There were two segments to the 2022 Australia campaign of the filly Yankees.
Yankees won her debut in a five-furlong maiden race in May, but was seventh in a field of 11 less than two weeks later in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs. By American Pharoah, Yankees raced once more in 2022, finishing last of nine in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs in November.
Flashing Steel has shown a consistent style in handicap races in Australia in recent months. More often than not, the three-time winner is part of the pace.
The tactic worked in a handicap for males at 7 3/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park in Sydney on May 24, and can be effective again in a race against open company at the same distance at Canterbury on Tuesday evening.
Since April 1, the Australian gelding He’s A Copy Boy has amassed a three-race winning streak that includes a maiden race and two minor handicaps.
He’s A Copy Boy has won at distances ranging from seven furlongs to 1 1/16 miles, gradually moving higher through Australia’s ratings system.
He’s A Copy Boy will be tested against a slightly tougher field than his last few races when he starts in the minor Wingham Cup at a mile at Taree Racecourse on Monday.
A day after a son of the late stallion Deep Impact, Auguste Rodin, won the Derby in England, a horse named Ace Impact turned heads winning France’s Derby, the Prix du Jockey Club, on Sunday at Chantilly.
Flying home from the back of the field under Cristian Demuro, Ace Impact passed favored pacesetter Big Rock with 100 yards left and bounded home a 3 1/2-length winner.
Overcoming an outside post in a field of 18, Songline won Sunday’s Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen for the second consecutive year at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan, the third horse to record two wins in Japan’s leading springtime race for milers.
With the win, Songline earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
Songline raced wide in mid-pack under jockey Keita Tosaki on the backstretch of the one-turn race. Continuing wide behind rivals through the turn, Songline steadily made progress in the final furlong before taking the lead in the last sixteenth.
For a maiden race winner, Miss Thatcher carries a lofty reputation in advance of her first start of 2023 in a six-furlong handicap at Goulburn Racecourse in Australia on Sunday evening.
A four-time runner, Miss Thatcher has not raced since she finished fourth by 1 1/2 lengths in a handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Goulburn last September. She raced wide and closed steadily to be closest to the front at the finish.
Miss Thatcher won from a stalking position in a six-furlong maiden race at Wagga Wagga Racecourse last August in her second start.
Emily Upjohn, who would have won the 2022 English Oaks with any luck, was a brilliant winner of the Group 1 Coronation Cup on Oaks Day 2023. And a little later Friday at Epsom, her jockey and co-trainers, Frankie Dettori and John and Thady Gosden, won the Oaks itself with Soul Sister.
A great afternoon with more, perhaps, yet to come this weekend. Dettori and the Gosdens have market-mover Arrest for the Derby on Saturday at Epsom and Epictatus on Sunday at Chantilly in the Prix du Jockey Club, France’s Derby.
Sodashi, a visibly striking white Thoroughbred, has become one of the most popular horses in Japan, not only for her looks but as a Grade 1 winner in that country annually from 2020 to 2022.
The champion 3-year-old filly of 2021 in Japan, Sodashi will have no shortage of admirers, or support from deep-pocketed bettors, when she attempts to beat males for the first time in a Grade 1 in Sunday’s Yasuda Kinen at a mile at on turf at Tokyo Racecourse.
