Buckaroo, the British-bred four-time stakes winner, has had a methodical preparation for Monday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia since he resumed racing after a four-month break in August.
After an eighth-place finish in the Group 1 Winx Stakes at seven furlongs on Aug. 24, a distance shorter than his best trip, Buckaroo has started in increasingly longer races leading to the $5.61 million Melbourne Cup at two miles.
By Leo Schlink
Tony Cruz will bid for a seventh victory in the HK$4.2 million G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (3 November) when the dual Hong Kong champion trainer accelerates the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) campaigns of Beauty Joy, Five G Patch and La City Blanche.
Cruz first claimed the Ladies’ Purse in 1976 as a jockey on Crossfire and has since added five other victories as a trainer with Russian Pearl (2004), Willie Detroy (2005), Hello Pretty (2006), Time Warp (2018) and Furore (2020).
Sea King, the 5-year-old British-bred gelding, had a mighty introduction to Australian racing when he won the Group 3 Bendigo Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Bendigo Racecourse on Wednesday.
Sea King stalked the pace, challenged for the lead with three furlongs remaining, and pulled clear late. A similar trip may put Sea King in the winner’s circle of the famous Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Monday evening.
Ascoli Piceno, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2023 in Japan, will start in Australia for the first time in the $6.57 million Golden Eagle Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney, Australia, on Friday night.
Should she win, the victory will be well-deserved. Ascoli Piceno drew post 17 in a field of 20. At Rosehill Gardens, races at that distance are around one turn, beginning from a backstretch chute with a lengthy run to the turn. The stretch covers two furlongs.
By Declan Schuster
Trainer Caspar Fownes will cast a menacing Karma into uncharted territory on Sunday (3 November) when the sizeable chestnut – outclassed on paper but in career-best form – contests the HK$4.2 million G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin.
By Leo Schlink
Laying down a marker for the HK$4.2 million G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (3 November), Caspar Fownes fired in a Happy Valley treble on Wednesday night (30 October) to move into second place on the Hong Kong trainers’ championship.
Riding high after a breakthrough double in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon (27 October) at Happy Valley, trainer David Eustace returns to the iconic city circuit on Wednesday (30 October) armed with a trio of runners as he aims to build on a productive weekend.
“The support’s been quite good and thankfully they’ve ran well. It gives you encouragement that whatever you’re doing and the routines the horses are in are working,” Eustace said.
