The 30-1 outsider Master of Design caught Rain Affair in the final strides to score an upset win by a head in Saturday’s Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick Racecourse in Australia.
Frankel now is considered very unlikely to make his intended 2012 debut in the Lockinge Stakes on May 19 at Newbury after suffering an injury – perhaps striking his foreleg with his hind hoof – while training Wednesday.
Dabirsim, the multiple Group 1 winner who captured all five of starts last year at age 2, is set to make his 3-year-old debut in the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau on Sunday at Longchamp.
Synchronised can become the first horse since Golden Miller in 1934 to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year when he starts as the 164-pound highweight in Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in England.
Adam’s Peak, a graded stakes winner at 2 but winless in his only start this year, and Cosmo Ozora, the upset winner of a Grade 2 race last month, start in Sunday’s $2.5 million Japanese 2000 Guineas at Nakayama Racecourse, the first leg of Japan’s Triple Crown.
Undefeated champion Frankel hurt himself during a Wednesday workout at Newmarket in England, but his connections deemed the injury “superficial.”
The Inglis Easter yearling sale ended Thursday in Sydney, Australia, with losses across the board after selling a third million-dollar yearling.
The races may be on opposite sides of the world, but the winner of Saturday’s Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick Racecourse in Australia will receive a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in November.
Big Buck’s can break a 60-year record for most consecutive wins by a National Hunt horse in England when he starts as a heavy favorite in Thursday’s Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool.
The 4-year-old filly Giofra got the better of her stablemate Vadamar, winning the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt on Sunday at Longchamp in France by three lengths, and giving trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre a sweep of the top two placings.
