SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Saturday, October 13, 2018)
RACE 1: #4 Big Party, #9 Quadruple Double, #8 Perfect Match, #3 Strathallan
RACE 2: #2 New Elegance, #1 Cheerful Giggles, #5 Great Treasure, #6 Beauty Day
RACE 3: #3 Super Euro Star, #1 Adonis, #8 Scarborough Fair, #2 Natural Flare
RACE 4: #1 Giddy Giddy, #6 Dollar Reward, #7 Kirov, #10 Very Sweet Orange
RACE 5: #2 Energetic Class, #1 Have Fun Together, #3 Monica, #7 Follow Me
Too Darn Hot, 3 for 3 to start his career, and Sangarius, unbeaten after two starts, headline a cracking seven-horse field entered in Saturday’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
Also set to line up in the one-mile fixture are Advertise, winner of the Group 1 Phoenix in his most recent race, and Anthony Van Dyck, the most talented among three Aidan O’Brien-trained entrants.
European racing people will be looking for clues regarding the 2019 Classic races coming out of the Group 1 Fillies Mile on Friday at Newmarket. Folks on the west side of the Atlantic will be parsing performance vis-a-vis the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
When Australian racing authorities brainstormed the name the Everest for the pay-to-play 1,200-meter sprint race at Royal Randwick that would offer a massive purse, they surely didn’t have in mind the radical weather conditions often found on the mountain of the same name.
But the way things are trending, the second edition of the Everest, on Saturday at the Sydney-area racecourse, will be very much affected by weather.
HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, October 10)
:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis
Brett Davis
R1: 4-6-9-10
R2: 2-1-3-4
R3: 4-3-5-8
R4: 5-2-11-6
R5: 12-9-7-5
R6: 9-5-8-2
R7: 2-9-4-7
R8: 9-7-1-10
Best Bet – R5: #12 Applause
Longshot – R6: #9 Gameplayer Emperor
Best Play – R6: Q/Qp 5,8,9
Paul Lally
R1: 3-1-2-9
R2: 3-4-2-5
The last time trainer John Gosden brought a Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner to the Breeders’ Cup Turf it just wasn’t all that fun for the man.
Golden Horn won the 2015 Arc and shipped three weeks later to Keeneland, where Gosden, upon arrival, spent a lot of time staring balefully up into dismal rain-filled skies. Golden Horn was a fast-ground horse forced to race over rain-sodden autumn turf. He failed to show his best over the going and was defeated by the filly Found.
The Group 3 National Day Cup at five furlongs on turf at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Oct. 1 was too tough for Fabulous One, the 7-year-old gelding. He set the pace before fading to finish last of seven.
Wednesday’s $249,019 Verbena Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Happy Valley is a better fit. The race reflects a drop in class and can give Fabulous One his first win since June 2016.
Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and jockey William Buick won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar with Wuheida, and the same connections will have one of the favorites for the 2018 Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs after Wild Illusion took down the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera on Sunday at Longchamp.
Royal Marine won the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere for 2-year-olds after Lily’s Candle launched Sunday’s Arc de Triomphe card at Longchamp with a narrow victory in the Group 1 Prix Marcel-Boussac.
Both races were contested over one mile and are part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In series, offering the winners fees-paid berths plus travel expenses to Louisville, Ky., for the BC Juvenile Turf (Lagardere) and BC Juvenile Fillies Turf (Boussac).