Two races after the Arc on Sunday's card at Longchamp, Announce, the winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville in August, will be well-backed against 10 rivals in the Prix de l’Opera, which is run over 1 1/4 miles on turf and is worth $470,750.
Trained by Andre Fabre, Announce must beat Banimpire, who won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot in June; and Sandy’s Charm, the winner of the Group 3 Prix de Lieury for 3-year-olds fillies at Deauville in August.
Goldikova makes her 20th and final French start Sunday in the Prix de la Foret, attempting to win the 15th Group or Grade 1 race of her career in her Paris finale. Before being retired, Goldikova is expected to race once more following the Foret when she tries for a fourth straight Breeders’ Cup Mile win Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.
Two fees-paid berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs next month are at stake for the winners of Sunday’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Prix de l’Opera on the undercard of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe program at Longchamp in Paris.
Overall, there are eight Group 1 races on the nine-race program. Aside from the Arc and the Prix de la Foret, which is led by three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova, there are two Group 1 races for 2-year-olds, as well as one for sprinters, fillies and mares, marathoners, and even Arabian-bred horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Dollars and dreams are at stake Sunday at Santa Anita, where 10 2-year-old fillies with Breeders’ Cup ambitions race 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes.
Weemissfrankie is the likely favorite, and her trainer, Pete Eurton, will not look beyond this weekend. Dream, yes. Plan ahead, not yet.
“I’m looking at Sunday, and hoping for November,” Eurton said. “Sunday is like a stopover.”
Only six challengers are willing to face defending champion Ben’s Cat in the $100,000 Turf Sprint at 5 1/2 furlongs (race 2, part of the 11-race Maryland Million program Saturday at Laurel Park. The 5-year-old Ben’s Cat is 3 for 3 on Laurel’s turf course and 4 for 5 lifetime sprinting on grass, but must spot his rivals nine to 12 pounds as the 123-pound highweight.
ELMONT, N.Y. – On Monday morning, after watching Royal Delta put in her final workout for Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Beldame Invitational, trainer Bill Mott was asked if he felt his 3-year-old filly was up to taking on Havre de Grace, the leading older filly and mare in training.
“She’s very good right now,’’ Mott said of Royal Delta. “We might give her a challenge.’’
Though Mott never uttered these words, it sure seemed like he was saying, “Bring her on.’’
ELMONT, N.Y. – Major League Baseball’s Fall Classic begins Oct. 19, but the march to it began Friday night with the divisional playoffs, including one series at Yankee Stadium. Nineteen miles away at Belmont Park, preparations for Thoroughbred racing’s version of the World Series – the Breeders’ Cup Championships on Nov. 4-5 at Churchill Downs – are set to take place on a Super Saturday program that may actually live up to the billing.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though his résumé this year is lacking a quality victory and he is running in the only stakes on the card that is not a Grade 1, Uncle Mo still remains the most compelling equine figure on Belmont Park’s Super Saturday program.
With a strong performance in the Grade 2, $200,000 Kelso Stakes, Uncle Mo makes himself a focal point of the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs. A poor performance could mean the end of the line for a horse who in 2010 generated one of the strongest 2-year-old campaigns in recent memory.
ARCADIA, Calif. – While the focus of the Grade 1, $250,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita rightly focuses on the match between champion Blind Luck and Eastern invader Ask the Moon, trainer John Sadler is hoping he can sneak up on those two with Zazu, who twice in her career has pulled off mild upsets against marquee runners.
