Alpinista won her fifth Group 1 in a row, adding an English race, the Yorkshire Oaks on Friday at York Racecourse, to top-level tallies in Germany last year and France to start the 5-year-old mare’s season.
The 1 1/2-mile Yorkshire Oaks unfolded at a slow tempo and turned into a three-furlong sprint to the wire, Alpinista coming out one length better than Tuesday. Tuesday, who won the Oaks at Epsom on June 3, carried nine pounds fewer than Alpinista as a 3-year-old facing older horses.
Early year campaigns in Australia did not end well in April for Anamoe, Fangirl, and Mo’unga, three well established runners who return from layoffs in the Group 1 Winx Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney across American time zones on Friday.
All three were soundly beaten in Group 1 races in their last starts but have previous form that makes those losses easy to dismiss in advance of their comebacks in the $519,000 Winx Stakes at seven furlongs.
It’s a good thing, in a way, that Baaeed is running out of races, because Baaeed has run out of competition, and we are running out of words to describe him.
The longest race of Baaeed’s career produced his widest margin of victory in top-level company as Baaeed stormed to a 6 1/2-length tour de force in the Group 1, $1.21 million International Stakes on Wednesday at York Racecourse in England.
That makes 10 wins from 10 starts for Baaeed, who won his first nine races at one mile and was even better trying 1 5/16 miles in the International.
The Ritz is on schedule to start in a fancy, and lucrative, race later this year if he can continue his success from recent weeks in the Murwillumbah Cup at Murwillumbah Racecourse in Australia across American time zones on Thursday evening.
The Ritz is a provisional qualifier for the newly created The Big Dance Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Nov. 1. The Big Dance has a purse of $1.38 million and is restricted to horses that finish first or second in 26 qualifying races from last October to Oct. 9 this year at tracks in the state of New South Wales.
The New Zealand-bred gelding Cross Talk has never raced at a mile, but his record at slightly shorter distances at Australian tracks in the last 10 months makes it easy to see why he will be a heavy favorite in the $129,700 Rowley Mile at Hawkesbury Racecourse across American time zones on Wednesday evening.
The geldings Roccaforte and Star Sparks each won his last start in July and both are being given a tougher test when they start against a slightly higher class of rivals in a handicap at 1 3/16 miles at Canterbury Park in Sydney on Tuesday.
Roccaforte and Star Sparks are part of a field of nine, and three of their main rivals – Karlstad, Kirkeby, and Sprout Wings – are being given a slight drop in handicap levels in an effort to reverse recent losses.
After three Group 1 wins in Germany last year and another starting her 2022 campaign in France, Alpinista will try to win her first Group 1 in England when she starts Thursday in the Yorkshire Oaks at York Racecourse.
Five-year-old Alpinista could face the winners of this year’s Oaks at Epsom and the Irish Oaks. Final entries for the 1 1/2-mile Yorkshire Oaks are to be taken Tuesday.
Baaeed began his career racing over one mile with the assumption he’d eventually find his sweet spot over longer distances. Now, nine starts into his career, Baaeed has only started in one-mile races. He has won all of them, the last five in Group 1 company, but Wednesday at York Racecourse in England, Baaeed finally stretches out, facing six rivals in the Group 1 International.
Think About It performed as expected when the Australian 3-year-old won his debut by a stylish two lengths in a six-furlong maiden race at Kembla Grange Racecourse on July 31.
There is little reason Think About It cannot maintain a perfect record when he starts favored in his debut against winners at Wyong Racecourse in a handicap at 6 3/4 furlongs on Monday evening across American time zones.
