Nov. 7 (UPI) — Aqueduct, Churchill Downs and Woodbine pick up the baton this weekend with graded stakes action including some promising 2-year-old prospects.
On the global scene, Half Yours had the whole thing after reprising a Caulfield Cup victory with another in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.
This weekend, racing returns to Meydan Racecourse in Dubai and there’s Group action at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh as the runup to the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup gets under way.
So lets get under way with our own runup …
Aqueduct
The New York Racing Association action finally abandons the “Belmont at the Big A” fiction and Aqueduct runs its own meeting starting this weekend. There’s a bit of an emphasis on 2-year-old turf runners who didn’t go to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup.
Deep Learning got the meeting off to a pleasant start for trainer Chad Brown by winning Thursday’s $150,000 1 1/16-miles Chelsea Flower for 2-year-old fillies by 2 lengths as the odds-on favorite.
The Cairo Prince filly ran 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:42.64. She was second in last month’s Grade II Miss Grillo to Ground Support, who went on to finish third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
“I don’t think she’ll mind going a bit further and I think she’ll get better as a 3-year-old,” winning jockey Flavien Prat said.
Also Thursday, Shilling led almost all the way to a 4-length victory in the $150,000 Tempted Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going 1 mile on the dirt.
The daughter of Global Campaign, with Christopher Elliott up for trainer Kenny McPeek, finished in 1:38.45. Assistant trainer Jimmy Jerkens said “you have to talk about” a start in the Grade II Demoiselle on Dec. 6, a Kentucky Oaks points race.
The Chelsea Flower is paired with Friday’s $150,000 Central Park at the same distance, open to all 2-year-olds.
Friday’s program also has the $150,000 Stewart Manor for 2-year-old fillies at 6 furlongs, followed Sunday by the open $150,000 Awad Stakes, named for the winner of the 1995 Arlington Million.
Three-year-olds take the spotlight Saturday with the $200,000 Dwyer at 1 mile on the dirt, the $300,000 Grade II Mother Goose for 3-year-old fillies on the dirt, the $200,000 Grade III Hill Prince for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on the turf and the $250,000 Grade III Long Island for fillies and mares at 1 3/8 miles on the green course.
Disco Time is worth a look in the Dwyer. The Not This Time colt won the Grade III Lecomte at Fair Grounds on Jan. 18, and then vanished from action until Sept. 19, when he won the $250,000 St. Louis Derby at Fairmount Park. The Brad Cox trainee is the 6-5 morning-line pick in the Dwyer off that effort.
Churchill Downs
Saturday’s program has the $300,000 Grade III River City Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on the grass and the $300,000 Dream Supreme for fillies and mares at 6 furlongs on the dirt.
The River City has a nice, competitive field of 12. How competitive? Lagynos is the morning-like favorite at 9-2, perhaps with the Frankie Dettori factor tipping it his way. The Dream Supreme has 10, again with no solid favorite.
Woodbine
Three $150,000 (Canadian) Grade III races, all on the all-weather track, grace the Saturday card — the Bessarabian for fillies and mares at 7 furlongs, the HPIBet Autumn Stakes at 9 furlongs and the $150,000 Maple Leaf for fillies and mares at 10 furlongs.
Del Mar
Saturday it’s the $100,000 The Chosen Vron for California-breds at 7 furlongs on the main track. State-bred distaffers tackle the same conditions Sunday in the $100,000 Betty Grable.
Around the world, around the clock
Australia
The Melbourne Cup famously is “the race that stops a nation,” but nothing was stopping Half Yours from not only winning this year’s renewal Tuesday at Flemington, but also completing the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double.
The 5-year-old St Jean gelding found a narrow path between rivals while advancing from mid-field, took the lead passing the clock tower in the Flemington straight and drew off nicely for jockey Jamie Melham to win by 2 3/4 lengths.
He became the 13th winner of the “Cups Double and Melham became the second female jockey winner of the Melbourne Cup after Michele Payne in 2015.
“I wanted to ride him as quiet as I could,” Racing Post quoted Melham as saying. “But at the 2-furlong pole I couldn’t go any quieter. I had to let him go. This horse was so fit and strong, he went through a tight gap and then an extremely tight gap but I had no say. He just took me through it.”
Goodie Two Shoes shipped in from Ireland for trainer Joseph Patrick O’Brien and was good enough to get home second, 1 1/2 lengths to the good of Middle Earth. The favorite, French-based Presage Nocturne, finished 19th of 24.
Meanwhile, lost in the hustle of Breeders’ Cup weekend, Godolphin had an excellent Saturday Down Under. The global powerhouse won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes with Tentyris and the Group 1 Victoria Derby with Observer — both homebred colts, both favorite on the day and both partnered by Mark Zahra.
Tentrys, a Street Sense colt, won for the fourth time in seven starts. Observer, by Ghaiyyath, made it two straight wins after a third in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas.
Also Saturday at Flemington, Pride of Jenni, now 8, won the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes for the second time, showing the way and drawing off to score by 4 1/2 lengths.
The beat goes on Saturday at Flemington with three Group 1 races, the 2,000-meter TAB Champion Stakes, the VRC Champions Sprint and the Lexus Champions Mile.
Via Sistina, fresh off her Cox Plate victory, is the favorite to repeat last year’s win in the Champion Stakes. The feisty bunch set for the Mile includes Pride of Jenni, Mr Brightside and Ceolwulf. Tentrys runs right back in the Mile and shares support with Joliestar.
Dubai
Dark Saffron hasn’t raced since his 40-1 upset win in the Dubai Golden Shaheen, the culmination of an eight-race journey through Jebal Ali and then the World Cup Carnival.
The Golden Shaheen saw him knock off the likes of Group 1 winners Tuz, Straight No Chaser and Nakatomi, so it’s no wonder trainer Ahmad bin Harmash is wasting no time getting him back into action Friday in the opening race on the opening card of the Carnival — with loftier goals.
The plan is different for Dark Saffron this year, Dubai Racing Club’s Laura Martin quoted bin Harmash as saying.
“We were planning to take him to Saudi for the [Riyadh Dirt Sprint] and then come back here for the Shaheen,” he said. “Last year, he had a lot of racing before the Shaheen, but now he has his rating (112), he will run only four or five times during the season.”
Saudi Arabia
Group race action returns to Riyadh this weekend, and three of the country’s leading owners are represented in a select field for the Group 3 Ministry of Defense Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse on Friday.
Only three are entered for the 1,600 meters, with the indicators pointing to Motathabetah. The 3-year-old filly has won four of her seven starts, including a 12-lengths domination in March before being put away for the season.
She races for the White Stable of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz & Sons. Camilo Ospina rides for trainer Ahmed Mohamoud.
