James McDonald is leaving no stone unturned in his quest on the comeback trail at Royal Ascot today.

This is catch up time for McDonald, since he was banned from riding for 18 months on betting charges whilst retained by Godolphin.

With that behind him he is rearing, he will have his first ride back at Windsor today on the James Tate’s trained Implicit

On his last summer stint in Britain, McDonald rode 19 winners, including Dutch Connection in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood, for Charlie Hills, that was two years ago, it would come as no surprise if he was offered a retainer to settle in Britain.

Once Rae Johnstone, and Edgar Britt, got a taste for European racing, and the Orient, they never returned to riding in Australia.

Zoustar to shuttle to U K

Leading first season sire, Zoustar, will shuttle to the UK in 2019, he is leading first sire by a good margin with $3,075,869, with nearest rival, Spirit of Boom, on $1,816, 020, he is home and hosed, he is an exceptional thoroughbred, a high quality stallion that is leaving nice horses, and they all can gallop.  

Among his 6 wins were the Golden Rose Group 1 at Rosehill, over 1400 metres, and the Ascot Vale Stakes Group1, over 1200 metres at Flemington

Zoustar

Champion New Zealand apprentice jockey, Sam Weatherley, will join the Chris Waller stable, at Rosehill, for three months.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity and now it has been confirmed, I can’t wait to get to Sydney,” said Weatherley.

“Thanks to a lot of people, like my boss, Lance O’Sullivan, and all the trainers who have put me on, I’ve achieved what I’ve wanted to do here. “

In his first season of riding for O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, Weatherley won the apprentices premiership with 67 winners, and is currently on 62 wins for this season, 17 clear of Jasmine Fawcett.

New Zealand has never been short of good jockeys, those that have had success here include Bob Skelton, Garry Willets and Greg Childs.

Keith Voitre and Hughie Cairns were exceptional jockeys all those years ago, Crains won the Grand National Hurdle twice on Clontarf in 1914 ,and Maranqua in 1919, he showed his versatility when he won the Melbourne Cup in 1926 on Spearfelt, he lost his life in a fall from Quick Deal, in a Hurdle race at Moonee Valley.  

Voitre came across from New Zealand about the time Lou Robertson set up stables at Mordialloc, his residence backed on to the Epsom Racecourse, however, he rarely worked his horses there, he preferred Aspendale, across the creek away from the spies.

It didn’t take long for the spies to cotton on to Lou; while his horses were working they had a grandstand view from the Aspendale Railway Station.

Twenty horses would be about Robertson’s team at any one time, with the aid of Voitre they swept the plate clean in the spring of 1935, winning the Cox Plate with Garrio, the Derby with Felspar, the Melbourne Cup with Marabou, and the Oaks with Nalda.    

Four years after that memorable Spring Carnival, Keith Voitre lost his life in a fall from Frill Prince at Moonee Valley.

Lou Robertson with Keith Voitre

Peter & Paul Snowden, the strongest father and son training partnership, completed a unique double at Goulburn on Sunday, when they saddled up two, and they both won.

Nothing new really, except that both horses, Morpheus and Rio De Janeiro, are two year olds, and won in Maiden open company.

Morpheus, by Snitzel, won over 1300 metres, and Rio De Janeiro, by More Than Ready, over a 1000 metres.

Stewards have placed a ban on So Si Bon when he was up to his old antics again on Saturday at Flemington, attempting to savage Yesterday’s Songs, prior to the start of the eighth race.

A change of stables hasn’t made any difference; he was formerly trained at Cranbourne by Robbie Laing, and since has been transferred to David Hayes, but for how long?

David Hayes won’t be putting up with that for much longer, he is a horse trainer, and a good one at that, but he is no miracle worker.

The unfortunate part of this scenario is that So Si Bon is such a good looking horse, quite attractive in fact when he parades, however, his manners can change very quickly.

He is rising five with no sign of improving from 25 starts, he has only won one race, and his record is not likely to improve.

The death of Flying Spur touched a lot of people, particularly those that looked after him in his final days; he was a great favourite with the staff at Arrowfield.

He was also a popular horse in the Lee Freedman stable when he won the Golden Slipper Stakes; he became the second winner of Lee Freedman’s four successive Golden Slipper Stakes winners.

Flying Spur may have won the Slipper, however, there were still those that had some doubts and not convinced the colt would make a sire, there have been failures before and the race was open to geldings.

He won the Australian Guineas with quite a bit in hand, it was off to Sydney for the All Aged Stakes, this would be the testing material to show if he had a real future as a potential sire.

If there were any doubts about they were soon erased, he would go to stud in the spring to follow, Arrowfield be would his home.

Flying Spur was foaled in 1992, he went to stud as a four year old, he was a magnificent colt winning three Group 1 races, the Golden Slipper Stakes, Australian Guineas and the All Aged Stakes, over 1600 metres.

He became champion sire twice in Australia and once in Ireland, he had 1219 runners for 793 winners, a winning percentage of 65.1 percent, with progeny earnings of $103 million, from 83 stakes winners and 64 stakes placed.

Flying Spur has two sons still active, Magnus at Sun Stud, and Casino Prince at Vinery Stud.

Flying Spur at Arrowfield