Covid-19 Yarn

NYRA has canceled live racing Dec. 14 at Aqueduct Racetrack due to a winter storm impacting the New York City area. South Ozone Park remains under a winter weather advisory.View the full article

Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising were expected to win the Hong Kong Cup (G1) and Hong Kong Sprint (G1) Dec. 14, but their performances exceeded expectations.View the full article

A powerful winner of his three most recent appearances against softer competition, Tomoya Ozasa's T O Elvis (Volatile) made the very most of his first crack at stakes level with a visually stunning, five-length victory in Sunday's G3 Capella Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse. Perhaps a half-step slowly to begin, the lanky dark bay took up an inside position behind midfield after departing gate four and traveled hard against the steel, with jockey Katsuma Sameshima doing his level best to harness the colt's energy. Held together for the run into the final 600 metres with Sameshima looking for the gaps to appear, T O Elvis split rivals decisively about six off the inside, descended on the leaders to wrest command with a furlong to race and powered clear to score as the 12-5 favourite. Three-times listed winner Yamanin Cerchi (Four Wheel Drive) was second ahead of Ecoro Azel (Shancelot) in third. Fourth home was the 4-year-old filly Gabby's Sister (Apollo Kingdom), who defeated Kurojishi Joe (Furioso) in this 12 months ago before going on to run third in the G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint. T O Elvis could make his next appearance in the same event on Feb. 14 after securing an automatic bid on Sunday. Japanese gallopers have won three of the six runnings of that 1200-metre contest (Copano Kicking, 2021, Dancing Prince, 2022 and Remake, 2024). T O Elvis is the fifth stakes winner and fourth to score at graded level for his sire (by Medaglia d'Oro) and is one of three to salute from his dam, an eight-times stakes winner and victorious in nine of her 10 trips to the post overall. Stopshoppingdebbie is kin to five other winners out of the MSW Taste the Passion, who serves as the first or second dam of a further five stakes scorers, including her MSW daughters Shampoo (Gulch) and Smarty Deb (Smart Strike), both stakes producers. The yearling half-sister to T O Elvis, My Pal Al (Golden Pal), sold for $300,000 at this year's Keeneland September Sale and Stopshoppingdebbie was covered by Street Sense and his son Maxfield this season. Sunday, Nakayama, Japan CAPELLA S S.-G3, ¥72,830,000, Nakayama, 12-14, 3yo/up, 1200m, 1:08.60, gd. 1–T O ELVIS, 123, c, 3, by Volatile 1st Dam: Stopshoppingdebbie (MSW, $249,728), by Curlin 2nd Dam: Taste the Passion, by Wild Again 3rd Dam: Bisbee, by Believe It 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN. O-Tomoya Ozasa; B-Jeff & Melissa Prunzik (KY); T-Daisuke Takayanagi; J-Katsuma Sameshima; ¥38,581,000. Lifetime Record: 8-5-0-3, $619,060. *1/2 to Generous Tipper (Street Sense), SW & GISP, $367,945. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. 2–Yamanin Cerchi (Jpn), 128, c, 3, Four Wheel Drive–Yamanin Petitgateau (Jpn), by Yamanin Seraphim (Jpn). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O/B-Hajime Doi; T-Naoya Nakamura; J-Mirai Iwata; ¥15,166,000. 3–Ecoro Azel, 123, c, 3, Shancelot–Cicada's Song, by Twirling Candy. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. ($17,000 Ylg '23 FTKOCT; $215,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR). O-Masatoshi Haramura; B-Crawford Farms (KY); T-Hideyuki Mori; J-Taisei Danno; ¥9,583,000. Margins: 5, 1, 3/4. Odds: 2.20, 3.90, 14.00. Also Ran: Gabby's Sister (Jpn), Nitto Basil (Jpn), Sunrise Amour (Jpn), Pod Vader (Jpn), Chikappa (Jpn), Jasper Gold, Kurojishi Joe (Jpn), Tagano Mist (Jpn), Candy Drive, Stapes Kaori (Jpn), A Tracks (Jpn), Don Amitie (Jpn), Culture Day (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart and VIDEO.   WATCH: T O Elvis (#4) goes whoosh in the Capella S. The post Volatile’s T O Elvis ‘King’ Of the Capella Stakes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has canceled live racing at Aqueduct Racetrack on Sunday due to a winter storm impacting the New York City area, the track said in an early morning press release on Sunday. The message said that South Ozone Park remains under a winter weather advisory with forecasts calling for continued snow, low wind chill values and high winds. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcasting, and online wagering is available via NYRABets.com. Live racing will resume following the holiday break on Friday, Dec. 26 at the Big A with a card highlighted by the Alex M. Robb Stakes. The post NYRA Cancels Sunday Racing At Aqueduct As Snow Moves In appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Voyage Bubble showed the heart of a champion to defend his Group One Longines Hong Kong Mile crown in another ding-dong scrap with Japan’s Soul Rush at Sha Tin on Sunday. The Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Triple Crown hero won the race 12 months ago when defeating Soul Rush by a length and a quarter and there was a sense of deja vu with a mirror result – though it did not always look likely. Sent off the $3.6 second favourite behind My Wish, Voyage Bubble gradually made ground down the back...View the full article