There is an excellent chance Australian trainer Gary Portelli will win the seventh race at Gosford Racecourse north of Sydney on Tuesday. In a field of 13 in a six-furlong handicap, Portelli starts expected favorite Spaceboy, the 136.6-pound topweight, and Exceltic, who is second in the weights at 130 pounds.
The improving gelding Macgyver’s Me Mate has had four races in his brief career, winning his last two since late May at seven furlongs at Albury Racecourse in Australia. He starts at a mile for the first time on Monday as the favorite in an 11-runner handicap at Albury.
Tom’s d’Etat is not the only 7-year-old in career-best form racing this weekend. While 7-year-old Tom’s d’Etat was set to start favorite Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes, 7-year-old Way to Paris can win his first Group 1 Sunday in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
Magical, a $4 million mare, launches her 5-year-old campaign Sunday at The Curragh in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes.
Grey Khan has shown solid form in longer turf races in Australia in recent starts, winning a handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Geelong last month for his first win of the year. What is unknown is how that form will translate to the synthetic surface at Ballarat Racecouse on Sunday in a handicap at 1 3/8 miles.
Two Group 3 races for Australian middle distance horses highlight racing on Saturday – the $110,080 Strickland Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Racecourse and the $86,000 Premiers Cup at 1 3/8 miles at Doomben Racecourse. Both race have drawn competitive fields without strong favorites.
“Which O'Brien” long has been an important question regarding Classic races in Ireland, where champion trainer Aidan O'Brien typically has multiple live entries, but the phrase has acquired a second meaning. Saturday's renewal of the Group 1 Irish Derby not only has six runners trained by Aidan O'Brien, there are three from his son Joseph, and another horse trained by another son, Donnacha. That's 10 of the 15 Irish Derby runners all in the family – “which O'Brien,” indeed.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong selections and analysis for Saturday, June 27, 2020
Seven races into his career, Youngblood had a breakthrough win in a maiden race at 1 3/8 miles on turf on June 12 at Gold Coast Racecourse in Australia.
The phrase “second up” in Australian racing refers to a horse having its second start after a layoff. Matowatakpe fits that description in a five-furlong handicap Thursday at Kembla Grange. A 3-year-old Australian-bred gelding, Matowatakpe was beaten a half-length in a five-furlong handicap on June 7 at Hawkesbury Racecourse, closing from last of 12 in his first start since January.
