England: Kingman wins 2000 Guineas prep
Kingman vaulted to the fore of the future book for the English 2000 Guineas on May 3 with an easy win in Saturday’s $100,200 Greenham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Newbury, England.
Steve AndersenApr 12, 2014
Kingman vaulted to the fore of the future book for the English 2000 Guineas on May 3 with an easy win in Saturday’s $100,200 Greenham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Newbury, England.
Berkshire and Kingman, two leading contenders for the English 2000 Guineas in May, make their first starts of 2014 in Saturday’s $100,200 Greenham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Newbury, England.
Trainer Jamie Osborne on Tuesday made official what he and owner Michael Buckley had insinuated for the past week: Toast of New York, the winner of the United Arab Emirates Derby, will not travel to the United States for the May 3 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Jockey Leighton Aspell had a plan for riding Pineau De Re in Saturday’s $1.66 million Grand National over 4 7/16 miles at Aintree Racecourse in England. Aspell, who once retired from racing and later made a comeback, did not want to reach the front too soon in the grueling steeplechase race over 30 fences. So, he waited 3 1/2 miles into the race before asking Pineau De Re, who took the lead two fences from the finish. Pineau De Re responded to the patient approach and pulled away to win the Grand National by five lengths as a 25-1 shot in the field of 40.
Teaforthree had run four miles in the 2013 Grand National when he reached the front with two fences remaining in the famous steeplechase race. Going over the last fence, the gelding was caught by Auroras Encore, a 66-1 shot who went onto a nine-length win.
Toast of New York has returned to his yard in Great Britain following his victory Saturday in the United Arab Emirates Derby, but whether he’ll venture across the oceans for the May 3 Kentucky Derby is a decision his trainer is not ready to make just yet.
Copana Richard, a 4-year-old colt by Daiwa Major, won his first Grade 1 race and his fourth career graded stakes in Sunday’s $1,935,357 Takamatsunomiya Kinen for sprinters at Chukyo Racecourse in Nagoya, Japan.
Gentildonna, the Japanese mare who finished second in the 2013 Sheema Classic, was extricated from stretch traffic in the nick of time by jockey Ryan Moore and beat 2012 Sheema winner Cirrus des Aigles by 1 1/2 lengths in the $5 million Sheema Classic on Saturday night at Meydan Racecourse.
African Story, fifth in the 2013 Dubai World Cup and winless for more than a year, won his first Group 1 race with a career-best performance in Saturday’s $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates.
Six months and three starts ago, the Japanese-bred and campaigned 5-year-old horse Just A Way was a two-time winner whose peak success had come at the Group 3 level. But something transformed the horse last fall, and on Saturday night at Meydan Racecourse, he delivered a dazzling performance in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free.