Long Run confirmed 7-2 favoritism to land a thrilling renewal of the $807,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday, defeating three previous winners of steeplechasing’s most coveted prize in the process.
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The Group 3 Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud on Saturday, at $111,000 and 1 1/4 miles the first group race of the European season, has attracted a highly competive field of nine. In recent years the Exbury has become a stepping-stone to bigger things in America, as its 2008 winner, Spirit One, would later win the Arlington Million, while last year’s winner, Chinchon, subsequently took Monmouth’s United Nations Stakes.
All 13 American-based horses running on Dubai World Cup Night, March 26, arrived safely in Dubai on Wednesday night. Led by World Cup hopeful Gio Ponti and defending Dubai Golden Shaheen winner Kinsale King, and including UAE Derby hopeful Sweet Ducky, formerly trained by Kelly Breen but now with South African-based Herman Brown since being purchased by Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, they joined the Ben Cecil-trained Crowded House, a Godolphin Mile candidate who has been in Dubai all winter.
Three former winners of the $804,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase will line up for Friday’s 3 5/16-mile renewal, but the baton could pass to the young and improving Long Run, like so many of England’s best jumpers, a French-bred originally trained in France.
The defending title-holder. Imperial Commander, prepped with a win in Haydock’s three-mile Lancashire Chase, but that was back on Nov. 20, so the Nigel Twiston-Davies trainee may have difficulty living up to his role as William Hill’s 3-1 favorite.
Tue, 03/15/2011 - 13:51
Hurricane Fly put a smile into Irish eyes at Cheltenham on Tuesday when he won the $598,000 Champion Hurdle on opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Trained in Ireland by Willie Mullins, Hurricane Fly, the 11-4 favorite in the 2 1/16-mile ev drove to a 1 1/4-length victory over the previously undefeated 9-2 chance Peddlers Cross.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday continues to play havoc with racing there. On Tuesday, the Japan Racing Association announced that all four of the remaining meetings at Nakayama this month had been canceled. Last weekend’s two meetings at the track east of Tokyo had previously been canceled.
Trainer Christophe Clement confirmed Monday that Gio Ponti would be on the flight that was scheduled to depart for Dubai from south Florida on Tuesday to compete in the $10 million World Cup on March 26.
VIDEO: Watch Dubai racing live from Meydan – get free PPs and bet with DRF Bets
The four-day Cheltenham Festival – the world’s preeminent jumps racing meeting – gets under way on Tuesday with the $590,000 Stan James Champion Hurdle as the opening day highlight.
Binocular, last year’s brilliant winner of this 2 1/16-mile event, has won two of his three subsequent starts and is set to defend his crown. But he faces strong opposition, especially from Peddlers Cross, who has won all seven of his career starts, including a Novice Hurdle over 2 5/8 miles at this meeting last year, and who comfortably beat Binocular at Newbury in November.
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan on Friday has played havoc with the Japanese racing schedule this weekend, with damage to at least two racetracks in northeastern part of the country. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu.