Grand National ripe for Ballabriggs to pick
The ever-consistent Ballabriggs has been almost perfectly prepared for Saturday’s $1.5 million Grand National Handicap Chase at Aintree.
Alan ShubackApr 07, 2011
The ever-consistent Ballabriggs has been almost perfectly prepared for Saturday’s $1.5 million Grand National Handicap Chase at Aintree.
George Strawbridge will have himself a runner in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket after his Invincible Spirit filly Moonlight Cloud ran off to a handy two-length score in the Group 3, $114,000 Prix Imprudence at Maisons-Laffitte on Thursday.
Six international Group 1 winners have been selected by the Hong Kong Jockey Club to join two local Hong Kong Group 1 winners in the $1.5 million Champions Mile at Sha Tin on April 25. They are headed by recent Dubai Duty Free winner Presvis, who has been supplemented by owner Leonidas Marinopoulos. The 7-year-old Luca Cumani-trained son of Sakhee won the 1 1/4-mile Queen Elizabeth II Cup two years ago at Sha Tin but will cut back from the Duty Free’s nine furlongs to run in the Champions Mile.
Criquette Head-Maarek will test the English 1000 Guineas waters at Maisons-Laffitte on Thursday with Helleborine in the Group 3, $113,000 Prix Imprudence over a straight seven furlongs.
St Nicholas Abbey looked decidedly dull in his return to the races at the Curragh on Sunday as he plodded home a well-beaten third in the 1 1/4-mile Alleged Stakes, a listed race worth $56,400.
The World Thoroughbred Rankings Committee doesn’t think much of what transpired at Meydan on Dubai World Cup Night last week, preferring to award interim highweight honors for races between Oct. 1 and March 27 to the Australian sprinter Black Caviar.
Reve d’Essor, the Japanese 2-year-old filly champion who would have started as the short-priced favroite for next Sunday’s Japanese 1000 Guineas, will be sidelined for at least six months after suffering a leg fracture during a workout in the past week.
St Nicholas Abbey, the 2009 European juvenile champion, makes his long-awaited return to the races at the Curragh on Sunday when he goes in the Alleged Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile listed contest valued at $56,700.
Two European-trained horses are under consideration for the Kentucky Derby – War Pact and Master of Hounds.
Ramon Dominguez has been handed a two-day suspension by stewards at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai for his ride on Gio Ponti in the $10 million Dubai World Cup. Dominguez will serve his days April 6-7, according to his agent, Steve Rushing.