Sixties Icon is a step closer to the Breeders' Cup Marathon after a hard-fought victory in the 1 5/8-mile and 61-yard Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.
Winner of the 2006 St. Leger Stakes for trainer Jeremy Noseda, Sixties Icon put his stamina to good use in the Group 3, $121,000 Geoffrey Freer, outdueling Tempelstern under Johnny Murtagh for a short head win.
The Group 1, $978,000 Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Tuesday features a scintillating clash of the generations when the 3-year-old Epsom Derby winner New Approach challenges the 4-year-old King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Duke of Marmalade.
Australian mining magnate Nathan Tinkler went home with the session-topper Friday at the opening session of Arqana's Deauville August yearling sale in France.
A Galileo colt out of Olimpic Girl, the top-priced horse cost Tinkler's Patinack Farm 770,000 euros, or about $1,131,900. Haras de Meautry consigned the bay colt, who is the first foal for his dam, a listed stakes winner by Darshaan.
Breeders' Cup Turf candidate Sixties Icon goes in search of his second consecutive Group 3 win at Newbury on Saturday when he takes on Geordieland in the 1 5/8-mile, $112,000 Geoffrey Freer Stakes.
The Jeremy Noseda-trained winner of the 2006 St. Leger Stakes, Sixties Icon appears to be back to his best after an operation to clear up a breathing problem aided his victory two weeks ago in Goodwood's 1 1/2-mile Glorious Stakes.
Trainer Freddy Head's hot streak got even hotter at Deauville on Sunday when Marchand d'Or landed the $375,000 Prix Maurice de Gheest, becoming the first horse in French racing history to win the same Group 1 race three times in succession.
A half-hour earlier, Avanti Polonia had added to Head's triumphant day by winning the 1 9/16-mile, Group 2 Prix de Pomone.
Gerald Mosses two wins led the European team to a 94-57 victory over the Rest of the World team in the Shergar Cup jockey compeition at Ascot on Saturday. Yutaka Take rode two winners for the Rest of the World side, for whom Russell Baze had two second-place finishers, the second of which helped propel his team into second place ahead of the British team in the four-team competition. The Irish team finished fourth.
Europe's two hottest trainers, Aidan O'Brien and Freddy Head, square off in the $383,000 Prix Maurice de Gheest, a 6 1/2-furlong Group 1 dash at Deauville on Sunday.
Head, the winner of three Group 1 races in the last month, will saddle the recent July Cup winner and two-time defending Maurice de Gheest titleholder, Marchand d'Or, while O'Brien, who has won 17 Group 1 contests since April 27, sends out the July Cup runner-up US Ranger.
NEW YORK The Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sept. 7 is shaping up as the definitive European prep for this years Breeders Cup. The one-mile Group 1 affair is attracting the attention of Henrythenavigator and Goldikova, both of whom have been committed to Breeders Cup races at Santa Anita on Oct. 25, but not for the same race.
Russell Baze and Jorge Ricardo, the two winningest jockeys in the history of Thoroughbred racing, will team up with Japan's all-time leading rider, Yutaka Take, at Ascot on Saturday as members of the Rest of the World team in the Shergar Cup jockey challenge.