Indian Chief can join trainer Aidan O’Brien’s crew of Epsom Derby hopefuls with a strong showing Thursday at York in the Group 2 Dante Stakes, one of England’s major Derby preps.
Liber Nauticus, a maiden race winner in her only start, will make her stakes debut in Wednesday’s $112,870 Musidora Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at York Racecourse in England.
Verxina, second in the Japanese Oaks and three other Grade 1 races in 2012, got her first Grade 1 win in Sunday’s $1,908,722 Victoria Mile for fillies and mares on turf at Tokyo Racecourse, holding off a late threat from defending champion Whale Capture.
The Breeders’ Cup turf races for 2-year-olds would be considered second-class Group 1 fare by Europhile racing fans, but the 2012 BC Juvenile Fillies is churning out European classic winners this spring. Last weekend, Sky Lantern, eighth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, won the English 1000 Guineas, and on Sunday at Longchamp, it was Flotilla, the Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine, who captured the French version of that race, the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.
Secret Gesture won her first start of the year in Saturday’s Betfred Oaks Trial Stakes at Lingfield Racecourse in England to join the list of leading contenders for the English Oaks at Epsom Racecourse on May 31.
Gary Stevens and Rosie Napravnik will represent the United States in the Shergar Cup jockey’s competition at Ascot, England, on Aug. 10, it was announced on Saturday.
It has been only three years since Andre Fabre won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) and two years since he won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas), and Fabre appears to have a chance to sweep both French classic races Sunday at Longchamp in Paris.
Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup winner, will start in the Queen Anne Stakes rather than the Prince of Wales’s Stakes when he races at the Royal Ascot meet in England next month.
Ruler of the World was a moderately impressive six-length winner of the Group 3 Chester Vase on Thursday in England, but it says much about the state of the prospective Epsom Derby field that his win over three unproven opponents vaulted Ruler of the World near the top of antepost betting on the Epsom Derby.
Secret Gesture, a maiden race winner in her final start of 2012, can solidify her status as a contender for the Group 1 English Oaks on May 31 when she makes her first start of 2013 in Saturday’s Betfred Oaks Trial Stakes at Lingfield Racecourse, near London.
