More than AU$20 million in purses are up for grabs across the next two Friday nights in Sydney, as “The Championships” at Randwick showcase equine talent from Australia, New Zealand and America.
TVG's international analyst, Adam McGrath, will join Sky Racing World's Jason Witham for a live broadcast on-site, as racing media enjoy renewed global travel for major events.
Day One of The Championships includes four Group Ones on a 10-race card, with first post at 9:10 p.m. ET / 6:10 p.m. PT
Race 9, the Doncaster Mile, includes Lighthouse (15-1), a gray daughter of Mizzen Mast formerly trained by Simon Callaghan. Lighthouse broke through with a last-start Australian Group One win for American owners LNJ Foxwoods.
LNJ's Jaime Roth explained: “We were interested in building a bigger presence in Australia, where there are far more options for grass sprinters than in the USA.”
The Roth family have delighted in some uniquely Australian training updates.
“Once, we received a video of Lighthouse swimming with dolphins!” exclaimed Roth. “There's no other place in the world where an owner would get to see that, and it's one example of what makes participating in racing there so enjoyable.”
Race 8, the T.J. Smith Stakes, is the tenth – and possibly last – edition of the world's greatest contemporary turf rivalry. Nature Strip (9-5) seeks a third straight “T.J.” victory. Eduardo (5-2) beat his great rival last start, and a repeat result would square the ledger at five apiece in head-to-head clashes across a three-year period. (Despite the neck-and-neck record between the pair, Eduardo has never started favorite.) Nature Strip, the world's highest-ranked turf sprinter, is likely to venture overseas for a tilt at Royal Ascot this June.
Race 7, the Australian Derby, sees Hitotsu (5-2) try to replicate his unorthodox preparation of last campaign, which saw him jump in distance straight from a mile to win the Victoria Derby (1-9/16 miles) in Melbourne. Hitotsu resumed from a layoff with a terrific win in a Group One mile race, again in Melbourne, and makes his clockwise debut on Friday night with another sharp hike in journey (to 1-1/2 miles). He would become the first winner of both derbies since 1994. Regal Lion (5-1) looms an ominous danger for retiring New Zealand trainer, Murray Baker. The 75-year-old training legend has made a fine art of plundering the Australian Derby, winning five of the last 14 runnings. Regal Lion put the writing on the wall in his Aussie debut, with a hard-charging 2nd in a prep race that has produced four of the last five Derby winners.
Race 6, the Sires Produce Stakes, is the middle leg of Australia's “Triple Crown” for 2-year-olds. In a season (which started last August) that has seen fillies hold an edge over their male counterparts, Sires Produce wagering is headed by the field's only two females. Fireburn (8-5) dominated the world's richest juvenile race, the six-furlong Golden Slipper, two weeks ago at Rosehill. The rise to seven furlongs this Friday night should not prove an obstacle to Fireburn stretching her win sequence to five (from six starts). Extreme Choice (7-1) was shorter odds than Fireburn in the Golden Slipper and can improve on her midfield finish, having encountered a checkered passage in the stretch.
The Randwick card (AUS-A) will be broadcast live on TVG this Friday night (First Post: 9:10 p.m. ET / 6:10 p.m. PT) alongside cards from Eagle Farm (AUS-B), Goulburn (AUS-C) and Gold Coast (AUS-D). All races will be live-streamed in HD on the new Sky Racing World App, skyracingworld.com and major ADW platforms such as TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet, NYRABets, WatchandWager, HPIbet, and AmWager. Wagering is also available via these ADW platforms. Fans can get free access to live-streaming, past performances and expert picks on all races at skyracingworld.com.
About Michael Wrona
A native of Brisbane, Australia, Michael Wrona has called races in six countries. Michael's vast U.S. experience includes; race calling at Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park, Arlington and Santa Anita, calling the 2000 Preakness on a national radio network and the 2016 Breeders' Cup on the International simulcast network. Michael also performed a race call voiceover for a Seinfeld episode called The Subway.
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