Victoire Pisa’s Dubai World Cup audition went according to plan on Sunday, as he romped to a 2 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2, $1.5 million Nakayama Kinen at Nakayama Racecourse.
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Mont Pelato’s plans to come to America for the Blue Grass Stakes and a possible tilt at the Kentucky Derby hit a snag at Cagnes-sur-Mer on Saturday when the Forest Danger colt backed up to finish ninth in the listed $75,000 Prix Policeman.
Thomas Huet put Mont Pelato on the lead almost from the start of the 1 1/4-mile Fibresand stakes and opened up a five-length lead at the halfway point. He led to the eighth pole and then stopped as the 20-1 Nicolas Clement-trained Inscrutable held off the 5-1 Mariage Tardif by a head for the victory.
Victoire Pisa, winner of the Arima Kinen, will use Sunday’s $1.5 million Nakayama Kinen to prepare for his March 26 date in the $10 million Dubai World Cup. The 1 1/8-mile, Grade 2 turf contest at Nakayama Racecourse just east of Tokyo has attracted 12 contestants.
DUBAI RACING CARNIVAL: Past performances, race analysis, and results
Mont Pelato’s bold American ambitions start on Saturday at the unlikely venue of Cagnes-sur-Mer, a racecourse that lies just a few miles from the ritzy seafront resort of Nice on the French Riviera where he will use the listed, $75,000 Prix Policeman at 1 1/4 miles as a trial for Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes. An undefeated Kentucky-bred son of Forest Danger, Mont Pelato already owns two wins going 1 3/16 miles on the Deauville Fibresand track, so the extra sixteenth on the Cagnes Fibersand strip should be right up his alley.
The Dubai Racing Carnival at Meydan this winter has been largely a battle between Mike de Kock and Godolphin. On Thursday night, Godolphin’s boys in blue got the upper hand when the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Khawlah upset the odds-on de Kock-trained Mahbooba in the $250,000, Group 3 UAE Oaks.
Michael Jarvis, one of Britain’s leading trainers for many decades, announced his imminent retirement on Tuesday because of ill health. The trainer of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Carroll House and five-time Group 1 winner Rakti, Jarvis suffers from prostate cancer and has recently undergone heart surgery.
Mahbooba appears to have her six rivals in the Group 3, $250,000 UAE Oaks over a barrel at Meydan on Thursday night. The Australian-bred Mike de Kock-trained Mahbooba whistled three weeks ago when taking the UAE 1000 Guineas by 3 3/4 lengths. At 1 3/16 miles, the Oaks is 3/16 of a mile longer than the Guineas, but that should only work to the advantage of Mahbooba, a daughter of Galileo.
LIVE VIDEO: Watch Dubai racing live and get free PPs and analysis >>
Snow, freezing temperatures, and high winds aren’t the only types of extreme weather that can force the cancellation a day’s racing. Friday’s card at Riccarton Park in Christchurch, New Zealand has been called off after an earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter Scale struck the area on Tuesday afternoon.
Greg Purcell, chief executive of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, said that no serious damage to the racecourse or the grandstand has been reported, but that the facilities will be thoroughly inspected before the next meeting is allowed to proceed.
Connections of Transcend are angling for an invitation to the Dubai World Cup after the 5-year-old son of Wild Rush led throughout to win the Grade 1, $2.2 million February Stakes at Tokyo on Sunday.
Already invited to the Godolphin Mile on World Cup Night, Transcend prevailed in the one-mile February by 1 1/2 lengths over Furioso as the 5-2 favorite. The winning time for the dirt mile was 1:36.40.