Trainer Jean-Claude Rouget has become the master of the Prix du Jockey Club, winning his fifth overall and fourth in the last seven years as Vadeni stormed to victory Sunday at Chantilly in France’s derby.
Rock the Dream had a month of close finishes in Australia in May, finishing with interest to be third in two sprint handicaps. For her first start in June, at Armidale Racecourse on Tuesday, the theme remains the same. Rock the Dream starts in a seven-furlong handicap. But unlike in May when she started against males, Rock the Dream is part of a field of 10 fillies and mares at Armidale.
On Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse, Songline won her first Grade 1 stakes in her fourth appearance in a race at that level in the $2.65 million Yasuda Kinen for turf milers.
Desert Crown, with only two previous runs, both sharp wins but neither above the Group 2 level, more than justified his solid favoritism for the Derby on Saturday at Epsom Downs in England. Desert Crown paid $6.40 on the American tote board but won like he should’ve been odds-on.
Joao Moreira and Zac Purton, locked in another battle to be leading rider during the Hong Kong racing season, which ends next month, might be on the right horses in the featured 10th race on Sunday at Sha Tin.
His success at the shorter trip make Elteecee the runner to catch in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at Geelong Racecourse outside of Melbourne on Sunday.
Friday was Tuesday’s day at Epsom Downs in England, where the filly won the Group 1 Oaks – even if she probably wasn’t the best horse on the day.
Schnell Meister, a Grade 1 winner in Japan in 2021 but eighth in the Group 1 Dubai Turf in the United Arab Emirates in March in his lone start this year, is the expected favorite in Sunday’s Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen at a mile at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.
Charlie Appleby, private trainer for Godolphin, over the last several years has won nearly every major race in Europe, and on Sunday at Chantilly he sends out the likely favorite, Modern Games, trying to win his first Prix du Jockey Club.
At the beginning of May, Aravene was days removed from a fifth-place finish in a sprint handicap at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. A month later, her status in that country has change remarkably. Aravene is a key contestant in Saturday’s Group 1 Queensland Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane.
