Fusaichi Richard gave his owner, Fusao Sekiguchi, victory in the first running of the $1.1 million Hanshin Cup at Hanshin Racecourse near Osaka, Japan, on Sunday, holding off Precise Machine by a neck in the seven-furlong Grade 2 event.
Meiner Scherzi was a head further back in third, with Asakusa Den'en and Symboli Gran filling the fourth and fifth places. The British invader Court Masterpiece raced in midpack throughout, coming home ninth of 17, beaten just 2 3/4 lengths as the 5-2 choice.
The trial of jockey Kieren Fallon on race-fixing charges has been has been set to begin Sept. 24, 2007, at the historic London courthouse at the Old Bailey. Fallon has been charged along with five others, all of whom deny the charges of conspiracy to defraud Betfair bettors in races that were run between December 2002 and September 2004.
Fallon, recently given a six-month suspension by French racing authorities in an unrelated incident, will not be able to ride in Britain unless he is found not guilty of the charges.
Pride established herself as the the world's leading distaff Thoroughbred with a narrow victory in the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday as Ouija Board failed to make it to the racetrack, having been scratched from the Hong Kong Vase due to lameness in her left foreleg.
Ouija Board has been ruled out of the Hong Kong Vase and retired hours after a problem was detected with the mare's left front leg Saturday, according to a release issued by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The 5-year-old Ouija Board, winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2004 and this year, had been the expected favorite for Sunday's Group 1 Vase. She was found to be sore during a routine examination by a Hong Kong Jockey Club veterinarian and was officially scratched from the race by her trainer, Ed Dunlop.
Intrigue will be the order of the day at Sha Tin on Sunday as the superb mares Ouija Board and Pride bid farewell to the races while bidding for the filly and mare world championship, albeit in separate events. Also, Takeover Target faces an early-morning urine test to see if he can maintain his place as the favorite for the Hong Kong Sprint.
NEW YORK - The year 2006 got off to an unhappy start for the Maktoum family when the eldest brother and president of Dubai, Maktoum al-Maktoum, died in an Australian hotel over the New Year's weekend. But the adjustments made after his death, both political and sporting, were handled with an aplomb that could never be duplicated in the modern world of Western democracies.
Sunday's Hong Kong Sprint was thrown into disarray on Thursday when America's lone representative, Fast Parade, was withdrawn from the six-furlong dash just before entry time, while the status of prerace favorite Takeover Target was in doubt with the announcement that a routine urine sample taken upon his arrival in Hong Kong had produced an "irregularity."
Rebel Rebel has impressed onlookers in his morning work at Sha Tin this week as he prepares for Sunday's Hong Kong Mile, while Fast Parade has kept a low profile en route to his meeting with Australia's star sprinter, Takeover Target, in the Hong Kong Sprint.
But Rebel Rebel and Fast Parade, the two American representatives, are likely to take a backseat on Hong Kong International Races Day, which features four Group 1 races worth a total of $8 million. Meanwhile, the performances of Ouija Board and Pride will decide the filly and mare world championship.
Javier Castellano will attempt to succeed in Hong Kong on Wednesday night where he failed over this past weekend in Hanshin, Japan, when he represents the United States in the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys Challenge at Happy Valley Racecourse.
Castellano and fellow American Edgar Prado were shut out of the winner's circle at Hanshin on Saturday and Sunday in the World Super Jockeys Series, won by German-based Andreas Suborics.