Furore, with Bowman aboard takes out the 1600m G1 Hong Kong Classic Mile. Four back along the fence, yellow, green and blue.
Grand Pix d' Amerique replay. The winner Belina josselyn ( No12 in the blue and yellow) became the first mare in 20 years to take out the great race. She stormed down the outside to just get there.
A masterful, front running display from Luke Currie gets the the bolter Manuel home in the G1 C.F. Orr Stakes yesterday at Caulfield.
Here's a serious race horse. Nature Strip winning yesterday's G2 Rubiton Stakes.He didn't step away all that well from the inside.
I was considering an evening at Vincennes during my Paris trip in May for the Grand Steeplechase de Paris at Auteuil however, as Maisons-Lafitte is closing and this was one of my Mum's favourite trips out from the city centre, this will be my 'wee extra' at the horse racing. As I have remarked before anyone visiting Paris for a major flat or jumps race should try to fit in a visit to Vincennes. It is a completely different atmosphere with groups of locals going nuts and having a great time; a 'Paris' must!
We have a really interesting horse going around in the 1,000m G1 Black Caviar Lightning at Flemington tomorrow. Very rarely do 2 olds take on the seniors in these open sprints. At he bottom of the WFA scale sits the filly Jadastar who'll carry just 6 stone 13 pounds against some pretty decent types. It's a race with probably half a dozen chances, one of which is the Godolphin owned Osborne Bulls who's prime targets are the Newmarket and the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai.
Here's something that might be a bit of a long range tip for the Melbourne Cup. A German import called Schabau who won what I think was a 3yo bench mark 78 in in Hamburg last year, has come out and won an 84 at Flemington today. Of course he'll have to step up big time if he's to get the job done next November. He's in the last half dozen as they leave the straight after the start. Light blue, red sleeves and black cap.
Winx returned to the track today looking to make it 30 wins in a row. The multiple G1 winner Happy Clapper appeared the only real chance of toppling the great mare. He applied the pressure with a bold move on the bend for home, but it was all to no avail. Some intrepid punter lobbed $250,000 at the mare. He won 10 grand. Scary stuff.
In Her Time wins the G1 Lightning from the fast finishing Osborne Bulls. The winner is in the yellow, black sleeves, black cap with yellow and white spots. Gate 1.
One of the few Grade 1 German tracks I have not yet visited. I always fancied a wee jaunt to the 'Deutsches Derby' at Hamburg however with 'retirement' imminent I suppose it is too late. The plan is to buy a wee dug in January 2020 when I start to receive my state retirement pension. Januaury was my last visit to Bavaria and this will be followed by Paris/London in May and Koln (BAP concert in Bonn) in August. I will either extend the later trip or have a 'Goodbye Koln' holiday in December 2019. At the moment my intention is: He or she will be called Pitkeathly; my Mum's maiden name.
How's Fiorente doing Cyc? I read he had 4 winners the other week. As he didn't win until the May of his 2nd season he was unlikely to get many early types I suppose.
As you's stated Bustino, his three year old crop that's starting to appear. The first of his two year olds hit the track on 30 December 2017, and with our season finishing on July 31, he managed to gets 13 to the track for 25 races for 1 win and 5 places. They've turned things around as three year olds though. This season he's had nearly 60 starts (not starters) for 16 wins. All up he's had 52 horses go to the races. They seem to be be getting better with some age on them, as expected I suppose.
It looks like the King's Stand winner Blue Point has returned in fine form. He here is winning the G2 Meydan Sprint on Feb 14.
Thanks Cyc. Must be difficult for him with the speed skewed racing in Aus. There must be the odd nagging doubt over there that you’ll soon have no stamina in your pedigrees but is Fiorente the one who’ll be of help? But always admire that the Australian trainers aren’t frightened to run a horse over 7f one week and 10f the next.
There are some worries about the steady decline in staying types in this country, but I think for the most part the industry is pretty happy with it's concentration on speed. It's where the money is. Two year old racing is cashed to the eye balls and nobody really wants to rock the boat, and this leads onto to the quest for riches at the elite level as older horses. Our structure is pretty much set in cement and isn't about to change. And thinking about it, when a horse can win AU$23,000,000 (13,000,000 pounds) in earnings from races of 10f or less in distance, it hardly encourages breeders to chase stamina at the expense of speed. But of course when the Melbourne Cup rolls around, we'll hear all manner of laments about our lack of stayers. Then the 1200m Golden Slipper will hove into view, and the winner will often be packed of to stud with an AU$20-40 million tag hanging around his neck. I guess it's all about concentrating on what we're good at. Nobody is going to ask Lionel Messi to keep goal.
The 'Argentine' triumvirate: Alfredo di Stefano Diego Armando Maradona (El Rey sin coronado de Escocia) Lionel Messi
Today in Hong Kong, young trainer Frankie Lor sent three runners into the 1800m G1 Hing Kong Classic Cup.They finished 1, 2, 4, but not in the order expected. The winner, Mission Tycoon ended up a 92-1 blow out victor over the 9-10 favourite Dark Dream.
In the 2000m G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup, Zac Purton pulled off a master stroke mid race to get the even money Exultant the win. With a slow pace on offer, he set the son of Teofio alight from 4th last and raced to the front just below the half mile. He's in the black and white and starts 3 from the outside.
Beauty Generation, the equal top miler in the world according to the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, put in a bull dog performance to see off his arch foe Beat The Clock in the 1400m G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup.
An article by Gambling Insider paints a dire future for UK racing. Horseracing might be facing bleak times in regards to its financial future, with Pontefract becoming the latest track to announce forced prize money reductions. The track has announced prize money has been cut by 11% in 2019, due to reduced maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals, leading to betting shop closures up and down the country. Newmarket announced plans to double Cesarewitch prize money from £500,000 ($665,000) to £1m had been scrapped and in fact was being cut to £350,000. Last week, trainers boycotted Lingfield’s Winter Derby Day due to the amount of prize money on offer. Lingfield is owned by Arena Racing Company (ARC), which has been criticised of late. The company is responsible for the amount of prize money at certain UK tracks. A boycott of ARC’s meetings at Fontwell and Lingfield is being planned across three days next week, which could potentially cost the company £300,000. Pontefract Managing Director, Norman Gundill, said: "We’ve reduced our overall prize money budget from £1,318,000 to £1,167,900 but I stress this reduction is provisional because it’s much easier to increase prize money than reduce it and we intend to monitor the situation closely." Rupert Arnold, Chairman of the National Trainers’ Federation, said: "It’s up to trainers to decide which races they want to run in. We won’t interfere in that, it’s their choice.”
