First-time blinkers can help Grandera give Godolphin another World Series Racing Championship victory Sunday in the $1.8 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin.
A 4-year-old son of Grand Lodge, Grandera skipped the Dubai Sheema Classic to await this 1 1/4-mile Hong Kong Group 1 event, which is one of two races added this year to the still-sponsorless World Series.
King Of Happiness has been installed as the second choice for the 2,000 Guineas following a good looking win in the Group 3 Craven Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday.
Coral Eurobet made King Of Happiness, the Michael Stoute-trained colt by Spinning World, 4-1 for the 2,000 Guineas behind the Aidan O'Brien-trained Hawk Wing, the 3-2 favorite. It was another O'Brien-trained horse, Della Francesca, who chased King Of Happiness home in the Craven Stakes.
The slow-starting British flat racing season picked up steam on Tuesday as Misterah opened Newmarket's Craven Meeting with a 9-2 victory in the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes.
Misterah, an Alhaarth filly trained by Marcus Tregoning for Hamdan Al Maktoum, ran down the pacesetting Massarra at the eighth pole to win by a length under Richard Hills, getting the seven furlongs in 1:24.72 on good to firm ground. Half Glance, the Henry Cecil-trained 3-1 favorite, was fifth.
Imperial Gesture, ridden by Frankie Dettori led a Godolphin clean sweep in the UAE Oaks at Nad Al Sheba on Saturday evening, and will now head for an American campaign.
The runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies last year, Imperial Gesture was expected by her connections to take this $150,000 event, despite her Breeders' Cup conqueror and stablemate, Tempera, also being in the field.
Imperial Gesture set the pace throughout and quickened clear in the final two furlongs to register an easy 3 1/4-length victory.
Longchamp will be the scene of three important French classic preps on Sunday when Act One makes his seasonal debut in the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe.
A son of Breeders' Cup Turf winner In the Wings, Act One scored a victory in the Group 1 Criterium International that made him the highest rated French-based juvenile last year.
ROSEGREEN, Ireland - Aidan O'Brien was driving his wine red Mitsubishi 4x4 down a smooth dirt road in the heart of his Ballydoyle training center when the conversation turned from horses to horticulture. A visitor wondered about the trees lining each side of the road, tall stands of graceful evergreens reaching into the blue Irish sky. O'Brien knitted his brow, then let slip an embarrassed smile.
"Tell you the truth," he confessed, "I never really noticed them before."
With Anticipation, the lone American challenger in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin on April 21, is scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on Monday afternoon.
Trained by Jonathan Sheppard, With Anticipation is a replacement for Sarafan, whose owner, Gary Tanaka, declined an invitation to the QEII Cup, the second leg of the World Series Racing Championship.