No Excuses Needed Plays Starring Role

8 October 2012

No Excuse Needed made his present felt on premier day at Hastings when his strapping son Aldebaran Star ran the lower grade sprinters into the ground. The WS graduate was too slick for his Rating 85 opposition to post the fifth win of his career.

Trained by her part-owner Trina Riddell at Awapuni, the chestnut was ridden by her husband Jonathan. “He’s a horse that gets up on speed and keeps rolling,” he said. “He was humming at the 600 so I was happy to put the pressure on and they couldn’t catch me.”

A half-brother to the stakes winner Tootsie (Pins), Aldebaran Star was too slick for the former Hong Kong galloper Super Boy and No Excuse Needed also produced the third placegetter Taurus. He is from the family of the Gr 1 winners Guiseppina (Telegraph Handicap) and The Pooka (NZ 2000 Guineas).

The Corner with Garry Chittick

I keep on proposing my retirement from the burden of a weekly Corner. I make the excuse it is hard to be credible, hard to let the two of you know about anything in our sport that hasn’t been covered before.

27 October 2025

WS-bred On The Lash scores at Sha Tin

Twenty-four hours following the final WS Cox Plate meeting run on the Moonee Valley track of old before it shuts for two years to make way for a new precinct, the race’s 2004 winner, Savabeel, continued his roll of runners, and this time it was via five-year-old On The Lash (ex Candelabra) at Sha Tin.