Ampere, an undefeated colt trained by Andre Fabre whose dam was a two-time Grade 1 winner in California, will make his Group 1 debut in Tuesday’s $666,840 Grand Prix de Paris for 3-year-old colts and fillies at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.
Ampere won his stakes debut in the Group 2 Prix Hocquart at Longchamp on May 10, a month after winning his debut in a conditions race there April 9. Ampere, by Galileo, will be ridden by Mickael Barzalona.
Muhaarar won his second consecutive Group 1 in Saturday’s $768,000 July Cup at Newmarket, becoming the first 3-year-old in four years to win the race, one of England’s most prestigious sprints.
Muhaarar, ridden by Paul Hanagan, needed all six furlongs of the July Cup, run over a straightaway course, to reach the front. The colt was never far from the leaders and caught Tropics, the 25-1 pacesetter, in the final stride. Eastern Impact, a 50-1 outsider, finished third in the field of 13.
Amazing Maria continued her ascent through the European filly-and-mare ranks Friday at Newmarket, scoring her first Group 1 victory with a one-length win over Euro Charline in the Falmouth Stakes. Her win hardly was dominant, though, with six of the seven runners lined up within 1 1/2 lengths at the finish.
The Australian star Brazen Beau may yet claim a lucrative sprint during his summer trip to England.
On June 20, Brazen Beau was second in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, finishing a half-length behind the American-based winner Undrafted. Saturday at Newmarket, Brazen Beau is likely to be favored in the $768,000 July Cup at six furlongs.
JULY
July 25 – King George VI & Queen Elizabeth – 1 1/2 miles turf – Ascot, England
July 29 – Sussex Stakes – 1 mile turf – Goodwood, England
AUGUST
Aug. 16 – Prix Jacques Le Marois – 1 mile turf – Deauville, France
Aug. 19 – International Stakes - about 1 1/4 miles turf – York, England
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 6 – Grosser Preis von Baden – 1 1/2 miles turf – Baden Baden, Germany
Sept. 12 – Irish Champion Stakes – 1 1/4 miles – Leopardstown, Ireland
The rapidly improving Mahsoob, a 4-year-old colt trained by John Gosden, will have his group stakes debut in Thursday’s $154,280 Princess of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Newmarket, England, the feature race on the first day of the track’s three-day July meeting.
Mahsoob is unbeaten in four starts, including the Wolferton Handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Royal Ascot on June 20. A Dansili colt owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum of Dubai, Mahsoob won his debut on the all-weather surface at Kempton Park last November, and has won three handicaps on turf this year.
Nutan, one of five entrants trained by Peter Schiergen, won the biggest race of his career in Sunday’s $721,500 German Derby at Hamburg Racecourse.
Ridden by Andrasch Starke, Nutan, the 3-1 second choice, always was near the front in the field of 18 and won by five lengths over the 17-1 Palace Prince in the Group 1 race for 3-year-old colts and fillies at 1 1/2 miles on turf. Starke has won the German Derby seven times.
Shimrano, the 9-5 favorite and a Group 2 winner in Cologne last month, raced at the back of the field early and finished 11th.
Golden Horn kept his perfect record intact and beat older horses in his first try, shrugging off a stern challenge from The Grey Gatsby to win the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes on Saturday at Sandown Park in England.
Golden Horn, trained by John Gosden for Anthony Oppenheimer and ridden by Frankie Dettori, is the first horse since Sea the Stars in 2006 to pull off an Epsom Derby-Eclipse Double. As a 3-year-old facing elders, he got an 11-pound weight break from the rest of the field, including The Grey Gatsby.