The Australian gelding Far Too Easy is undefeated in three starts at Grafton Racecourse, part of a successful career that includes seven wins in 16 starts and a second-place finish in a restricted $1.23 million sprint at Royal Randwick Racecourse last October.
A perfect record at Grafton boosts Far Too Easy’s chances for his first career stakes win in the $133,400 Ramornie Handicap at six furlongs at the countryside venue on Tuesday evening.
Good Guess was 24-1 in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse in France but won like an odds-on favorite, bursting into the clear inside the final quarter-mile and going on to a three-length victory.
French horses swept the top three placings with Sauterne second by three lengths over Breizh Sky as the actual odds-on favorite, Chaldean, faded to finish seventh in this seven-furlong straight-course contest for 3-year-olds.
The Australian filly Sheila has such a stout late kick that she may be impossible to hold off in a five-furlong handicap at Wagga Wagga Racecourse on Monday evening.
It does not hurt that Sheila is not too far removed from a maiden win at Albury on May 12.
Since that win, Sheila has finished second, fourth and third, never losing by more than two lengths. Last Monday, Sheila was third by slightly more than 1 1/4 lengths in a five-furlong handicap at Corowa Racecourse, closing sharply from seventh in a field of 10.
Paddington gave trainer Aidan O’Brien a record seventh career win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Racecourse near London, also a milestone race for the world-class 3-year-old colt.
Paddington beat older horses for the first time in the Eclipse Stakes in his debut at 1 1/4 miles. Owned by the Coolmore syndicate, Paddington has won three consecutive Group 1 races, including the Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh in May, and the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. Those races were for 3-year-olds at a mile.
An outside rally may be all the 4-year-old gelding Chowdah needs to end a three-race losing streak in a one-mile handicap at Dubbo Racecourse in Australia on Sunday evening.
Chowdah finished fifth, beaten just three-quarters of a length by East Harlem, in a seven-furlong handicap at Dubbo on June 26, closing from last of 14. Chowdah rallied on the rail, overcame trouble on the turn and had a clear run through the final furlong to be nearest the front at the finish.
A wide rally may have resulted in a win, considering how close Chowdah was to the front at the finish.
Two starts into his Australian career, the Irish-bred gelding Space Tracker seems poised for a win.
A three-time winner in Britain in 2022, Space Tracker was third by a neck in his June 3 debut in Australia and second by slightly more than a length June 17.
Those narrow losses have made Space Tracker the early favorite in the Grafton Cup at a mile at Grafton Racecourse on Saturday evening.
Chaldean will be without regular rider Frankie Dettori when he seeks his third Group 1 in the Prix Jean Prat on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse.
With Dettori serving a nine-day suspension picked up at Royal Ascot, Oisin Murphy has the ride on Chaldean, who won the Group 1 Dewhurst last fall and the English 2000 Guineas in May. At Royal Ascot in the St. James’s Palace Stakes, Chaldean ran well enough but was no match for Paddington, who was to face older horses this weekend in the Eclipse Stakes.
From betting and tactical perspectives, Saturday’s Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Racecourse near London is a match race.
Four start in the $952,200 Eclipse Stakes, Britain’s leading summer race at 1 1/4 miles, but the focus is clearly on the 3-year-old Paddington and the 4-year-old filly Emily Upjohn, both winners of Group 1 races in June.
Paddington, trained by Aidan O’Brien for the Coolmore syndicate, recorded an outstanding win in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on June 20 at Royal Ascot. This will be his first start at 1 1/4 miles.
