Three times since mid-January, the Australian 2-year-old Storm the Ramparts has finished third. Though winless, Storm the Ramparts has done enough to merit a leading role in the $132,900 Wellington Boot Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Wellington Racecourse on Saturday evening.
Pixie Knight won the biggest race of his career in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan in November 2021 in what turned out to be his final completed race that year.
Vow and Declare and Gold Trip are respective winners of the 2019 and 2022 Melbourne Cups. They meet for the first time since that race was run in November in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney on Friday.
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The first 200-point Kentucky Derby qualifying race of 2023 comes on Saturday at Meydan in Dubai, some 7,000 miles from Churchill Downs. The Grade 2, $1 million UAE Derby drew a field of 13, and the first five home earn points, distributed 100-40-30-20-10, toward qualifying for the 20-runner Kentucky Derby.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Analysis for Sunday, March 26, 2023, at Sha Tin.
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Among the 27 Japan-based horses that have descended upon Dubai to race here Saturday on the World Cup card at Meydan Racecourse, none has looked any better than the 4-year-old colt Equinox. The sleek, near-black bay with white snaking down his forehead galloped with verve on dirt before breezing like Pegasus on turf Wednesday morning.
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If the rough-and-tumble Country Grammer wins a second Dubai World Cup, the $7.2 million winner's share of a $12 million purse will raise his career earnings just shy of $22 million, more than any Thoroughbred. And if Country Grammer tastes defeat, he's going down swinging.
High weight assignments are common for Mankayan, who may start favored in the $134,900 Albury Cup at Albury Racecourse on Thursday. A winner of 6 of 24 starts, all in Britain and Australia, Mankayan will carry top weight of 130 pounds in the Albury Cup.
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Country Grammer already has one Dubai World Cup win behind him but will have just one of 14 opponents outside him when a 15-runner field is loaded for Saturday’s $12 million World Cup.
Espirito was 1 1/4 lengths from qualifying for a $334,000 restricted stakes in April when he finished third in a lucrative six-furlong trial at Gosford Park last Thursday. The $49,800 Civil City Handicap at about six furlongs at Albury Racecourse on Wednesday evening serves as a consolation.
