Purses on the wintertime all-weather circuit in England will be increased by $3.1 million this winter, culminating in a day of stakes for six divisions on Polytrack at Lingfield Park near London in April.
The All-Weather Championships was announced on Wednesday by Arena Racing Company, which operates 15 tracks in the country, including the all-weather venues at Lingfield Park, Southwell, and Wolverhampton.
[bc_video_id:306516:]Treve blew away an elite field and now has a chance to go down as one of the best fillies in recent history after winning the Group 1, $6,254,439 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday at Longchamp by five lengths.
Cirrus des Aigles won the Group 2 Prix Dollar for the third consecutive year at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Saturday, becoming the first horse to achieve the milestone.
Ridden by Christophe Soumillon, Cirrus des Aigles, the 7-5 favorite, stormed home with a wide rally to win the $272,000 race by 1 3/4 lengths over 13-1 Mandour. Petit Chevalier, a 14-1 longshot, finished third in the field of 13.
If Orfevre were a professional athlete of the human rather than equine variety, a full year of dark brooding would be ending Sunday. It was one year ago that Orfevre reached out and took firm hold of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, one of the world’s great races, only to let the Arc slip away for no good reason with yards to go.
Moonlight Cloud was eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last year. This year, she is a different mare.
Moonlight Cloud is unbeaten in three starts this year, all in France, a winning streak that makes her a heavy favorite in Sunday’s $408,000 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.
Group 1 winners Leading Light, Meandre, and Treve were supplemented Thursday for $136,000 to Sunday’s $6.5 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in France, a race that will not include jockey Frankie Dettori for the first time in 25 years.
Dettori suffered a fractured ankle at Nottingham, England, on Wednesday. Dettori, who has won the Arc three times, most recently on Marienbard in 2002, is expected to be out for the rest of the year.
The Arc, run over 1 1/2 miles, will have a maximum field of 19 after Thursday’s supplementary stage.
Newmarket Racecourse in England hosted three group stakes Saturday, and the race with Breeders’ Cup implications was not the one you’d expect.
Berkshire won the Royal Lodge Stakes, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race, but probably won’t start again until 2014. Sky Lantern, who traveled to Santa Anita for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf last season, powerfully won the Sun Chariot Stakes, but her major late-season international goal is Hong Kong, not California.
Chriselliam, a 28-1 outsider, closed from last in a field of eight 2-year-old fillies to score an upset win in Friday’s $272,000 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
The Group 1 Fillies’ Mile was the first stakes win for Chriselliam, an Irish-bred by Iffraaj.
Chriselliam was at the back of the field until the final furlong when jockey Richard Hughes switched her to the middle of the track for racing room. Chriselliam accelerated well and took the lead from 7-4 favorite Rizeena in the final 50 yards.
