The unbeaten Caravaggio will be favored to win his debut against older horses in Saturday’s Group 1 July Cup at six furlongs on turf at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
From a betting perspective, Caravaggio is a standout. As of Thursday, the colt was about even-money with bookmakers to beat nine rivals and win for the seventh time.
SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, July 16, 2017)
RACE 1: #2 Kwaichung Brothers, #11 Starry Starlies, #7 Happy Gains, #10 Furious Pegasus
RACE 2: #2 Best Tango, #9 Lightning And Gold, #3 Je Pense, #11 High Speed Metro
RACE 3: #5 Our Folks, #6 Phantom Falcon, #3 Multimax, #2 Mordicus
RACE 4: #7 Spring Win, #1 Smart Boy, #2 Noble De Boy, #10 The Full Bloom
Friday’s Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket is a one-mile race open to fillies and mares age 3 and up, but the older set is little more than an afterthought this year. Five of the seven Falmouth entrants are 3-year-olds, and all get a nine-pound weight break from the two older horses entered, longshots Greta G and Opal Tiara.
Brett Davis - Selections
R1 - 2-1-3-4
R2 - 3-9-2-7
R3 - 6-3-7-1
R4 - 8-4-10-7
R5 - 2-10-8-4
R6 - 2-7-1-8
R7 - 2-5-10-3
R8 - 11-3-6-4
Best - R5 n2 Beauty Master
Longshot - R1 n2 Silver Spun
Best Play - R1 Q/QP 1,2,3
Paul Lally:
R1 1-9-4-3
R2 3-1-11-7
R3 6-3-1-4
R4 8-12-4-9
R5 10-2-4-3
R6 7-1-2-11
R7 5-1-2-3
R8 3-2-7-6
Purses for four Hong Kong Group 1 races will be higher for the 2017-18 season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Monday.
The Queen Elizabeth II Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf next spring will be worth $3.07 million, an increase of approximately $500,000 from this year. The Champions Mile, run in early May, will be worth $2.3 million, a gain of about $255,000.
The Chairman’s Sprint Prize at six furlongs on turf has been increased by about $255,000 to $2.04 million at Monday’s exchange rates. The race was run in early May this year.
HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, July 12, 2017)
RACE 1: #3 California Aspar, #4 Dr Race, #1 Ocean Roar, #9 Trendiful
RACE 2: #9 Seven Luck, #4 Speedy Wally, #3 Gold Talent, #8 Kim Glory
RACE 3: #3 Great Joy, #10 Ambitious Heart, #6 Pearl Warm Warm, #1 Giant Stars
RACE 4: #2 Good Companion, #4 Gracious Ryder, #7 Starlight, #6 Junzi
RACE 5: #2 Beauty Master, #4 Most Beautiful, #12 Triumphant Jewel, #5 Ace King
It’s a shame Thunder Snow threw a bucking fit and had to be pulled up just after the start of the Kentucky Derby, for the colt appears to be a cut above most if not all of the horses his owner, Godolphin, has brought over to America for Triple Crown races.
Thunder Snow offered a reminder of that Sunday at Chantilly when he led all the way to win the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat by 1 1/4 lengths over the previously unbeaten Trais Fluors.
Ulysses, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita last November, won the first Group 1 race of his career in a thrilling running of Saturday’s $647,500 Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, south of London.
Ulysses (8-1) won the Eclipse Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf by a nose over the 3-year-old Barney Roy, the 9-4 second choice.
Thunder Snow, the Godolphin colt who bucked just after the start and had to be pulled up in the Kentucky Derby, has found a sweet spot to win his first turf race of 2017 in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat on Sunday at Chantilly.
Just five 3-year-olds are entered in the one-mile race. Lightupthenight and the maiden Turf Laurel are 20/1 shots in antepost betting, the Freddie Head-trained Gold Luck 10/1, with Trais Fluors a hot second choice behind favored Thunder Snow in the bookmakers’ markets.
Helene Charisma was supposed to be a major race winner in Hong Kong during the current season. In the summer of 2016, Helene Charisma won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France, which led to him being sold privately to Hong Kong owners a month later.
