Olympic Express came wide from post 13 under Eric Saint-Martin to take the $1.025 million Hong Kong Gold Cup by a neck from Dr More at Sha Tin on Sunday.
A 5-year-old British-bred, Olympic Express was adding to his victories in last year's Hong Kong Derby and Hong Kong Mile. On Sunday he had Hong Kong Cup winner Precision 5 3/4 lengths behind in seventh while getting the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.90 on ground labeled good to firm.
Danuta followed in the footsteps of previous winners Imperial Gesture and Muwakleh and won the $200,000 Moonshell Mile at Nad Al Sheba Thursday night.
A Belmont maiden winner for Eoin Harty last September, Danuta defeated her Godolphin stablemate Ashraaf by 7 3/4 lengths while getting the mile under Australian rider Kerrin McEvoy in 1:37.46. A Sunday Silence filly, Danuta had European Group 3 winners Loving Kindness and Lady Catherine well behind in fifth and sixth, with Festival Queen, the Harty-trained winner of the Moonshell Mile Prep, last of nine.
Loving Kindness will try to give Godolphin a third successive victory in the $200,000 Moonshell Mile at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday night.
Last year as a 2-year-old, Loving Kindness won the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg and was third in the Group 1 Prix Morny, both against colts going six furlongs. A mile, however, should not be a problem for Loving Kindness, who runs for Godolphin along with Ashraaf, Danuta, and Lady Catherine, who won the Group 3 Premio Dormello.
NEW YORK - The sword rattling that has the world expecting war to break out in Iraq sometime during the next month has not deterred the Emirates Racing Association from going full speed ahead with its plans for Dubai World Cup night at Nad Al Sheba on March 29.
Moon Ballad earned his way into the Dubai World Cup with a big victory in Round 2 of the Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba Thursday night, but Godolphin's Kentucky Derby plans hit a snag when Victory Moon defeated six Saeed bin Suroor-trained Godolphin Triple Crown hopefuls in the UAE 2000 Guineas.
Moon Ballad earned his way into the Dubai World Cup with a big victory in Round 2 of the Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba Thursday night, but Godolphin's Kentucky Derby plans hit a snag when the South African-bred Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old Victory Moon defeated six Saeed bin Suroor-trained Triple Crown hopefuls in the UAE 2000 Guineas.
Europe will beef up its dirt racing program for older horses this year with the establishment of the European All-Weather Championship, a four-race series worth a total of $308,000.
The four races, all listed events, are the 1 1/4-mile Grand Prix de la Riviera Cote d'Azur at Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, on Feb. 11; the 1 3/16-mile Neusser Sandbahn Grand Prix at Neuss, Germany, on Feb. 23; the 1 1/4-mile Winter Derby at Lingfield Park in England, a possible prep for the Kentucky Derby, on March 15; and the 1 1/16-mile Pramms Memorial at Jagersro in Sweden on May 8.
NEW YORK - The announcement last week that the British Horseracing Board was making the unilateral decision to create 14 new listed races is part of a scheme to increase the number of black-type events open to older fillies and mares. It followed the upgrading of 19 British races from listed to Group 3 status by the European Pattern Race Committee the week before.