At the age of 6, the New Zealand-bred gelding Blandford Lad is in the midst of a career transformation.
Since mid-April, Blandford Lad has won 2 of 3 starts over hurdles in Australia interspersed by two poor performances in flat races. On Sunday, Blandford Lad has his second start in a stakes over obstacles in the $85,220 Kevin Lafferty Stakes at two miles at Warrnambool Racecourse.
A federal judge in Louisiana declined on Thursday to grant a temporary restraining order requested by the state of Louisiana and West Virginia that would have stopped the implementation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the national regulatory body for Thoroughbred racing whose jurisdiction goes into effect on Friday.
The British-bred gelding Le Don De Vie missed the cut for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup in Australia last November after a fifth-place finish in the Group 3 Geelong Cup in October.
The Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous race, could figure in plans for Le Don De Vie later this year, pending the results of a campaign that includes a start in Saturday’s $207,300 Caloundra Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Sunshine Coast Racecourse.
French horses don’t win the Eclipse Stakes – but 3-year-olds do.
So it is that Vadeni, rousing winner of the Prix du Jockey Club, France’s Derby, is the early favorite for the Group 1 Eclipse on Saturday at Sandown Park in England.
The Eclipse marks the first chance for top-class sophomores to match talents with older rivals – something we don’t do in America until October or November – and another 3-year-old, Godolphin’s Native Trail, is second favorite for the Eclipse, contested right-handed over 1 1/4 miles.
Paul Lally:
R1: 1-3-2-4
R2: 3-9-10-11
R3: 3-8-9-1
R4: 2-5-8-13
R5: 3-1-6-10
R6: 6-3-1-8
R7: 6-1-2-8
R8: 1-3-6-7
R9: 5-7-1-10
R10: 4-6-3-9
Best Bet: R7 N6 Campione
Longshot: R2 N3 Adefill
Play Race2 QQP 3-9-10
Tom Wood:
R1: 1-4-3-12
R2: 6-9-10-2
R3: 8-3-1-9
R4: 8-2-6-1
R5: 2-1-3-6
R6: 3-1-8-6
R7: 2-7-8-3
R8: 1-3-6-7
R9: 5-9-7-10
R10: 6-4-7-9
Bold Bourbon and Colombe d’or are both lightly raced 3-year-olds. Bold Bourbon, a gelding, has won 2 of 4 starts, while the filly Colombe d’or won her only start on June 5.
Each has an excellent chance to win a handicap against more-experienced rivals at about 1 1/8 miles at Geelong Racecourse on Friday.
Colombe d’or was the 2-1 favorite in early betting, while Bold Bourbon is an attractive selection as the 7-2 second choice.
Since early April, Lucky Express, Master Eight, and Nervous Witness have all started in group stakes for sprinters in Hong Kong and were within a length of winning.
Starts in such prestigious races have been paused for the Australian-bred geldings in favor of a class 1 handicap at six furlongs at Sha Tin Racecourse on Friday. This class 1 handicap, the $401,400 Hong Kong Reunification Cup, is restricted to horses with official ratings ranging from 90 to 115. Horses from class 1 frequently appear in group-level stakes, and are capable of winning such races.
Three days after she was withdrawn from a turf marathon at Scone Racecourse in Australia, the 3-year-old filly Stella Glow is entered in a slightly shorter race at Hawkesbury Racecourse outside of Sydney on Thursday.
The Scone race was run at 1 3/8 miles, while the race at Hawkesbury is 1 5/16 miles.
Nautilus, a Brazilian-bred 4-year-old, and Ola Perfecta, a Peruvian-bred 6-year-old mare, won Group 1 races in South America on Sunday to earn automatic berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland on Nov. 5.
Nautilus earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf with a win in the Grande Premio Brasil at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Gavea Racecourse in Rio de Janeiro, the Drosselmeyer colt’s first Group 1. Nautilus (15-1) won the Grande Premio Brasil by a neck over Don Cambay.
