Just two weeks after winning the Grand National over 4 3/8 miles at Aintree Racecourse, Auroras Encore is back in action on Saturday in the $271,000 Scottish Grand National over 4 1/16 miles at Ayr Racecourse in western Scotland.
Toronado made a strong 3-year-old return to the races Thursday at Newmarket, easily winning the Group 3 Craven Stakes, and on Saturday, another one of trainer Richard Hannon’s top sophomores, Olympic Glory, is set to make his 3-year-old bow in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury.
Saturday at Randwick Racecourse in Australia, Pierro, a 3-year-old in the Southern Hemisphere, will carry 126 pounds in the $2.06 million Doncaster Handicap over a mile on turf. As a 3-year-old racing against older horses, Pierro concedes weight to older horses such as topweight Shoot Out (128) and Glass Harmonium (126).
There were three good-looking winners on the Wednesday card at Newmarket in England, but Hot Snap might have been the most impressive of them, winning the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths in only her second start.
Undefeated Toronado and talented Dundonnell, whose last start came in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, renew their acquaintance Thursday at Newmarket in the Group 3 Craven Stakes, a prep for the Group 1 English 2000 Guineas.
In decline for years, the horse racing industry in Italy is facing a crisis, with the federal government ministry administering purse payments blocking the distribution of purses earned from late last summer through December 2012.
If Sky Lantern is to win the Nell Gwyn Stakes on Wednesday at Newmarket and go onto the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas as one of the race favorites, she will need more luck than she had last November in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The 2012 champion juvenile male in Japan, Logotype remained unbeaten in two starts this year, with a win in Sunday’s $2,527,000 Japanese 2000 Guineas at Nakayama Racecourse.
Black Caviar extended her unbeaten streak to 25 races, and won an astonishing 15th Group 1 race in Saturday’s $1,050,000 T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick Racecourse in Australia.
Logotype, Japan’s top 2-year-old male of 2012, will be favored to win his fourth consecutive race in Sunday’s $2,527,000 Japanese 2000 Guineas at Nakayama Racecourse.
