CHELTENHAM, England - The aging geldings Cue Card and The New One have had a near constant presence at the National Hunt festival at Cheltenham this decade. Both have run a six times at this four-day meeting for chasers and hurdlers, and each has won at least one Grade 1 race.
Thursday, they will start for a remarkable seventh time here in Grade 1 races that are the main events on a seven-race program that begins at 9:30 a.m., Eastern.
HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, March 14)
:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis
Brett Davis
Race 1: 1-7-5-10
Race 2: 1-2-4-3
Race 3: 5-7-10-8
Race 4: 3-11-8-2
Race 5: 7-5-3-10
Race 6: 7-2-5-1
Race 7: 10-1-4-11
Race 8: 1-2-10-5
Best Bet - Race 1: #1 Raichu
Longshot - Race 5: #3 Bouyant Boy
Best Play - Race 1: Q/QP 1,5,7
Circuit Glory is going across town and down in class seeking his first win in Hong Kong.
The 4-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding has made all five of his starts in Class 2 handicaps at Sha Tin Racecourse. Wednesday, he is among 12 entrants in the featured $167,104 Arsenal Handicap, a Class 3 at Happy Valley Racecourse.
CHELTENHAM, England. -- A foot scare earlier this week may be the only thing that can derail Altior in Wednesday’s Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Altior was found to have pus in the frog of a front foot, according to trainer Nicky Henderson, which kept the 8-year-old gelding from galloping on Monday. The problem was not an issue on Tuesday, leading to a conventional training session and the hope from Henderson that Altior will be ready to win his 13th consecutive race in the $556,000 Queen Mother, which is run at two miles over 13 fences.
HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, March 14, 2018)
:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis
RACE 1: #1 Raichu, #5 Scarborough Fair, #2 Treasure And Gold, #11 King's Steed
RACE 2: #1 Great Joy, #6 Multigogo, #3 Royale Elegance, #8 Play It
RACE 3: #8 Peace Combination, #4 Flying Monkey, #2 Look Eras, #12 Nashashuk
RACE 4: #2 The Sylph, #8 Glory Star, #7 Polymer Luck, #11 Aeroluminance
CHELTENHAM, England - Buveur d’Air has been unbeatable in England's leading hurdle races for more than a year. Recent history may be the only thing that can prevent the talented 7-year-old from winning the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse for the second consecutive year Tuesday.
Hong Kong trainer John Size’s powerful stable is packed with high-class sprinters, and Size will deploy one of them, Amazing Kids, in the featured seventh race Sunday at Sha Tin.
Amazing Kids is one of 11 entrants in the $319,025 Singapore Turf Club Handicap, a race open to horses rated 95 and higher, and he’s the highest rated among them at 123. That means Amazing Kids carries 133 pounds in this 1200-meter sprint, conceding between five and 20 pounds to his opponents.
A key player on Super Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai was, unfortunately, Meydan Racecourse itself.
Four of the seven races Saturday, including the featured Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3, were contested on a dirt track that was wickedly fast and heavily biased toward inside speed. Two track records fell, including California Chrome’s 2:01.83 mark for 2,000 meters from the 2016 Dubai World Cup, which North America eclipsed in the Group 1, $400,000 Al Maktoum Challenge by running the distance in 2:01.71.
The 3-year-old colt Reride finished sixth in his only graded stakes start, the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last fall, and at the moment doesn’t appear to be an elite Kentucky Derby contender, but his connections believe he’ll suit another derby, the $2 million UAE Derby on March 31 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
The Cheltenham festival for chasers and hurdlers cannot arrive soon enough in western England this week.
After brutal winter weather in the last month that led to days of canceled races, temperatures have finally risen. Still, track crews removed approximately 200 tons of snow from the course in recent weeks.
About 260,000 people are expected to descend on the small town of Cheltenham, 100 miles west of London, for four days of racing Tuesday through Friday, even though rain is forecast each day.
