In three consecutive starts in December and January, the Australian filly Zelady Luck found trouble in seven-furlong races at Royal Randwick and Warwick Farm racecourses in Sydney.

Not surprisingly, Zelady Luck was winless, but it is a credit to her perseverance that she finished third in the second of those races.

For her third start of 2023, Zelady Luck has an easier assignment in a seven-furlong handicap for fillies and mares at Hawkesbury Racecourse near Sydney on Monday evening. The field is a slightly lower class level than Zelady Luck’s last three races.

The Australian gelding Binkou returns to the venue of his lone career win when he starts in a handicap at 6 3/4 furlongs on the infield Beaumont course at Newcastle Racecourse on Sunday evening.

Binkou won his second start in a maiden race at 6 3/4 furlongs on the Beaumont course on Oct. 24 and was later third in two six-furlong handicaps at Port Macquarie Racecourse on Jan. 6 and Jan. 20.

Paul Lally:

R1: 12-7-2-1

R2: 1-10-8-2

R3: 8-1-5-3

R4: 4-3-7-11

R5: 4-3-6-10

R6: 5-2-8-9

R7: 10-4-3-7

R8: 10-2-4-6

R9: 1-6-10-9

R10: 5-8-9-11

Best Bet: R6 5 Smiling Collector

Longshot: R8 10 Hero Icon

Play: Race5 QQP 3-4-6

Mark McNamara:

R1: 8.12.7.5

R2: 13.6.5.10

R3: 1.5.3.8

R4: 4.11.3.2

R5: 3.6.11.10

R6: 2.9.11.3

R7: 5.2.3.10

R8: 9.10.2.6

R9: 2.6.1.10

An already busy 2023 campaign for the Australian gelding Swoop Dog has been geared toward a start in the Group 3 Hobart Cup at Hobart Racecourse on Saturday evening.

Swoop Dog is unbeaten in three starts at tracks this year on the island of Tasmania, where Hobart is located, including the Summer Cup at 1 3/8 miles at Hobart on Jan. 22. 

The $207,400 Hobart Cup is run at 1 1/2 miles, a new distance for Swoop Dog. The competition will be different, too. With group status and a strong purse, the Hobart Cup has drawn a field of shippers from mainland Australia.

Fourteen horses, including the one-two finishers from the 2022 renewal, are among the likely runners in the $20 million Saudi Cup  

Miqyaas posted a 40-1 upset in the Blue Point Sprint and the Doug O’Neill-trained, Calumet Farm-owned Tall Boy won the UAE 2000 Guineas on Friday at Meydan Racecourse. 

The benefit of a recent group stakes win gives Jacquinot a slight edge over a formidable group of rivals in the Group 1 C.F. Orr Stakes at Sandown Park in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday evening.

The $519,000 Orr Stakes is the first Group 1 of 2023 in Australia.

Jacquinot, a Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old, won the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes at seven furlongs at Rosehill Gardens last September, and was later fifth in the Everest Stakes at six furlongs and ninth of 17 in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at six furlongs on Oct. 29 in his final start of 2022.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, February 12, 2023)

The Group 2, $180,000 Blue Point Sprint, a prep for the Al Quoz Sprint on the Dubai World Cup undercard, headlines a seven-race program Friday at Meydan Racecourse. But nothing on this Friday card seems likely to rival to top the best performance of last Friday’s.  

Algiers had scored a nice, solid win going 1,600 meters last month in Round 1 of the Al Maktoum Challenge, but his Feb. 3 win over 1,900 meters in Round 2 marked a serious step forward.  

The Australian mare Dance to Dubai won consecutive starts for the first time in more than a year in six-furlong handicaps at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne on Dec. 31 and Jan. 21.

Dance to Dubai won both races by at least two lengths in a manner that has led to her being sent to the island of Tasmania for her group stakes debut in her 21st start in the Group 3 Bow Mistress Stakes at six furlongs at Hobart Racecourse on Thursday evening.