Birchley to shoot for black type with beckham

15 August 2016

Beckham’s purple patch of form continued at Eagle Farm on Saturday with further success for the WS blueblood. The six-year-old posted the seventh victory of his career to have trainer Liam Birchley thinking of loftier goals.

“For a stallion, Beckham is a gentleman and very consistent,” he said. “He has three wins, two seconds and a fourth this time in. He is very well bred, being by top Kiwi sire Pins out of the Group One-winning mare Glamour Puss, so I would like to win black type with him. He wasn’t far away in the Listed Eye Liner Stakes in the winter and he is up to that type of class. But where we find those races is up in the air at the moment.”

Beckham, whose genuine nature is reflected by a further 11 placings, began his career with Peter McKay. He was a winner for the Matamata trainer before he transferred to Birchley’s Eagle Farm stable.

Ardrossan’s Group 1-placed darling wins A$300,000 Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes

Second and fourth in 1600m Group 1 races in her two previous starts since being purchased privately by OTI Racing and stepping out in Australia under Chris Waller’s racing banner, De Armas (Ardrossan) stepped up in distance at Flemington on Saturday and opened her Australian account in style in the A$300,000 Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes (2000m) on Derby Day.

30 October 2026

The Corner with Garry Chittick

The writing of my Corner started many years ago, motivated by an irritation that I felt needed scratching. It was never my intention to make my commentary regular; neither did I intend to reinvent the direction of racing administration. It is both disappointing and ironical that what should be a simple, straightforward business provides a regular need for comment.