There are 14 Australian-bred 2-year-olds in Sunday’s $151,000 Wellington Boot at Wellington Racecourse in Australia – four winners and 10 maidens.
In early betting on Friday, the maiden fillies Deep Expectation and Sweet Baby Boom were drawing more action than the two-time winner Last Bid Liam, a colt.
The Wellington Boot is run at 5 1/2 furlongs and is the track’s richest race.
The 4-year-old colt Grenadier Guards and the 5-year-olds Resistencia and Salios can win their first Grade 1 races since their 2-year-old seasons in Sunday’s $2.69 million Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs on turf at Chukyo Racecourse in Japan.
The Takamatsunomiya Kinen is the first Grade 1 run on turf this year in Japan, and the first start of the year for Grenadier Guards, Resistencia, and Salios.
Grenadier Guards won the Grade 2 Hanshin Cup at seven furlongs on Christmas Day at Hanshin Racecourse, his only stakes win in five starts last year.
Spanish Mission, a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred, made quite a splash in Australia with a third-place finish in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse last November in his first start in the country.
The problem is Spanish Mission is now four races into his Australia career and has yet to win. Most recently, Spanish Mission was third behind Duais and Think It Over in the Group 1 Australian Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Flemington on March 12.
Jasper Great, 10th of 11 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last November, is a projected starter in Saturday’s $280,580 Fukuryu Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan, the final qualifying race in that nation’s series for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7.
One berth in the 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby is available to a Japanese-based runner through a four-race qualifying series that began last fall. None of the runners who earned points in the first three races are among the nominees for the Fukuryu Stakes, which is run at 1 1/8 miles.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The Japanese long have coveted an elusive win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. For now, they seem intent on winning another Group 1, 1 1/2-mile turf race, one in which they have multiple successes, the $6 million Sheema Classic, the supporting feature on the Dubai World Cup card Saturday at Meydan Racecourse.
The great mare Gentildonna, home by 1 1/2 lengths in 2014, was the last of three previous Japan-based Sheema winners.
Police in France and two other European countries on Tuesday took 27 people people involved in horse racing into custody in an investigation centered on the use of illegal substances, according to multiple media reports.
According to the reports, the individuals arrested included vets, pharmacists, and trainers, including two Standardbred trainers and one Thoroughbred trainer. While 25 of the arrests occurred in France, one person was taken into custody in Spain, and another person was “interviewed” in a third country in Europe, the reports said.
Marabi is 3-5 to win Friday’s Group 1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne and extend her unbeaten record to eight races. Last year on the Reid undercard, Marabi won a handicap and didn’t run again until November. In recent months, Marabi has won three stakes, including her Group 1 debut in the Oakleigh Plate at 5 1/2 furlongs at Caulfield Racecourse on Feb. 26.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The horse came from Russia, the jockey from Sardinia, the jockey’s agent from Baltimore. It is quite the unlikely assemblage of personal histories that just might come together and win the $1 million UAE Derby here Saturday.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The strike rate, established from a tiny sample, stands at perfection.
Twice in the 25-year history of the Dubai World Cup has an American horse shipped early to Dubai and started in a February prep before running in the World Cup itself.
Curlin arrived Feb. 17, 2008, won the 2,000-meter Jaguar XF Trophy Handicap on Feb. 28 by 2 3/4 lengths while giving his rivals 15 pounds, then came back March 29 to win the World Cup by nearly eight lengths at the old Nad Al Sheba Racecourse.
