Colm O’Donoghue will retain the ride on Joshua Tree, the hot Aidan O’Brien-trained prospect for the $6.1 million Japan Cup at Tokyo on Sunday. The confirmation of O’Donoghue as the rider for the Canadian International winner means that Johnny Murtagh has ridden his last race as contract rider for Coolmore. It also suggests that the O’Donoghue could be the Murtagh’s successor at Coolmore, especially as Christophe Soumillon has signed on as first string rider for Ecurie Wildenstein in France.
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DRF Past Performances
A record-setting performance by the 5-year-old New York-bred A Shin Forward propelled the Masoto Nishizono-trained son of Forest Wildcat to victory in the $2.3 million Mile Championship at Kyoto on Sunday. The 51-1 shot shaved .30 of a second off the track mark, getting the mile on a firm turf course in 1:31.80 while defeating the 2.70-1 favorite Danon Yoyo by a neck.
Trainer John Moore and jockey Darren Beadman scored a Group 2 stakes double Sunday at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.
In the $387,000 Jockey Club Sprint, Beadman rode 14-1 outsider One World to a dead-heat win with Singapore’s star sprinter Rocket Man. Both horses ran the six furlongs in 1:08.82 while prepping for the Hong Kong Sprint on Dec. 12.
Earlier on the card, Beadman guided 7-5 favorite Able One to a three-quarter length, wire-to-wire victory in the $387,000 Jockey Club Mile.
The Far East’s two best sprinters, Sacred Kingdom and Rocket Man, clash at Sha Tin on Sunday in the Group 2, $387,000 Jockey Club Sprint, the local prep for the Dec. 12 Hong Kong Sprint, at which the Carl O’Callaghan-trained Kinsale King is being aimed.
Trained by Ricky Yiu, Sacred Kingdom has won his last four races. That string began with his second triumph in last year’s six-furlong, Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint and concluded with a victory in the five-furlong Sha Tin Sprint Trophy on Oct. 1. Brett Prebble will ride the Australian-bred 7-year-old gelding in the six-furlong dash.
Eight foreign horses were confirmed by the Japan Racing Association (JRA) on Friday for next Sunday’s $6.1 million Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse. The invading octet will be led by Canadian International winner Joshua Tree and includes a single North American hopeful, Canada’s Ian Black-trained Fifty Proof, the fifth-place finisher in the Canadian International.
Goldikova was named the Cartier Racing Awards Horse of the Year on Tuesday, an honor emblematic of the best horse trained in Europe. The winner of five Group or Grade 1 races in 2010, the Wertheimer brothers’ 5-year-old mare capped her championship season with her third Breeders’ Cup Mile victory on Nov. 6.
Harbinger is the world leader in the latest World Thoroughbred Rankings computed by national handicappers from all of the world’s major racing nations. The now retired 5-year-old son of Dansili maintains a wide edge in the standings with the135 rating he achieved for his 11-length triumph in the 1 1/2-mile King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 24.
Johnny Murtagh, whose relationship with Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien will cease at the end of the year, has been hired by the Aga Khan as his No. 1 rider in Ireland. Murtagh will now be first in line for the 120 of the Aga’s horses trained in Ireland by John Oxx and Michael Halford.
Murtagh replaces Fran Berry, who had inherited the position this year following the retirement of Michael Kinane. Berry will continue to ride for the Aga Khan when needed. Christophe Lemaire is the Aga Khan’s contract rider in France, where his horses are trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre.
Johnny Murtagh and Aidan O’Brien may be parting company at the end of the year, but they are going out with a bang as the duo landed the Group 1, $340,000 Criterium de Saint-Cloud on Saturday with Recital. In just the second start of his career, the 2-year-old son of Montjeu came from well out of it to defeat Bubble Chic by five lengths as he took to the very heavy going as if it were second nature.