Racing returns to England on Monday with a 10-race program over the Tapeta Footings surface at Newcastle, the first card since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the sport in mid-March.
British horsemen had hoped to be back in action a couple weeks earlier, but it was only on Saturday that the national government gave final approval for the sport to resume spectator-free on June 1.
Carabinier and Sirius Magic won minor handicaps a little more than an hour apart at Ascot Racecourse in Perth, Australia, on May 13.
Carabinier ended a four-race losing streak, while Sirius Magic won for the first time in three starts. Neither has won consecutive races in their brief careers, but have excellent chances to do so in the Northam Traders’ Sprint, a handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Northam Racecourse on Monday. Northam is located just east of Perth in Western Australia.
Mark McNamara
R1: 2-10-12-1
R2: 4-2-1-3
R3: 7-9-1-3
R4: 2-3-9-12
R5: 11-10-2-8
R6: 2-6-10-9
R7: 7-1-8-6
R8: 10-13-3-2
R9: 1-4-3-2
R10: 5-4-1-3
R11: 7-3-9-1
Best Bet: R8 10 Bright Vision
Longshot: R5 11 Ready Conqueror
Play: R2 – Q/QPL 1.2.3.4.11
Andrew Le Jeune
R1: 2-5-9-7
R2: 1-2-11-13
R3: 6-7-10-9
R4: 2-3-12-11
R5: 2-1-10-4
R6: 6-2-7-12
R7 2-7-9-11
R8: 13-2-3-12
R9: 8-4-1-3
Way To Paris in a typical year would be racing Sunday not far north of Paris in the Grand Prix de Chantilly, but Chantilly was among the racecourses French authorities shut down a second time because of coronavirus, and this year’s Grand Prix de Chantilly will be run at Deauville.
For Way To Paris, though, the location of the racecourse probably is much less significant than the condition of the course and the distance of the race. Sunday’s contest at about 1 9/16 miles on a course listed as soft on Saturday fits the bill.
The 5-year-old mare Brimm looks in a good spot for her first start of the year, a seven-furlong handicap at Ballarat Racecourse in Australia on Sunday.
Brimm is part of a field of 10. There are questions about how Brimm will perform in her first start since November, and there are issues surrounding several of the other runners. At least Brimm has a favorable weight assignment of 123 pounds, part of which is jockey Alana Kelly’s apprentice claim.
Contrail, the undefeated champion 2-year-old male of 2019, will be an odds-on favorite to win his fifth race in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese Derby at Tokyo Racecourse.
Contrail won the Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas at 1 1/4 miles at Nakayama Racecourse on April 19 by a half-length over Salios, his main rival in the $3.87 million Japanese Derby.
The powerful stables of Chris Waller and Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott have the leading contenders in two Group 3 races at Doomben Racecourse in Australia on Saturday.
Waller, who will forever be known for guiding the career of the immensely popular mare Winx, has the top three horses in the weights for the Chairman’s Handicap at 1 1/4 miles – Shraaoh (127.8 pounds), Brimham Rocks (126.7), and Another Dollar (125.6). Waller trains six of the 16 entrants.
It's a quiet day in European racing Friday, but much busier times are just around the corner. The French guineas races are to be held Monday at Deauville, while racing in England also comes back on line Monday for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic forced its cessation.
Southern Legend has gone from being the hunter, upsetting Beauty Generation in the Group 1 Champions Mile last month, to the hunted, the likely favorite and 133-pound highweight in Sunday’s Group 3, $419,000 Lion Rock Trophy Handicap.
Southern Legend is one of 11 entrants in the Lion Rock, a 1,600-meter contest carded as featured race 9 of 11 on a card that starts at 12:15 a.m. Eastern.
:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, analysis, replays, and live streaming
Race 1: #7 Speedy Missile, #3 Bella Baby, #2 Hurricane Hunter, #5 One Step Ahead
Race 2: #2 Galaxy Racer, #1 Seize The Spirit, #13 Kwaichung Brothers, #3 Who’s Horse
Race 3: #9 Nextmodel, #6 Gold ‘N’ Bold, #3 El Jefe, #1 Fabulous Eight
Race 4: #3 Racing Fighter, #12 Unique Treasure, #2 Quadruple Double, #4 Entrusted
Race 5: #10 General Trump, #2 Bright Kid, #13 Perfect Harmony, #3 Happy Victory
Race 6: #6 So We Joy, #2 Party Genius, #7 Momentum Happy, #10 Winwin Thirtythree
