Makfi handed Goldikova a shocking defeat at Deauville on Sunday as he beat the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner by 2 1/2 lengths in the Group 1, $769,000 Prix Jacques Le Marois.
Rip Van Winkle will attempt to rouse himself from a nine-month slumber when he starts the likely favorite in a highly competitive renewal of the $1 million Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Tuesday, the first day of the prestigious four-day Ebor Meeting.
Vision d’Etat made a successful return to the races at Deauville on Saturday, scoring a rather handy one-length victory in the Group 3, $103,000 Prix Gontaut-Biron,while making his first start since finishing 12th in the Dubai World Cup.
Goldikova goes in search of what would be a modern European record of 11 Group or Grade 1 triumphs on Sunday, when she renews rivalry with Paco Boy in the $769,000 Prix Jacques Le Marois going a mile at Deauville. Victory would be her 11th at the highest level and would break the mark she currently shares with Miesque, who, like Goldikova, is a two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
The undefeated Hungarian sprinter Overdose bids farewell to Budapest’s Kincsem Park on Sunday when he faces eight rivals in the Eletbiztosito Dij, a five-furlong Hungarian listed race worth $18,300. The Budapest Bullet, as he is affectionately known, Overdose is using this minor event as a springboard to bigger things in Germany and France in an attempt to prove that he is the best sprinter in Europe.
Vision d’Etat returns to the races at Deauville on Saturday in the $103,000 Prix Gontaut-Biron, a 1 1/4-mile, Group 3 contest for older horses that will be his first start since finishing a dull 12th in the Dubai World Cup on March 27.
Andreas Suborics, one of the leading riders in Germany for the past two decades, has announced his retirement. Best known in America for winning the Arlington Million aboard Silvano in 2001, the 39-year-old Austrian had been kicked in the head by a horse in the paddock at Sha Tin in Hong Kong in March, since when doctors have advised against his return to the saddle.
Harbinger, recently named the highest rate horse in the world by the World Thoroughbred Rankings, was officially retired on Monday, two days after having suffered a condylar fracture to his left front cannon bone in a workout at Newmarket, England.
Richard Hannon's incredible streak of luck with 2-year-olds this season came to an end at the Curragh on Sunday, when 4-9 favorite Strong Suit finished third behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained Zoffany in the Group 1, $262,000, Phoenix Stakes.
Regal Parade garnered his second Group 1 sprint title at Deauville on Sunday, when he held off Joanna to win the 6 1/2-furlong, $327,000 Prix Maurice de Gheest by a neck.
