Natural Rise remained unbeaten after two starts with a smart win in Saturday’s $199,600 Cattleya Stakes at a mile on dirt for 2-year-olds at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.
The Cattleya Stakes is the first of four qualifying races in Japan for the 2025 Kentucky Derby. Natural Rise received 10 qualifying points. The series continues in December and additional races are run in February and March.
The Kentucky-bred Snappy Dresser is among 16 entrants in Saturday’s $199,600 Cattleya Stakes at a mile on dirt for 2-year-olds at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan, the first of four qualifying races in that country for the 2025 Kentucky Derby.
Snappy Dresser, owned and bred by Godolphin Racing, won his debut in a seven-furlong race for first-time starters at Tokyo Racecourse on Oct. 20. The colt, by Union Rags, is trained by Masahiro Otake.
By Leo Schlink
Bidding to become only the 11th jockey to ride 600 winners or more in Hong Kong, Vincent Ho believes a solid tempo in the HK$3.12 million Class 2 Chevalier Cup Handicap (1600m) will enhance Karma’s winning chances at Sha Tin on Sunday (24 November).
Trained by Caspar Fownes, Karma was one of several backmarkers caught out after the field split into two divisions in the G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin on 3 November and eventually finished ninth, beaten three and three-quarter lengths, behind Ensued.
By Scott Burton
If you go back to 2006 when Ryan Moore made his LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) debut, it was Olivier Peslier who took home the trophy ahead of Glen Boss and Andreas Suborics at the end of what was undoubtedly a good night for the visitors.
Moore finished sixth on that occasion and, in a remarkable sequence, has contested every edition since with the exception of 2008.
Less than three weeks after a win in the $1.8 million Big Dance Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, the red-hot 5-year-old gelding Gringotts is bound for a much smaller venue for the Group 3 Gong Stakes at a mile at Kembla Grange Racecourse on Friday evening.
Thanks to his win in the Big Dance Stakes, as well as second-place finishes in two stakes in September and October, Gringotts will carry topweight of 132 pounds in the $650,000 Gong Stakes, a handicap which drew a full field of 16.
Much-travelled Australian-based jockey Rachel King will add Hong Kong as another of her racing destinations for 2024 when she returns to Happy Valley on Wednesday, 4 December for the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC).
After already riding in England, Japan, the United States of America and Australia this year, King is hoping to improve on last year’s Hong Kong performance when she finished third in the LONGINES IJC after riding Oversubscribed to victory in the first of the four-race competition.
A foreign-trained horse has not won the Grade 1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse since Alkaased from Britain scored by a nose at 9-1 in 2005.
The home team has not always faced foreign competition in recent years, but will have that threat on Sunday with the presence of 2024 European Group 1 winners Auguste Rodin, Fantastic Moon, and Goliath.
Even with those credentials, the invaders may not be able to beat the Japanese-based 3-year-old filly Cervinia or 5-year-old horse Do Deuce.
City of Troy, the fabulous colt who won three of Britain’s most prestigious races in the spring and summer, was honored as the 2024 Cartier Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt in an awards ceremony in London on Wednesday evening.
