The 231st running of the world's oldest classic, the St. Leger Stakes, will be held for the first time at York on Saturday, as its longtime home, Doncaster, is undergoing renovation. First run in 1776, the St. Leger will also be run at a flat 1 3/4 miles, 132 yards short of its usual distance at Doncaster.
A Group 1 event that carries a $850,000 purse, the St. Leger has drawn a field of 12 runners, four of whom could be involved in the finish.
Andre Fabre is keeping one eye on the skies as he contemplates whether to send Hurricane Run to Leopardstown for the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday or keep him in France for Sunday's Prix Foy at Longchamp.
His pending decision will determine whether Hurricane Run, the reigning European champion, will prep for a defense of his Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe title going 1 1/4 miles in Ireland against Ouija Board, or have himself an Arc course and distance prep in France against his very dangerous stablemate, Shirocco.
Andre Fabre is keeping one eye on the skies as he contemplates whether to send Hurricane Run to Leopardstown for the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday or keep him in France for Sunday's Prix Foy at Longchamp.
Fabre's decision will determine whether Hurricane Run, the reigning European champion, will prep for a defense of his Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe title in Ireland against Ouija Board or in France against his stablemate Shirocco.
Prince Flori made mincemeat of the form book at Baden-Baden on Sunday, when he crushed all of the fancied players in the Group 1, $967,000 Grosser Preis von Baden.
Ridden by Filip Minarik, Prince Flori won the Grosser Preis von Baden by three lengths at odds of 26.40-1. Oriental Tiger and Saddex, third and fourth in the German Derby, were second and third on Sunday. German Derby winner Schiaparelli was fifth, and Donaldson, winner of the Deutschland-Preis, finished last of nine, 40 lengths behind the winner. The time for the 1 1/2 miles on good ground was 2:33.87.
Reverence followed up his Group 1 Nunthorpe win last month with another top-level triumph, the Haydock Park Sprint Cup on Saturday afternoon.
The going was heavy, an advantage to Reverence, who prefers the turf in that condition.
Three-year-olds Red Clubs and Amadeus Wolf made the early running, with Reverence, the 11-4 favorite, stalking them just off the pace on the stands rail.
Librettist will put his Breeders' Cup Mile credentials on the line in the $385,000 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sunday. The winner of the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville last month, he has been selected by his owner, Godolphin, for the Group 1 mile instead of its other Breeders' Cup Mile hopeful, Ifraaj, who skipped Saturday's Haydock Park Sprint Cup because of the same soft ground that he would also have encountered in the Moulin.
Schiaparelli, winner of the German Derby, heads a field of eight in Sunday's Group 1, $925,000 Grosser Preis von Baden at Iffezheim Racecourse in Germany, a race that will not include Shirocco.
Last year's Breeders' Cup Turf winner, Shirocco will be sent by his trainer, Andre Fabre, to next Sunday's Prix Foy at Longchamp as a prep for his Oct. 1 date in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
German Derby winner Schiaparelli heads a field of eight in Sunday's Group 1, $925,000 Grosser Preis von Baden at Iffezheim Racecourse in Germany, a race that will not include Shirocco.
Last year's Breeders' Cup Turf winner, Shirocco has passed on the Grosser Preis von Baden because his trainer, Andre Fabre, convinced owner Baron Georg von Ullmann that a run in next Sunday's Prix Foy at Longchamp would better prepare Shirocco for his Oct. 1 date in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Shirocco will face defending Arc champ Hurricane Run in the Prix Foy.