England's Tattersalls Craven 2-year-old sale in Newmarket, England, ended Thursday with steep gains that produced records across the board and the sale's highest price ever for a filly.
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The Kern Lillingston bloodstock agency snapped up the top-priced horse Wednesday at the Tattersalls company's Craven 2-year-old sale's opening session, paying about $786,030 for a Haafhd filly.
The Bloodstock Connection of Ireland sold the filly, a bay daughter of the stakes-winning Trempolino mare Allespagne.
The filly previously failed to bring her reserve price when she was hammered down for about $102,907 at the 2007 Tattersalls October yearling sale. Then she was consigned by Old Mill Stud, as agent.
Thursday's Group 3 Craven Stakes, a course and distance prep for the classic 2000 Guineas on May 3, could be as competitive as any of the previous 126 runnings of the one-mile trial at Newmarket.
Raven's Pass, currently the Guineas second choice behind New Approach, will offer many clues as to what may transpire at Newmarket on the first Saturday in May. As for New Approach, he is expected to head straight to the 2000 Guineas.
Reginetta led home a parade of longshots in a closely contested but topsy-turvy $2.1 million Oka Sho, or Japanese 1000 Guineas, at Hanshin on Sunday. A 42-1 shot, Reginetta came late to defeat the 93-1 F T Maia by a half-length, with the 9-1 So Magic a neck farther back in third, producing a $68,782 trifecta, the highest ever returned in a Japanese classic.
Zarkava and Natagora have confirmed their 1000 Guineas potential with a certain style. Zarkava breezed to victory in Sunday's Group 3 Prix de la Grotte at Longchamp, and Natagora proved an equally convincing winner of the listed Prix Imprudence at Maisons-Laffitte on Monday.
Natagora will use the straight seven furlongs of Maisons-Laffitte's $85,000 listed Prix Imprudence on Monday as her sole prep for the classic 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 4.
Trained by Pascal Bary, Natagora will face nine opponents in the Imprudence, chief among them the David Smaga-trained Modern Look, the winner last fall of Maisons-Laffitte's six-furlong Group 3 Prix Miesque.
NEW YORK - The American posse that raided Nad Al Sheba two weeks ago has returned to the ranch with booty totaling $7,020,000, more than one-third of all the loot up for grabs on Dubai World Cup Night. Nine of the 15 U.S. runners who traveled to the United Arab Emirates had a profitable trip, bringing back enough cash to cause a minor blip in the gross national product.
Zarkava prepares for her classic tilts in the French 1000 Guineas and French Oaks at Longchamp on Sunday, needing to overcome six rivals and heavy ground in the Group 3, $126,000 Prix de la Grotte. The winner of the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac in October over the one-mile Grotte course, the undefeated Zarkava, trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre, is probably good enough to win in the mud.
The Pascal Bary-trained Conference Call, 2 1/2 lengths second to Zarkava in the Marcel Boussac, and Group 3 runners-up Gipson Dessert and Mousse au Chocolat could challenge.
The $2.1 million Oka Sho, or Japanese 1000 Guineas, at Hanshin on Sunday, will be a highly competitive affair featuring the first three home from the March 8 Tulip Sho, in which Air Pascale, Tall Poppy, and Odile were separated only by noses.
A War Emblem filly, Air Pascale led throughout the Tulip Sho, run over the same Hanshin mile as the Oka Sho. She just held onto defeat Tall Poppy, last year's Japanese 2-year-old filly champ and the expected favorite Sunday.