Course experience may boost Halo Warrior when the 5-year-old gelding makes his sixth career start at Albury Racecourse in Australia in Thursday’s Barlens City Handicap at about six furlongs.
Halo Warrior has won 3 of 5 starts at Albury, including a six-furlong handicap on Feb. 10. Nine days later, Halo Warrior was only ninth of 16 in a regional qualifier for a lucrative stakes in April at Wagga Wagga Racecourse.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The top-rated horse in America will break from post 1 Saturday night at Meydan Racecourse, where Life Is Good can provide trainer Todd Pletcher with his first Dubai World Cup win.
Life Is Good’s jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr., has one job in the World Cup – get his mount out of the gate. Life Is Good’s game is speed. He was going to the lead regardless of his draw. The rail just means there is no margin for error at the break.
“It’s the shortest way around,” said Pletcher, whose top World Cup finish was Harlan’s Holiday’s second in 1999.
Copartner Fionn was a three-time winner in New Zealand in 2021, including his final two starts in that country last July.
Copartner Fionn was later sent to Hong Kong where he finished a good third in his debut in a six-furlong handicap at Sha Tin Racecourse on Feb. 20. With that race, and the benefit of a recent workout from the gate, Copartner Fionn will be a factor in his second Hong Kong start, a Class 3 handicap at about a mile, Wednesday’s ninth and final race at Happy Valley Racecourse.
The lightly raced 4-year-old Logan Street Lion has adapted to tougher handicap divisions in recent months in Australia.
After a second in early January, in his first start since May, Logan Street Lion has won consecutive starts in seven-furlong handicaps at Sandown Park in Melbourne, easily handling a jump to a tougher handicap group in the second of those wins.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The Japanese breeding industry in the later years of the 20th century set about acquiring many of the best broodmares and broodmare prospects in the world. And as a result, Japanese racehorses have increasingly been making their presence felt all over the world.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – He was the California-based 2021 Kentucky Derby favorite until he got hurt in late March. His trainer wound up winning the Derby anyway, only to have his Derby winner test positive for a medication banned on race day, which drew harsh sanctions not only in Kentucky but in New York.
Romantic Warrior wore down a dead-game California Spangle to win a stirring renewal of the $3.1 million Hong Kong Derby on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse.
The result mirrored the Hong Kong Classic Mile, first in the 4-year-old classic series in which Romantic Warrior got up by a half-length over pacesetting California Spangle. California Spangle went wire to wire in the 1,800-meter Hong Kong Classic Cup, in which Romantic Warrior was undone by a terrible trip and finished fourth. These two geldings now have proven they’re the top 4-year-olds racing in Hong Kong.
Sovereign Gold is a 4-year-old Australian filly who has won twice in her four-race career - in a maiden race in her debut last April and in her return from a layoff of nine months in February.
Tuesday at Geelong Racecourse, on the outskirts of Melbourne, Sovereign Gold has an excellent chance for a third win in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs, provided she can produce consecutive wins for the first time in her career.
After three losses in the last four months, the Australian filly Chase My Crown will start in a modest one-mile handicap at Taree Racecourse on Monday.
Chase My Crown is trained by the father and son partnership of Wayne and Joel Wilkes, who are based at Taree. It is safe to say that the countryside track is Chase My Crown’s favorite venue.
A 4-year-old, Chase My Crown has won 2 of 14 starts, with both wins coming amid five starts at Taree.
