BAGHDAD, Iraq - The jockeys' racing silks were looted and the betting windows broken. A promising 3-year-old racehorse suffered a nasty shrapnel wound. Unexploded mortar shells littered the ground near the racing oval. Thieves even stole the wheels off the starting gate.
In spite of it all, Baghdad's racetrack may be back in business soon, providing what would be for some a welcome diversion from the trials of daily life in the Iraqi capital.
DUBLIN, Ireland - The bookies huddled under their bright yellow, blue, and red umbrellas at The Curragh in County Kildare last Saturday as 16 colts vied for the Irish 2000 Guineas, gunning for a winner's purse of about $200,000. Rain had soaked the turf for nearly a week, so persistently that bulrushes were growing in a bog near the starting gate, and the trainers who escorted their horses onto the course, Aidan O'Brien among them, got caught in a sudden downpour that had them sprinting for the cover of the grandstand.
Indian Haven, unlucky in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, England, earlier this month, made amends in good style in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at The Curragh on Saturday afternoon.
Coming from off the pace set by Great Pyramid, Indian Haven and jockey John Egan made the decisive move at the furlong pole and won by a length over France.
France was one of five runners from the Aidan O'Brien stable. O'Brien also saddled favored Tomahawk, who finished 11th of 16 in the one-mile race under Michael Kinane.
The French filly Six Perfections, trained by Pascal Bary, is expected to go off as a heavy favorite in the Group 1 Entenmann's Irish
1000 Guineas at The Curragh on Sunday.
Six Perfections was second to Russian Rhythm in the Sagitta 1000 Guineas at Newmarket earlier this month, finishing strongly under Thierry Thulliez after a troubled trip. Johnny Murtagh replaces Thulliez on Six Perfections in Sunday's race.
NEW YORK -Wild Spirit's victory in the Shuvee Handicap at Belmont last Saturday was surprising in ways that go beyond her $22.40 price and the ease with which the recent Chilean import disposed of four of this country's best fillies and mares.
Not only did Wild Spirit give multiple graded stakes winners Smok'n Frolic, You, and Raging Fever a thrashing, she did so as a 3-year-old giving weight on the scale to older fillies and mares.
Expectation of soft ground at The Curragh on Saturday has turned the $421,000 Irish 2000 Guineas into a wide-open 16-runner affair.
Trainer Aidan O'Brien has withdrawn his antepost favorite, Catcher in the Rye, as well as the long-sidelined Statue of Liberty because of the ground. Among the five he will saddle in the classic Group 1 mile are Tomahawk, eighth in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, but one who has done his best running on soft ground.
A British invader, Millenary, crossed the line first in the Group 2 Prix Jean de Chaudenay at Saint-Cloud Wednesday, but the French stewards awarded victory in the race to the nose runner-up, Loxias.
The John Dunlop-trained Millenary, winner of the St. Leger Stakes in 2000, had drifted right with Pat Eddery aboard throughout the final furlong, carrying Loxias wide.
Loxias, a Saumarez 4-year-old ridden by Olivier Peslier and trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias, was sent off at 3.10-1. The time for the 1 1/2 miles on soft ground was 2:37.10.
Falbrav rewarded his new trainer, Luca Cumani, with a Group 1 victory in the Prix d'Ispahan Sunday.
With Kieren Fallon aboard, the 3-1 Falbrav had no trouble holding off Bright Sky, the 7-5 favorite, who was making her first start since finishing nine lengths behind Falbrav in Japan in November. The time for the 1 1/8 miles, 55 yards on good ground was 1:51. Bright Sky will challenge Dubai World Cup winner Moon Ballad at Royal Ascot in the 1 1/4-mile Prince of Wales's Stakes.
Cumani, however, has not decided on Falbrav's next race.
Hawk Wing did all the things that had been expected of him last year when he led all the way to win the Group 1 Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes by 11 lengths at Newbury Saturday.
Under rider Mick Kinane, Hawk Wing immediately took command, with Domedriver and Where or When following him. Hawk Wing drew steadily clear in the last 350 yards of the one-mile race to win over Where or When.
Bright Sky faces seven males in the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp on Sunday to begin a season that is filled with promise.
The winner of last year's French Oaks, Bright Sky concluded her 3-year-old French campaign for trainer Elie Lellouche with a four-length romp in the Prix de l'Opera before an unplaced effort in the Japan Cup. The Prix d'Ispahan is run at 1 1/8 miles and 55 yards, to which she is ideally suited.
