HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, February 26, 2020)

Mozu Ascot earned a fees-paid berth to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7 and Cafe Pharoah earned 30 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2 with stakes wins at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan on Sunday.

Mozu Ascot, a Kentucky-bred 6-year-old by Frankel, won the Grade 1 February Stakes at a mile on dirt by 2 1/2 lengths as the 9-5 favorite in a field of 16. Ridden by Christophe Lemaire, Mozu Ascot closed from midpack to take the lead before the eighth pole.

Neither a recent illness nor a longer distance could stop Golden Sixty from winning another race in Hong Kong.

Golden Sixty pushed his record to nine wins from 10 starts as he bolted to a half-length win Sunday at Sha Tin in the $1.28 million Hong Kong Classic Cup.

The characteristics that have facilitated the glittering record went on overt display in the Classic Cup, where Golden Sixty used his elite athleticism to switch paths while hot on horses heels, then showed off his exceptional acceleration to get through a tight and closing hole and sprit home to victory.

Paul Lally:

R1: 6-12-2-3

R2: 7-14-6-10

R3: 7-14-11-6

R4: 12-2-5-8

R5: 3-2-9-4

R6: 9-5-4-6

R7: 3-1-8-4

R8: 6-2-3-7

R9: 5-10-9-12

R10: 10-8-4-1

Best R9 N5 Seattle Choice

Long R4 N12 Good Days

Play R9 QQP 5-9-10

Andrew Le Jeune:

R1: 6-3-12-4

R2: 7-4-2-6

R3: 7-14-6-3

R4: 5-11-8-14

R5: 3-13-9-4

R6: 6-9-14-5

R7: 3-1-2-4

R8: 12-6-3-7

R9: 5-12-9-4

R10: 1-4-10-8

Best: R7 N3 More Than This

The race card Sunday at Tokyo has linkages to America.

The Group 1 February Stakes over 1,600 meters on dirt is a Breeder’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race linked to the BC Classic, while the Hyacinth Stakes, another 1,600-meter dirt race, is the third race in the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Ten are entered in a fascinating renewal of the $1.28 million Hong Kong Classic Cup, middle leg of the 4-year-old classic series in Hong Kong.

Golden Sixty already scored a sparkling victory in the Hong Kong Classic Mile but must show he can race as effectively over 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) in Sunday’s start, to say nothing of the 2,000 meter test that would await him in the Hong Kong Derby.

While the $20 million Saudi Cup will become the world’s richest horse race when it is run for the first time on Feb. 29, its influence on United States racing has already begun.

Five U.S. runners bound for the Saudi Cup, and seven others for lucrative undercard stakes, arrived this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saturday evening at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, they race for the highest purse in history. Who’s going?

“I’m going,” declared trainer Bob Baffert, “$20 million gets me off the couch.”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The various strategies that racing organizations across the globe are enacting in the wake of animal-welfare concerns buffeting nearly every major racing jurisdiction in the world were outlined Friday morning at the Asian Racing Conference, a sobering rundown that illustrated the existential crisis facing racing worldwide.

A horse with stamina and ratable speed is a horse that can do some things, and when he gets the right conditions, Ghaiyyath can do a lot.

Thursday, making his first start since distinctly not getting the right conditions in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October, Ghaiyyath mauled five overmatched foes in the Group 3, $200,000 Dubai Millennium Stakes, winning the 2,000-meter turf stakes by 8 1/2 lengths while clocking a Meydan course-record 2:00.33.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, February 23, 2020)