Frankel to Face 3 in the Sussex

Frankel bids to land back to back Sussex Stakes wins on Wednesday

Frankel is set to once again take on just three rivals in Wednesday’s Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

The horse, widely regarded as the greatest race horse in the world, faced just three opponents in last year’s renewal as well when breaking Richard Hannon’s Canford Cliffs on the way to a famous victory.

His opposition this year in theory actually only numbers two, given that his pacemaker and half-brother Bullet Train is one of the remaining four in the race.

Frankel’s main rival in his quest to land back to back Sussex wins is Godolphin’s Farhh, second in the Eclipse and third in the Prince of Wales’s, in what has thus far been a break-out season.

The drop back to a mile should suit but realistically he’ll be playing for second place behind Frankel.

In an interesting twist Farhh and Frankel should actually have faced each other once before up at Doncaster in what was only Frankel’s second start, however Farhh was withdrawn after getting worked up in the stalls, as has become somewhat of a trait for the horse.

Frankel’s other opponent will be Richard Fahey’s Gabrial, who will be representing the three-year-old division, as Frankel did last year. Although Fahey has been enjoying a good season thus far, this is surely too big of an ask for his admittedly talented colt and he’ll do well to even be second.

It’s a shame Frankel has have scared off most of the opposition for Wednesday’s race, but at least with Farhh taking his chance there’ll finally be a different rival for Frankel to destroy over a mile before he makes the step-up to 1m2f next time out.

Sussex Stakes Best Odds:

Frankel 1/16

Farhh 10/1

Gabrial 50/1

Bullet Train 150/1

Alpha Wins Jim Dandy for Godolphin

Alpha Male - Alpha won the G2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga for Goldolphin USA

With both Goodwood and Galway next week, the Racing in the UK and Ireland may have been a little lacklustre this weekend but elsewhere in the world there’s top class action.

Nowhere is that more true than in the US where we not only have the Haskell tonight, for which Belmont second Paynter is favourite; but America also played host to two big races last night at Saratoga.

The $600,000 G1 Diana Stakes was won by Winter Memories, but it was the G2 Jim Dandy later on the card that peaked my interest more as the race was won by 9/5 favourite Alpha for the US arm of the Godolphin operation in the Saratoga slop.

Alpha looks to be a colt improving with every race, and could be a major force for Godolphin and trainer Kieran McLaughlin going forward as the US season heads in to the autumn months.

There had been concerns whether the horse, making his first start since finishing well down the field in the Kentucky Derby, would handle the ground but they were proved to be unfounded as he made all under Ramon Dominguez to win comfortably in impressive style.

Alpha will now reportedly head for the $1 million G1 Travers Stakes also run at Saratoga at the end of next month, for which he will certainly be a leading contender on this evidence.

The Jim Dandy has historically been a strong prep race for the Travers and you can see how Alpha did it last night in the video below.

St. Leger Odds & Entries

'The Legend of Camelot' - Can the Derby winner land the Triple Crown?

The St. Leger entries have been announced and with a potential Triple Crown success on the horizon they have obviously been met with great interest.

I don’t think from looking through them that there are any surprises in there, with all the main protagonists entered, but it does look like Aidan O’Brien is taking no chances having entered a massive eleven out of the thirty-six currently engaged.

The O’Brien contingent consists of Astrology, Athens, Chamonix, Chicago, David Livingston, Ernest Hemingway, Father Of Science, Imperial Monarch, Offer, Warwick Avenue and of course the focal point of the race Camelot.

Leger specialist John Gosden also has a strong if not as vast team heading in to the race he’s won for the last two years; he could saddle Dartford, Michelangelo, Shantaram, Thought Worthy and Irish Oaks winner Great Heavens.

Other potential contenders of note include John Oxx’s Call To Battle, Royal Ascot winner Energizer – who has recently joined Godolphin, Derby runner-up Main Sequence and Thomas Chippendale & the horse who will forever be known as “Frankel’s brother” Noble Mission for Sir Henry Cecil.

A lot can happen between now and 15th September, but hopefully most, if not all, of the big names make it to the final English Classic of the season to ensure that if Camelot does make history by becoming the first horse to land the Triple Crown in over forty years he does so by beating the best around.

Top 10 Flat Race Performances of the Last 3 Years

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.

Union Rags Retired

A quick follow up to a post I wrote the week before last on Union Rags being injured and out for the rest of 2012 you can read that post here

The decision has now been made that the horse won’t be back for 2013 and had originally been suggested and will instead head off for stud duties.

It’s a shame but understandable, especially given owner Phyllis Wyeth’s deep connection to the horse. Being the winner of the Belmont he is a popular commodity right now in the breeding world and connections have obviously decided that ultimately risking that status is probably not worth it as much as everyone would’ve liked to see the big colt back on a race course.

Union Rags has given us some great races in his relatively short Racing career and although his Belmont win will undoubtedly be his calling card, his effortless win at the start of the season in the Fountain Of Youth Stakes is a race I will always remember him for, which you can view here

International Stakes - Betting Update

Hawkeyethenoo: 16/1 to land the International Stakes at Ascot on Saturday

There’s a fantastic card of Racing at Ascot on Saturday and although the King George (you can read my King George preview here) is quite rightly the focal point, just before that race is a handicap offering punters the opportunity to line their coffers if they can get to the bottom of an incredibly open-looking race.

The Betfair Summer Double International Stakes is a Class 2 sprint featuring some of the most seasoned handicappers around. With a full 29 runners to pick from finding the winner is going to be somewhat of a task but a big price is all but guaranteed if you can.

Personally I’m going to stick, unsurprisingly, with Hawkeyethenoo who ran a stormer to be a narrow fifth in the Group 1 July Cup last weekend and has been knocking on the door recently. As long as his exertions at the weekend haven’t taken too much out of him 16/1 looks a big each-way price given he was third here in the Buckingham Palace the time before last off only 1lb lower.

King George 2012 - Big Race Preview

Nathaniel winning last year's King George with St. Nicholas Abbey back in third.

The King George is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the flat calendar and is yet another huge Saturday race to look forward to in a month brimming with them.

Since it’s first running in 1951 we’ve see some fabulous renewals of Britain’s most prestigious open age flat race over the years, with the likes of Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard and Grundy all claiming victory in a golden age of middle distance flat horses in the 70s, while the 80s gave us Shergar and Dancing Brave.

Since the turn of the millennium there’ve been several fantastic performances posted in the race by modern greats. Montjeu’s 2000 win still leaves me with goosebumps when I watch it back and twelve months on his fellow super-sire Galileo took the 2001 running.

2010 is the year that perhaps lives on fondest in the memory as the brilliant Harbinger smashed a high-class field by a staggering 11 lengths breaking the track record in the process.

Last year’s renewal would by that standard have a lot to live up to and although it was a bitter-sweet afternoon with Goldolphin star Rewilding fatally breaking down on the run-in, then three-year-old Nathaniel sprang what to some was a shock by accounting for a select but top notch field.

2012 looks poised to be another fantastic instalment in the King George legacy and with Nathaniel looking likely to be back to defend his crown there’s no better place to start to look at this year’s potential runners than with the reigning Ascot king.

Mayson Springs Shock in July Cup

Mayson sprang a 20/1 surprise in Saturday's July Cup

Newmarket’s July Festival has been plagued by ground you’d be more likely to find up at Newcastle for the Eider in the depths of winter.

Hence why there’ve been some results that form students will immediately tear up and throw in the bin, without taking anything away from a gutsy winner, the feature race of the meeting the July Cup is one such race.

First and second in one of the most prestigious sprint races in the world were Mayson for Richard Fahey and Paul Hanagan at 20/1 and the admirable but far from classy The Cheka for Eve Johnson Houghton.

Two weeks ago, on similar ground I hasten to add, Mayson was almost 14l behind the winner in a Group 3 over the same distance yet somehow he managed to rout, an admittedly below par, Group 1 field yesterday.

The horse virtually made all and at the half way point there only looked one winner as Mayson powered through the mud. Whether the other jockeys, like I had, underestimated this horse and thought they could peg him back remains to be seen but there was no stopping him and he all but silenced the crowd as he sprung a 20/1 surprise.

Union Rags Injured - Out For 2012

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:

July Cup 2012 - Big Race Preview

2011 July Cup winner Dream Ahead beating Bated Breath & Hoof It in the Sprint Cup.

Another Saturday, another Group 1.

This week sees Newmarket’s July Festival take place, the highlight of which is Saturday’s Darley July Cup, won last year by Dream Ahead with Hayley Turner winning her first Group 1 on board the now retired colt.

This year’s renewal looks as competitive as ever and several horses hold a great chance of landing the spoils. With the final field yet to be finalised the market and make-up of the race could yet change drastically; and with the deluge we’re currently experiencing in Britain that more than likely will happen.

Below though are short comments and analysis of each horse’s chance as things stand at the five day stage:

Bated Breath – Arguably the UK’s top sprinter at present, however still chasing that elusive first Gp1 win. Beaten ½l by Dream Ahead in this last year and then beaten by same horse by just a nose in the Sprint Cup at Haydock in September. International campaign in the winter was disappointing but right back to best when posting hugely impressive display in Gp2 Temple Stakes at Haydock on seasonal reappearance on favoured quick ground. Some debate over Royal Ascot target but eventually opting for the King’s Stand and found only Hong Kong raider Little Bridge too good that day on Good to Soft ground. Worth his place at the head of the market on form but soft ground would be a concern.

Game On Dude Wins Hollywood Gold Cup

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:

Coral Eclipse - Big Race Preview

The hits keep on coming at what is a real high point of the flat season, with a big race nearly every weekend throughout July.

After last Saturday’s Irish Derby we turn focus back to the UK and Sandown’s summer showpiece the Coral-Eclipse. Last year’s renewal was billed as a showdown between So You Think and Workforce and those two great horses gave us a battle for the ages with the former eventually prevailing.

The defending champ is back again to defend his Eclipse crown in what is more than likely going to be his last race before taking up stallion duties down under.

Currently best-priced at even money, So You Think is certainly the fancied horse in the race and on ratings and all known form he would be the likely winner, however things are from simple in the world of horse racing and as we have seen with Black Caviar and Camelot over the past two weekends super short-priced favourites don’t always get the cake walk most expect.