From April to August of last year, Corbulo won four times in England at distances ranging from a mile at Bath Racecourse to 1 5/16 miles at Chester Racecourse.
The versatility could serve Corbulo well when he has his Australian debut in a handicap at 1 1/8 miles at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Corbulo has not raced since he finished fourth by 1 3/4 lengths in a handicap on the synthetic track at Lingfield Park near London in late August.
Get free DRF past performances for Saturday’s Saudi Cup card at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia. The eight-race card is highlighted by the Group 1, $20 million Saudi Cup, the world’s richest race.
Among the leading contenders in this year’s Saudi Cup are defending race winner Mishriff and U.S. shippers Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon, Art Collector, and Country Grammer.
The Saudi Cup card kicks off at 7:45 a.m. Eastern, with the big race set for 12:35 p.m.
Ginobili, one of the better one-turn dirt horses in North America, won’t be able to start in the $1.5 million Riyadh Cup Sprint on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
Trainer Richard Baltas, who remained in California, said Ginobili came out of his second gallop at King Abdulaziz Racecourse lame in his left front leg.
“The main thing is the horse is okay. Preliminary X-rays were negative; his second set of X-rays is not completely clear yet. We got to get him back home and do a nuclear scan on him, I think,” Baltas said.
More than three months after her popular win in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at two miles at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, Verry Ellegant will be favored to win a race of half that distance in Saturday’s Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.
Verry Elleegant won the Chipping Norton last February as part of a campaign that led to her being named Australia’s 2020-21 Horse of the Year. The season ended at the end of July, so Verry Elleegant’s win in the Melbourne Cup puts her firmly in contention for the same award this season.
Maybe you, North American racing fan and bettor, have not heard of many of the horses in the $2.5 million Red Sea Turf, but that does not mean this is not a strong race.
The Red Sea Turf, contested over about 1 7/8 miles, drew 15 entrants, at least two of which – Mirinaque and Baron Samedi – ought to be familiar to we Americans.
Mirinaque campaigned in American during 2020 and into 2021 before returning to his native Argentina but was only seventh in this race a year ago.
Brad Cox could not beat Mishriff with Knicks Go. Maybe he will get him Saturday with Mandaloun.
Those two excellent racehorses are joined by a dozen others in the $20 million Saudi Cup, given international Group 1 status for this, its third renewal.
The gang's not quite all there for the inaugural running of the $200,000 Jumeirah Derby on Friday at Meydan Racecourse.
Island Falcon won the Jumeirah Derby Trial on Jan. 21 by 1 1/4 lengths but was not among the eight horses entered in the Jumeirah Derby, a 2,000-meter grass race for 3-year-olds.
That ought to leave New Kingdom, trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin and with William Buick named to ride, as the favorite for the Jumeirah Derby, the last leg in a new series created by the Dubai Racing Club for the 2021-22 racing season.
Recent starts in stakes were too difficult for Steely, the 5-year-old Australian gelding who takes a drop in class for a start in Friday’s $108,600 Canberra Mile at Canberra Racecourse.
The Canberra Mile is a handicap that is a level below a listed stakes and should be a good fit for Steely, a winner of 8 of 22 starts.
Trained by the partnership of Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, Steely was 13th of 16 in the Group 2 Villiers Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse on Dec. 11, and seventh of 13 in the Carrington Stakes at seven furlongs there Jan. 22.
Mishriff will break from post 14 on Saturday, near where he drew a year ago, when he tries to win the $20 million Saudi Cup for the second year in a row.
Drawing widest in this field, with far more depth than the 2021 renewal, is not necessarily a bad thing. The Saudi Cup, a Group 1 for the first time this year, is contested over 1,800 meters, about 1 1/8 miles, around one turn. There’s a very long straightaway before the turn comes, giving Mishriff plenty of time to get into a decent position.
