Kieren Fallon proved his all-round mastery in the saddle when he guided Chic to a perfectly judged victory over the hot favorite, Nayyir, in the Group 2, $180,000 Celebration Mile at Goodwood in England on Saturday.
Fallon has won the British jockeys' championship six times, and a superb recent run of form means he is set to win a seventh title this year. He has been openly critical, though, of his own riding around Goodwood's tricky, undulating, right-handed track.
Gary Stevens' season in France isn't quite over yet. After having announced on Tuesday that he was ending his relationship with trainer Andre Fabre to return to the United States, he accepted rides from Fabre this weekend at Deauville, among them Martaline in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville on Sunday.
Hurricane Alan is capable of a mild upset in a competitive renewal of the Group 2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood on Saturday.
Winner of the Sandown Mile in April, Hurricane Alan was seventh behind Soviet Song in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on July 28. In his last race, on Aug. 12, however, he was a sharp third behind the subsequent Juddmonte International runner-up, Norse Dancer, in the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes.
The rerun of the Prix de la Nonette at Deauville on Tuesday proved to be nearly as much of a fiasco as the voided attempt on Sunday.
The 1 1/4-mile Group 3 contest for 3-year-old fillies, annulled Sunday when one of the starting gates opened late, was run as a non-betting affair with just four starters, one of whom, Polyfirst, had completed the course Sunday after her rider had missed or ignored the false-start flag.
Mister Monet continued his rapid rise up the ranks of Europe's 3-year-olds with a commanding victory in the Group 2, $130,000 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano at Deauville on Saturday.
Trained in Yorkshire, England, by Mark Johnston and ridden by Joe Fanning, Mister Monet was sent off the 9-5 favorite in a field reduced to nine by the scratch of the American-owned Electrocutionist.
Deauville in France will be the scene of a battle of the sexes for 2-year-olds Sunday when the colt Layman clashes with the filly Divine Proportions in the $307,000 Group 1 Prix Morny.
Layman, a son of Sunday Silence trained by Andre Fabre for Sheikh Mohammed, followed a handy maiden score with a five-length romp in the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg over the Morny course and distance of six furlongs on Aug. 1. Gary Stevens will ride.
Trained by Pascal Bary, Divine Proportions has beaten colts in all three of her starts, most recently in the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin.
NEW YORK - David Ashforth, columnist for the British racing daily The Racing Post and author of the international not-quite-best-seller "Ringers & Rascals: The True Story of Racing's Greatest Con Artists," tells a funny story about the stewards at Ascot.
The fast-improving Mister Monet steps up to Group 2 company Saturday in the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano at Deauville, France.
Winner of the Group 3 Rose of Lancaster Stakes versus older horses at Haydock on Sept. 7, Mister Monet will be back against 3-year-olds in the 1 1/4-mile Guillaume d'Ornano. He will, however, be running on soft ground for the first time as he seeks his fourth straight victory. Joe Fanning will be on board.
Tony James emerged as an early candidate for the 2005 Kentucky Derby on Wednesday after his victory in York's Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes.
An allowance winner first time out in May, Tony James revelled over the soft ground at York, defeating Andronikos by 1 1/4 lengths at odds of 16-1 and getting the six furlongs in 1:14.30 under Seb Sanders.
In the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, the late withdrawl of Ouija Board paved the way for Quiff's victory. Running for just the fourth time, Quiff won by 11 lengths over Pongee, covering the soggy 1 1/2 miles in 2:38.03.