Wandering Eyes

The British Horseracing Authority will on Friday send owners a voluntary online survey to help investigate and better understand the aftercare of Thoroughbreds. This follows on from a survey sent to trainers earlier in the year and is an important part of developing the BHA’s equine health and welfare strategy, part of which is to improve traceability of Thoroughbred racehorses from foals to beyond retirement. David Sykes, director of Equine Health and Welfare at the BHA, said, “The survey we sent to trainers earlier in the year proved to be an extremely useful source of information regarding what happens to horses when they leave training yards, and I’m sure we will get plenty of information from owners too which will inform future work on improving racehorse traceability.” If you are an owner and do not receive a survey or would like a hard copy, email equine@britishhorseracing.com. View the full article

Four impressive wins in four starts have stamped Breeze Easy LLC’s Imprimis (Broken Vow) as a budding star in the turf sprint division, but the gelding will get easily his toughest test yet, along with a chance to prove he’s the real deal, as the favorite in Saturday’s GI Highlander S. at Woodbine, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier race for the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Debuting Feb. 2 at Gulfstream, the dark bay rallied to a 33-1 upset, and he repeated in a Florida-bred allowance there 26 days later. Privately purchased from owner/breeder Craig Wheeler after that effort, Imprimis quickly proved a shrewd purchase when romping in an open allowance in Hallandale Mar. 24. Getting his first stake opportunity in the boggy-going Turf Sprint S. May 18 at Pimlico, he was more than up to the task, running away in the stretch to a powerful 5 1/4-length score. The Highlander, however, represents a steep class hike, as three graded stakes winners and several other up-and-comers await Imprimis as part of a nine-pronged challenge to the undefeated 4-year-old. He will also be stretching out past five furlongs for the first time in the six-panel test. Madaket Stables and Ten Strike Racing’s Long On Value (Value Plus) returns to the scene of one of his career-best efforts. The two-time graded winner, who just missed when second by a nose in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint last spring, finished third to champion World Approval (Northern Afleet) despite a nightmare trip in the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile Sept. 16. The bay went through the ring at Keeneland November after that, selling to these connections for $100,000, and made a winning debut for them and new trainer Brad Cox with a last-to-first tally in the Mighty Beau S. June 2 at Churchill. “We liked the horse; we knew he had some back class,” Cox told the Woodbine notes team. “Obviously, he’s accomplished a lot and he’s versatile, anywhere from five-eighths of a mile to one mile. He came out of [the Mighty Beau] in outstanding shape, and he’s had two really nice breezes at Churchill.” Live Oak Plantation’s Holding Gold (Lonhro {Aus}), upset winner of the GII Shakertown S. last spring, has scored just once in his subsequent eight starts, but hinted at rounding back into form when running fourth, beaten just over a length, in the GII Jaipur S. June 9 at Belmont. A pair of female runners entered against the boys merit long looks. Heider Family Stables’ Lady Alexandra (More Than Ready), also purchased after her career started at last summer’s Fasig-Tipton July sale, exploded forward with a sharp victory in the License Fee S. last out Apr. 29 at Belmont. The 104 Beyer she earned that day is tied for highest in the field. Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s Belvoir Bay (GB) (Equiano {Fr}) ships in from Southern California off a three-race winning streak, including a tally against males in the GIII San Simeon S. Apr. 29 at Santa Anita. Ontoawinner and Partner’s Corinthia Knight (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}) adds some foreign flavor as the field’s lone 3-year-old. Shipping over to run fourth at 24-1 in the Juvenile Turf Sprint S. last November at Del Mar, the chestnut reeled off four consecutive triumphs over synthetic ground to start his sophomore season in Europe before fading to finish ninth as the favorite in the grassy G3 Prix Texanita last out May 9 at Maisons-Laffitte. “France was a bit of a disaster,” said trainer Archie Watson. “We took him over and the ground was slated to be good to firm, but they watered and it was quite sticky ground really. He obviously has very good form on the all-weather but on the turf, he wants it firm.” View the full article

Dixie Moon, who went unsold as a yearling for $150,000, seeks to defeat males in the Queen's Plate June 30 at Woodbine. View the full article

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Chukyo and Hakodate Racecourses, including the return to graded company for a talented 3-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic: Saturday, June 30, 2018 5th-CKO, ¥13,400,000 ($121k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600mT SEEDIG KAZUMA (JPN) (c, 2, (Midnight Lute–Crisis of Spirit, by Vindication) is the first Japanese-bred produce for his stakes-winning dam, a half-sister to GSW Govenor Charlie (Midnight Lute), who like his sire was raced by Mike Pegram and was trained by Bob Baffert. Acquired in utero for $120K at KEENOV in 2015, the dark bay counts Pegram’s two-time Eclipse Award winner Silverbulletday (Silver Deputy) as his third dam. The latter is also the granddam of 2018 freshman sire Shakin It Up (Midnight Lute). B-Mishima Bokujo Sunday, July 1, 2018 7th-HAK, ¥14,250,000 ($129k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1000m TEN MOHS (f, 4, Speightstown–Lemon Kiss, by Lemon Drop Kid) cost $230K at KEESEP in 2015 and has earned her keep with a pair of wins and four minor placings from 10 career runs. The half-sister to GISW Lochte (Medaglia d’Oro) and to MSP Inscom (Distorted Humor), whose dam is a full-sister to MGSW Kiss the Kid, looks to snap a five-race skid, having finished a latest third over course and distance June 17 (gate 4). B-Mark Gittins (KY) 11th-CKO, CBC Sho-G3, ¥74,600,000 ($675k), 3yo/up, 1200mT ASAKUSA GENKI (c, 3, Stormy Atlantic–Amelia, by Dixieland Band), a Group 3 winner at two, returned from a brief freshening to complete a US-bred 1-2 behind the talented Mr Melody (Scat Daddy) in the G3 Falcon S. Mar. 17 (see below, gate 7). He missed the break from gate 2 when a fast-finishing fifth in the Listed Aoi S. at Kyoto May 26 (video) and faces elders for the first time here. A $210K KEESEP acquisition, the bay is one of five black-type winners for his dam, including Japanese GSW Rabbit Run (Tapit), US MGSW Rainha Da Bateria (Broken Vow) and GSW Kindergarden Kid (Dynaformer). Also among his siblings is GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up He’s Had Enough (Tapit). His third dam is blue-hen Courtly Dee (Never Bend). B-Alexander-Groves-Matz (KY) View the full article

Frankie Dettori, bidding to ride his second Irish Derby (G1) winner on Saturday, has revealed he is most afraid of Dee Ex Bee (GB) and cannot understand why Saxon Warrior (JPN) is such a short-priced favorite for the race. View the full article

3rd-LRC, $40K, Msw, 2yo, 5f, 4:58 p.m. ET OXO Equine’s INSTAGRAND (Into Mischief) co-topped the Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale in March when selling to Larry Best for $1.2 million after breezing in :10 flat. The Jerry Hollendorfer pupil is out of a daughter of GSW Added Asset (Lord At War {Arg}). This is also the family of Grade I winners Irish Smoke (Smoke Glacken) and Book Review (Giant’s Causeway). TJCIS PPs. —@CDeBernardisTDN View the full article

Al Shahania Stud’s 6-year-old ridgling Money Multiplier (Lookin At Lucky) is two-for-three over the Monmouth Park turf and has the same number of wins in 15 tries over all other courses. Sporting back-to-back victories in the GII Monmouth S., the dark bay will look to take home the Oceanport oval’s top grass prize, and his first Grade I, in Saturday’s GI United Nations S. Likely to go off as a close favorite, he faces a deep field of rivals, including last year’s U.N. upsetter. Second in the U.N. in 2016, to go with runner-up efforts in the GI Sword Dancer S. and GI Man O’ War S. that term, the Chad Brown trainee took home the Monmouth, the local prep for the U.N., in his 2017 debut before completing the exacta again in the Sword Dancer. Winless in his next four starts, including a third in the G1 HH The Emirs Trophy Feb. 24 in Qatar, he returned to annex the Monmouth again here May 26. Brown also saddles Chilean Group 1 winner Kurilov (Chi) (Lookin At Lucky) and French Group 1 winner Silverwave (Fr) (Silver Frost {Ire}), first and fourth, respectively, in a Belmont allowance May 25. Three Diamonds Farm’s Bigger Picture (Badge of Silver) was over 10-1 when he took the early summer feature last year, and he proved that to be no fluke with a narrow runner-up try in the GII Bowling Green S. and a third in the Sword Dancer, beaten just a nose by Money Multiplier. The 7-year-old gelding finished off the board in three of his next four outings, however, and was last seen running seventh in the Man O’ War May 12 at Belmont. “He’s doing well,” trainer Mike Maker told the Monmouth notes team. “His last race wasn’t up to par, but he’s getting older so I don’t know if he is losing some consistency. At the same time, that was a tough field–which you expect in a Grade I race.” Maker will also send out Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Oscar Nominated (Kitten’s Joy), a multiple graded stakes winner who most recently ran second in the GII Dixiana Elkhorn S. Apr. 21 at Keeneland. Rodney Paden’s One Go All Go (Fairbanks) will look to rebound to the form that saw him nearly steal a Grade I win this spring. The 6-year-old bay ran second at 30-1 in the GII Fort Lauderdale S. Jan. 13 at Gulfstream to start a string of six consecutive 100+ Beyer figures, which culminated in a third-place effort while leading to deep stretch in the Man O’ War. Unable to take up his preferred position on the lead in the GI Woodford Reserve Manhattan S. June 9 at Belmont, he faded to finish 11th. View the full article

Curlin's Approval will seek to become the first horse to win the Princess Rooney Stakes (G2) in back-to-back years since Gold Mover achieved the feat in 2002-2003 View the full article

A year after topping males in the Queen's Plate Stakes, Holy Helena will try to add to her Woodbine success—this time on turf—in the $175,000 Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) June 30. View the full article

Dixie Moon, who went unsold as a yearling for $150,000, seeks to defeat males in the Queen's Plate June 30 at Woodbine. View the full article

‘TDN Rising Star’ Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) will be joined by three talented stablemates as he bids to add to his Classic tally in Saturday’s G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh. This will be no cakewalk for the odds-on favourite, with this being the first time since 2010 that the race has attracted a double-figure field, but he has an ideal draw in two and has been giving out all the right signals at Ballydoyle since his fall to earth when fourth in the G1 Epsom Derby. This is also the fastest ground he has encountered in his brief career and on all known evidence from his pedigree he is destined to shine on it. Fellow ‘TDN Rising Star’ Delano Roosevelt (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is one making a quick return from Royal Ascot duty, having finished worst of his stable’s trio that took part in the G2 King Edward VII S. won by one of this renewal’s supplementary entries Old Persian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Fourth behind that rival and the runner-up Rostropovich (GB) (Frankel {GB}), he has the yard’s supersub jockey Seamie Heffernan in the saddle and bids to provide that rider with a third edition and back-to-back ones after the exploits of Capri (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) 12 months ago. ‘TDN Rising Star’ The Pentagon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) could be the one to make the running under Wayne Lordan, while the British raiders Knight To Behold (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and Dee Ex Bee (GB) (Farhh {GB}) are other pace factors, with the latter needing a strong end-to-end gallop and so primed to make up for any hesitancy from the Ballydoyle crew under the front-running wizard Silvestre De Sousa. Temperatures are set to soar in Kildare, as they are everywhere, at the weekend and Dermot Weld admits to some concern regarding Calumet Farm’s unbeaten Bandua (The Factor), whose two outings have come on testing ground. “I’m well aware that he has won on soft ground so far and I identified early in the year that he bends his knee and will be better with a bit more ease in the ground,” he said. “This is pretty ambitious, but he’s a lovely colt who is very sound and progressive and we’re happy with the way he’s working. The owner is keen to take his chance and it’s the Derby, so as long as he gives a good account of himself we’ll be happy.” One for whom fast ground is no worry is Yuesheng Zhang’s Platinum Warrior (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who won in similar conditions when beating Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) convincingly in the G3 Gallinule S. over 10 furlongs here on May 27. Trainer Mick Halford commented, “It is only the second time we’ve had a runner in the Irish Derby and his preparation has gone very well. He’s a very straightforward horse and we are hoping that the extra two furlongs will make a difference to him. He has a beautiful pedigree and loves fast ground.” View the full article

Jockeys in Britain will be required to wear Level 2 body protectors, rather than Level 1, from Oct. 1. The upgrade, which is the first since 2015, is due to the fact that Level 2 vests offer superior protection up to 50% against direct blows. Irish racing adopted the vests last year, and France is expected to follow next year. Due to the increased weight of the Level 2 vests, jockeys will be given one pound extra weight allowance at the scales. Leading jumps rider Ruby Walsh said, “I think there is a huge improvement between the Level 1 and Level 2 back protectors. From taking heavy enough falls riding in Steeple Chase races to horses landing on you, standing on you, kicking you, I find the Level 2 provides way more protection.” View the full article

West Coast (Flatter)’s Kentucky vacation is nearing a conclusion. Last year’s champion 3-year-old colt, second in both the 2018 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. Jan. 27 and G1 Dubai World Cup last out Mar. 31, will resume serious training July 1, reports Gary and Mary West’s Racing Manager Ben Glass. West Coast joined the Bob Baffert Churchill Downs string prior to this year’s GI Kentucky Derby, but never recorded a timed workout during his stay beneath the Twin Spires. The 2017 GI Travers S. winner is currently in light training at Dell Ridge Farm in Lexington. “We left him in Kentucky because he’d been in a box stall since he was a yearling,” Glass said with a laugh. “We wanted him to have a little R&R before we went back for a serious campaign. Naturally, we’re hoping we can make the Breeders’ Cup, but if we don’t, we’ll make the Clark and then the Pegasus.” Any targets in mind for a return spot? “Once Bob has him for a while, he’ll tell you where he’s at,” Glass replied. “But he’s doing great and we’re anxious to get him back into serious training.” West Coast, a $425,000 KEESEP yearling, was also a runaway winner of last year’s GI Pennsylvania Derby and third-place finisher in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. View the full article

‘TDN Rising Star’ Selcourt (Tiz Wonderful), freshened since airing in the seven-furlong GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita Mar. 24 with a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure, is aiming for a return at the upcoming Del Mar meeting. Campaigned in partnership by Taylor Made’s Medallion Racing, breeder Keith Abrahams and Sandra Lazaruk and trained by John Sadler, it was decided to bypass the GI Beholder Mile S. in early June in favor of a summer/fall campaign with a long-term eye on the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. “She’s doing really well,” Medallion Racing’s Phillip Shelton said. “She never left John’s barn at Santa Anita. She basically just got a couple of weeks off. Really nothing wrong–John just felt like she wasn’t 100%, and if you’re going to try to face Unique Bella and Paradise Woods in a Grade I, we wanted to make sure that she was 100%. Once we knew that race was out of the picture we said, ‘You know what? Let’s just give her a little break, get ready for Del Mar and hopefully point to the Breeders’ Cup.'” A jaw-dropping debut winner last February, the chestnut is a perfect three-for-three during her 4-year-old season, which also includes tallies in the Kalookan Queen S. Jan. 14 and GIII Las Flores S. Feb. 18. All six of her career starts have been made sprinting at Santa Anita. “She should have her first work back this weekend,” Shelton said. “She’s been back galloping for the last couple of weeks and has been doing great. We always toyed around with the idea of stretching her out, but I’d say at this point that we’ll keep her at one turn through the Breeders’ Cup. That would probably be the plan. We’ll point for something at Del Mar, then keep our options open for the final prep before the Breeders’ Cup.” View the full article

Royal Ascot is where everyone that is involved in Flat racing wants to be represented. With this in mind, a trainer with just 25 horses in his care couldn’t reasonably expect to have a runner at the meeting, never mind a winner, but Dave Marnane is no ordinary 25-horse trainer. Indeed, for those that have paid attention to the career of the Tipperary-based handler, it will have been no surprise to see him in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot last week. In the last decade Marnane has built up a remarkable record in some of the most competitive handicaps on the British racing calendar. He has saddled two different horses to win the Portland H. at Doncaster, as well as a winner of the Victoria Cup at Ascot and the Wokingham at Royal Ascot. To emphasise just how difficult those races are to win, no other Irish-based trainer has won the Portland or the Victoria Cup in the last 50 years and his win in the Wokingham was the first Irish-trained winner of that race for 27 years. Marnane has also proven adept at sending horses to the Dubai Carnival with great success, having saddled a winner there each year from 2011 to 2014 and having had multiple placed horses either side of those victories. Last Wednesday, Marnane added to his CV by becoming just the second Irish-based trainer in the last 50 years to saddle the winner of the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot thanks to the extraordinarily easy victory of Settle For Bay (Fr) (Rio de la Plata). In common with Marnane’s other winners of valuable British handicaps, planning was key to this success. It represented the realisation of a plot that had its origins over a year earlier, but had met with a very serious setback along the way. “Settle For Bay always worked like a smart horse and when he won his first handicap off 69 in April last year, we actually started planning a path for him to the Britannia H. at Royal Ascot that year,” Marnane said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get very far with it, as he fractured his pelvis in his very next start at Dundalk.” “To be honest, it didn’t look good for him that evening. We thought he was a goner. Thankfully, he was sensible enough to know he was in trouble, pull himself up and stand still. We soon discovered that he had what was quite a significant fracture. The racecourse vets did a great job with him up there and we decided to bring him home that night. Our head travelling lad Danny O’Connell had the longest trip home from Dundalk that he ever had that night, as he had to drive very slowly so as not to risk Settle For Bay getting unsettled and moving in a way that disrupted the fracture.” “When we got him home, he had to be tied up in his box so that he couldn’t lie down or roll for four weeks. That is a big ask of any horse, but he was the perfect patient the whole way through. As a result, he was able to come back into training much faster than would have been expected. It’s quite remarkable to think that he was back racing 19 weeks to the day after breaking his pelvis as significantly as he did.” Having bounced back from his serious pelvis injury, Settle For Bay improved from race to race and soon embarked on what would prove to be a four-race winning streak at Dundalk during the winter months. Each win was more impressive than the one that preceded it, with his fourth win being the one that led Marnane to hatch a plan. “It was only after his fourth win at Dundalk that he looked the real deal,” the trainer said. “Prior to that, he had always looked a bit green when he hit the front, but that day he was as straight as a gun barrel and really looked as though the penny had fully dropped with him. We had our suspicions and hopes prior to that, but that was the day that he really jumped out at us as a horse that could win a Royal Hunt Cup.” “We don’t have many horses here, but when we get a good one we know what to do. He was raised to a mark of 99 after that win, which historically made him highly likely to get into the Royal Hunt Cup, so we made that his target. We gave him a nice break after that and he ran a lovely race on his comeback at Leopardstown in May. What really pleased us about that run is that he was in tight quarters all the way, something which he didn’t have a lot of experience of prior to that, and he seemed to relish it. That gave us great hope that the hustle and bustle of a Royal Hunt Cup wouldn’t hold any fears for him.” Everything had gone smoothly for Settle For Bay in his preparation for the Royal Hunt Cup up to the week before the race, but there was one very significant scare left for him to overcome. “He just didn’t blow me away in his last breeze the Thursday before the race and when we scoped him, he wasn’t spotless,” Marnane said. “He wasn’t dirty as such, but he wasn’t spotless. As you can imagine, this frightened the life out of us. We did what we could with him for the next couple of days and scoped him again on Sunday. Mercifully, he was 100% and we sent him on his way to Royal Ascot. He doesn’t travel all that well when he’s by himself, so we sent over his next-door neighbour Kodiac’s Back with him for the journey. I have to thank Ascot for accommodating us with that, as it was a big help.” When encountering the likes of Royal Ascot for the first time, young horses tend to shrink, boil over or grow. In Settle For Bay’s case it was very much the latter. “At home, he is an absolute Christian of a horse. My youngest daughter Emily is his biggest fan and she goes into his stable all the time and we don’t have to worry about her. He puts his head in her lap and is content to stay there all day! However, in the build-up to the Royal Hunt Cup, I saw a side of him I hadn’t seen before. Whether it was the atmosphere or what, he just came alive. From when he left his stable to go up to the racecourse, he was angry! The racecourse farrier had to make a small adjustment to one of his shoes as we were saddling him and Settle For Bay gave him a horrible time of it. That said, once Billy got up on him, he focused his mind and was all business from there.” One can imagine that watching the vessel of one’s hopes and dreams in a cavalry charge such as the Royal Hunt Cup would be likely to make for torrid viewing, but such was the ease with which Settle For Bay travelled, Marnane hardly had a moment of doubt. “The race itself was remarkably easy to watch. My only instructions to Billy were to make sure he got cover and to get him relaxed, regardless of how far back he was. Once he had gone two furlongs and had settled, I was very happy. It’s not often watching a race like the Royal Hunt Cup that you can really believe that you are on a winner fully two furlongs from home, but it was very straightforward for him.” Emotions ran high after the race with Marnane and numerous members of his team shedding tears. While winning on that stage is also likely to be emotional, there was more to that emotion than meets the eye. “It was emotional afterwards for a few reasons. We’ve thought he was a good horse for a long time. All through the autumn, winter and spring we’ve been looking at him and dreaming what he might be capable of doing. It might be different for a bigger yard with plenty of horses that they can dream with, but for us it was all about him. To then see him to go and show what we have always believed he could do on a stage like Royal Ascot, it’s a real release. You’d need to be a tougher man than me to be able to hold all that emotion in.” “It wasn’t just about the horse, either,” he added. “One of his owners Dennis McGettigan’s wife Nicola had a serious health scare during the winter. Around Christmas time she told us that her chemotherapy was due to finish in June and I said to her that during her treatment she could look forward to leading in Settle For Bay after he won at Royal Ascot. It was only talk at the time, so for it to happen and for Nicola to be there with Dennis and his other owner Mossie Casey to greet him in the winner’s enclosure made it extra special.” “You need the right horses to get you to meetings like Royal Ascot, but you also need the right team. My wife Mel is a huge help, as is my brother Ed who is a big part of the race planning. James Casey rides him every day and was with him at Ascot. We have a small team, most of which have been with us a long time, and it’s great for all of them to be part of such a big win.” “Looking forward, we obviously can’t wait to get Settle For Bay out again. We will look at a listed race for him next and all being well, we’ll look at the Dubai Carnival for him. We won’t be afraid to travel him for suitable races and he’d have you dreaming of running in races like the Arlington Million.” While the Settle For Bay story promises to run for quite some time yet, Marnane’s attentions will soon turn to finding his next star at the yearling sales. With Marnane having bought the likes of Settle For Bay (€35,000 in conjunction with Peter Doyle), Dandy Boy (20,000gns), Jamesie (£11,000) and Elleval (£45,000), his eye for a bargain speaks for itself. “We have a few empty stables here and will be hoping to fill them at the upcoming yearling sales. We have had success putting together 10-member syndicates made up of two or three yearlings each. We charge an all-in price that pays for the horses and for their training up to the end of their 2-year-old year. At that stage, we balance the books and make a decision with the syndicate whether to sell the horses or to race on. The people that have got involved seem to enjoy that structure and we have had plenty of winners in them already, most notably Freescape who was an intended runner in the Britannia S. at Royal Ascot last week until a stone bruise ruled him out. We have already had plenty of interest from people looking to get involved in new syndicates this autumn, but if anyone wants to get involved they are more than welcome to get in touch.” With the racing world having been given a timely reminder of Marnane’s talents on the grandest of stages, it seems likely that those empty stables will not remain unoccupied for long. View the full article

A switch back to Sha Tin and some weight relief can bring about a second win of the season for Spanish-bred gelding Sangria as trainer David Ferraris sends a small but solid team to the races on Sunday. Sangria is one of only two Spanish-bred horses in training at Sha Tin and became the first of them to win when he broke through at Happy Valley over 1,800m in January. The five-year-old hasn’t finished worse than fourth since and the closest he came was a neck defeat over 2,000m two starts... View the full article

A switch back to Sha Tin and some weight relief can bring about a second win of the season for Spanish-bred gelding Sangria as trainer David Ferraris sends a small but solid team to the races on Sunday. Sangria is one of only two Spanish-bred horses in training at Sha Tin and became the first of them to win when he broke through at Happy Valley over 1,800m in January. The five-year-old hasn’t finished worse than fourth since and the closest he came was a neck defeat over 2,000m two starts... View the full article

A stunning finishing burst at Happy Valley on Wednesday night shows Pearly Treasure has the tools to be winning a race soon. The Chris So Wai-yin-trained three-year-old clocked a lightning 22.04 seconds for his final 400m sectional – clearly the fastest of the meeting – when finishing fifth to Oriental Elite in the Class Four Ninepin Group Handicap (1,000m). Jumping from the outside barrier, Brett Prebble opted to go back to last with speedy types Winfull Patrol and Ocean Roar... View the full article

A stunning finishing burst at Happy Valley on Wednesday night shows Pearly Treasure has the tools to be winning a race soon. The Chris So Wai-yin-trained three-year-old clocked a lightning 22.04 seconds for his final 400m sectional – clearly the fastest of the meeting – when finishing fifth to Oriental Elite in the Class Four Ninepin Group Handicap (1,000m). Jumping from the outside barrier, Brett Prebble opted to go back to last with speedy types Winfull Patrol and Ocean Roar... View the full article

After switching barns and being given a break following a troubled Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) run, Midnight Bisou will aim to make a return to the winner's circle June 30, when she heads up the $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G2). View the full article

A little more than four months since they first competed against each other in the Suwannee River Stakes (G3T), stablemates Elysea's World and Dream Awhile will meet again June 30 on the Monmouth Park turf for the $100,000 Eatontown Stakes (G3T). View the full article

Meagher's Group winner launches Cup races campaign View the full article

Logan hopes Burkaan can erupt at first turf test View the full article

Trip test for Lord Of Cloud next Friday View the full article

It wasn't exactly telekinesis, but trainer Mark Casse used his mental powers to move the horse who is now favored to win the June 30 Queen's Plate at Woodbine to his string a few years ago. View the full article