Australian racing authorities announced Tuesday the creation of a lucrative Breeders’ Cup-style, year-end race meeting to be called The Championships.
The two-day event, scheduled for Saturday, April 12, and Saturday, April 19, in 2014, will include 10 races with purses worth a combined $16.8 million and will be held at Royal Randwick Racecourse in suburban Sydney.
Fiorente gave favorite backers and trainer Gai Waterhouse reasons to celebrate with his win in Tuesday’s $5,658,000 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia.
Fiorente won the two-mile handicap as the 6-1 favorite, the first winning favorite in Australia’s most famous race since Makybe Diva won the race for third consecutive year in 2005.
A 5-year-old Irish-bred horse by Monsun, Fiorente gave Waterhouse, one of Australia’s leading trainers, her first career win in the Melbourne Cup, which drew a field of 24.
Fiorente’s experience will make him the favorite to win Tuesday’s $5,658,000 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, a race in which he was second by a length in 2012.
A two-mile handicap run on turf, the Melbourne Cup has drawn a maximum field of 24, including eight runners trained in the Northern Hemisphere.
Just a Way, a 14-1 outsider, scored an upset win in Sunday’s $2,824,157 Tenno Sho at Tokyo Racecourse, the first Grade 1 win of his career.
Ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga, Just a Way finished four lengths in front of Gentildonna, the even-money favorite who was making her first start since a third in the Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse on June 23. Gentildonna was the 2012 Japanese Horse of the Year.
Eishin Flash, who won the 2012 Tenno Sho, was third in the field of 17.
Somewhat is the most accomplished horse among 11 entrants in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy Stakes on Saturday at Doncaster in England, but that does not mean he has a discernible edge in the one-mile race for 2-year-olds.
Fiorente, second in the 2012 Melbourne Cup, can solidify his status as the favorite for this year’s Melbourne Cup on Nov. 5 with a win in Saturday’s $2,880,000 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Australia.
The Group 1 Cox Plate, run over 1 1/2 miles on turf, is a key prep for the two-mile Melbourne Cup. Fiorente won a Group 2 race over a mile at Moonee Valley in September, but was fourth in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington on Oct. 5. Jockey Blake Shinn rides Fiorente for Gai Waterhouse.
Farhh, making his first start since May, ended his career with a hard-fought neck win in Saturday’s $2,093,000 Champion Stakes at Ascot.
Ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, Farhh (11-4) led for the final furlong of the 1 1/4-mile race over soft turf and held off a late run from 6-4 favorite Cirrus des Aigles, the winner of the 2011 Champion Stakes. Ruler of The World, the winner of the English Derby in June, finished third in a strong field of 10.
Farhh was always near the lead, tracking Hunter’s Light, who was 10th in the Arlington Million in August.
The first Group 1 win of Olympic Glory’s career proved a memorable won, as the 3-year-old burst between horses and stormed home to a 3 1/4-length victory Saturday at soggy Ascot in the $1,614,700 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Autumn at Ascot seems to fit the veteran French gelding Cirrus des Aigles.
In 2011, Cirrus des Aigles won the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, his first win at that level. Last year, he was second to the star Frankel.
Saturday, Cirrus des Aigles is back in the $2,093,000 Champion Stakes and will be a heavy favorite to win the race over 1 1/4 miles on turf. A 7-year-old gelding, Cirrus des Aigles will be after his third consecutive win, having won the Group 3 La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte on Sept. 20 and the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp on Oct. 5.
