Saturday’s Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas in Dubai will see a matchup between the undefeated South African colt Soft Falling Rain and Fortify, one of the better U.S.-based 2-year-olds of 2012.
All Too Hard, the younger half-brother of the unbeaten sprinter Black Caviar, won his second Group 1 race in the $412,000 C.F. Orr Stakes over seven furlongs at Caulfield Racecourse on Saturday.
Hunter’s Light, the winner of a Group 1 turf race in Italy in November, won his first start of 2013 in Thursday’s $250,000 Round Two of the Maktoum Challenge at Meydan Racecourse, joining the list of candidates for the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 30.
All Too Hard, a 4-year-old half-brother to the unbeaten sprinter Black Caviar, makes his first start since October in Saturday’s Group 1 C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield Racecourse in Australia.
Alpha, who finished in a dead heat for first in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga last August, makes his Dubai debut in Thursday’s $250,000 Round Two of the Maktoum Challenge at Meydan Racecourse.
Rock On Ruby, winner of the 2012 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, won Monday’s 32Red Hurdle at Doncaster Racecourse in England, a two-mile race marred by a fatal injury suffered by even-money favorite Darlan at the eighth and final hurdle.
The Apache capped Mike de Kock’s three-win night at Meydan in Dubai with a three-quarter-length victory in the Group 2, $200,000 Al Rashidiya Stakes.
The winner of the $200,000 Al Rashidiya Stakes on Thursday night at Meydan in Dubai probably is part of the Godolphin operation. The question – as so often is the case at the Winter Carnival – is which Godolphin runner is the right one.
Former British jockey Andrew Heffernan was suspended for 15 years after being found guilty on corruption charges, the British Horse Racing Authority announced Friday.
Meydan Racecourse, Saeed Bin Suroor, Godolphin Racing, Sajjhaa
