Alpinista, under a textbook ride from jockey Luke Morris, became the first 5-year-old mare in 65 years to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe when she saw off 3-year-old Vadeni to win the Arc by a half-length.
Winning her sixth straight Group 1, Alpinista came through as the favorite in the Arc, which was run over very soft ground under testing conditions Sunday at rainy Longchamp.
The 4-year-old filly Left Reeling has been held in high regard in Australia since her career began in early April 2021.
Though winless in six starts in 2021, Left Reeling was favored in five of those races. This year, she has been favored in all three of her starts, and is starting to pay back bettors.
A winner of her last two starts, Left Reeling will be favored again when she starts in the longest race of her career in a handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Warwick Farm in Sydney on Sunday evening across American time zones.
The great staying horse Stradivarius was retired last week, but in 4-year-old Kyprios, the European long-distance division still has a star.
Kyprios won his sixth race in a row and fourth straight Group 1 on Saturday at Longchamp, where he annihilated 11 rivals in the Prix du Cadran.
Naran Huleg can became the first horse in four years to sweep Japan’s two Grade 1 sprints when he returns from a layoff of nearly four months in Sunday’s $2.2 million Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse.
Naran Huleg, who is part of a field of 16 in the Sprinters Stakes at six furlongs, won the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs at Chukyo Racecourse in March for his third stakes win. In his only subsequent start, the 6-year-old Naran Huleg finished ninth as a longshot in the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen at a mile at Tokyo Racecourse on June 5.
Give Noname Lane a mile, or a distance close to it, and chances are the Australian gelding will take the race.
Noname Lane has won 8 of 21 starts, with five of those wins at distances of 7 1/2 furlongs or a mile. The specialty makes Noname Lane an intriguing runner in the $127,900 Seymour Cup at a mile at Bendigo Racecourse on Saturday evening across American time zones.
Nashwa isn’t the most talented 3-year-old filly residing in the Newmarket yard of co-trainers John and Thady Gosden. Emily Upjohn, who should have won the Oaks at Epsom on June 3, has more talent. But availability is part of ability, and with Emily Upjohn out of action following one poor post-Oaks run, it is Nashwa who has carried the Gosdens banner through summer and into fall.
Frankie Dettori has won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe six times, more than any other jockey. His mount this year, Torquator Tasso, has won the Arc once, one more time than any of the 19 horses he faces Sunday. His trainer, Marcel Weiss, insists Torquator Tasso is at least as good now as he was a year ago, when he shocked the racing world with a 71-1 Arc upset. The upset came on a rain-soaked, heavy autumn course at Longchamp – and have you looked at the Paris forecast? Rain was to start just before midnight Friday and fall, at least intermittently, all the way through the Arc card.
Saffron Beach and Homeless Songs, second and fourth, respectively, in the Group 1 Matron Stakes on Sept. 10 at Leopardstown, clearly head the early betting market for the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
Three vital preps for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia on Nov. 1 will be run at Flemington and Royal Randwick on Friday at the end of a week in which the list of hopefuls for the country’s most famous race has changed.
Earlier this week, Spanish Mission, third in the 2021 Melbourne Cup, was retired because of injury. A 6-year-old Kentucky-bred, Spanish Mission was rated as a leading contender in the two-mile handicap.
