breeders' cup turf | Horse Racing Free Tips

Undefeated In 2020, Filly Tarnawa To Take On The Boys In Breeders’ Cup Turf

A winner of all three of her starts in 2020, 4-year-old Tarnawa is expected to join the field for next Saturday's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland. According to racingpost.com, the Shamardal filly is generally rated the 3-1 co-second favorite behind Magical (5-2) for the 1 1/2-mile contest.

She could provide trainer Dermot Weld with his first Breeders' Cup victory in the Turf. Tarnawa is cross-entered in the Filly & Mare Turf, but Weld expects to run the dual Group 1 winner against males instead. Christophe Soumillon will have the mount.

“I think it's pretty certain she'll go for the Breeders' Cup Turf,” Weld told racingpost.com. “It's a tight, turning track with a short straight and the draw is very important in the Filly & Mare Turf, so if you're unlucky enough to get a bad draw it doesn't help your chances. You've got a better chance of overcoming that in the Breeders' Cup Turf.”

This season, Tarnawa has put together wins in the G3 Give Thanks Stakes on Aug. 8, the G1 Prix Vermeille on Sept. 13, and the G1 Prix de l'Opera on Oct. 4. A homebred for the Aga Khan, Tarnawa's career record stands at seven wins from 13 starts.

Other horses pre-entered in the Breeders' Cup Turf include: Arklow, Channel Maker, Donjah, Lord North, Magical, Mean Mary, Mehdaayih, Mogul, Red King, Tarnawa, and United.

Gosden Chasing Firmer Ground With Three Breeders’ Cup Entrants

Trainer John Gosden attended the very first Breeders' Cup World Championships, held at Hollywood Park in 1984, and came away victorious by saddling the filly Royal Heroine to defeat nine male rivals in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Mile. Though Gosden has been based in Europe since 1989, the trainer regularly tries to make it back to the United States for the World Championships event.

He has won a total of five Breeders' Cup races, most recently the Turf with the great racemare Enable, recently retired to stud.

“It's such a wonderful international event,” Gosden said on Wednesday's Breeders' Cup teleconference. “I've been a passionate believer in it since we started at Hollywood Park. I remember we ran out of programs and food, but it was a great day. The Breeders' Cup is at the end of our year in Europe, of course, so you have to be careful you have your horse still fresh enough.”

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Gosden will not be making the trip to Keeneland for the 2020 edition. He will, however, send three top horses and staff, along with stable jockey Frankie Dettori.

“Mr. Dettori, he likes to play trainer too, so he can do both jobs,” Gosden quipped.

Gosden plans to start two horses in the Breeders' Cup Turf and one in the Filly & Mare Turf, he explained on Wednesday's call.

Lord North, winner of the Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot this June, will head to the Turf, along with stablemate Mehdaayih. The latter, a 4-year-old daughter of Frankel, did not get into the main body of the field for the Filly & Mare Turf, and so is expected to take on males in the 1 1/2-mile Turf instead.

Lord North, a 4-year-old son of Dubawi, was most recently seen finishing 10th over unforgiving ground in the G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes on Oct. 17.

“Well his last race was unfortunately run on a quagmire,” Gosden said. “He was in the same race as (Aidan O'Brien trainee and fellow BC Turf hopeful) Magical, and she also found the track too deep. It was the deepest ground I've ever seen, and it was drying out ground, so it was sticky, and he couldn't handle that.”

Mehdaayih was a Group 2 winner in 2019 but has had just two starts in 2020, most recently finishing fourth in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, also on Oct. 17.

“She's a high class runner, and very fresh after just two starts this year,” said Gosden. “She's what you might call a wildcard.”

In the Filly & Mare Turf, Gosden will enter G1 Queen Anne Stakes runner-up Terebellum. The 4-year-old filly by Sea the Stars was most recently fifth in the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes on Oct. 3, and will also be seeking firmer ground.

“She likes what we call good, good to firm going,” Gosden explained. “Keeneland's would be like that, usually… she'd be very happy on the surface if it doesn't ride at all loose.”

All three of Gosden's Breeders' Cup hopefuls will fly to the United States on Friday, with staff flying the day ahead of the horses.

“Everyone's gone out of their way to make it feasible for us,” Gosden said. “It's a strange world we're living in now, but we just have to get on with it.”

The post Gosden Chasing Firmer Ground With Three Breeders’ Cup Entrants appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Magical, Mogul Top O’Brien’s 2020 Breeders’ Cup Brigade

Ballydoyle master Aidan O'Brien has a total of 10 horses under consideration for the trip to Keeneland to compete in the Breeders' Cup World Championships, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Leading the way are his two hopefuls for the Breeders' Cup Turf, the well-traveled multiple G1 winner Magical and promising 3-year-old Mogul. Each will try to give O'Brien his sixth win in the 1 1/2-mile Turf.

Magical, the 5-year-old daughter of Galileo, has had a strong 2020 campaign. She boasts wins in the G1 Pretty Polly, G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, and the G1 Irish Champion, the latter by three-quarters of a length over Ghaiyyath. Most recently, the mare finished third over soft ground in the G1 British Champion Stakes on Oct. 17.

In her most recent trip to the United States, Magical ran a very game second to the since-retired superstar Enable in the 2018 edition of the Breeders' Cup Turf.

“(Magical is) an unbelievable filly,” O'Brien told the TDN. “She has run at the top level from when she was a 2-year-old. She's danced every dance and traveled everywhere. She is very comfortable from a mile to a mile and a half, which is very unusual. She is very brave, stays well, and has a good mind. She is an incredible mare. She ran very well the last day in very bad ground at Ascot, which wouldn't have suited her.”

Mogul, meanwhile, won his first top-level race on Sept. 13 in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris. The 3-year-old son of Galileo had to be scratched from the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe due to the feed contamination scandal.

O'Brien's other Breeders' Cup hopefuls are as follows:

Mile: Circus Maximus, Lope Y Fernandez, Order of Australia
Filly & Mare Turf: Peaceful
Juvenile Turf: Battleground
Juvenile Fillies Turf: Mother Earth, Snowfall
Juvenile Turf Sprint: Lipizanner

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post Magical, Mogul Top O’Brien’s 2020 Breeders’ Cup Brigade appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Ruled Out Of Breeders’ Cup Due To Muscle Soreness, Ghaiyyath Retired To Stud

Ghaiyyath, the son of Dubawi who put up not one, not two, but three of the four best performances of any racehorse in the world this year, has been retired from racing and will stand at Kildangan Stud next year.

He retires with four G1 victories to his name, three of which he won this year – and all in outstanding fashion: The Coronation Cup, the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International.

Ghaiyyath was a high-class juvenile, breaking his maiden at Newmarket by five lengths before going on to take the G3 Autumn Stakes in October 2017.

Charlie Appleby's charge won the G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange in an unbeaten three-year-old campaign, before reappearing at four to win the G2 Prix d'Harcourt.

Last September, Ghaiyyath recorded his first G1 victory in sensational style, winning the Grosser Preis von Baden by an astounding 14 lengths. This was the best performance in Germany this century.

Ghaiyyath has flourished this year, kicking off his 2020 campaign with another wide-margin Group win, this time taking the Dubai Millennium Stakes at Meydan by eight and a half lengths.

Upon his return to Europe, he added a second top-flight victory to his record, breaking the course record at Newmarket in the G1 Coronation Cup, beating Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck.

Better was still to come, as he beat a field of the highest class in the G1 Eclipse, including Enable, earning him a Timeform rating of 133.

His fourth G1 win came at York this August, where he won a vintage renewal of the Juddmonte International by three lengths, once again making every yard of the running.

Charlie Appleby reported that the plan had been to look towards the Breeders' Cup but in preparation for the race, after a piece of routine work at the weekend, the horse showed signs of soreness behind. After veterinary investigation, the horse was found to be muscle sore.

Charlie Appleby said: “Ghaiyyath has had a fantastic career, winning nine of his 13 races. His high-class cruising speed and relentless style of galloping was a joy to watch and as I have said before, this year he came together both physically and mentally and looked the finished article. It is obviously disappointing not to be taking him to the Breeders' Cup but the exertions of a long season, which started in Dubai in January, were starting to show and the decision has been made to retire him.

“He was an outstanding part of the Moulton Paddocks team and I know that his numerous top-level successes gave our Principal, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, a great deal of pleasure.”

Joe Osborne, Managing Director of Godolphin in Ireland, said, “Ghaiyyath is a great addition to our roster: his superior ability as a racehorse combined with his looks and his pedigree will make him a sought-after option for breeders. We are delighted he will be standing at Kildangan Stud next season.”

Ghaiyyath is bred on the same hugely successful Dubawi/ Galileo cross that has also produced Classic winner and sire of the moment Night Of Thunder.

The post Ruled Out Of Breeders’ Cup Due To Muscle Soreness, Ghaiyyath Retired To Stud appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post