Unbeaten 3-year-old sensation Frankel has humbled rivals in his age set, but Wednesday, Frankel faces the strongest foe he has yet met, 4-year-old Canford Cliffs, in a highly anticipated renewal of the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at the Glorious Goodwood meeting in England.
The five-day Glorious Goodwood meeting begins on Tuesday in southern England, and the first-ever match-up between the undefeated 3-year-old Frankel and the red-hot 4-year-old Canford Cliffs in Wednesday’s Group 1 Sussex Stakes figures to be the highlight of the week.
Nathaniel captured his first Group 1 race and stamped himself as an elite 3-year-old by beating older horses in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday at Ascot.
Scalo, winner of a Group 1 in Germany last September, will be favored to win another race at that level in Sunday's Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.
There are just five entrants in Saturday’s Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in England, but the race is a dandy, with two champions, Workforce and St. Nicholas Abbey, opposed by Rewilding and the dangerous 3-year-old Nathaniel. The fifth horse is Debussy, who won the 2010 Arlington Million but has shown little so far in 2011.
Blue Bunting rallied from fifth in the final quarter-mile to win Sunday’s Group 1 Irish Oaks at the Curragh, her second major trophy of the year
Wonder of Wonders, the runner-up in the English Oaks last month, will be an odds-on favorite against a strong field in Sunday’s Group 1 Irish Oaks at the Curragh.
Neither Irish Derby winner Treasure Beach nor French Derby winner Reliable Man could produce his best form Thursday in the Grand Prix de Paris, and it was unheralded Meandre up late under Maxime Guyon to catch pacesetting Seville in the final furlong.
The undefeated Reliable Man will have three Aidan O’Brien-trained runners, headed by Irish Derby winner Treasure Beach, among his opponents Thursday in an appealing edition of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp.
Dream Ahead, the English joint champion 2-year-old of 2010 with the undefeated Frankel, gave jockey Hayley Turner her first win in a Group 1 race in Saturday’s July Cup at Newmarket, England.
