Escaping from the shadow of Sea the Stars, Rip Van Winkle emerged to win the $493,000 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on Tuesday, handing Paco Boy a resounding 2 1/2-length defeat in this key Group 1 mile.
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DRF Past Performances
Harbinger continued Michael Stoute's hot streak at Goodwood on Tuesday with a convincing score in the Group 3, $115,000 Gordon Stakes, an early 1 1/2-mile prep for the classic St. Leger Stakes. Last year, Harbinger's stablemate Conduit won both those races and went on to win the Breeders' Cup Turf.
Ghanaati, the brilliant winner of the 1000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes, takes on older colts at Goodwood on Wednesday in a first-rate renewal of the $494,000 Sussex Stakes, the first of four key weight-for-age Group 1 European miles leading to the Breeders' Cup Mile.
Described by Barry Hills as the best filly he has ever trained, Ghanaati took the Guineas in stakes- record time on May 3. Seven weeks later, she looked even better when slamming French 1000 winner Elusive Wave and Irish 1000 winner Again in Royal Ascot's Coronation Stakes.
Aidan O'Brien did what comes naturally to him on Sunday, winning the Group 1, $319,000 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh for the 10th time in the last 12 years with Alfred Nobel. The 5-4 Danehill Dancer colt slogged his way through heavy ground to defeat his Ballydoyle stablemate Air Chief Marshal by a half-length, taking 1:20.32 to travel the swampy six furlongs.
Conduit led a one-two-three sweep for Michael Stoute in the $1.6 million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday as he returned to the form that had won him the Breeders' Cup Turf nine months ago. Ending a two-race losing streak at 1 1/4 miles, the 4-year-old son of Dalakhani defeated stablemate Tartan Bearer by 1 3/4 lengths with Ask a head farther back in third. The first two were bred and owned by Ballymacoll Stud.
Action on the European 2-year-old front heats up on Sunday with the running of the first juvenile Group 1 of the season at the Curragh and the reappearance of the Aga Khan's precocious Siyouni at Maisons-Laffitte.
The $319,000 Phoenix Stakes has been won by Aidan O'Brien in nine of the last 11 years. On Sunday the master of Ballydoyle will send out four of the eight runners in the six-furlong dash, which has been taken in recent years by Mastercraftsman, Holy Roman Emperor, George Washington, and Johannesburg, all of them trained by O'Brien.
British trainer Karl Burke was suspended by the British Horseracing Board for a year on Monday for supplying inside information to gamblers on six of his horses who ran during May and June of 2004.
The decision follows on the heels of the suspensions of jockeys Darren Williams and Fergal Lynch and former owner Miles Rodgers, whose race-fixing trial involving the same issues fell apart in civil court.
Utmost Respect, one of Europe's leading sprinters, died Sunday of peritonitis. A gelded 5-year-old son of Danetime, Utmost Respect was a four-time group-race winner going six furlongs. He had won his last three starts, the Group 3 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh, the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes at York, and the Group 3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte.