The 16-runner field was gathered at the start of Friday’s $825,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup when jockey Paddy Mullins revealed his race tactics to fellow rider Nico de Boinville.
The international governing body of equestrian events has suspended the United Arab Emirates from participating in any endurance events for an indefinite period after concerns were raised about endurance races hosted by the country, the governing body, known as FEI, announced on Thursday.
He needed 13 tries, but champion jockey A.P. McCoy scored his first winner of this week’s Cheltenham Festival when Uxizandre led throughout Thursday’s $470,250 Ryanair Chase at 2 1/2 miles at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Perhaps it is fitting that jockey A P McCoy will ride his final Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday on a 9-year-old gelding named Carlingford Lough. Both started their careers in Ireland and are at the top of their games.
Faugheen led a parade of winners for Irish trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Ruby Walsh at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday, stretching his unbeaten record to nine races with a frontrunning win in the $600,000 Champion Hurdle.
Experience may be required to win Wednesday’s $532,000 Queen Mother Champion Chase at two miles over fences at Cheltenham Racecourse.
The numbers are phenomenal. In the four-day National Hunt festival for steeplechasers and hurdlers at Cheltenham Racecourse in the west of England from Tuesday through Friday, Irish trainer Willie Mullins may have as many as 50 runners in 27 races.
Super Saturday was super at least for Godolphin and trainer Saeed bin Suroor, who swept the last three races on the program, including a win in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 with African Story, their 2014 Dubai World Cup winner.
Friday, Toast of New York, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last November, has been declared from the Dubai World Cup, trainer Jamie Osborne said.
The Group 1, $400,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 highlights the so-called Super Saturday card on Saturday evening at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. And for whoever wins, victory is likely to be the highlight of their Dubai campaign in 2015.
