The lightly raced Bobs Worth was the 11-4 favorite in the future book on Wednesday to win Friday’s $820,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup over 3 5/16 miles, the richest race of the four-day meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Sprinter Sacre extended his unbeaten streak to eight races in steeplechases with a 19-length win in the $525,000 Queen Mother Champion Chase over two miles at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Hurricane Fly won the $596,000 Champion Hurdle for the second time in his career at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday, going past defending champion Rock On Ruby in the final three furlongs to win the two-mile race by 2 1/2 lengths.
Sprinter Sacre, a 7-year-old French-bred gelding, has been so dominant in two-mile steeplechases in England this year that he has been quoted at odds of just 2-5 for more than a month in the future book for Wednesday’s Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham, Racecourse.
Super Cool, a Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old, won his second stakes of 2013 in Saturday’s $1,020,000 Australian Cup at Flemington Racecourse, earning a spot on the list of contenders for the Melbourne Cup at the same venue on Nov. 5.
In the early 1980s, the National Hunt festival for steeplechasers at Cheltenham Racecourse in western England was run over three days and drew combined crowds of 70,000. In the current age, the event covers four days and draws more than 240,000.
Godolphin has two primary trainers in Dubai, many of the operation’s top horses stabled with Mahmood al Zarooni, who came out of an assistant’s role in Saeed bin Suroor’s barn to become a head trainer in 2010. But the Super Saturday card Saturday night at Meydan belonged to the veteran bin Suroor, who captured four of the seven Thoroughbred stakes, including the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 with Hunter’s Light, and the Group 1 Jebel Hatta with Sajjhaa.
The older he gets, the more miles he travels, the better Jakkalberry seems to perform. Saturday at Meydan in Dubai, the globe-trotting 7-year-old added another victory to his resume, outkicking heavily favored Await the Dawn and to win the Group 2, $250,000 Dubai City of Gold.
The so-called Super Saturday card at Meydan lives up to its name this year, with excellent horses scattered across seven fascinating and competitive Thoroughbred stakes.
Green Moon, the winner of the Melbourne Cup in November, makes his second start of 2013 in Saturday’s $1,020,000 Australian Cup at Flemington Racecourse, site of his Melbourne Cup win.
