Solow has been taken out of consideration for the Queen Anne Stakes June 14 at Royal Ascot, his connections announced this week.
Solow won the Queen Anne last year as part of a brilliant undefeated championship campaign, but after winning his first start of 2016, Solow suffered an injury a week before a trip to Dubai for the Dubai Turf, causing him to miss that race.
Cloth of Stars may be supplemented to the Group 1 English Derby at Epsom Racecourse on June 4 after winning his second group stakes of the year in Sunday’s $148,400 Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in Paris.
Cloth of Stars (13-10) won the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe by 2 1/4 lengths over Robin of Navan, the winner of the Group 1 Gran Criterium de Saint-Cloud last November. Cloth of Stars was second in the Gran Criterium, and won the Group 3 Prix La Force at Chantilly on April 3.
Major Emblem, Japan’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, can rebound from a fourth-place finish in the Japanese 1000 Guineas on April 10 in Sunday’s $1,744,700 NHK Mile Cup against 3-year-old males at Tokyo Racecourse.
Major Emblem, by Daiwa Major, is one of four fillies in a field of 18 colts and fillies. Geldings are not eligible to start. Earlier this year, Major Emblem won the Grade 3 Daily Hai Queen Cup at Tokyo before finishing fourth in the 1000 Guineas at Hanshin, beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Jeweler.
Maurice, the Japanese Horse of the Year in 2015, scored his seventh consecutive victory in Sunday’s $1,804,867 Champions Mile on turf at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.
The Group 1 Champions Mile was the first start for Maurice since a win in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin last December.
Chicken one day, feathers the next, or, as in the case of trainer Aidan O’Brien’s fortunes in the Guineas races this weekend at Newmarket, England, vice versa.
A day after the O’Brien-trained Air Force Blue bombed as the heavy favorite in the 2000 Guineas, O’Brien not only won the English 1000 Guineas with Minding, he swept the top three placings when Ballydoyle rallied for second in front of Alice Springs on Sunday.
Mongolian Saturday, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland last October, will have his first start of 2016 in Sunday’s $1,289,191 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.
The Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize, run at six furlongs on turf, was not intended to be Mongolian Saturday’s first start of the year. The 6-year-old gelding was scratched from the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai last month after developing an illness following a flight from the United States.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Minding has been favored to win the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas on Sunday at Newmarket since she captured the Group 1 Fillies Mile last October, and if she’s to be successful, it’s another O’Brien entrant, Ballydoyle, whom Minding might have to catch.
Air Force Blue is the odds-on favorite to give trainer Aidan O’Brien his eighth win in the QIPCO English 2000 Guineas on Saturday at Newmarket.
Air Force Blue, drawn well enough in post 5, is one of 13 entrants in the Guineas, run over about one mile down a straight course that was listed as “good” on Thursday but could wind up something softer on race day with rain in the local forecast.
Werther, the winner of the Hong Kong Derby in March, scored the richest win of his career in Sunday’s $2.57 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong against an international field.
Ridden by Hugh Bowman, Werther (9-2) won by 4 1/2 lengths over 70-1 longshot Military Attack, the Hong Kong Horse of the Year in the 2012-13 season. Blazing Speed, a 24-1 outsider who won the 2015 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, finished third in the field of 13.
Highland Reel, winner of the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park last August, is part of a strong international field in Sunday’s $2.57 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.
The Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup drew a field of 13, with runners from the Dubai World Cup program and throughout the Far East.
