Friday Flash – 2nd October 2026
TOLAGA BAY – 2nd career win – Sandown 2nd September 2026
Mick Dee aboard
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Headline News
TOLAGA BAY seeking Group 2 success at Flemington on Saturday
Entain Edition for September
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Fortuna has two runners this weekend, one in Victoria on Saturday, one in NZ Sunday
Flemington – Saturday
TOLAGA BAY contests the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes over 1600m – Race 4 @ 5.05pm NZT with Mick Dee to ride from Barrier 8 – suffered her first career defeat this track in Guineas Prelude 1400m Sept 19th, finishing 5th – will appreciate the step up in trip, but big question mark for her and the whole field will be the Heavy track – a big strong girl, she is not without chance in this providing she handles the track – TAB says “Has a bit to find on latest” – showing $11/$3.60 Fixed Odds
Timaru – Sunday
MAROKOPA FALLS races in the R65 1200m – Race 9 @4.42pm with Triston Moodley to ride from an outside draw – has been a model of consistency from her two starts this prep – will be very competitive again here, but has a wide draw to overcome – TAB says “Will prove a tough nut to crack” – Odds not showing yet
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Trackwork highlights – Fortuna Runners
Thursday 1st October
Matamata
Geneva Queen (W Pinn) galloped over 800 metres in 52.5, last 600 in 38.1.
Riccarton
Cranbourne
Tolaga Bay (L Winks) worked solo over 1200 metres at three quarter pace in 1.26.7, last 600 in 42.6.
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Other News
Entain Edition for September
With the spring carnival just about to ramp up into overdrive it’s appropriate we kick off the conversation this month on racing, with the first meeting of the TAB NZ Establishment Board held earlier this month. As I shared in last month’s Entain Edition, there is a lot of cause for optimism in New Zealand racing, if we get the settings right. In the TAB NZ Establishment Board, we have a group of industry experts rich in experience, and the strategic mindset to set the industry up for success.
Interim NZ Thoroughbred Racing Chair Paul Humphries invited me to attend the NZTR Board this month. I presented a data-led view of the thoroughbred code and the opportunities ahead. The partnership is delivering strong results. Distributions have grown 14% a year, more than $300m has come in as one-off capital, and prize money is up around 50%.
NZ thoroughbred racing also remains our highest-margin product. We discussed building on this momentum by consolidating infrastructure, improving meeting reliability, engaging younger sports-first punters and growing field sizes. The Board engaged constructively, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with NZTR.
Read on for plenty of updates in this month’s edition, ranging from the Warriors, Sport Nation, new improvements to the betting experience on the web, and a refreshed Trackside line-up.
In the By The Numbers graphic, every so often, we will provide some context to the top-line numbers. This month, you will note a 10.9% drop in turnover in harness racing in August, but that is on a base of 19% fewer races than August 2025 and 14% fewer starters with the consolidation of North Island winter harness racing, so turnover per starter is actually up on August last year.
Please share or forward this newsletter to anyone in the industry who you think might like to read this. They can sign up to receive the Entain Edition directly by contacting communications@entaingroup.co.nz.
Chris Haigh,
Managing Director – New Zealand
Entain Australia and New Zealand
New addition to stable of Trackside shows
In recent weeks, we’ve made some exciting changes to our Trackside schedule, including the introduction of a brand-new show called The Odds Squad. The popular Out The Gate show with Guy Heveldt and the crew has moved to Wednesday afternoons and evenings to capitalise on the quality mid-week racing from New Zealand and Australia, with The Odds Squad slotting into a 6pm to 9pm window on Thursday nights.
Sports betting continues to be on the up and up, so with that in mind, The Odds Squad hosted by Pip Morris, alongside former New Zealand Warrior Anthony Gelling and Silver Fern Maia Wilson is an opportunity to look ahead at the weekend of sports betting, while also taking in key racing action such as Thursday night harness racing on Trackside 1. With an influx of sports-focused punters in the past year, The Odds Squad provides a nice entry point into racing for these customers.
These shows are the next evolution in the sweeping refresh of Trackside in the past three years. While Friday Night Lights, Big Saturday and Sunday Session are all well embedded, Out The Gate’s entry isn’t just delivering entertainment, but results as well. The growth in racing turnover is up more than 20% in that Out The Gate time slot during their 10-week runs, and we’re seeing double-figure growth in our weekly racing active customers during that time too.
Find out more about the new season of shows here.
Reflecting on a huge Warriors year
As a partner of the One New Zealand Warriors, we were riding the wave of their fortunes this year much like most of New Zealand. While their campaign ended at Eden Park eight days ago, the players and the team around them should be very proud of their season, finishing second in the minor premiership despite lots of injuries to key players in vital positions.
We are a little different from other partners of the Warriors, as any Warriors win – let alone if they had gone on to win the Grand Final – can be a significant hit to our bottom line, but sometimes patriotic passion has to overrule the financial ledger.
We got a sense of the passion of the Wahs supporters in this NZ Herald article, where a couple of loyal TAB punters talked to the Herald about the bet they make every year in the hope that the Wahs go all the way. Maybe 2027 is our year?
New look and products on the web and app
Just last week, we launched some major changes to the customer experience on TAB and betcha. The user experience is cleaner and provides more information for racing fans, with the ability to expand form within the race card being just one of the improvements. These changes also bring Place Extra to tab.co.nz — and Place+ to betcha.co.nz — ensuring that the web experience is in line with the respective apps. The web betslip has also been updated to make placing and managing a bet faster, clearer and more intuitive.
We’ve also brought Flex Multi to the app and web experiences. Flex gives customers a more flexible way to place 4+ leg multis, with the potential to receive a return even when one or more legs don’t land. Customers can review the different potential payout outcomes in the betslip before placing their bet.
For more information about Flex Multis, visit TAB’s Punters Lounge and The Playbook for betcha.
Sport Nation the home of commentary in NZ
This Sunday’s Grand Finals for both NRL and the NRLW will mark the culmination of Sport Nation’s season of rugby league coverage, but there is plenty more sport to pack in for the rest of 2026.
With three league podcasts/live shows – Running It Straight, The Final(s) Countdown and Six Again – plus a pre-game show that has run before every Warriors home game and of course our local call team and the SEN call team, the Sport Nation team have smashed it out of the park with their coverage.
And with summer looming (no pressure, El Nino) the live sport roster shifts very quickly to cricket and coverage of the local series between the Black Caps and India, the White Ferns and Bangladesh and the Black Caps and Sri Lanka.
The Sport Nation team are also working with the SEN team to bring the Australia v Black Caps test series to Kiwi listeners as well, including the famous Boxing Day test. Sport Nation will carry the SEN call and will have two Kiwi callers embedded in their team for the series.
The Sport Nation coverage isn’t limited to rugby league and cricket either. Kiwi sport fans will also get to hear the commentary from the Bathurst 1000, Gold Coast 500 and Adelaide 500 in the V8 Supercars series.
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Guest Commentator – Des Coppins
Greetings John and Friday Flash readers
Your team went so close over the weekend and it looks for sure that both Court of Appeal and Zafar are peaking at the right time for the two big dances just around the corner. For what it’s worth I think the steadier pace left Lara Antipova a wee bit vulnerable at Caulfield on Sunday as she seemed a little keen in the running. She eventually succumbed to other challengers in the last 150m to run 4th but you get the feeling that she, too, will be all the better for the run.
10 QUESTIONS THIS WEEK
1 WHILE the debate continues whether or not some of our tracks have a future – either immediate or long term – does the fact that Avondale has just programmed two days of trials with 267 runners say something?
2 IT’s never too late is it to maybe look at a new Pick 6 or something similar in light of the new look Power Ball with Lotto? To strike the first division pot with the Powerball the odds of you winning have increased from 38.4 million to one to 53.7 million to one! Why not then a Pick 6 for say a guaranteed $ 1million?With sometimes just 10 runners in each race the odds are way more attractive even for the lucky dippers!There’s no time like the present to convert Lotto players into our game and I reckon those in charge of Lotto have given us an open goal.
3. DIDN’T the two group ones this season in NZ at Ellerslie and Hastings confirm there’s little between our spring weight for age contenders ? With both races it has all come down to perhaps just the barrier draws and luck in the running. At Ellerslie the margin was less than two lengths separating the 3rd and 10th horses in the Proisir Plate and at Hastings in the Howden only 2.5 lengths was the distance between the winner, Waitak and the 10th horse home, Media World.
4. TO think it is 20 years ago since the outstanding three year old Miss Finland was winning her share of group ones in Australia. She won 5 group ones in her three year old season. She died early this year. Perhaps the race that stands out for me was her luckless run as a filly against the older weight for age gallopers in the Cox Plate in 2006. Lisa Cropp replaced Craig Williams with the 46.5 kgs featherweight and she ran 6th with her jockey in hot water with the stewards for a series of interference during the race and as a consequence Lisa copped a suspension. Roll on to today and there’s a horse that won at Hastings who I believe is a group one horse in waiting and her 4th dam just happens to be Miss Finland. Her name. Cheerio.She’s big and bold and all class!
5. WHAT do Missy Moo, the dam of Hong Kong’s greatest, Ka Ying Rising, and Anniesstar,the mother of multiple group one Aussie sprinter and Sunday’s brilliant Manikato winner, Jimmysstar have in common? The answer is that they both ran near enough to last in their respective biggest attempts at an iconic race while in training, the Wellington Cup!
6 IF Ka Ying Rising has a challenger for the Everest in October surely it’s Jimmysstar and what a proud moment it’ll be on the day for the LA Stud’s Per Incanto if it plays out this way because KYR is out of a daughter of Per Incanto and of course Jimmysstar is by Per Incanto?
7. WHEN Waitak won the group one on Saturday it gave Craig Grylls his 100th win for the Wexford Stables training team. This spells out stable loyalty doesn’t it?Craig is only a win away from winning his 100th also for Robbie Patterson.
8. IT’S the 100th birthday of the immortal Phar Lap on Sunday. Have you ever wondered how he got its name? Phar Lap derives from a Thai and Zhuang word meaning “Lightning “ or “ Sky Flash.” The exact word is “Fa Laep.” Phar Lap’s trainer Harry Telford played around with it and we’ve embraced what has been the most famous registered equine name ever from both sides of the Tasman.
9. HAVE you ever seen a more exuberant trainer anywhere in the world than Bjorn Baker?Don’t you just love the way he comes across on the telly with not only his humour after a big win but also the way he deflects the glory away from himself and focusses on how great our sport is. Even though the industry may have issues his positivity is infectious don’t you think?
10. IT’S the Turnbull Stakes on Saturday at Flemington and make out of this what you will but on my calculations is there a more important lead up to the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup than this weight for age beauty? From the 6 editions of the Turnbull this decade it has been contested by 4 Caulfield Cup winners, 4 Cox Plate winners and 4 Melbourne Cup winners.Breaking it down further in the last two years horses that have run in the Turnbull have won all three ( Via Sistena, Cox; Duke of Sousa and Half Yours, Caulfield Cup and Knight Errant and Half Yours Melbourne Cup. It is therefore 100% a true blue form race you just cannot ignore!
THE MELBOURNE CUP OVERSEAS BREAKDOWN
LAST week I gave you a brief run down on the best form for two overseas entrants for the Melbourne Cup with Defiantly and Stinger Glass.Here’s another two to have a look at, James J Braddock and Trust Your instinct.
JAMES J BRADDOCK current odds NZ TAB 15 to one7 starts for 2 wins and 3 placings – A 4-y-o by Zarak out of Burkina FasoTrainer Joseph O’Brien – In May this year he won a group 3 over 2000m at Leopardstown on a good track and that came after a third over 2400m at Epsom.His last run was in June in the group one Irish Derby and seemingly was left flat footed and battled into 6th about some 10 lengths from the winner.
TRUST YOUR INSTINCT – 9 wins and 11 placings from 30 startsCurrent NZ TAB odds 17 to one
6yo g Churchill- Gussy Goose. Trainer Joseph O’Brien describes this horse as a versatile, improving stayer who likes roomy tracks and possesses a good turn of foot. He won the group 2 Curragh Cup in July over 2800m. He’s adept all types of track conditions.
John comments – one of our regular readers, who has been studying Melbourne Cup form and pedigrees (and enjoyed considerable success selecting several Cup winners over the years at long odds), picked up on one of the horses that Des highlighted last week, i.e DEFIANTLY and makes the following comment about his pedigree
Defiantly is by Kameko ex Roheryn, making him a three-quarters brother to Middle Earth and a half-brother to Buckaroo. Kameko is by Kitten’s Joy, as is Roaring Lion
AVONDALE TRIALS BLACKBOOKERS
WE had more trials last Thursday and here we go with three that I thought were eye catching enough to put in that black book.
POWER OF THREE: wasn’t knocked around in her trial and I’d suggest that no horse on the day gave us the best final sectionals. She won first up about this time last year at Ellerslie and is clearly on song to repeat.
KHATUN: This Wexford trained debutante by Alamanzor was not ridden out in her trial (as was clearly the case with her opponents) and she can be relied upon to run a bold race when they decide to push the button.
OCTAVIA: she clearly improved on her first unplaced trial outing at Te Rapa in August for a dashing win in a reasonably quick time for the 1000m. She’s another ready to go
MY EMAIL TIPPING LINE
THANKS to those who signed up for the next 3 exciting months ( October-November-December) from last week’s column invitation. I appreciate it. We have had a very respectable week with not only the Best Bets and Value Bets featuring but also a consistent run with the race to race tips. It’s not too late to come on board if you so desire for what is shaping up to a great spring and early summer period. If you’d like to explore the opportunity drop me an email dcoppins@xtra.co.nz before 7pm today and all will be revealed .
Good Punting
Des Coppins
021 448 052
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