A terrifying diagnosis may ultimately help owner Sean Flanagan of Flanagan Racing reach the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) with Chancer McPatrick, winner of the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.View the full article

Andy Makiv has been appointed as Godolphin Australia's new managing director. View the full article

From Love Racing website -  Friday Morning Weather: Overcast Track: Soft 5   Moisture Meter: 29.1% Rail: True Rainfall: 7mm Rain Last 24 Hours | 39mm Last 7 Days Irrigation: 10mm Overnight Weather and Track updated at 8.17am Friday 20 September

Well obviously they have yet to calibrate the ATR penetrometer to the new substrate conditions or something else is affecting the reading.  The only thing that may have changed since the previous reading and the latest is the lawn was mowed. A longer grass length could affect the penetrometer reading. I would suggest that given that the soil is basically just pure sand the moisture reading becomes problematic in terms of accuracy.  

I went to the Auckland Racing Club website to see if they had the track condition listed somewhere so I could check for any updates. I couldn't find anything. I would have thought that would have been an important piece of information for owners and trainers? Unless I didn't look properly. Auckland Thoroughbred Racing | Ellerslie & Pukekohe Park (aucklandracing.co.nz)

How would that affect a penetrometer reading?

They may have mowed the grass down to race height which would have some impact on the penetrometer.

Glen Hill Farm's Ocean Club has encountered rough seas in four of her six starts this year, and with smooth sailing, the Curlin filly could anchor down her first graded victory in the Sept. 21 Noble Damsel Stakes (G3T).View the full article

Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's grade 1 winner Mullikin will train up to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Del Mar Nov. 2, according to trainer Rodolphe Brisset.View the full article

Upland Flats Racing's Freddy Flintshire notched his first graded stakes victory in the $150,000 Lonesome Glory (NSA-G1), a 2 1/2-mile steeplechase handicap for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack Sept. 19.View the full article

The 4-year-old, owned by John Stewart's Resolute Racing and Gestut Schlenderhan's Baron Philip von Ullmann, was found to be suffering with a foot abscess the morning of Sept. 19 and will not travel to Germany.  View the full article

All in all a fair result IMO, how she handles herself in future in similar circumstances will be interesting to say the least.

The Challenge, presented by GaineswayView the full article

The emotion in the winner's circle after Ramon Moya Jr. won the Pinot Grigio Handicap at Monmouth Park Sept. 15 aboard Bel Pensiero—and the absence of any dry eyes there—was 10 years in the making for the 36-year-old jockey.View the full article

St Leger Day at Doncaster and a fine and sunny afternoon brought a large crowd of nearly 25,000 to the Town Moor including the Prime Minister and Lady Victoria Starmer. The ground remained just on the slow side of Good – officially Good, Good to Soft in places. The feature was the Group 1 St Leger over 2800m, the final and oldest of the English classics dating back to 1776 making this the 248th renewal. Just seven went to post but Aidan O’Brien had sent over three from Ballydoyle though he and Ryan Moore were at Leopardstown for the opening day of Irish Champions Weekend. The early favourite had been ILLINOIS but sustained support saw JAN BREUGHEL backed from 4s to share the head of the market with ILLINOIS at 11/4. In the preliminaries, SUNWAY got a little upset. Another wonderful race. JAN BREUGHEL made it four out of four with a courageous win over ILLINOIS who battled over the line and was beaten about as far by the winner here as he was by LOS ANGELES in the Voltigeur. JAN BREUGHEL looks a stayer in the making and with KYPRIOS not getting any younger, it looks as though Ballydoyle have a replacement in the wings. DEIRA MILE crossed the line third but lost it in the stewards' room having given SUNWAY a real bump inside the final 200m. With only a nostril between them at the post, it was inevitable the places would be changed. The slow early tempo didn't really play to the strengths of the stayers and neither DEIRA MILE nor SUNWAY could really get on terms with the first and second in the final 300m. GROSVENOR SQUARE set the early fractions but couldn't quicken away as he had at The Curragh while I'm afraid YOU GOT TO ME ran too free behind the slow early and the tank was empty 400m out with the filly fading to last. JAN BREUGHEL may run in the Royal Oak before the end of the season while I suspect this may be it for ILLINOIS who has had a successful, if slightly frustrating season coming up short against his own stable companions on more than one occasion. They ran the 2800m in 3 minutes 4.52 seconds (0.68 seconds below standard) suggesting, as we saw in the Irish Champion, a slow early but the pace quickening all the way up the straight. I've not seen the sectionals so I can't confirm that hypothesis. The supporting card featured two Group 2 events and there was drama before the start of the Champagne for the juvenile colts over 1400m as favourite CHANCELLOR got kicked and burst out of his stall. In Britain, if that happens, the horse is automatically withdrawn and whether you like the rule or not, it’s quite clear that unless the stalls were clearly seen to have malfunctioned, the horse is deemed to have caused the stall to open prematurely. CHANCELLOR’s trainer, John Gosden, was his usual phlegmatic self. That appeared to have set the race up for Vintage runner up WOLF OF BADENOCH but he was in trouble at half way and ran a lacklustre race. With the fancied horses failing, it was left to BAY CITY ROLLER to say “bye bye Baby” to the opposition winning well to maintain his unbeaten record. BAY CITY ROLLER is trained by George Scott, one of the new generation of Newmarket trainers and while he’s been training since 2015, 2024 has been his breakthrough year thanks to ISLE OF JURA but BAY CITY ROLLER may be his first serious juvenile. It seems the Lagardere at Longchamp on Arc Day may be the next target. MONUMENTAL ran well for Aidan O’Brien in second and given it’s unlikely MONUMENTAL is in the top division at Ballydoyle I suspect Aidan won’t have lost too much sleep. The Park Stakes over 1400m is another one of the series of late-season 1400m Group 2 races starting with the Lennox and including the Hungerford, the City of York and the Challenge at Newmarket. As I’ve said before, there is no Group 1 over 1400m for the older horses – the Foret is the only Group 1 in Europe at the 1400m for those other than the juveniles. LEAD ARTIST was dropping back from 1600m for John Gosden but he was outpointed by KINROSS who returned to form after a few lacklustre displays by his standard. Rossa Ryan always looked happy on KINROSS and he quickened ahead smartly from 400m down to win by two lengths clocking a respectable 1 minute 24.21 seconds (0.91 seconds above Standard). In the post-race interview, trainer Ralph Beckett admitted KINROSS had some problems in the past few months but was now back to near his best and he’ll go for the Foret and then probably to Champions Day if the ground is soft or worse. LEAD ARTIST did little wrong in second though he may end up being a frustrating type who can’t quite win at 1600m and can’t quite win at 1400m either when racing in the big events. SHOULDHAVEBEENARING put up another consistent performance in third. POET MASTER was quite free early and that took its toll in the final 200m where he went from third to fifth.

Leopardstown staged the first day of Irish Champions Weekend on Saturday and despite a cloudy afternoon, the ground had been upgraded slightly to Good. Two Group 1 races dominated the card - the first was the Matron over 1600m for the fillies and mares. This looked an intriguing clash between the Irish 1000 Guineas winner FALLEN ANGEL, returning after a 111 day break and PORTA FORTUNA, who, in her absence had gone on from finishing second in the English 1000 Guineas to convincing wins in both the Coronation and the Falmouth. PORTA FORTUNA heads to America and a run at the Breeders Cup after winning a third Group 1 in the fillies and mares division. I'm not sure Tom Marquand wanted to be wide on the home turn as he was but she was just too strong quickening ahead from 300m down to win well by a length from FALLEN ANGEL, who will probably go to the Queen Elizabeth II at Ascot on the back of this very encouraging return.  SOPRANO ran a career best in third for a filly who has moved all the way through from handicaps. YLANG YLANG ran like a filly who wants a bit further and I expect 2000m will be her next stop (perhaps at the Opera at Longchamp).  The winner is American-owned and I'm sure there will be plenty of American breeders hoping to use her but her status as champion filly miler was confirmed by this dominant display. The feature of the first day of Champions Weekend was the Irish Champion Stakes over 2000m. A small but quality field was headed by Dante winner ECONOMICS who remains a colt of potential rather than proven ability unlike AUGUSTE RODIN who is, after all, a Derby winner. GHOSTWRITER had shown strong form in defeat in Group 1 races such as the Eclipse and the Juddmonte while LUXEMBOURG brought experience and the Japanese contender, SHIN WARRIOR, brought the potential of an Arc performer.  A tremendous race and as thrilling finish as ECONOMICS had to dig really deep to hold the late challenge of AUGUSTE RODIN. The winner looked a superstar when winning the Dante at York In May and is now delivering on that promise. He may well go to Ascot for the British version but presumably they won't risk him on really soft or heavy turf. AUGUSTE RODIN won this last year and probably ran close to that mark - Ryan Moore probably didn't want to get into a battle with Tom Marquand on the winner but the truth was AUGUSTE RODIn was outbattled in the final 150m. He lost very little in defeat in all fairness and time may tell he ran into a very good one. SHIN WARRIOR did his Arc prospects no harm at all with a running on third and if they can get decent ground in Paris in three weeks he'll have a real chance of bringing home the sushi at long last. He edged out LOS ANGELES who finished fourth having been outpaced when the pace quickened but ran home very strongly and it may be this time next year LOS ANGELES will be the one challenging for the lead. GHOSTWRITER was prominent into the straight but couldn't live with the closers and in the end finished fifth but this was still a decent effort to be only two lengths behind the winner. They ran 2 minutes 3.2 seconds for the 2000m (two seconds below standard) and I suspect they started slowly and quickened all the way through to the line which shows just how well the first and second ran in a race whose pace probably didn't suit either of them. A great afternoon for Tom Marquand winning both Group 1 races and establishing himself in the top rank of international jockeys. On the undercard, the Group 2 Champions Juvenile over 1600m only had four runners but three looked closely matched. Ballydoyle ran DELACROIX (Ryan Moore) and BERNARD SHAW (Declan McDonagh) against Jessie Harrington’s GREEN IMPACT who had beaten DELACROIX on his second outing (and DELACROIX’s debut). Slightly against the run of play, GREEN IMPACT confirmed places seeing off both the Ballydoyle runners. BERNARD SHAW made the pace but Ryan Moore was always pushing and shoving on DELACROIX who just couldn’t go the gallop. Shane Foley went for home on GREEN IMPACT with 300m to go and hard though Ryan tried, while he got past his stable mate, he couldn’t land a glove on GREEN IMPACT who won cosily. The Group 2 Solonaway over 1600m looked on paper a match between the William Haggas-trained MALJOOM coming back from 2000m and the Aidan O’Brien-trained DIEGO VELAZQUEZ who looked rejuvenated back at 1600m in the Meld after no getting home over 2400m. In the end, this was textbook by Ryan Moore keeping DIEGO VELAZQUEZ close to the pace and quickening off the home turn to win well. Tom Marquand sat lost on MALJOOM after missing the start and you can’t make up that kind of ground on a tight track like Leopardstown and, strongly though he finished, he was only sixth and I can only think a stiffer 1600m would suit. The winner is decent at this level. POKER FACE finished a respectable fourth for the Crisfords while FLIGHT PLAN, having set the gallop, faded in the final 250m as often happens to pace setters up the final incline.

He's in a 1400m Listed which on paper looks quite a warm race. He's off 110 but isn't top rated as NOSTRUM runs off 113. It's two years (nearly) since NOSTRUM was third in the Dewhurst and obviously if he reproduced that he'd be past the post. He has had wind surgery since running second in the Criterion at Newmarket in July and the question is whether the surgery will help him re-discover his best form. ENGLISH OAK has been beaten in the Lennox and the Hungerford (1400m Group 2 races) and the drop in grade should help though this is really a Group 3 race in all but name. WITCH HUNTER is an old favourite in these races and always finishes well from off the pace. He was just behind NOSTRUM at Newmarket and in front of ENGLISH OAK at Newbury - he would be my each way play in this. On Saturday, ten go in the Group 2 Mill Reef over 1200m. The Gimcrack second and third, SHADOW OF LIGHT and SYMBOL OF DESTINY, re-oppose. The latter has won a Group 3 at Kempton since but I still think the former will hold the form. POWERFUL GLORY could be anything while BRIAN was only three quarters of a length behind SYMBOL OF DESTINY at Kempton and this track suits. My idea of the winner is SHADOW OF LIGHT but BRIAN could be the each way play.

Fatalities were quoted in deaths per thousand but, no I didnt record them. From memory Cambridge performed better than other NZ synthetic tracks and they were looking in to why. They also said NZ compared favourably with overseas jurisdictions.  You could perhaps request actual statistics from NZTR.

I'm taking the evens

Wow $888.88 on J Dunn. No prize for guessing who bet that!