Delegator, unplaced in the last two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, may finally win the first Group 1 race of his career in Saturday’s July Cup for sprinters at Newmarket, England.
A 5-year-old horse owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing, Delegator is a lukewarm favorite for the July Cup, which is run over a straightaway six furlongs on Newmarket’s July course and has a purse of approximately $640,000.
Frederick Engels, the winner of the 24-runner Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 14, makes his group stakes debut against just seven rivals in Thursday’s Group 2 July Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings at Newmarket, England.
The July Stakes, worth approximately $96,600, is one of two Group 2 races on Thursday’s card, the first of the three-day July meeting at Newmarket that includes Friday’s Group 1 Falmouth Stakes for female milers and Saturday’s Group 1 July Cup for sprinters.
Mutual Trust remained unbeaten after four starts and won his first Group 1 race in the Prix Jean Prat for 3-year-olds at Chantilly, France, on Sunday.
Mutual Trust, ridden by Maxime Guyon, finished a head in front of Zoffany, the even-money favorite who finished a nose in front of pacesetter Strong Suit, in the one-mile race that was worth approximately $580,000.
Zoffany, who finished a fast-closing second to Frankel in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 14, will be favored to win the second Group 1 race of his career in Sunday’s Prix Jean Prat for 3-year-olds over a mile on turf at Chantilly, France.
Zoffany is part of a field of seven in the Prix Jean Prat, which has a purse of approximately $580,000.
There were suggestions that the connections of Workforce, winner of the English Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last year, ducked an engagement with highly touted Australian import So You Think in the June 15 Prince of Wales's. So You Think wound up losing the Prince of Wales's anyway, run down in the final strides by Rewilding, and the Workforce-So You Think showdown comes instead on Saturday at Sandown, where the two meet up in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes. Just five are expected to start in the Eclipse, but the field also includes Snow Fairy, one of the world’s best fillies.
Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms collected three awards Monday night at Britain’s annual Thoroughbred Breeders Association awards dinner in Newmarket.
Juddmonte’s powerful homebreeding operation, which also has a farm in Lexington, Ky., won as 2010’s leading British-based Flat breeder by earnings and also received honors for its stallion Dansili as leading sire by earnings and for broodmare Binche as Flat broodmare of the year. Both are Juddmonte homebreds and are the sire and dam, respectively, of the racemare Proviso, winner of four U.S. Grade 1 races last year for Juddmonte.
Earnestly won the first Grade 1 race of his career in a 12-1 upset in Sunday’s $3.2 million Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan, earning an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs in November.
A 6-year-old horse, Earnestly was always near the front and won by 1 1/2 lengths over Buena Vista, the 5-year-old mare who is a five-time Grade 1 winner and was Japan’s Horse of the Year in 2009 and 2010.
Not only did trainer Aidan O’Brien win the Irish Derby for the sixth year in a row, he recorded his fourth sweep of the top three placings in the race Sunday when Treasure Beach beat Seville and pacesetter Memphis Tennessee in the Group 1 race at The Curragh. Carlton House turned in his second consecutive disappointing performance, finishing fourth behind the O’Brien trio after a third in the English Derby.
Misty for Me is proving to be unbeatable in Group 1 races at the Curragh in Ireland.
Saturday, the 3-year-old filly won her third race at that level at the famous racecourse in the Pretty Polly Stakes, leading throughout 1 1/4 miles for fillies and mares and repelling a threat from Midday, the 1-3 favorite, in early stretch.