TITAHI BAY contests the BM 62 1300m event with Dan Stackhouse to ride – Race 5 @ 9.45pm NZT – has had two runs over 1000m this track since resuming and now ready for this trip – talented Filly who looks very capable of striking here – TAB says  “Peaks now and will take some running down” – Showing Odds of  $7.50/$2.05WEST INDIES lines up in the BM 2025 event  with the evergreen Craig Newitt to ride – Race 6  @ 10.15pm NZT – being prepared for a jumps career and this is a fitness run on the flat for him  – TAB says  “Risking” – Showing Odds of  $34/$6 (Note he will only start if the forecast rain arrives today)

Te Aroha – Saturday

GENEVA QUEEN runs in the Maiden 1150m event  with Courtney Barnes to ride from Barrier 11 – Race 1  @ 12.10pm  – strong debut performance from a difficult position on the turn  – seems to have a lot of ability and is a very good each way chance here  – TAB says  “looks well placed over the long trip stop has plenty of upside and gets her chance to break through” – Showing Odds of  $8/$2.60

EMMA TWIGG runs in the 3yo 1400m event with Hayley Hassman, claiming 2kgs, to ride from Barrier 7 – Race 3 @ 1.20pm  – excellent winning debut performance this track 6th March – showing a lot ot talent to date and can repeat – TAB says  ” steps out over extra ground now stop looks a definite contender again” – Showing Odds of  $5.50/$1.80

Note that we are on weather watch with these two Fillies – both will handle a wet track, but we would be reluctant to run them under really heavy track conditions

Kyneton – Saturday

ZEDWILLDO will race in  the BM56 event over 1860m with Dylan Dunn to ride – Race 5  @ 5.56pm NZT – being prepared for a jumps career, has had two jumps trials, one of which he won and this is a fitness run on the flat for him  – this will be far too short for him  –  TAB says  “Prefer to see how he returns” – No Odds Showing Yet

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Tuesday 24th March

Matamata
Emma Twigg (H Hassman) worked over 1000 metres in 1.04.8, last 600 in 38.6.

Geneva Queen (C Grylls) galloped over 1000 metres in 1.04.6, last 600 in 37.0.

Ahead of last Tuesday’s trial there was quite a bit of interest from the extensive ownership group in this Colt as at his initial trial at Ellerslie on the 10th of February, he had run boldly for a third place and had then been freshened by the training team for a couple of weeks before coming back into work – his gallop on the Saturday before the trial had been very good,  so there was an expectation that he would be trialing well

In the end his trials performance was quite exceptional. Ridden by Opie Bosson, he jumped away well, held the rail, cornered perfectly and went to the line with a three length margin in a time that was 3/4 of a second faster (4 lengths approx) than any other trial winner on the day over the 800 metres

Purchased by David Ellis and Fortuna Racing at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run sale last November for $165k, after being passed in with a reserve of $180k, he was a bit of a “snip” given his pedigree, being by Snitzel and out of a Zabeel mare and the interesting thing about him is that he is still a Colt and so far he has shown no sign of being “Colty”, so his ownership group of 56 parties, some of whom are brand-new Fortuna clients, are starting to get a bit excited – of course his training team and his manager have their feet quite firmly on the ground, but he will be set for his debut race day appearance at Te Rapa on Sunday, the 12th of April in a maiden two year-old event over a 1100 meter trip

Click HERE to see the trial replay

ZAFAR – the 2yo Colt by Snitzel out of Zasorceress at the RTR Sale – Nov 2025
– known as “Clint” at the stables

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ENTAIN monthly report from Sam Moncur

Welcome to the Entain Edition for March 2026

With the majority of New Zealand’s feature thoroughbred racing this season in our rear-view mirror, it’s a good chance to reflect on the feature season that’s been, particularly Champions Day earlier this month. Champions Day continued the trend of more of our TAB and betcha customers getting involved in our biggest races.

Active customers on Champions Day – that’s someone placing a bet through the TAB or betcha digital channels, such as the apps or websites and watching the outstanding coverage on Trackside – reached almost 57,000, an increase of 2,500 on last year’s meeting.

‘Active customers’ is an important metric for us, especially as the cost of living continues to be a major factor for New Zealanders. We want customers to bet within their means, and that is reflected in reduced average bet sizes at the moment. When the economy does pick up, that strong customer base will have more discretionary spending for their entertainment, such as a racing or sports bet.

Back to Champions Day and it was great to see customers backing the occasion and getting behind our slot runner, especially those thousands of TAB customers who, last December, took advantage of our special slot announcement odds of $6 for Well Written to win The NZB Kiwi. Those pending bets remained in those customers’ account slips for several months, helping to build up the excitement ahead of the big day.

As slot holders, we were thrilled that Well Written fought like the champion she is to take The NZB Kiwi crown. Massive congratulations to Stephen Marsh, Dylan Johnson and all the team behind the filly, including Yulong Investments and her other connections – we thoroughly enjoyed partnering with you all.

Punters’ favourite back in action this month

One of the sporting competitions that is hugely popular with our TAB and betcha customers every year is the NRL. Due to the relatively even nature of the competition, it has traditionally been a key part of the sports offering all through the 21st century, but it’s continued to grow over the past decade in particular. The friendly time zone, the presence of the One New Zealand Warriors, and player familiarity have all combined to make NRL what it is today in New Zealand from a wagering perspective.

That said, at Entain, we follow the results each round with a certain level of apprehension. When the Warriors win, that usually makes it a tough result for us. If multiple outside backs score tries, plenty of punters strike their Same Game Multis, which is precisely what happened in many of the Finals matches last September.

We’re now two full rounds into this year’s competition, and to give you a glimpse into the bookmaker vs league punter battle for 2026, the punter had the edge in Round 1 before results swung our way last weekend. High-scoring games such as the Storm’s 52-4 win over the Eels, and the 40-30 Rabbitohs victory over the Dolphins in Round 1 landed in the punters’ favour.

Despite what I said above, the Warriors’ three-game winning streak has actually been a good outcome for us. It’s a long season though, so we won’t get ahead of ourselves.

Sport Nation truly the voice of Kiwi sport

Radio commentary has been an indelible part of the Kiwi sporting fabric for the 100-plus years of radio broadcasting in New Zealand. Sport Nation has been more than playing its part over the past few years, headlined by the excellent cricket commentary on offer recently.

You may not be aware, but Sport Nation is also the radio rights holder for the NRL season, and the Warriors in particular, so if you’re out and about, or even on the couch at home, tune in to Sport Nation for key commentaries which will include all Warriors games plus another four NRL games per round, State of Origin and the NRL finals.
If you feel like swapping one form of horsepower for another, Sport Nation will be providing commentary for the two New Zealand rounds of the V8 Supercars at Taupō (10-12 April) and Ruapuna (17-19 April). There will also be commentary of the iconic Bathurst 1000, the Gold Coast 500 and the season-ending Adelaide 500 through Sport Nation’s Australian partners, SEN.

The world-class cricket commentary team has already been back in action earlier this week for the first two days of T20Is between the Blackcaps and South Africa as well as the White Ferns and South African Women, so tune in for the final three days of doubleheader T20Is on Friday, Sunday and next Wednesday.

For more information, frequencies, news, and how to download the Sport Nation app, visit sportnation.nz.

Footy, Fillies and Fans hits the spot 

Congratulations to the organisations involved in the Footy, Fillies and Fans weekend in Auckland earlier this month. It was a tremendous show of collaboration to see the One New Zealand Warriors, Auckland FC, the Blues, and Auckland Thoroughbred Racing support each other during a massive weekend of sport and racing in the City Of Sails. A special note to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing as well, who played a key role in the weekend, and brought the various strands together for the NZB Kiwi Golden Ticket promotion.

The night after the Warriors’ win over the Roosters, Warriors hooker Wayde Egan was at Ellerslie, soaking up the fantastic day’s racing, and took a couple of minutes to chat to TAB’s Paul Maoate, which you can watch here.

This level of collaboration has created a blueprint for other parts of the country to look at how racing and sporting codes can work with each other to enhance multiple large events in their regions over a week or weekend.

Content, Trackside style

In this section, we usually take a look at what’s getting the clicks through TAB and betcha social media channels, but this month, I thought we would take the chance to acknowledge the comprehensive coverage before, during and after Champions Day.

It was a New Zealand-wide and trans-Tasman effort within Entain to bring the content together right across the week not only on Trackside but on various social channels, and the feedback our team received on course from Australian stakeholders was that the production values and delivery was top-drawer.

Entain team profile Name: Guy Heveldt Role: Senior Presenter Time with Entain: 18 months

Racing/sports interests: How long do I have? Ever since I can remember I watched all sport any day of the week and any time of the day. I played cricket, rugby, squash, golf and tennis through school and continue to play golf and tennis, but sadly not as often as I would like! I’ve been lucky enough to work at two Olympic Games, two Cricket World Cups, a Rugby World Cup and a Commonwealth Games and the Masters among others, and have attended countless other events and matches that will live long in the memory (Nathan Astle’s 222 was a highlight). My love for racing started fairly early as well – Dad used to take me to Trentham when I was younger – my most memorable moment being finding Jonah Lomu’s signature on the back of a losing betting ticket (sadly that ticket was later thrown out – not my choice!). I have small shares in a syndicate with Social Racing but am looking to grow the ownership portfolio in the coming months/years! What excites you about the strategic partnership? The impact it’s having on getting the next generation through the gates. I attended Champions Day at Ellerslie and while there were the traditionalists that racing requires, I was most excited and thrilled to see so many men and women 25 or younger spilling through both the hospitality areas and the public area as well. I spoke to a few of them who said they’d never been to the races before that day but will absolutely be back. If we can continue to appease and interest that generation, the industry and the game is in good hands. The race event I’m most looking forward to? Every Thursday night, getting to host Out The Gate with Brendan Popplewell, Mitch James and Blake Stothart (along with our outstanding commentators across the country). It’s been quite incredible to see what the show has gone from in the early days, to where we’re at now. After the first couple of weeks, we received some skepticism, which was not unexpected as it is so different to what Trackside’s ever seen. But what’s been incredibly encouraging is many of those skeptics are now saying they love the show. They understand its purpose and can see how much we care, even to the point that I’ve had half-a-dozen different 20-or-so-year-olds say to me at race days their whole flat sits in the lounge together every Thursday night watching the full show. That’s what it’s all about! Do we always win? No. But do we always have a decent crack, take the punters on a journey and try to return them a good sum at the end of the night? Absolutely. It’s one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve ever been a part of, and I feel like we are only just getting started.

At the 2026 NZB Karaka Sale, our prime objective was to obtain a genuine staying type who had the physical characteristics and pedigree lines to develop into a Derby/Cups type and our selection team landed on this son of Circus Maximus out of the winning Fastnet Rock Mare, Asama Blue – we had a budget of up to $100k to buy him and managed to secure him for just $60k, representing great value considering the subsequent Derby result

“Max”, as we have nicknamed this handsome yearling, has been gelded since the sale and is now well into his breaking in process

Read more about “MAX” at the link –  still  shares left – Click HEREto  read all detail and orders can be placed from this link