Roly Poly struggled to find herself this spring, but she is rolling now. At Deauville Racecourse on Sunday she won her second straight Group 1 by beating older female rivals in the Prix Rothschild.
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DRF Past Performances
Big Orange was part of the most thrilling finish of the Royal Ascot meeting in June, winning the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup at 2 1/2 miles by a nose.
The popular 6-year-old gelding will start as a heavy favorite Tuesday in another marathon turf race, the Group 1 Goodwood Cup at two miles. The $686,866 Goodwood Cup is the top race on the first of five consecutive days of the Glorious Goodwood meeting.
Later in the week, Ribchester, the winner of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, will be favored in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes for milers.
Sat, 07/29/2017 - 14:11
The 3-year-old filly Enable is at the top of European racing.
On Saturday, Enable won her third consecutive Group 1 race, and her first start against older males, in the $1,508,340 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in England.
The win had major ramifications for the buildup to the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly, France, on Oct. 1, Europe’s top flat race. Enable is now the 2-1 future-book favorite for the Arc de Triomphe over the French runners Almanzor and Brametot, who are 7-1.
Qemah will try to win the Group 1 Prix Rothschild on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse in France for the second year in a row.
Qemah, getting a seven-pound weight allowance from her elders as a 3-year-old a year ago, sprinted home a 1 1/4-length winner over fellow 3-year-old Volta last July in the Rothschild, a straight-course mile that will be run over ground forecast to be “good” on Sunday. This year, Qemah’s full 129-pound impost includes jockey Cristian Demuro as the 4-year-old filly, trained by Jean-Claude Rouget for Al Shaqab Racing, tries for her first Group 1 of 2017.
Enable, the winner of the English Oaks and Irish Oaks in recent starts, will be favored Saturday to become the third female in the last six years to win the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in England.
As of Thursday, Enable was 5-4 with British bookmakers to win the $1,508,340 race at 1 1/2 miles on turf. The winner receives a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 4.
Total betting during the 88-day Hong Kong racing season that ended Sunday was up 10.7 percent, in part because of a five-day increase in the number of race days, according to figures released by the Hong Kong Jockey Club on Sunday.
A surge of betting from foreign jurisdictions also contributed.
The 3-year-old filly Enable won her second consecutive Group 1 race in the $455,960 Irish Oaks at The Curragh in Ireland and Harry Angel won his first Group 1 in the $646,650 July Cup for sprinters at Newmarket, England, on Saturday.
Harry Angel (9-2) won the six-furlong July Cup by 1 1/4 lengths over 4-1 Limato, the winner of the 2016 July Cup. Caravaggio, the 10-11 favorite who had won his first six career starts, could finish only fourth, beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Harry Angel.
The late Rapper Dragon was recognized as the Horse of the Year in Hong Kong for the 2016-17 season in a ceremony on Friday night.
Rapper Dragon became the first horse to sweep Hong Kong’s Triple Crown for 4-year-olds run from January to March, known as the Classic Series.
Rapper Dragon won 4 of 6 starts before suffering a fatal injury in the Group 1 Champions Mile in April. In the Classic Series, Rapper Dragon won the Hong Kong Classic Mile in January, Hong Kong Classic Cup at 1 1/8 miles in February, and the BMW Hong Kong Derby at 1 1/4 miles in March.
Roly Poly got away from stablemate Winter and got her first Group 1 victory when she led nearly all the way Friday at Newmarket in the Falmouth Stakes.
Under Ryan Moore, Roly Poly quickly beat a path to the rail, assumed early command, and never was threatened, coming home 1 1/4 lengths clear of Wuheida, who ran well making her first start since Oct. 2 for Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby. Wuheida was a half-length clear of Arabian Queen as 3-year-olds swept the top five placings in a one-mile race open to fillies and mares age 3 and older.
Sunday’s final program of the Hong Kong season at Sha Tin Racecourse is equally a preview of the 2017-18 season that begins in early September.
The top race on Sunday’s 11-race card is the $320,180 Sha Tin Mile Trophy at 1 1/8 miles on turf, a race that includes the rapidly-improving Beat the Clock.