THE winter months are upon us as the Brisbane racing Carnival continues with the G1 Stradbroke the last major before we endure the cooler months and build towards some fine spring racing. The NZ Jumps season will get into full swing but will be missing one of the new stars in JESKO after a tendon injury, which has taken some shine off the big steeplechase events.

Ellerslie will see two more meetings as part of the winter series before the track sees a break to recover, with a serious worm problem (of all things), which has seen it chopping up badly. It will need time to recuperate. ROTHFIRE was the shock winner of the Doomben 10,000 and the Brisbane Carnival continues into June with some wet weather hitting all the Australian racing States to some degree affecting the tracks and making punting that little more difficult, although Chris Waller did achieve his 200th G1 win courtesy of BIRDMAN claiming the Doomben Cup

G1 QUEENSLAND OAKS - Eagle Farm (2100m) 06/07

G1 STRADBROKE HCP - Eagle Farm (1400m) 13/06

G1 J.J ATKINS - Eagle Farm (1600m) 13/06

G1 KING CHARLES III - Royal Ascot (1006m) 17/06

G1 QUEEN ELIZABETH II- Royal Ascot (1207m) 21/06

TATTERSALLS TIARA - Eagle Farm (1400m) 27/06

The allure of the Melbourne Cup is hard to ignore. But when the first bet you ever place is a winning wager in the great two-mile handicap, it's impossible not to fall in love with the race.

In the 70 years since, the racing-mad Kiwi DOUG MCLENNAN has tried everything to engineer his own piece of Cup history as a strapper, an owner and breeder. After having his first bet on a horse called RISING FAST and winning, he was hooked. The following year, the New Zealand horse TOPAROA beat Rising Fast - he was 50-1 and he thought that was a better bet and it got up. Doug always had this fascination with the Cup from those early days.

With his interest in the Cup assured as a kid, it took a few years for McLennan to really lean into his love affair He finished school and worked as an apprentice plumber then a builder, before spending almost a decade shearing sheep in New Zealand and Queensland. His love for horses grew while out working on remote stations and he'd get to the races when he could. Naturally, the first thing McLennan wanted to buy after a lucrative cash payment on a job was a racehorse and he lucked onto a talented, albeit cantankerous stayer called BIG GAMBLE.

BIG GAMBLE won the G1 Wellington Cup over two miles in 1979, having run unplaced behind ARWON in the Melbourne Cup several months earlier. He married Diane Tapper and her father was Hec Tapper - he was a great trainer and he bought AHJAY over to win the Memsie Stakes in 1970. Sometime after that Doug did a plumbing cash job for about $5000 and said to Hec that he wanted to use the money to buy a horse.

They went to the sales in New Zealand and picked out three horses - one of them ended up being the horse called BIG GAMBLE. He won a good 1400m race at Ellerslie and beat TAKSAN by about five lengths - that same year (1978) Taksan won the Caulfield Cup for Tommy Smith. McLennan ramped up his search for a Cup winner when he made a permanent move to Victoria in 2000 and, in partnership with son-in-law Mark Casey, bought into a string of stayers to chase his dream. JAKKALBERRY and CRACKERJACK KING travelled to Melbourne for Marco Botti in 2012, with the former running third behind Green Moon. Another Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock purchase who McLennan bought into, Heartbreak City.

Once shifting over to Australia he started Surfcoast Racing in about 2005. Son-in-law Mark Casey and Doug started looking for a Cup horse and ended up buying share in JAKKALBERRY with Darren Dance and he took them on the pretty good journey. He ran third in the Melbourne Cup and that only spurred them on. They were in CRACKERJACK KING as well and Marco Botti that trained both horses. He always said Crackerjack was a better horse. They could never get him going and he only ever had four starts in Australia. When he finished racing and went to stud, they bought shares in HEARTBREAK CITY and he ran second to Almandin (2016). After that it was GOLD TRIP.

GOLD TRIP arrived on Australian shores in the spring of 2021, but vets ruled him out of the Cox Plate due to a concern over his soundness. He won the Melbourne Cup the following spring, before returning to Flemington 11 months later to win the Turnbull Stakes over 2000m. Like most Melbourne Cup fairytales, McLennan's isn't without heartbreak. He'd been chasing it since 1978 and Doug McLennan eventually got there with GOLDIE.

Having finally lifted the iconic trophy, the octogenarian horseman is now dreaming about breeding a Cup winner by his own champion. McLennan stayed in as a shareholder in Gold Trip, who embarked at stud at Victoria's new stallion farm Lovatsville. While there is still somewhat of a taboo on Melbourne Cup winners going to stud, the son of Outstrip has been well supported by breeders and was on track to cover more than 100 mares in his first season.

McLennan sent several mares to him in spring of 2024, including SAVALOOK, who has already left 10-time winner and 10-time Stakes placegetter LOOKS LIKE ELVIS. He has a couple of mares here that he believes will really suit Gold Trip and is keen to support him at stud. Doug McLennan is the buyer of the SUPER SETH colt NEODYMIUM who he paid $25,000 for at Karaka and will race in partnership with The FRAC CLUB NZ.

Our new members feature is the 2026 MELBOURNE CUP GUIDE where we will track and follow all potential local and international contenders leading up to the great race, Tues November 4th, 2026

Sire: CONTRIBUTER - Dam: TATTLE

Trainer - Andrew Forsman

Age - 3yo filly / Career - 3: 2-0-0

Prize Money - $16,766 (Approx) / Rating - 67

OTI are delighted to have secured CONFIANZA, a progressive and highly promising three-year-old filly by Contributer who is set to join Andrew Forsman in Cambridge. An impressive two-time winner from just three starts, Confianza has already demonstrated above-average ability. Not afforded favours in either of her two victories, the filly has shown serious tenacity.

Confianza is by the late CONTRIBUTER, sire of Group 1 winners CAMPIONESSA and LION’S ROAR, and a stallion continuing to make a strong impact. He’s a particularly strong sire of fillies and looks to have another Group-winning filly emerging with CONCORD CONNIE, a recent ultra-impressive 6-length winner at Flemington.

Confianza will be trained by Forsman at Cambridge, with whom OTI has enjoyed an excellent run of results, including recent stakes success with LASSIFIED and a Group 1-placing with SINGLE RED. A lightly raced filly with proven ability and significant upside, Confianza has the right profile to quickly progress through the grades.

This filly is registered for public syndication through NZTR. For New Zealand-based owners, a 5% interest is priced at NZ$11,100 + GST. For Australian-based owners, a 5% interest is priced at AU$9,400. This covers all associated costs through to July 31, 2026, including insurance.

Expat English jockey ETHAN JONES recorded his first win in New Zealand aboard GRINZINGER MOON at an Ellerslie midweeks last month and he is hopeful more winners will come his way. The 22-year-old professional jockey relocated to New Zealand at the commencement of the current season to collaborate with his friend and fellow expatriate jockey, George Rooke. Rooke had previously made the transition to the region a year prior and is experiencing a successful tenure.

“It got to the point over in the UK where I was struggling a bit to get the rides because the competition was so high, so I thought I would give New Zealand a try.”

While Jones was enjoying his time in New Zealand last year, the difference in rules between New Zealand and his homeland put some hurdles in his way in getting his license.

Jones made his New Zealand riding debut in April and he said there are a few differences in racing style to back home. The tracks are a lot sharper and smaller, and you have to be a lot more aware of what is going on around you, and he is finding the pace a bit different.

Jones has mostly been riding work for Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood, and he was rapt to bring up his first win aboard one of their runners.

There was plenty of talk about Grinzinger Moon ahead of her New Zealand debut, with the four-year-old mare having previously won four of her eight starts in Australia. While Jones is enjoying carving out a career in the saddle, racing wasn’t always a part of his life, with his family not having any involvement in the sport, and it was his diminutive stature and curiosity about horses that led him on a path to becoming a jockey.

In England he worked for a local trainer called George Baker on the weekend to help out and once finishing secondary school approached the British Racing School in Newmarket and spent two years up there learning everything about racing. Jones was apprenticed to Richard Hughes and I raced over there for four years, landing 26 winners with over 300 rides.

Still in the process of establishing himself among New Zealand’s jockey ranks, Jones is looking forward to forming new relationships with trainers around the country and he said his riding agent Sam Durrant has been a big assist early on. Jones said he is enjoying his time in New Zealand and he is looking to make the move permanent. (Jones rode Grinzinger Moon to his second straight victory at Ellerslie on May 16).

Matamata trainer DANIEL MILLER made a welcome return to the winners’ circle at Arawa Park following LOCH KATRINE's victory in May. Miller initially trained the daughter of Ardrossan as a two-year-old, when she won the Listed Champagne Stakes (1600m), before he took a hiatus from racing for a couple of years. LOCH KATRINE was a bargain buy for a group of Napier owners who only paid $1300 on Gavelhouse and her earning have now reached nearly $148,000.

In the interim, Loch Katrine joined Stephen Autridge’s barn, for whom she added another win and nine placings to her record before rejoining Miller earlier this year. He only has a small number of racehorses at the moment, and had primarily been focused on breakers and pre-trainers for a lot of different clients. Miller, who returned to training last year, was rapt to be back in the winning groove after three years. Miller said he has not concrete plans for Loch Katrine, but he is looking forward to the arrival of winter racing where he believes his mare will thrive.

LADY OF CAMELOT – best-known for her brilliant win in the 2024 Group 1 Golden Slipper at Rosehill – has been retired. The four-year-old mare, who was bred and raced by Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock, was due to compete in Saturday’s G1 Doomben 10,000 in Brisbane, before a possible tilt at Royal Ascot, but a run-in with a stingray put paid to those plans.

The injury rules her out of the (Brisbane) Winter Carnival and Ascot, which is a shame as she was well. By super sire Written Tycoon, Lady Of Camelot is from Go Bloodstock’s blue hen Miss Debutante – a Listed-winning Fastnet Rock mare who has also thrown the Group 3 scorers Queen Of The Ball and Platinum Jubilee.

The latter sold to Coolmore for $3.5 million at last year’s Magic Millions National Sale, while Queen Of The Ball is now a member of Go Bloodstock’s star-studded broodmare band and she has an Extreme Choice colt on the ground.

Lady Of Camelot retires after 14 starts. She won two races, both at two – the Golden Slipper and the G3 Widden Stakes, and she placed second in the G1 Blue Diamond as a juvenile. The mare also ran placings in the 2024 G1 Moir Stakes, the 2024 G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, the 2025 G1 Surround Stakes and the 2025 G1 Coolmore Classic. Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Lady Of Camelot amassed just shy of $6 million in earnings.

The Per Incanto gelding INCANDESCENT finished off a fine two-year-old campaign with victory in the Listed Champagne Stakes at Ellerslie in May, and despite it being a small field and missing the hot favourite and stablemate EXCITE, he was nonetheless impressive down the straight. After winning in sublime fashion on debut at Ellerslie in December, INCANDESCENT was highly commendable in the following five runs, winding up well, although finding the sprint trips a little too short.

The suggestion had been made by co-trainer Roger James from day one, that up to 1600m would be more suitable and we experienced a taste of his late race power when chasing home EXCITE in the Enquine Vet Stakes at Te Rapa over 1400m the run prior. Irish jockey Joe Doyle once again took the ride at Ellerslie and sat the horse just off the pace in third position until the turn. From there he unleashed the gelding to challenge the Tony Pike trained GROCER'S GIRL and his overall strength was too substantial in the end, getting to the filly 150m out and edging ahead over the concluding stages.

In season 2026/27 as three-year-old we should see INCANDESCENT blossom into a far more powerful miler with the trainer adamant he will only improve with time and added maturity, although he looked in stunning condition near the end of the prep and bulking out slightly more will only improve his prowess as a seriously dynamic racehorse with a fine turn-of-foot.

"Next season, he's going to be a really fun horse, he'll probably turn up to the big meetings and have a crack for the big money." "When you looked at him parade he's still a little immature, but he'll come back stronger" - Roger James

A few big target races that would best suit his racing style will be on the agenda and the 3YO Karaka Millions (1600m) and NZB KIWI (1500m) seem the perfect fit, but with this stable don't be surprised if they attempt to get him up over even further, defying his pedigree as a nice sit and sprint type. Given Kingsclere Stables' success with their middle-distance three-year-olds this season, we anticipate INCANDESCENT will be a strong contender in several lucrative three-year-old races - but it won't be easy. This current crop of 2025/26 two-year-olds have been impressive and more will emerge from the woodwork in the new season. A gradual and authentic development is anticipated in the spring, with a significant victory potentially on the horizon.

CRANK was held back from his Terang debut victory until Caulfield and an elevated temperature plus poor draws allowed trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman to put a bit more time into preparing the horse. After handling the Heavy Terang track with a high level of professionalism for such a young horse it looks likely more wins are on the horizon

CHRIS WALLER joined the late legends Bart Cummings and Tommy Smith as the only trainers of 200+ Group 1 winners with BIRDMAN taking our the Gr.1 Doomben Cup in May. Smith and Cummings dedicated their careers to achieving 246 Group 1 victories, albeit within a more limited scope of G1 races. However, given Waller's current trajectory, he is projected to exceed their accomplishments within a mere three to four more seasons, potentially reaching 250 Group 1 winners in a total of 21 or 22 seasons.

The 52-year-old New Zealand native, who came to Sydney in 1998 with nothing more than a pocketful of dreams and thirst for success, will entrench himself undoubtedly on the Mount Rushmore of the sport’s training ranks. Fellow Kiwi James McDonald has been aboard for 55 of Waller’s 200 Group 1 successes, including the recent Rosehill Guineas where McDonald brought up a milestone of his own, surpassing Damien Oliver as the greatest ever Group 1 winning jockey in Australia.

Waller achieved his first Group 1 victories in 2008 with TRIPLE HONOUR’s Doncaster Handicap victory and was quite emotional when paying tribute to Birdman's late owner and his close friend, Mark Timms, who sadly died in March. With six wins and five placed efforts from 22 starts with earnings of AU$1,785,072, BIRDMAN is the lone stakes winner amongst three winners for the Acclamation mare CAROL, from the extended family of Champion Filly SNOW FAIRY (Intikhab), a winner of six individual G1 races. BIRDMAN is the lone G1 winner amongst 16 international stakes performers for the High Chaparral stallion FREE EAGLE (IRE), who shuttled to South Australia’s Cornerstone Stud for three seasons where he covered 171 mares.

Veteran Aussie jockey SHANE MCGOVERN has been transferred to palliative care, as he continues to fight the effects of a shocking trackwork accident earlier this month. McGovern, 67 has seen both of his legs amputated after being trapped under a dead horse for six hours. McGovern's tragic ordeal began last month at Charters Towers, where he was riding trackwork on REFORMIST when the horse suddenly collapsed and died from an aneurysm, pinning him underneath. He has been transferred to the palliative care unit due to ongoing issues.

AJA health and safety officer Kevin Ring said medical staff had done everything possible but were ultimately unable to contain complications. Racing Queensland donated $50,000 to a GoFundMe page set up for McGovern's recovery with the Queensland Jockeys association donating $5000. In his career, McGovern has chalked up over 200 wins and 676 place results from 1885 starts. Earlier last month, fellow Queensland jockeys Jasper Franklin and Yvette Lewis were injured during Gold Coast jumpouts.