Great Barrier Reef heads to Royal Randwick

Great Barrier Reef is off to Royal Randwick this Saturday! He is accepted to contest Race 4 on the card at 12:45pm AEST. He is drawn barrier seven in a field of thirteen and has the services of three-time Melbourne Cup winning jockey, Kerrin McEvoy. It was great to have James McDonald aboard last start but he has commitments at Eagle Farm where he will ride the favourite, Kovalica, in the Queensland Derby.

This is a very competitive race but the forecast predicts the track to be rated in the ‘Good’ range which will certainly assist Great Barrier Reef, as he is most affective on top of the ground. Chris Waller and his team have been very pleased with his work in between runs and he will naturally strip a lot fitter for this assignment, so we are hopeful of another bold showing!

Blueblood Acquisition

We are pleased to announce a new acquisition to the Ladbrokes Racing Club! Through a partnership with Rosemont Stud, we are excited to acquire Dreamsicle, who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Yankee Rose.

Yankee Rose has been in the headlines in recent weeks as her daughter, Liberty Island, is fast becoming one of the most talked about thoroughbreds on the planet. She won the Group 1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) at Tokyo Racecourse last week in devastating fashion, thrashing her rivals by six lengths. The winning margin was the biggest in the race since 1975. She will now be targeted at the Group 1 Shuka Sho, and with the Japanese conquering global carnivals in recent years, an overseas trip is imminent.

Dreamsicle is the first of six thoroughbreds who will join the Ladbrokes Racing Club, in partnership with Rosemont Stud. Stud Principal, Anthony Mithen said “It’s very exciting for all of us at Rosemont to join forces with the Ladbrokes Racing Club. Hopefully we can find some fast horses for the club from our first-class system. In the words of Peter Moody, let them run fast! It’s going to be a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing the Rosemont Gatecrasher on the Ladbrokes silks. See you in the mounting yard.”

This exciting filly will be trained by Peter Moody. Make sure you check out her profile page on the Ladbrokes Racing Club platform!

Scofflaw and Barbeque Man fly the flag

We launched into last weekend with a fairly strong team of greyhounds, and it was a very pleasing outcome! Scofflaw ended a long drought by recording his first win of 2023 and is set to head to Sandown Park on Friday in search of back-to-back victories. West Australian chaser, Barbeque Man, will be looking to do the same at Cannington this Saturday night, after he was successful from pole position last week.

We currently have nine greyhounds representing the Ladbrokes Racing Club and remarkably, we are set to have seven of them at the races this week! Zipping Remus and Zipping Rousey are set to trade blows this evening at Wentworth Park, whilst Zipping Osti will wait for Saturday night to conquer the city circuit. Amendola will be flying solo on Thursday at Albion Park, Scofflaw is off to Sandown Park in search of his thirteenth career win, and Barbeque Man will be joined back Carlecatup in the west.

Be sure to check out the Ladbrokes Racing Club platform for race details and pre-race reports!

Sugars and Tubbs dare to Believe

The Ladbrokes Racing Club “family” extends to the world’s biggest trotting race on Sunday night. Husband and wife, Greg Sugars and Jess Tubbs, are among the stellar list of trainers part of the Ladbrokes Racing Club.

But it’s another of their stars, Australia’s top trotter Just Believe, who has travelled 60 hours across the world from Melbourne to Stockholm to contest Sunday night’s famous Elitloppet trot at Solvalla. It’s a huge task for an Aussie trotter against such strong opposition and a wide barrier draw (gate seven) has made it even harder.

“It’s not ideal drawing out there, but I’ll just go back and hope to settle a bit worse than midfield,” Sugars said. “It’s the stuff dreams are made of being here and a part of it. I can’t wait until Sunday.”

Sugars said he and Tubbs would assess Just Believe’s performance on Sunday before deciding on extending the Scandinavia trip to include two other major races. What’s clear is Sugars and Tubbs are wonderful ambassadors for Australian racing and we wish them all the best on Sunday.