Chantal Sutherland Jocked Off Game On Dude

Game Over - Chantal Sutherland has lost the ride on Game On Dude

In a bit of a sad, but not all that surprising announcement it’s been revealed that America’s golden girl of Racing Chantal Sutherland has lost the ride on Breeder’s Cup Classic favourite Game On Dude.

Bob Baffert’s star horse will now be ridden by Rafael Bejarano as the Baffert team bid to go one better than last year and land the Classic in their own backyard.

Sutherland was widely criticised for her ride on Game On Dude in last month’s Pacific Classic as she dropped a rein in the closing moments of the race and ended up getting collared by Dullahan.

There were many commenting in the aftermath of that race that she’d lose the ride as a result and those views have been proven correct now.

Baffert is quoted as saying "Rafael is our main rider and we wanted to have our number one rider on our number one horses. With the big fall races coming up, we just felt comfortable having Rafael on Game On Dude” as a way of explanation for the change.

Sutherland has already tweeted “I am sad I have lost the opportunity to ride the "Dude"...I'm sure he will continue to be the champion I know him to be” so is clearly disappointed to have lost the ride on her flagship mount.

Game On Dude is unbeaten in four starts at Santa Anita, home to this year’s Breeder’s Cup, and looks to hold an outstanding chance in an open year of atoning for his narrow second to Drosselmeyer last year, even more so now with one of North America’s top jockeys on board.

St. Leger - The Big Punt Podcast

The latest edition of The Big Punt podcast is now available for download.

This installment is a 'St. Leger Special' and features extensive coverage of the St. Leger as Camelot bids for an historic Triple Crown success; there's also analysis of the Irish St. Leger which takes place at The Curragh later in the day.

In addition to the Racing chat, there is also my annual ante-post Strictly Come Dancing preview and we finish by cleaning up the sequins and having a look at the price for the re-election of US President Barack Obama with the election looming later in the year.

Racing, Dancing and Politics - what's not to like!?

You can download the latest edition of The Big Punt podcast HERE 

St. Leger 2012 - Big Race Preview

Date With Destiny - The Legend of Camelot can be cemented in the St. Leger

The final classic of the season takes place at Town Moor on Saturday and the stage is set for history to be made as Camelot bids to become the first Triple Crown winner since the legendary Nijinksy 42 years ago.

In all honesty the classic generation across the globe this year looks to have been a somewhat weak one and Camelot has stood head and shoulders above most of his peers.

How good he is we won’t quite know until he takes on the older horses for the first time but here back in against his fellow three-year-olds once again he looks impossible to oppose.

Given the prices opposing him is what the punters are going to have to do; all the while sentimentally hoping he can make history.

In taking Camelot on though we’ll have to clutch at the factors that could feasibly conspire to get the wonder-horse beaten; and above all else it’s the distance that is an unknown with him.

He certainly looks as though he can stay a bit further than he’s raced to date, given that he hardly looked like he was coming to the end of his rope when winning the Derby but his breeding doesn’t scream stayer (although Fame And Glory has proved Montjeu’s do stay long distances).

If the ground slows up at all, which it could given the forecast in the North over the coming days, as he showed in the Irish Derby when toiling a little on bottomless ground he’s hardly invincible if the ground is softer than ideal and ground combined with trip could see his stamina pushed to the limit.

All told though he should win against, what in my opinion looks a weak field from a weak generation, and it’d be astounding if Ballydoyle hadn’t prepared him for every ground eventuality that could occur.

Nothing is for certain though and with him taking a huge chunk out of the market and enough runners to pay three places there is a great deal of each way value to plunder.

Snow Fairy Wins Irish Champion Stakes

Fairy-Tale - Snow Fairy's incredible story continued as she won the Irish Champion Stakes

The remarkable Snow Fairy went one better than last year by landing the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday evening.

Ridden to Group 1 success for the first time by a jockey other than Ryan Moore, she travelled in to the race supremely well under Frankie Dettori and accounted for the brave Nathaniel by 1 ¼ lengths.

Snow Fairy had given us an epic battle in the race twelve months earlier when she just failed to reel in globe-trotting superstar So You Think but there was no such trouble this year. Nathaniel went on from Ballydoyle pacemaker Daddy Long Legs on the turn for home but looked in trouble pushed along in front.

Frankie and Snow Fairy soon cruised up alongside William Buick’s mount though and although for a brief moment it looked like the gutsy Nathaniel may battle back she soon got to the front hitting top gear and landing her seventh Group 1, taking her career earnings past the £4 million mark in the process.

St. Nicholas Abbey was ¾ of a length back in third having finished with a flurry and losing nothing in another defeat at the top level. Nathaniel also lost nothing in defeat having tried to force the issue on ground less than ideal and over arguably not his optimum trip.

John Gosden had been keen to point out this was a prep for an Arc tilt next month and was reportedly delighted with his charge’s performance.

Nathaniel is now best-priced 8/1 for the Arc while Snow Fairy, incredibly, can still be backed at 10/1, which I still think is cracking value in spite of having put her up when she was available at 20/1 for the Arc following her Romanet win last month.

Irish Champion Stakes - Big Race Preview

Dream Team - Can Gosden, Buick and Nathaniel land more Group 1 Glory?

The Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock (the preview for which you can read here) is not the only Group 1 action in the UK and Ireland this Saturday as later in the day there is also the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

Won last year by the superstar So You Think after an epic battle with Snow Fairy, the Irish version of the Champion Stakes never quite attracts the calibre of field that our equivalent does but this year’s renewal has the hallmarks of being a fascinating affair.

Currently heading the market, and rightly so, is Eclipse winner and narrow King George second Nathaniel, who has ducked a showdown with Frankel in favour of crossing the Irish Sea for his next shot at Group 1 glory.

Ultra-consistent at this level and better than ever this season it’s hard to see past John Gosden’s stable star. He was beaten only a whisker by one of the world’s leading fillies Danedream in the King George and once again showed all the heart that we’ve come to expect from him even in defeat.

Until his Eclipse win I’d always thought him to be better at 1m4f than at 1m2f but like Frankel I now believe he can operate at the highest level over both distances.

Super-fast ground could potentially be a problem on Saturday, especially as one or two of the others perhaps possess more speed than Nathaniel but I would expect at least a bit of give in the ground and any sort of stamina test is only going to play in to Nathaniel’s hands.

William Buick’s dashing over from Haydock to take the ride on his old partner and the stars look to be aligned for another Gosden-Buick Group 1 victory in a landmark season that seems to be showing no signs of slowing down as we build towards a final showdown with Frankel on Champion’s Day.

If Nathaniel is to be beaten on Saturday Ed Dunlop’s super-mare Snow Fairy looks to be the one with the best chance of claiming his notable scalp.

Betfred Sprint Cup - Big Race Preview

Waiting with Bated Breath - Can last year's 2nd go one better in the Sprint Cup?

Before Betfred’s purchase of the Tote, the Sprint Cup used to be their showpiece sponsorship event.

Although no longer Betfred’s top race the Sprint Cup at Haydock remains a highlight of the flat season and one of the premier sprint races in the world.

Normally a thoroughly competitive affair – look no further than last year’s controversial three-way photo finish for proof of that – this year’s renewal looks a lot easier to solve due to the presence of Aussie super-mare Ortensia who is dangerously close to stealing the mighty Black Caviar’s limelight on these shores.

She had looked back to somewhere near her best when winning at Glorious Goodwood and was definitely back to her best when coming from almost last to first showing an incredible turn of foot when winning the Nunthorpe at York last month.

Although now stepping up to 6f if she’s in anything like that sort of form she should win again. Worries could be the ground if too soft, but it’s been drier lately and she proved she can cope with cut in the ground – in spite of her trainer’s protestations – when winning the Nunthorpe.