The undefeated and apparently unconquerable Silent Witness puts his perfect record on the line in Sunday's $576,900 Bahunia Sprint Trophy at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.
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DRF Past Performances
Grand Emporium, considered the weaker of South African trainer Mike de Kock's two entries, galloped to a 1 3/4-length victory in Round 1 of the Group 3, $200,000 Challenge Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday night.
Grand Emporium rallied under Weichong Marwing to catch Turkish raider Kaneko at the sixteenth pole and clocked a slow 1:39.92 under showery conditions on a track labeled fast. State Shinto, timed in 1:37.37 winning this race last year, ran fifth in the Group 3, $200,000 Challenge.
The European Pattern Race Committee has formally approved radical changes to many of the most important Group 1 races run in France, according to a Thursday announcement by France-Galop, French racing's ruling body.
At its annual meeting last Friday in Dublin, the committee approved a proposal by France-Galop's president, Baron Edouard de Rothschild, to reduce the distance of the Prix du Jockey-Club, or French Derby, from 1 1/2 miles to 1 5/16 miles. It had been run at 1 1/2 miles since its inception in 1836.
Ghostzapper and Smarty Jones are the two highest rated horses of 2004 in the , announced on Tuesday in London.
Their coronations, Ghostzapper as the world's leading older horse and Smarty Jones as the best 3-year-old, mark the first time that American-trained horses have topped both of those lists in the same year. Previously known as the International Classification, the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings are determined by a panel of international handicappers gathered under the auspices of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.
Jaws dropped from coast to coast when Wilko defeated America's best 2-year-olds in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but the reaction might not have been necessary if handicappers had been aware of the exploits of Shamardal, who beat Wilko into second place in the Vintage Stakes three months earlier at Goodwood.
North American horseplayers wagered more than $400,000 on a pair of Group 1 stakes simulcast from Uruguay on Thursday.
According to figures from the mutuel department at Pimlico, which served as the North American hub for the special event, fans bet $189,838 on the Group 1 Gran Premio J.P. Ramirez and $234,116 on the Group 1 Gran Premio Pedro Pi-eyrua from Maro-as National Racetrack in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Best Mate, three-time winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, was upset by Beef or Salmon in Tuesday's Group 1 Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in Ireland.
Sent off the 4-5 favorite in a field of six jumpers, Best Mate slipped at the first fence and never seriously threatened, finishing five lengths behind Beef or Salmon, the 2-1 second choice.
Beef or Salmon, third in last year's Lexus to Best Mate, covered the three miles in 6:41.70 over soft ground with heavy patches.
NEW YORK - The 2004 European racing season was filled with strong supporting players but lacked a star. At one stage or another Haafhd, North Light, Grey Swallow, Attraction, Soviet Song, Azamour, Rakti, Doyen, Sulamani, and Bago each had an hour in the limelight, but none maintained top form throughout the year. And only Doyen could establish superiority at any given distance.
It should come as no surprise that a survey of this year's most valuable flat races worldwide reveals that Japan once again tops the list, with 47 of the top 100. In spite of a stagnant economy over the last 10 years, the Japan Racing Association, with 43, and the National Association of Racing, with four, have kept Japanese racing at the top of the world moneywise.