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Millard retires from Hong Kong training ranks
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Mark Walker brings up 200th winner
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Strike Force ready for Riccarton polytrack task
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Persistence key to polytrack runner
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Clotworthys chasing juvenile black-type
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Red Roses Stakes
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Big races and big rewards at Addington tonight
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Molander named Young Achiever
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Big spring for Little Brose
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Stonybreck dominant at Cambridge
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Didham hoping for hometrack success
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Medina scores Cambridge win
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Shepherd scores Oamaru win
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
By Michael Guerin One of the men closest to pacing excitement machine Merlin finds himself going head to head with harness racing’s biggest modern trend in the IRT Spring Cup at Alexandra Park tonight (9.16pm). Because co-trainer Scott Phelan says the millionaire stallion is the horse to beat in the 2200m dash even though he is off a 20m handicap, the sort of disadvantage that has become a curse for punters in recent years. As the pacing breed has gotten quicker it has been increasingly rare for horses to win top class races off handicaps, which is a double edged sword. First a handicap means a horse is likely to settle back and few major races have leaders dawdling around these days so if the backmarkers want to move they burn enormous energy, usually three wide. But, as may be the case with Merlin tonight, if they sit back and try and divebomb their rivals they often run amazing sectionals but still get beaten because any horse in Merlin race tonight could pace their last 800m in 55 seconds against the marker pegs. All that doesn’t mean winning off handicaps is impossible these days and backmarkers can be aided by smaller fields and staggered handicaps, meaning they aren’t giving every horse a big start. And of course the longer the race the more time backmarkers have to make up their disadvantage or be towed into the race. Merlin gets none of those advantages tonight though as he is off 20m by himself over just 2200m with nine highly talented rivals in front of him. Yet he is the hot TAB favourite and the top pick for Phelan of the six he and training partner Barry Purdon have in the race. “I still think he is the one to beat,” says Phelan. “I know the handicap isn’t easy but that could change quickly at the start. “There are a few inexperienced standing start horses in here and if he [Merlin] begins quickly and there are two or three gallopers or horses who are slow then he could be sixth or something like that after 400m. “Then he would deserve to be favourite but either way we know he is the best horse in the race.” That race configuration will be crucial as put Merlin three back on the outer starting the last 800m and he may well justify his favouritism, especially as few of those in front of him have actually won a major open class race. “He is ready to go and has had two trials. He looks quite tight and while, being first-up, he will probably be driven to outsprint them I think he can.” The stable also has Spring Cup defending champion Sooner The Bettor in tonight and he tends to step and run and looks the thorn in Merlin’s side even though the score card between the pair is very lopsided. “We also have Cold Chisel coming back which is great but you’d think he would improve with a few more starts and while Jeremiah and Better Knuckle Up are both going great they don’t have as much standing start experience as the big two. “Duchess Megxit has come up well but is heading down south for a mares race next week so I think she will be driven for speed as well.” Cambridge trainer Arna Donnelly has three really promising horses in the race and it wouldn’t surprise to see one of Little Spike, The Surfer or Jolimont get into the top three but the question for most punters will be: should I back Merlin? And if not, who else? Sooner The Bettor makes the most sense as he has been there and done that and Phelan says he can go much better than he did winning last start when he got a touch too relaxed in front. Tonight’s meeting also sees the $110,000 Caduceus Club Fillies Final in which impressive Canterbury juvenile Lizzie Borden comes north to take on rivals like Shezsofast and Alecto who have been sharing the honours in the lead up races. Lizzie Borden’s stablemate Fugitive (R7, No.3) looks the one to beat on the boy’s Woodlands Sires’ Stakes. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
By Michael Guerin Ben Hope admits he knows a lot more about one of his three-year-old trotters than the other one heading to Addington tonight. But he still thinks they can both win. Hope and father Greg train Habibti Pat (R6, No.7) who resumes in the $60,000 Macca Lodge NZ Sires’ Stakes Classique for the trotting girls tonight while a few races later former northerner Ya Eejit Ya (R9, No.1) makes its stable debut against the older horses. “He has come down from Sean McCaffrey’s and feels like a really nice young horse,” says Hope of Ya Eejit Ya. “He seems to have a good record from a mobile and I think he would have to go close as he might have too much speed for many of these if he gets a nice sit.” Habibti Pat was our best juvenile trotting filly last season but had little luck on a northern campaign in the autumn, albeit she finished third to Meant To Be in the Northern Trotting Derby. Hope says she has prepped well for her return tonight and he still has total confidence in her. “But much went right for her up north but she still went some brave races. “She has trialled well this time in. Blair [Orange, driver] was happy with her last trial so we think she is ready to go.” While the Hopes don’t give Orange too many instructions, Ben says he thinks Habibti Pat is ready to be driven with some confidence tonight. “I still think she is the best filly in the country. “Ya Rite Darl has a better draw than us and will be fitter after her last start so we might have to sit parked outside her if she leads. “But I still think our filly is the one to beat.” While the Hope trotters will carry plenty of support tonight the highlight of the meeting is a red hot juvenile race which sees Jumal (R8, No.8) try to remain unbeaten against the likes of Special Occasion and Zeus Lightning. They are anything but the only three winning chances in the Woodlands Stud Sires’ Stakes heat but Jumal opened odds-on with the TAB even from the outside of the front line. With so much talent inside him it wouldn’t surprise to see him have to driven slighty more conservatively inside the first 800m than when he blasted to the lead last start. One thing is for sure: we will know a lot more abut the juvenile boys pacing rankings by 8.30pm tonight. Add in to strong handicap pacing feature that sees Rubira up against Rakero Rocket, Arthur Selby, Hadron Collider and American Me and tonight’s meeting will have some major effects on feature race futures markets for the months to come. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Invincible Spirit's Marvelman has been sold to Bond Thoroughbred Limited, the organisation's Charlie Bond revealed. The 3-year-old G2 Park Stakes hero is likely to be supplemented to the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on British Champions Day, October 18 at a cost of £70,000. Trained by Andrew Balding, the colt was winning his first stakes race at Doncaster last weekend and was previously owned by Mr and Mrs Rex Gorell. Bred by Gigginstown House Stud, Marvelman sold for 140,000gns out of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale to Balding from the Lynn Lodge Stud draft. Bond said, “We've been following the form, I was at Doncaster on Saturday and when I saw him win as well as he did he stood out. If everything goes well in the lead-up to Ascot he'll be supplemented for the QEII. I've obviously had a word with Andrew and he's keen to step him up to the mile for one more run this season. “He looks more of a four-year-old, but Andrew said he really started to come to himself before his last race and after winning like that, why not? If the ground conditions come up the same he'll love it, so if Andrew is happy to go for it I'm quite happy to play the supplementary fee (£70,000).” Bond also had an update on multiple group winner Maranoa Charlie (Wootton Bassett), who was a June purchase. Second in the G1 Prix Jean Prat, the 3-year-old colt was third in the G1 City Of York Stakes and is aiming for the G1 Prix de la Foret at the beginning of October. “The Foret has been his target since York. Christopher [Head] wanted to run him there, even though it looks like he's probably going to get a mile next year,” Bond added. “We're really looking forward to seeing him run on home turf and touch wood his prep work at the moment is going well. “I think he's quite versatile ground-wise. It was obviously quite quick ground at York compared to what he'd been running on and he was coming back at them at the line. Soft ground won't inconvenience him.” The post Marvelman Sold To Bond Thoroughbred, Likely To Be Supplemented To QEII appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Given “a new lease on life” after undergoing kidney transplant surgery three months ago, Ken Ramsey was looking for a way to say thank you to Dr. Sandip Kapur. “This is the premier doctor in New York and he's got all kinds of accolades, but he's never had a horse named after him,” the longtime owner/breeder said of Dr. Kapur, Chief of Transplant Surgery and Director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Programs at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “So I said, 'I've got six 2-year-olds that I bred and I'm gonna name the very best one after you.'” A son of Gainesway sophomore sire McKinzie out of Ramsey's stakes-winning and graded-placed homebred Ava's Kitten (Kitten's Joy), the “very best one” was named Dr. Kapur. McKinzie is already the sire of six stakes winners, led by GISWs 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick and Scottish Lassie. Ava's Kitten made all 13 of her career starts on grass and her full-brother Real Solution carried Ramsey's famed red-and-white silks to wins in two of the top grass stakes in the country, the GI Arlington Million and GI Manhattan S. Ken Ramsey heads to the winner's circle | Annette Jasko Ramsey, of course, also bred and raced Dr. Kapur's broodmare sire, the aforementioned late champion grass horse and perennial leading sire Kitten's Joy. “My only fear was that this horse could possibly be a turf horse,” Ramsey said. After posting his 11th workout at Gulfstream Park July 27, the four-legged Dr. Kapur was nearing a debut for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. Just maybe not where Ramsey had in mind. “I didn't want to run him down there in Florida, I wanted to bring him to Saratoga to see what I got,” Ramsey said. “If you're gonna be the best, you've got to beat the best. If he's Derby material, I want to know.” Now stabled at the Spa, Dr. Kapur posted two more breezes, including a sharp, four-furlong move from the gate in :47.60 (4/106) Aug. 17. Joseph gave Ramsey four different options to pick from for Dr. Kapur's debut. Which one will it be Mr. Ramsey? “Hell, I want to run him on Travers Day against the best,” he said. Off at odds of 5-1 going six furlongs in the always loaded maiden special weight on the Travers undercard Aug. 23, the blinkered Dr. Kapur was sent to the front by jockey Luis Saez and immediately shadowed by 'TDN Rising Star' Big Dom (McKinzie) through an opening quarter in :22.64. Dr. Kapur enjoyed a narrow advantage as they straightened for home, dug down bravely when met by Big Dom in deep stretch and just came up a neck short in a race that didn't deserve a loser. It was another 3 1/4 lengths back to favored Vino Vici (Vino Rosso) in third, the only horse in the field of eight with a prior race under his belt. The final time for six furlongs was 1:09.47. Both Big Dom and Dr. Kapur received matching 84 Beyer Speed Figures. “We jump out of the gate on top and lead every step of the way except the last two steps,” Ramsey said. “What really impressed me, Big Dom hooked him at the sixteenth pole and they went head to head and nose to nose right up to the finish line and the 'TDN Rising Star' only beat us by a neck. That's why we ran on Travers Day. Everybody saves them for that day.” Ramsey added, “You run that good on Travers Day means that I've got a pretty good horse.” Dr. Kapur returned to the worktab Thursday with a three-furlong breeze in :37.07 (2/5) over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga. He is targeting a seven-furlong maiden special weight at Keeneland Oct. 16 with a long-term eye on the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill Downs Nov. 29. Dr. Kapur (inside) finishes a game second behind 'Rising Star' Big Dom on debut at Saratoga Aug. 23 | Sarah Andrew “This one is special,” Ramsey said. “I want to develop him slowly and give him plenty of time between races. With those two races, we'll find out how good he is on the dirt.” Ramsey is winless from seven previous starters in the Kentucky Derby. His best finish came with Ten Cents a Shine, eighth behind Funny Cide in 2003. “I'll be 90 on the third day of November. My doctor says that I have the kidney of a teenager and that it's possible that I can live to be 100,” Ramsey concluded. “I'm very excited. I just hope this could be the one. Wouldn't it be a nice story if me and Dr. Kapur showed up at the Derby?” Since launching 'Second Chances' in 2017, 64 maidens have been featured in these pages (through 2024), producing 25% graded stakes winners, 34% stakes winners and 48% stakes horses. The series has introduced eight future winners at the top level, led by this year's GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI Travers S. winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief), 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) and fellow two-time Breeders' Cup winner Golden Pal (Uncle Mo). The post Second Chances: With a New Lease on Life, Ramsey Dreaming Big With Dr. Kapur – ‘If He’s Derby Material, I Want to Know’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
After competitive graded stakes losses in his only two races of 2025, Dresden Row lines up as the 6-5 morning line favorite in the CA$150,000 Durham Cup (G3) Sept. 20 at Woodbine. View the full article
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