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.
Sterling City closed from off the pace to catch Rich Tapestry in the final strides in Saturday’s $2 million Golden Shaheen, giving Hong Kong-based runners a sweep of the first two positions in the valuable sprint at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Toast of New York, whose previous claim to fame was a romping $6,400 allowance-race win Nov. 1 over the synthetic surface at Wolverhampton in England, crushed 11 rivals in the UAE Derby on Saturday night in Dubai, winning by 2 1/2 lengths over Asmar.
Amber Sky, a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong in January, proved his status as a world-class turf sprinter with an impressive win in Saturday’s $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan.
Certerach won the $1 million Dubai Gold Cup on Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in a race that had as much drama after it had ended as it did during the running.
