Orfevre, winner of the Japanese Triple Crown and the Arima Kinen against older horses on Christmas Day, has been named Japan’s 2011 Horse of the Year.
A colt by Stay Gold, Orfevre won 6 of 8 starts in 2011. He lost his first two starts and then scored six consecutive wins, a span that included the Japanese 1000 Guineas, Japanese Derby, and Japanese St. Leger.
Trained by Yasutoshi Ikee for Sunday Racing, Orfevre is scheduled to stay in training this year.
Presvis, winner of the $5 million Dubai Duty Free Stakes last March, makes his 2012 debut in Thursday’s Group 2 Al Rashidiya Stakes at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Trained by Luca Cumani, Presvis has not raced since finishing 10th in the Group 1 Singapore International Cup last May. An 8-year-old gelding, Presvis is the defending champion of the $200,000 Al Rashidiya Stakes, which is run over about 1 1/8 miles on turf.
Black Caviar, unbeaten in 16 races, resumes racing Friday following an 11-week break in the Group 2 Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley Racecourse, a race she won in 2010.
The Australia Stakes, run over about six furlongs with an approximate purse of $208,000, is the first of three expected starts in the next month that will determine Black Caviar’s spring campaign. Trainer Peter Moody has two Group 1 stakes over about seven furlongs at Caulfield on Black Caviar’s schedule in February – the $416,000 C.F. Orr Stakes on Feb. 11 and the $520,000 Futurity Stakes on Feb. 25.
Attendance at Britain’s 59 racecourses reached a record 6.15 million in 2011, the third time it has cracked the six-million level and first time since 2004.
The figures were announced on Tuesday by the Racecourse Association, the trade association for Britain’s racecourses. The previous record was 6.048 million set in 2004. There were more than 1,500 racing days in Britain last year, which attracted an average crowd of 4,187.
First City, third in two group stakes in England last year, caught Mahbooba in the final strides to win Friday’s $200,000 Cape Verdi Stakes over about a mile on turf at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
The Cape Verdi Stakes, for fillies and mares, was First City’s first stakes win and her first start since September, in England.
The nose victory under jockey Royston Ffrench could lead to a start for the 6-year-old mare in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free Stakes against males on the Dubai World Cup undercard on March 31, trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe said.
Mahbooba, a 5-year-old mare trained by Michael de Kock, can win her second race of the month when she starts as the leading contender in Friday’s $200,000 Cape Verdi Stakes over about a mile on turf at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Mahbooba won the Al Rashidiya Trial at Meydan on Jan. 5, her first start in Dubai following a 2011 campaign in Europe that included a stakes win at Newmarket, England.
So You Think, a multiple Group 1 stakes winner in Australia and Europe in the last two years, is being pointed for the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse on March 31.
Anne-Marie O’Brien, the wife of trainer Aidan O’Brien, announced the Dubai World Cup as a goal for So You Think through her Twitter account on Sunday. In the past, the O’Briens have relayed information about their stable’s top horses through Twitter.
Musir scored a decisive victory in the $200,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 on Thursday night at Meydan in Dubai, but it was his stablemate, Master of Hounds, who took a solid step toward the Dubai World Cup with a runner-up finish.
The first round of the Al Maktoum Challenge tops Thursday night’s race card at Meydan in Dubai, and topping the first round of the Al Maktoum Challenge – at least in terms of interest – is Master of Hounds, who drew on the far outside of a 12-horse field entered in the one-mile race over the main track’s Tapeta surface.
