The Hawke's Bay Guineas is a major Thoroughbred horse race in New Zealand for three-year-old horses. In 2003 the stake was boosted to $100,000 and the race was moved to the first Saturday in October, meaning that it is run on the same day as the Spring Classic. In later years it has been on the same day as the Arrowfield Stud Plate.
The Verry Elleegant Stakes, registered as the Chipping Norton Stakes is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older, run at weight for age, over a distance of 1600 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in February or March. Prizemoney is A$1,000,000.
Dylan Thomas is a retired Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. In a racing career which lasted from June 2005 until December 2007, he ran twenty times and won ten races. After winning two minor races in 2005 he improved to become one of the leading European three-year-olds of 2006, winning the Irish Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes as well as finishing a close third in The Derby. In 2007 he won three of Europe's most important weight-for-age races, taking the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, a second Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. His performances led to his being named European Horse of the Year in 2007.
Dermot K. Weld, a former jockey is one of Ireland's most successful racehorse trainers. He set a new record for the most winners trained in Ireland with 2,578 in August 2000, holding the record until Willie Mullins overtook it in May 2024.
The A. D. Hollindale Stakes is a Gold Coast Turf Club Group 2 Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older, over a distance of 1,800 metres at Gold Coast Racecourse, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia during the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival. Total prize money for the race is A$500,000.
William Buick is a Norwegian-born British flat jockey. He shared the champion apprentice jockey title in 2008 with David Probert and won the Lester Award for Apprentice Jockey of the Year in 2007 and 2008. From 2010 to 2014 he was stable jockey to John Gosden. In 2015 he signed with Godolphin. Buick won his first Group 1 race in Canada in 2010 and since then has won Group 1 races in England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. He has won five British Classic Races: the St Leger in 2010, 2011 and 2021, the Derby in 2018 and the 2000 Guineas in 2024. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey in 2022 and 2023.
Craig Williams is a jockey based in Victoria, Australia. He has won multiple group one races in Australia and worldwide, including the 2019 Melbourne Cup.
Zac Purton is an Australian jockey who lives in Hong Kong.
Silent Achiever was a champion New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse. On 3 March 2012, she won the 137th running of the New Zealand Derby. She was the first filly to win the race since 1993, and only the fourth in the last 45 years.
Charles "Charlie" Appleby is a British thoroughbred racehorse trainer who is employed by Godolphin and trains horses at their Moulton Paddocks stable in Newmarket, Suffolk. He is the World Trainer of 2021 in the TRC Global Rankings and the British flat racing Champion Trainer in the 2021, 2022 season.
Chris Waller, is a Hall of Fame trainer in Australian Thoroughbred racing best known for training the racemare Winx, a four-time winner of Australian Horse of the Year honours.
Verry Elleegant was a New Zealand-bred Australian-trained Thoroughbred racehorse that won 11 Group One races. She was crowned the 2020/2021 Australian Racehorse of the Year, and was the winner of the 2021 Melbourne Cup and 2020 Caulfield Cup.
Probabeel is a multiple Group 1 winning New Zealand bred thoroughbred racehorse.
Anamoe is a retired nine-time Group 1 winning champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse. Affectionately known as "The Big A", Anamoe is considered one of the most decorated Australian produced stallions ever. He is one of only two Australian horses to win Group 1 races at ages 2, 3 and 4 since the 1990s. In 2023 he was named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year.
Damian Lane is an Australian jockey based in Victoria.
Karis Teetan is a horse racing jockey in Hong Kong. He was a South African Champion Apprentice in 2008. He start riding in Hong Kong at August 2013. He also has won with more than 400 winners in Hong Kong and won the Hong Kong International Jockeys' Championship in 2019.
Mark Zahra is an Australian jockey who is notable for having won the Melbourne Cup on Without A Fight in 2023 and on Gold Trip in 2022, as well as the Caulfield Cup on Without A Fight in 2023 and on Verry Elleegant in 2020. He is the ninth jockey to ride back to back Melbourne Cup winners.
Romantic Warrior is a multiple Group 1 winning champion thoroughbred racehorse that was born in Ireland and trained in Hong Kong. After it arrived in Hong Kong in June 2021, he scored a five-winning streak, including a championship of the Hong Kong Classic Mile. He is currently owned by Lau Pak Fai and trained by Danny Shum Chap Shing. he was the Champion Middle-Distance Horse, the Champion Four-Year-Old and the Most Improved Horse in the year 2022. He is notable for winning the Cox Plate in 2023 and the Hong Kong Cup in both 2022 and 2023. He also won the Yasuda Kinen in 2024, being the first foreign-trained horse in 18 years to win at the Tokyo Racecourse since Bullish Luck in 2006, also in the same race.
Mr Brightside is a New Zealand-bred thoroughbred racehorse trained in Australia. It is notable for winning eight Group One (G1) races.
