Integral, Sky Lantern, and Rizeena head the seven fillies and mares entered in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes on Friday at Newmarket in England.
Integral and Sky Lantern, both 4-year-olds, met in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at the Royal Ascot meet last month. It was a good day for Integral, who beat 13 rivals scoring a two-length victory, but not so much for Sky Lantern, who failed to threaten finishing fifth in her first start of 2014.
After two good losses to start his 2014 campaign, Mukhadram broke through with a big win Saturday at Sandown in the Eclipse Stakes, winning the first Group 1 race of his career by two lengths over Trading Leather.
It was another three-quarters of a length back to the third-place Somewhat, a huge longshot assumed to be a rabbit in the Eclipse, as the top three slots all went to horses forwardly placed in the 1 1/4-mile race.
The Fugue will attempt to repeat her brilliant performance last month winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot when she starts Saturday in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.
The Fugue is one of 10 entered in the 1 1/4-mile Eclipse, and hot, dry weather this week has boosted her chances, though over good-to-firm going in this race last year, The Fugue struggled home last of seven. In the Prince of Wales’s, The Fugue finished with a flourish to beat Magician by 1 3/4 lengths, but only once in her excellent career has she strung together consecutive victories.
A pair of older horses, Spiritjim in France and Thistle Bird in Ireland, notched Group 1 victories for the first time Sunday.
Four-year-old Spiritjim won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud by a head over Noble Mission. Noble Mission, Juddmonte Farms’ brother to superstar Frankel, made the pace under jockey James Doyle and appeared to be on his way to victory a furlong from the finish, but Noble Mission seriously shortened stride in the final 100 yards and was tagged on the wire by Spiritjim, with rallying Siljan’s Saga close behind in third.
Gold Ship became the first horse to win two runnings of the $2.7 million Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan on Sunday, a victory that could lead to a start in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in October.
This was the second consecutive year that Gold Ship won the Takarazuka Kinen, a race whose field partially is determined by a fan’s vote, similar to an all-star game.
Australia gave trainer Aidan O’Brien his 11th career win in the Irish Derby at The Curragh on Saturday, a race that lacked a competitive feel.
Australia was the 1-8 favorite against four rivals in the $1,687,500 Irish Derby and was not tested, winning by 2 1/2 lengths over stablemate Kingfisher. Another O’Brien-trained runner, Orchesta, finished third, followed by Ponfeigh and Fascinating Rock.
There is Group 1 action in France and Ireland on Sunday, with The Curragh hosting the Pretty Polly Stakes and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud carded at Saint-Cloud just west of central Paris.
The 1 1/2-mile Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, worth about $567,000, drew seven entrants, including two Juddmonte Farms homebreds, Noble Mission and Flintshire, and two Aga Khan homebreds, Narniyn and Siljan’s Saga. The Juddmonte pair would appear to have the edge.
Australia and Kingston Hill, first and second in the English Derby on June 7, meet for the second time in a month in Saturday’s $1,687,500 Irish Derby at The Curragh.
While the two were separated by only 1 1/4 lengths in the English Derby, there might be little suspense to the Group 1 Irish Derby, run over 1 1/2 miles on turf. As of Thursday, Australia was the 1-3 favorite with Irish bookmakers to give trainer Aidan O’Brien his 11th career win in Ireland’s top race for 3-year-olds. Kingston Hill was listed as a 7-2 shot.
Treve, the 4-year-old French filly rated one of the world’s best runners after a rousing win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last fall capped an unbeaten season, won’t race again until September, the racing manager for owner Al Shaqab Racing said this week.
Undefeated going into her 2014 campaign, Treve has lost both her starts this year, finishing a competitive second to Cirrus des Aigles in the Prix Ganay on April 27, but checking in a well-beaten third last Wednesday in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, won impressively by the mare The Fugue.
Slade Power won his first Group 1 race in Saturday’s $894,705 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, giving owner Sabena Power and trainer Ed Lynam a sweep of the two Group 1 sprints during the five-day race meeting, which ended on Saturday.
Slade Power, the 7-2 favorite in a field of 14, was one of nine horses who moved to the outer rails shortly after the start of the race, run on a six-furlong straightaway. Ridden by Wayne Lordan, Slade Power was third of that group until the final quarter-mile, when he took the lead.