SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, July 1, 2020)

Magical made her four opponents disappear in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes on Sunday at The Curragh.

The 5-year-old mare initially was scheduled to be bred to No Nay Never following her 4-year-old season, but trainer Aidan O’Brien and the mare’s owners – Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier, and Michael Tabor – had second thoughts, and Magical returned for a 2020 campaign.

In 2019, the mare Lys Gracieux won the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen in a season she was named Japan’s Horse of the Year.

Sunday, the 4-year-old filly Chrono Genesis won the second Grade 1 race of her career in the $2.71 million Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Hanshin Racecourse.

In a way, Chrono Genesis was better than Lys Gracieux. Last year, Lys Gracieux won by three lengths. Chrono Genesis won by a record six lengths in the final Grade 1 race of the Japanese spring-summer calendar.

There is an excellent chance Australian trainer Gary Portelli will win the seventh race at Gosford Racecourse north of Sydney on Tuesday.

In a field of 13 in a six-furlong handicap, Portelli starts expected favorite Spaceboy, the 136.6-pound topweight, and Exceltic, who is second in the weights at 130 pounds.

They both have the credentials to win.

The improving gelding Macgyver’s Me Mate has had four races in his brief career, winning his last two since late May at seven furlongs at Albury Racecourse in Australia.

Macgyver’s Me Mate has won from the rail and an inside post, leading in one win and coming from a stalking position in his latest start. The versatility may be vital when he starts at a mile for the first time on Monday as the favorite in an 11-runner handicap at Albury.

Tom’s d’Etat is not the only 7-year-old in career-best form racing this weekend.

While 7-year-old Tom’s d’Etat was set to start favorite Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes, 7-year-old Way to Paris can win his first Group 1 Sunday in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

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Magical, a $4 million mare, launches her 5-year-old campaign Sunday at The Curragh in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes.

Grey Khan has shown solid form in longer turf races in Australia in recent starts, winning a handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Geelong last month for his first win of the year. What is unknown is how that form will translate to the synthetic surface at Ballarat Racecouse on Sunday in a handicap at 1 3/8 miles.

Grey Khan is rated as possible favorite along with Under Oath and Upswing in a race with a maximum of 12 runners. Grey Khan has a slight edge in the weights, with an assignment of 123 pounds compared to Under Oath at top weight of 135.5 pounds and Upswing at 130 pounds.

Two Group 3 races for Australian middle distance horses highlight racing on Saturday – the $110,080 Strickland Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Racecourse and the $86,000 Premiers Cup at 1 3/8 miles at Doomben Racecourse. Both race have drawn competitive fields without strong favorites.

“Which O’Brien” long has been an important question regarding classic races in Ireland, where champion trainer Aidan O’Brien typically has multiple live entries, but the phrase has acquired a second meaning. Saturday’s renewal of the Group 1 Irish Derby not only has six runners trained by Aidan O’Brien, there are three from his son Joseph, and another horse trained by another son, Donnacha. That’s 10 of the 15 Irish Derby runners all in the family – “which O’Brien,” indeed.