Wearing blinkers for the first time in his brief career, Mafaaz barely outlasted Spring of Fame in a desperate finish to the $115,000 Kentucky Derby Challenge at Kempton Park on Wednesday night to earn himself a place in the Run for the Roses, but he could go first in the Blue Grass Stakes on a Polytrack surface similar to that at Kempton.
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DRF Past Performances
Ken McPeek hasn't let Dream Empress's poor performance in the Herecomesthebride Stakes at Gulfstream Park last Sunday put a damper on his dreams of sending her to Epsom for the English Oaks.
Dream Empress, winner of the Alcibiades Stakes, was among 77 horses nominated Thursday to the 1 1/2-mile Oaks on June 5. McPeek also nominated his recent Gulfstream allowance winner Striking Dancer.
Eagle Mountain, who would probably have started as the favorite for the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 28, was withdrawn from the race on Monday after having suffered a suspensory ligament injury. Trainer Mike de Kock was grateful that the problem was discovered early and is planning on a summer campaign for Eagle Mountain, winner of the Hong Kong Cup and runner-up in last fall's Breeders' Cup Turf.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Mark Hennig was not sure what he was going to do next with Red Rocks - until he got an offer he could not refuse to send his Grade 1 winner to Dubai for the $5 million Sheema Classic on March 28.
Red Rocks was one of five south Florida-based horses who boarded a flight late Tuesday afternoon for Dubai to compete on the rich World Cup card. He was joined on the trip by the Rick Dutrow-trained pair of Kip Deville and Arson Squad, plus Albertus Maximus and Anak Nakal.
A guaranteed place in the Kentucky Derby lineup awaits the winner of Wednesday night's Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes, a $115,000 allowance race that will be run on a right-handed Polytrack surface at a distance of 1 1/8 miles at Kempton Park near London.
It's difficult what to make of the the first running of the Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes at Kempton Park on Wednesday.
Contested at 1 1/8 miles on a Polytrack surface in England, it's actually an allowance, one that will be run under the lights and on a right-handed track. The winner gets an automatic place in the Kentucky Derby lineup, which means a more deserving American horse might get bumped.
Kauto Star reclaimed his Cheltenham Gold Cup title from a stablemate and last year's winner, Denman, on Friday with a devastating 13-length victory in the world's premier steeplechase race.
Traveling easily throughout the 3 5/16-mile, $653,000 contest, Kauto Star, the 2007 Gold Cup winner, became the first horse to regain a Gold Cup title after having lost it as he avenged his seven-length runner-up finish of a year ago.
Trincot and Loup Breton will renew their budding rivalry at Saint-Cloud on Saturday in the first group race of the European season, the $102,000 Prix Exbury.
The 1 1/4-mile, Group 3 contest will be the third time in succession these two will have faced off. Trincot beat Loup Breton by a head in winning last October's Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp, while Loup Breton finished 3 1/2 lengths in front of Trincot when they ran sixth and 10th in the Hong Kong Cup on Dec. 14.
Trainer Paul Nicholls holds most of the aces in Friday's $653,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup, the 3 5/16-mile odyssey over 22 fences that rates as the world's most important steeplechase race.
Nicholls will saddle five in the great race, but most of the attention will be focused on his defending champ, Denman, and his 2007 winner, Kauto Star.