Super Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai was run without fans in attendance, owing to coronavirus concerns, and came a week after the inaugural Saudi Cup, which sucked away some high-level talent that in previous years might’ve raced at Meydan. Yet the seven-race program on Saturday still produced a series of eye-catching performances.
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DRF Past Performances
Tom Wood:
R1: 10 – 1 – 12 – 7
R2: 1 – 2 – 10 – 7
R3: 1 – 5 – 2 – 11
R4: 1 – 5 – 4 – 3
R5: 5 – 4 – 10 – 9
R6: 3 – 4 – 8 – 10
R7: 6 – 4 – 7 – 2
R8: 14 – 3 – 6 – 5
R9: 8 – 3 – 1 – 11
R10: 3 – 2 – 12 – 10
R11: 1 – 3 – 12 – 6
BEST: R4 N1 HOT KING PRAWN (WIN)
VALUE: R9 N8 RELIABLE TEAM (EW)
PLAY: R9 – QQP 1,3,8
Andrew Le Jeune:
R1: 6-1-10-7
R2: 7-10-1-6
R3: 11-1-5-3
R4: 1-5-6-7
The featured fourth race Sunday at Sha Tin is a Class 1 handicap that could pass as a Group 1 stakes.
The 1,200-meter sprint drew only six entrants but among them are three of the top four rated sprinters in Hong Kong: Hot King Prawn, Mr. Stunning, and Full of Beauty.
The robust future-book market for the four-day Cheltenham National Hunt Festival that begins in western England on Tuesday has had a turbulent few weeks.
In late February, Epatante, the favorite for Tuesday’s $582,840 Champion Hurdle at about two miles, was found to be coughing, a situation that caused the 6-year-old mare’s price to rise from 3-1 to 9-2. When she was deemed to have recovered, the 6-year-old Epatante was restored as the 3-1 favorite.
The Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 on Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai carries a $600,000 purse. A race in the same division and region, the Saudi Cup, was run Feb. 29 for a $20 million purse. You can imagine where all the best older dirt-route horses on the Arabian Peninsula wound up.
The first year of the Saudi Cup has left the final round of the Al Maktoum Challenge as something less than a high-level prep for the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 28, and Quip, at 113, is the top-rated horse in the 2,000-meter race.
Wed, 03/04/2020 - 18:42
A week after finishing a fast-closing fourth in the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes at a mile, Avilius will race at a distance that may better suit his needs in Saturday’s Group 1 Australian Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
The $994,500 Australian Cup is the richest of four Group 1 races to be run in a little less than two hours in Australia on Saturday. There are two Group 1 races at Flemington and two at Royal Randwick in Sydney. Post time for the Australian Cup is 12:45 a.m. Eastern or 9:45 p.m. Pacific on Friday.
Andrew Le Jeune:
R1: 3-12-4-1
R2: 8-4-6-2
R3: 7-4-1-5
R4: 9-6-8-11
R5: 6-2-8-1
R6: 3-1-5-8
R7: 7-6-10-1
R8: 2-9-7-6
Best: R3 N7 Smart Of Youth
Each/way: R7 N7 Big Bang Bong
Play: R3 Q/QP R3 1-4-7
Tom Wood:
R1: 4 – 5 – 3 – 11
R2: 8 – 12 – 4 – 3
R3: 7 – 9 – 5 – 1
R4: 3 – 9 – 6 – 7
R5: 6 – 2 – 1 – 5
R6: 3 – 1 – 7 – 8
R7: 3 – 1 – 7 – 8
R8: 2 – 9 – 12 – 10
A quiet Wednesday at Kempton Park in England could help determine a Kentucky Derby starter.
Kempton hosts the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes on Wednesday, the penultimate race in the European Road to the Kentucky Derby. Five were entered, none of whom are among the leaders so far in the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, which concludes with the Cardinal Conditions Stakes on April 2 at Chelmsford City.
The rematch isn’t on – not in Dubai, at least.
Neither Maximum Security, who won the $20 million Saudi Cup, nor Midnight Bisou, who was beaten less than a length by him at King Abdulaziz Racecourse outside Riyadh on Saturday night, are going on to the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 28.
Both horses fly back to America from Saudi Arabia on Friday. They will spend six days in a USDA quarantine facility in Chicago, after which they are free to go off to whatever destination their connections desire.