Aaron Purcell on the hunt for next English star | Inside Racing

Purcell, who has an enviable strike rate with European recruits is attending the Tattersalls tried horse sales at Newmarket with respected English bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley.

More then 1500 tried horses are listed to be sold at the four day sale.

"It's always a massive sale," Purcell said. "I haven't been over to the sale for two years but I've had a bit of luck with horses that I've previously purchased.

"I short listed 270 horses that I want to have a look at before the sales. I'll be satisfied if I come home with one or two horses. There are usually a lot of Australian bloodstock agents on the look out for owners and trainers back home. I'm lucky to have Anthony with me. He's a great judge and has got a great eye for the type of horse that suits racing in Australia."

Fifteen horses that Purcell has imported from overseas have won for his stable.

"We've got a pretty good strike rate with the imported horses," he said. "I would say our record speaks for itself. I think there's only one that never went on to win a race for us. We've had a few handy horses. I suppose the best one was St Jean but Swacadelic, Val Mondo and Initator have been pretty good."

Purcell, who trained Ginolad to win the 2008 Warrnambool Grand Annual Steeplechase, arrives back in Australia on Friday.

WARRNAMBOOL trainer Patrick Ryan is setting two unraced fillies at the $250,000 Magic Millions 2-year-old clockwise classic at Ballarat on November 23.

Ryan hopes to saddle up Longduan and Wanalirri in the 1000 metre sprint on Ballarat Cup Day. Both horses will take part in a jump-out going in the clockwise direction at Ballarat this Thursday to qualify for the race

"We've done a lot of work with Longadun and Wanalirri," the Warrnambool Cup winning trainer said.

"They are well educated and have made good progress. We'll give them a jump-out on Thursday morning to get their tickets for the race. It'll be interesting to see how they run at Ballarat on November 23, if they run well we may take them up to the Gold Coast in January for the Magic Millions."

Meanwhile, Old Kent Road should make her racecourse debut for the Ryan stable in the $200,000 Ottawa Stakes over 1000 metres at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.

Video Star won the 2008 Warrnambool Cup for the popular trainer.

FORMER New Zealand bred galloper Ablaze earned a start in the $300,000 Jericho Cup at Warrnambool on December 1, with a strong victory in a heat of the series at Gawler last Friday.

The Gawler winner was guaranteed a start in the Jericho Cup which is a flat race over 4600 metres. From five starts for the Maher-Eustace stable Ablaze has won three races, two of those victories over the jumps. Two other races in the series - one at Moonee Valley on November 15 and at Canberra on November 17 - guarantee the winner a start in the Jericho.

There are various races at meetings over the next few weeks including Echuca, Randwick and Ararat to give horses a chance to get points for the final.

The concept commemorates a magnificent story relating to the ANZACs near the end of the first world war. The Australian Light Horse were planning a major offensive against the Turkish enemy. As a diversion, a race meeting was organized for the eve of the assault. The feature on this makeshift meeting was the Jericho Cup which was won by the great warhorse Bill The Bastard.

AFTER more than four decades of exceptional service with the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), Flemington Racecourse's senior grounds and gardens manager, Terry Freeman, is hanging up his secateurs after this year's Melbourne Cup Carnival.

What started as an apprenticeship in 1976 became a lifelong career for Freeman, who is affectionately known as "the keeper of the roses" and has ensured that Flemington's gardens have blossomed to perfection for the past 43 Melbourne Cup Carnivals.

Freeman had never set foot on a racecourse when he started as a 16-year-old and confesses he was not the biggest fan of roses, sneakily planting annuals when the head gardener was on holidays. There were only 6,000 roses on-course in 1976 when Freedman began work for the VRC - today the grounds boast over 16,000 rose bushes, with Flemington claiming the honour of the biggest public rose garden in the Southern Hemisphere.

Meticulously cultivating and caring for Flemington's gardens and grounds is no easy feat, with Freeman assisted by a team of 17 full-time gardening staff.

RACING Victoria's decision to dedicate $25 million to the welfare of Victorian thoroughbreds with an immediate focus on their post-racing wellbeing is a move in the right direction.

The landmark commitment will fund the first three years of an ongoing program to accelerate and expand RV's Equine Welfare Strategic Plan. RV has also called on all sectors of the racing industry, as well as those outside the industry with a thoroughbred in their care, to step up and be accountable for treating thoroughbreds with the humanity they deserve.