Goldoni won Wednesday’s Investec Derby Trial at Epsom Downs, but he will not be able to take advantage of the race’s automatic berth to the English Derby at the same course on June 2.
Goldoni is a gelding and the English Derby is restricted to colts and fillies.
In Wednesday’s race over about 1 /4 miles, Goldoni, a 15-2 chance, was always near the front and won by 1 1/4 lengths over Mister Music on a heavy turf course. Cameron Highland, the 9-4 favorite, finished third in the field of six.
Black Caviar will have nine rivals when she attempts to extend her unbeaten streak to 20 races in Saturday’s Group 1 Sportingbet Classic at Morphettville Racecourse in Australia.
Unraced since February, Black Caviar is expected to have two starts in Australia in coming weeks before traveling to England for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 23. After Saturday’s race, Black Caviar is expected to start in the Group 1 Goodwood Stakes at Morphettville on May 12.
Thomasgainsborough, a well-regarded Dansili colt trained by Aidan O’Brien, makes his stakes debut in Wednesday’s Investec Derby Trial at Epsom, a race that offers an automatic berth to the winner for the Epsom Derby on June 2.
Thomasgainsborough will be ridden by O’Brien’s son Joseph in the race over about 1 1/4 miles. The Epsom Derby is run over 1 1/2 miles.
Thomasgainsborough was third in a minor handicap on the all-weather surface at Dundalk, Ireland, on April 11, his only start this year.
On paper, Excelebration appeared several cuts above his competition in the Group 3 Gladness Stakes on Sunday at the Curragh in Ireland, and that is how the race played out. Moving fluidly to the lead over one furlong from the finish of the seven-furlong race, Excelebration went on to an easy three-length victory while making his 4-year-old bow and first start under the care of trainer Aidan O’Brien.
More Joyous extended her unbeaten streak to three races this year and earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita in November with a victory in Saturday’s $2,060,000 Doncaster Mile at Randwick Racecourse in Australia.
The Group 1 Doncaster Mile is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge program. More Joyous must be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup program to start in the BC Mile. It was not clear whether owner John Singleton has the BC Mile as a late year goal for More Joyous.
In England this week racing's focus is on 3-year-olds, with the 3-year-old class of 2012 sorting itself out in advance of the season's first classic, the 2000 Guineas on May 5 at Newmarket, but the results of Thursday's Group 3 Craven Stakes at Newmarket might not have done much to clear the Guineas picture.
Black Caviar, the unbeaten Australian sprinter, will have two starts in that country in coming weeks before traveling to England for the Royal Ascot meeting in June, her trainer Peter Moody said earlier this week.
A winner of 19 races, all in Australia, Black Caviar is being pointed for two races over about six furlongs on turf at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide – the $400,000 Sportingbet Classic on April 29 and the $500,000 Goodwood Stakes on May 12.
Frankel, the undefeated Horse of the Year in England in 2011, will resume training in coming days after undergoing “exploratory scans” that showed no injuries after a training scare last week, trainer Sir Henry Cecil said on his website on Wednesday.
Frankel, unbeaten in nine starts, including five Group 1 races, suffered an undisclosed minor injury while training in Newmarket, England, on April 11. The injury led to swelling and soreness on the back of his lower right-front leg and left the 4-year-old out of training for a week.
