Big Orange was fifth in the 2015 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by the 100-1 shot Prince of Penzance. Big Orange was 60-1 and certainly outran his odds in a 24-horse field over two miles.
Since then, Big Orange, 6, has won two Group 2 races in England to enhance his reputation. The success has made him the 126-pound joint highweight in Tuesday’s $4.55 million Melbourne Cup at two miles on turf.
HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016)
RACE 1: #10 Le Pegase, #9 Bliss Cartel, #4 Real Supreme, #1 Faithful Boy
RACE 2: #11 High Speed Metro, #4 Choice Exchequer, #2 Island Flyer, #7 Glamorous Ryder
RACE 3: #10 Penang Hall, #6 Lamarosa, #9 Silver Spun, #4 Travel Successor
RACE 4: #8 Joy Plus Fun, #4 House Of Luck, #3 Wild Boy, #2 Lansbury
RACE 5: #9 Sight Seeing, #3 Cour Valant, #6 Quantum Dash, #10 Robust Momentum
Brett - Selections
R1 - 10-2-7-8
R2 - 3-1-2-11
R3 - 12-9-6-11
R4 - 10-4-2-1
R5 - 4-1-7-9
R6 - 4-9-3-2
R7 - 11-2-7-4
R8 - 11-8-4-7
Best - R7 n11 Beauty Connection Better draw helps and looks ready to win.
2nd Best - R4 n10 Lucky seven
Longshot - R2 n2 Mutual Joy
Best Play - R2 Q/QP 1,2,3
Paul – Selections
Rivet led from start to finish in winning the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths over the favored Yucatan on Saturday at Doncaster Racecourse in England.
Andrea Atzeni rode the winner, his fourth straight in the Racing Post Trophy, a one-mile, straight-course race for 2-year-olds and the last Group 1 of the flat season in England. William Haggas trains the winner, while trainer Aidan O’Brien, chasing Bobby Frankel’s world-record 25 Grade 1 or Group 1 wins in a season, had to settle for second with Yucatan.
It might well be true that the great Australian 5-year-old mare Winx can do just about anything at this point, but there is nothing she does better than race 1 1/4 miles at Moonee Valley Racecourse.
That is the host course and race distance of the Group 1 Cox Plate, one of Australian racing’s biggest prizes, and Winx won the race for the second year in a row with breathtaking ease, blowing away her main rival, Hartnell, with a move off the final bend and flying home in the $1,120,120 Cox Plate.
In Japan, Dee Majesty will attempt to win the longest race of his career in Sunday’s $2.53 million Japanese St. Leger at Kyoto Racecourse.
In France, Vazirabad can win Sunday’s $380,275 Prix Royal-Oak for the second consecutive year at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in Paris.
The two races are late-season turf marathons showcasing leading stayers in both countries.
The Grade 1 Japanese St. Leger, run at 1 7/8 miles for 3-year-old colts and fillies, drew a field of 18.
Winx, one of the world’s top-rated horses, will seek her 13th consecutive victory when she runs in the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in Australia on Saturday.
Winx, a 5-year-old Street Cry mare who won this race a year ago, has achieved a 127 rating on the World Thoroughbred Rankings this year, tied for the fourth-highest mark.
She barely has been challenged during her win streak, which began in May 2015; the closest finish was in September 2015, when she won a Group 2 race by a head. Eight of her victories have been Group 1s.
The Group 1 winners Aerovelocity, Designs on Rome, and Peniaphobia will start in Group 2 races at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday in preparation for expected appearances in the Group 1 international races in Hong Kong on Dec. 11.
Aerovelocity and Peniaphobia have won the last two runnings of the Hong Kong Sprint and are part of a field of 12 in Sunday’s seventh race, the $515,616 Premier Bowl at six furlongs on turf.
Designs on Rome, the Horse of the Year in Hong Kong in 2013-14, will start in Sunday’s $515,616 Sha Tin Trophy at about a mile on turf.
