Wise Move - Wise Dan leads the American charge at the Breeder's Cup this weekend.
Regular readers will know I have more than keen interest in American racing so this weekend’s 29th Breeder’s Cup is like Christmas come early for me. On Friday and Saturday the 2nd and 3rd of November the top horses in North America, and some of the best horses from around the world, will descend on the beautiful Santa Anita Park racetrack in California for the annual thoroughbred World Championships. Over the years the Breeder’s Cup has given some fantastic, unforgettable and iconic moments and the coverage of this spectacular event really is second to none. This year’s Breeder’s Cup looks set to be another incredible instalment with some of the world’s best race horses set to battle it out round the turns of Santa Anita. The British & Irish challenge is typically strong but with Longchamp’s Arc meeting and Champions Day so close to the American racing showpiece the transatlantic raiding party is no longer quite what it used to be. Although we have some of our best in this year’s raiding party, 2012 looks to me to be a year where the home team will dominate proceedings.
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.
Game On - Breeder's Cup Classic prices are out and Pacific Classic 1-2 Dullahan and Game On Dude are both prominent in the market.
William Hill have become the first bookie to price up the 2012 Breeder’s Cup Classic this afternoon; and they deserve praise for doing so.
The race has lost some of it’s strength this year with so many of this year’s top US three-year-olds already in retirement and the world’s greatest horse Frankel snubbing it; but while The Breeder’s Cup may have lost some of its appeal in some quarters on these shores, especially with the introduction of Champion’s Day, it remains one of the highlights of the season for me and this year’s renewal looks like being a cracking, and open, race.
My fancy for the race has been Game On Dude for quite some time and that hasn’t wavered in spite of his ½ length loss to Dullahan in last weekend’s Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
Last year’s second must have a great chance of gaining compensation for his narrow defeat twelve months ago with the Breeder’s Cup now switched back to his backyard of Santa Anita.
Hills obviously share those sentiments as they have put him in as the 7/1 favourite, with Triple Crown chasing Camelot in just behind at 8/1 – will Ballydoyle risk their star across the Atlantic once the Triple Crown bid is put to bed? You’d have to think they’d fancy their chances in an open year but with or without the added interest of a UK or Irish runner the Breeder’s Cup Classic looks like being another great race.
Breeder’s Cup Classic 2012 – Selected Odds (William Hill):
Internationally Known - After his Juddmonte demolition job could Frankel go for the Arc?
On the back of his effortless victory in the Juddmonte International talk has swirled of a potential extra date on the Frankel retirement tour – a tilt at the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe at Longchamp on 7th October.
In the wake of his destruction of the Juddmonte field Frankel wasn’t trending on twitter but the word Arc was, just showing how desperate people are to see the world’s greatest racehorse take on the cream of Europe, and the world’s middle distance horses.
If Frankel were to run – he’s currently put in for the race at ridiculously short prices – it would be a drastic departure from a very strategic plan that was laid out for his four-year-old campaign right from the start of the season.
Some would argue that would be a great move as it would show people that Frankel can win at any distance at any time but Sir Henry Cecil is a master of his craft and surely any deviation from what was obviously a well-thought out battle plan for 2012 would not be taken lightly.
I have compiled a list of 5 pros and 5 cons for and against a Frankel run in this year’s Arc, and strong arguments can be made on both sides...
We’ve been blessed with some fantastic racehorses over the last few years, and continue to be so at the time of writing.
Having always thought of myself as more of a jumps man, it is only in the last three years or so I’ve really got in to my flat racing, and even if we only take in to account those last three years we still have a glittering array of horses and performances to mark this as a truly golden age.
With that in mind I decided to count down ten flat performances from the last 3 years or so that really stand out as special, and in some cases have stuck in the memory for quite some time.
State of the Union - Belmont winner Union Rags will miss the rest of 2012 through injury
Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of leading American three-year-old Union Rags, winner of the 2012 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the US Triple Crown.
Union Rags had enjoyed a brilliant two-year-old campaign winning all his races bar his last in which he went down by the shortest of distances to Hansen at the Breeder’s Cup; but he’d somewhat disappointed as a three-year-old.
An easy win in the Fountain of Youth at the start of the year picked up where he left off but then arguably unlucky runs in the Florida Derby (3rd) and the Kentucky Derby (a fast-finishing 7th) left some wondering whether he really was as good as we had all thought.
He made the most of I’ll Have Another’s late defection from the Belmont though by getting up late down the rail under a majestic Johnny Velasquez ride to take his prize money total to just under $1.8million.
Unfortunately though the colt has suffered a tendon injury which although not career-threatening is season-ending and it’s been announced he won’t run again in 2012.
Whether he will actually run again though remains to be seen, because retiring to stud – much like I’ll Have Another (recently sold to farm in Japan for $10million) – is of course an option.
Owner Phyllis Wyeth certainly won’t take any risks with the horse as she has quite an affinity with him having bought him back after selling him following a dream she had.
More on the injury is expected imminently, but it’s a real shame we won’t see him again this season, I had been particularly looking forward to a potential Breeder’s Cup run. His next target had been the $1million Haskell Invitational at the end of the month for which his preparation had been going well.
It just goes to show how fragile race horses can be though, especially when you consider that minor injuries have now robbed us of seeing the winners of all three legs of this year’s Triple Crown running again in 2012.
Hopefully it won’t be the last we see of Union Rags but if it is he’s enjoyed a hell of a career in the short time he’s been racing and become a firm favourite with me in the process.
You can relive Union Rags’ finest hour – his Belmont win – in the video below:
Last year’s Breeder’s Cup Classic 2nd Game On Dude booked a berth in this year’s renewal with a brilliant performance in the Hollywood Gold Cup last night at Betfair Hollywood Park.
In landing the $500,000 prize, Shergar Cup-bound jockey Chantal Sutherland became the first female jockey to win the Hollywood Gold Cup and continues to show, like her British counterpart Hayley Turner, that she’s more than capable of mix it with the men in the big races.
Game On Dude was second in this race last year in a 1-2 for trainer Bob Baffert, this time though in the 73rd running of the race Game On Dude went one better with a typically gutsy front-running display, fending off a challenge in the straight from stable mate Richard’s Kid under an almost motionless Sutherland to once again register a 1-2 in the race for Baffert.
Game On Dude went down by just a nose last year but this time around it was a comfortable 1 ½ length win for the big horse. The win was Game On Dude’s third Grade 1 in the last 16 months and was a performance more in tune with what the five-year-old colt is really capable of than his disappointing run at Meydan in the Dubai World Cup back in March was when nothing went right for him at all.
With a spot in the showpiece of Breeder’s Cup weekend now guaranteed, if he performs like this come November Game On Dude could be going one better than last year in that race too.
You can watch Game On Dude's brilliant Hollywood Gold Cup win below:
Union Rags was dominant as he landed the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park Sunday
Kentucky Derby favourite Union Rags was in action at Gulfstream on Sunday in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes.
It was his first run since a very unlucky second to Hansen in the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile back in November in which he covered about 77ft more than the winner during the race and went down by the shortest of distances.
The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth had been billed as a showdown between Union Rags and another leading Kentucky Derby hope Algorithms, the morning line favourite for the race; however the unbeaten Algorithms was an 11th hour scratching after reportedly injuring a splint bone in his right front leg.
Union Rags still didn’t go off favourite though, with Algorithms' trainer Todd Pletcher’s other horse Discreet Dancer – also unbeaten – getting that honour.
As the race unfolded though the 6-5 that Union Rags was allowed to go off at looked a steal as he cruised past the pace-setting Discreet Dancer after being sent after him on the far turn to score by 4 lengths from News Pending, with Discreet Dancer fading in to a well beaten third.
The manner of Union Rags victory was impressive to say the least, winning under a hands and heels ride from new jockey Julien Leparoux. In a cruel twist, regular jockey Javier Castellano had earlier elected to ride the scratched Algorithms rather than the winner.
After the race Union Rags’ trainer Michael Matz, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2006 with Barbaro, indicated that the $1million Florida Derby (won last year by Dialed In) on 31st March will likely be next on the agenda for his hugely talented colt before a tilt at the Louisville classic in May.
Union Rags is has come in to 4.1 on Betfair now for the Kentucky Derby having previously been around the 10.0 mark, while Timeform have raised his rating from 123 to 124 putting him 6lb and more ahead of his likely rivals for the Derby.
I fancied this horse for the Kentucky Derby after the Breeder’s Cup last year and this dominant performance has cemented those sentiments. Union Rags certainly looks a force to be reckoned with after kicking off his three-year-old campaign in such an eye-catching way.
