks in the Sydney area from late September to mid-October.
The journey to the city did no go well. Apache Belle finished sixth twice, and was last of 10 in the $320,000 St. Leger Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse on Oct. 14.
