Quite a lot has happened since Mr Bellagio and Red Chase finished second and ninth in a handicap at Doomben Racecourse in Australia in late February. Much of it favorable.
Mr Bellagio and Red Chase both won consecutive races for the first time in their lengthy careers in April and May.
They meet for the first time in nearly three months in a seven-furlong handicap at Gold Coast Racecourse on Friday, approaching the race in top form. They have had remarkably similar results in recent weeks.
Racing will cease in four areas of France that have recently experienced spikes in COVID-19 cases, the French racing authority announced Tuesday.
The affected areas, known as prefectures, all are in the northern part of the country and include Paris, and among the racecourses in the order are Longchamp, Chantilly, and Saint-Cloud. The four prefectures have been classified as COVID-19 “red zones” by the French government and will be subject to more stringent rules governing public activities.
Gitan has won both of his career starts at Hawkesbury Racecourse in Australia, success worth noting when the gelding starts in a competitive handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at the venue northwest of Sydney on Thursday.
Trained by Jean Dubois, Gitan, 6, won a seven-furlong handicap at Hawkesbury last December, but is winless in three subsequent starts this year. This will be Gitan’s first start since a fifth in a seven-furlong handicap at Wagga Wagga Racecourse in February.
Tom Wood
R1: 2-4-8-5
R2: 7-8-9-3
R3: 3-6-5-2
R4: 3-2-5-1
R5: 1-8-7-3
R6: 4-2-1-10
R7: 3-1-7-9
R8: 2-7-8-3
R9: 7-1-4-2
BEST: R9 – 7 SHINING GEM (EW)
VALUE: R6 – 1 FLYING BONUS (EW)
PLAY: R6 – QQP 1,2,4
A pair of conditions races for 3-year-olds, one restricted to fillies, the other open, highlight a 10-race program at Saint-Cloud in France, one of only two racecourses in Europe with a Tuesday card.
Hanover in Germany also races Tuesday, hosting a 12-race program. England is set to resume racing on June 4, Ireland shortly thereafter, but until then, France and Germany remain the lone European jurisdictions carding races.
A nine-race program Wednesday at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong concludes with a cracking feature, a Class 2 handicap bursting with last-start winners.
Four of the 12 entrants won their most recent race, while a fifth horse, Prince of Frog, makes his first start outside Australia in this 1,200-meter sprint for horses rated 100-80.
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Zaunkonig was second in the Tamworth Cup in Australia on April 26, the 7-year-old gelding’s first start since September. Zaunkonig was 50-1 and closed from eighth in a field of 14 to miss by a nose to Ligulate in the seven-furlong handicap.
More than three weeks later, Zaunkonig appears to have conditions in his favor in the TAB Handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs on the Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. The Kensington course is the inner turf course at Randwick.
Racing will return in England on June 1 and in Ireland on June 8. Cards will be conducted spectator-free for the foreseeable future, but horsemen and bettors alike expressed relief and satisfaction when plans to restart the flat-racing season in two of Europe’s major jurisdictions were formed late last week.
Racing was halted throughout Europe in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Germany was the first country to begin racing again this month, with France hosting its first post-pandemic program May 11 at Longchamp.
On Feb. 10, 2019, Skalleti finished eighth in a listed stakes race over the Polytrack at Cagnes-Sur-Mer. The exact date and location seems important because it’s the only loss in Skalleti’s 10-race career.
The nine wins follow a path very rarely – if ever – traveled. Skalleti has won at minor racecourses like Nimes and Vichy, and three wins have come at Marseilles-Pont-de-Vivaux, an all-weather track in the south of France that’s basically a home racecourse for Skalleti, based between Marseille and Aix-En-Provence with trainer Jerome Reynier in Calas-Cabries.
