Adelaide, the winner of the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park last summer and the Group 1 Cox Plate in Australia last October, is among 13 runners in Saturday’s $3,076,000 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia.
The winner of the race receives an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31, provided the horse is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program.
All winter, Shutthefrontdoor was kept out of action in steeplechase races in England by design.
The 8-year-old Irish-bred gelding was fine. The goal for trainer Jonjo O’Neill and owner J.P. McManus through the winter was Saturday’s grueling $1,469,200 Grand National Steeplechase at 4 7/16ths miles at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool.
The preparation may seem unconventional, but Shutthefrontdoor was the 7-1 favorite for the race as of Thursday. Should he win, Shutthefrontdoor will be the most popular winner in years.
Automatic berths for two Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland in October will be awarded to the winners of seven-figure stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia on Saturday.
The winner of the $2,292,000 Doncaster Mile on turf will get an automatic berth for the BC Mile, while the winner of the $1,910,000 Darley T.J. Smith Stakes will earn a spot in the BC Turf Sprint.
The races that California Chrome might attempt at the Royal Ascot meeting in June are annually among the toughest flat races of the year in England.
California Chrome finished second in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday, and the next day, trainer Art Sherman said the colt will be flown to England rather than back to California, as originally planned. Last year’s Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby winner, California Chrome will be based in Newmarket with trainer Rae Guest.
Aerovelocity won his second major stakes in the last five months in Sunday’s $1,658,831 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at about six furlongs at Chukyo, Japan.
Aerovelocity, sent off at 11-2, finished a half-length in front of the 15-1 Hakusan Moon in the field of 18. Straight Girl, the 4-1 favorite, finished 13th.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- California Chrome will ship from Dubai to England this week in a bold bid to carry his Kentucky Derby-winning and Horse of the Year form to the European turf.
The second-place finisher Saturday night in the $10 million Dubai World Cup, California Chrome had been booked on a flight back to the U.S. on Tuesday but will instead fly to England and be based at Newmarket, trainer Art Sherman said.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Prince Bishop ran in the 2011 World Cup, the edition won by Victoire Pisa, and finished 10th. He ran in the 2012 World Cup, with Monterosso leading a local sweep in the synthetic-surface race, and finished seventh. The next year on World Cup Night, he ran up the track in the Sheema Classic, and last year, in his third crack at the World Cup, Prince Bishop finished ninth, beaten more than 11 lengths.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Treve is not the only elite filly in France.
Dolniya, getting a dream trip under Christophe Soumillon, who scored a seven-figure-stakes double Saturday night, led a one-two French finish in the Group 1, $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic, winning by 2 1/4 lengths over Flintshire in a powerful performance.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Freddie Head called his shot.
Solow, the 5-year-old gelding Head trains for owners and breeders Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, never had run in a Group 1 race before Saturday night. Yet this week, as Solow readied for the Group 1, $6 million Dubai Turf, Head called him one of the best horses he ever had trained, and even called him great.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Bob Baffert won his first Dubai Golden Shaheen when Secret Circle broke a six-race losing streak dating to November 2013, holding off longshot Super Jockey to win the Group 1, $2 million dirt sprint by a head.
