The Narrandera Cup at tiny Narrandera Racecourse in Australia on Sunday will be the fourth meeting in the last year between the geldings Gentleman Max and Gunga Din.
Their career paths leading to the one-mile race could not be more different.
Gentleman Max, a 7-year-old Australian-bred, will have his 122nd career start and 12th race of 2020 on Sunday. Apparently, Gentleman Max thrives on activity.
Considering her winless race record in stakes in 2018 and early 2019, Jami Lady has made quite a turnaround in the last few months in the Australian winter.
Jami Lady won her first stakes in the Bright Shadow Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Eagle Farm on July 4, leading throughout to win by about 2 1/4 lengths at 5-1.
The win has led to a start in the $87,250 Gai Waterhouse Classic for fillies and mares at 6 3/4 furlongs at Ipswich Racecourse on Saturday, near Brisbane. A 4-year-old filly, Jami Lady is expected to be modest favorite in a field of 16.
Cayenne Pepper ran into the elite mare Magical in her most recent start, while Ennistymon hooked Love, who turned in an historically strong performance winning the Oaks at Epsom. The two fillies have one another with which to deal Saturday in the Group 1 Irish Oaks at The Curragh, but nothing like the beasts they encountered in their respective recent races.
Total handle generated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club over its recently concluded racing year was $15.8 billion, according to the HKJC, which administers all aspects of racing and betting in the Chinese province. The annual total was the third-highest posted by the HKJC.
The total handle figure includes money bet domestically and overseas on the HKJC signal, along with money bet by HKJC customers on foreign races. The HKJC conducted 87 race cards this year, one less than the previous racing season, for a total of 828 races. It imported 164 races for simulcast betting.
The red-hot Absolute Artie, winner of three of his last five starts, will run in the richest race of his career as the favorite in Friday’s $59,500 Rockhampton Cup in Australia.
Absolute Artie was 5-2 in early betting on Wednesday to win the one-mile Rockhampton Cup on a course the 4-year-old Australian-bred gelding knows well. Absolute Artie has won 8 of 19 starts in his career. At Rockhampton, he has won 5 of 7 starts, including his last two races – a handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs on June 23 and a one-mile handicap July 7.
The first half of 2020 was a quiet stretch for Controlthewitness, the 3-year-old Australian-bred gelding who won four times in 2019.
This year, Controlthewitness is winless in seven starts in Australia, including two second-place finishes and one third. His last two starts – a second in a handicap June 11 at Gosford and a third by 1 3/4 lengths on July 7 at Newcastle – suggest the losing streak can end in a handicap at 1 3/16 miles on Thursday at Gosford Racecourse.
A pair of Class 2 handicaps close out the Wednesday night card at Happy Valley Racecourse – as well as the 2019-2020 racing season in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong racing goes dark for the rest of July and during August with the 2020-2021 season commencing on Sept. 1 – barring any further problems from the coronavirus pandemic. The Hong Kong Jockey Club just this week distributed a revised set of policies due to a local COVID-19 case surge.
True Marvel has found a valuable partner in Australian jockey Kathy O’Hara.
Since March, True Marvel has won 3 of 6 starts, with O’Hara aboard for all three wins. The tandem were 3 for 3 until True Marvel finished fourth in a competitive handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Royal Randwick Racecourse on July 4 with O’Hara aboard.
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It appears unlikely that a horse representing Japan will be in this year’s Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Neither Cafe Pharoah, the points leader on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby series, nor Danon Pharaoh, who was second on the list, will travel to Churchill Downs for the Derby, according to Kate Hunter, a Japanese-based racing journalist who is a liaison between Japanese racing and Churchill Downs.
