Tag: galileo

Ryan Moore: Hong Kong Cup Favorite Magical ‘Has Been Great For A Long Time’

Champion British jockey Ryan Moore believes Magical is primed to forge rare new territory for Aidan O'Brien in the HK$28 million (US$3.61 million) G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m, 1 1/4 miles) when the Irish globe-trotter vies for an eighth Grade 1 victory.

Magical currently shares top billing at Ballydoyle for the most wins at the highest level, occupying a cluttered mantle along with dual LONGINES Hong Kong Vase winner Highland Reel, Ascot Gold Cup champion Yeats, Minding, and Rock Of Gibraltar.

Moore, 37, is familiar with the jaw-dropping feats of O'Brien's equine giants and, with history beckoning at Sha Tin on Sunday, Dec. 13, is confident Magical can again live up to her name.

“She's been great for a long time and it's fantastic that she's here. She's won seven G1s,” he said. “The reality is they probably have her to beat, but again you always respect the horses that are in there.

“There's three smart Japanese horses in there that have all won G1s (Danon Premium, Win Bright and Normcore).

“And Furore is in good shape. It's a small field but there's not a bad one in there, I don't think.”

The Hong Kong Cup features no fewer than six individual G1 winners.

With the return of defending champion Win Bright for trainer Yoshihiro Hatakeyama and jockey Masami Matsuoka, Moore is using a ready form reference through recently retired Magic Wand, who finished second to Win Bright in the 2019 Hong Kong Cup.

“Magic Wand was a super mare but Magical would, you would think, beat her,” Moore said.

(Magical is) a slight step up on her. She would bring stronger form than Magic Wand would have done.”

Moore will also ride Mogul in the HK$20 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m, 1 1/2 miles), where O'Brien's charge will contend with six class rivals.

The striking colt has drawn plenty of admiring glances during trackwork at Sha Tin and Moore hopes the three-year-old can perform to his looks on Sunday.

“He's a beautiful horse, we've always held him high regard,” he said. “He took a while to come to hand this year but you'll see him out on the track – he's very well-made, a very strong colt.

“He was very impressive when he won the Grand Prix de Paris (2400m) (on) Arc Trials weekend and, at the Breeders Cup, he wasn't beaten far in what was a messy sort of a race (when a three-length fifth behind Tarnawa).

“Obviously there's only seven in there (the Vase), Exultant always runs his race but he (Mogul) would look to have a solid chance in that race.”

Moore will seek to add to his tally of five LONGINES Hong Kong International Races credits with Danon Smash, who finished eighth in last year's G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m, six furlongs), beaten only 2.5 lengths.

A dual G2 and four-time G3 winner, Danon Smash will bid to provide Japanese trainer Takayuki Yasuda his third victory in the race.

Yasuda savored consecutive triumphs with Danon Smash's sire Lord Kanaloa in 2012 and '13.

Pitted against Classique Legend and a slew of emerging Hong Kong speedsters, Moore is hoping Danon Smash can successfully contend after a leisurely gallop on turf at Sha Tin on Wednesday, Dec. 9.

“It was nothing strenuous but he's been here before and it was just getting a feel of him today,” Moore said. “He seems well. He's got plenty of form in the book and it's always hard to beat the Hong Kong horses in the Sprint.

“Obviously this year, Classique Legend looked exceptional in Australia. As always, it's a tough race and we probably have to step up a little bit but hopefully he can get a good run and perform well.”

Moore has prevailed on five occasions at the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races – twice in the Vase with globetrotting Highland Reel in 2015 and 2017, the Cup with Snow Fairy (2010) and Maurice (2016) and the Mile with Maurice (2015).

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O’Brien: Battleground ‘Very Like Found,’ Redemption-Seeking Magical ‘An Incredible Mare’

Trainer Aidan O'Brien's 10 Breeders' Cup hopefuls stepped out on the track at Keeneland for the first time on Thursday, and he later spoke to At The Races about some of their chances for Friday and Saturday's World Championship contests.

The likely favorite for Friday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf will be Battleground, the 2-year-old first foal out of 2015 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Found. That edition of the World Championships was also held at Keeneland, so it would be especially poignant if Battleground could deliver a Breeders' Cup victory over the same course.

Thus far, Battleground has raced three times and won twice, including a win in his most recent start, the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood on July 28.

“That day in Keeneland with Found was unbelievable,” O'Brien told At The Races. “(Battleground is) big, powerful, strong, and he's very like Found, his dam, and then he has this pace from War Front as well. So he's a horse we're looking forward to running.

“He's in good order and it looks like the time has done him really well. He hasn't ran since Goodwood, so you'd be very happy with him. Of course, it's going to be good experience for him and I think we're going to learn a lot about him. I think he's a horse maybe to really look forward to seeing what he's going to do.”

Magical, trained by Aidan P. O'Brien, exercises in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky on November 5, 2020.

Additionally, O'Brien will send out 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Magical in this year's edition of the $4 million contest. The seven-time Group 1 winner was defeated three-quarters of a length by champion Enable in 2018, and is in search of redemption in this year's contest.

The 5-year-old Galileo mare has won three Group 1 races this year alone and has not finished worse than third all season. Her victories include a 3/4-length triumph over Ghaiyyath in the G1 Irish Champion Stakes, a horse who was at that time considered the best in Europe this year.

“She's an unbelievable filly,” O'Brien told At The Races. “She's ran at the top level all the time, from the time she's a 2-year-old every year, she's danced every dance, traveled everywhere. She's very brave. She's very comfortable, really, from a mile to a mile and a half, which is very unusual. She's very brave, stays well, good mind. She's an incredible mare really.

“Everyone loves her and she's very special.”

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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.

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Magical Set To Defend Her Title In Saturday’s QIPCO Champion Stakes

The £750,000 (approximately US$885,866) QIPCO Champion Stakes held on Saturday, Oct. 17, will be the richest race in Great Britain this year and looks set to be the race of the season with Magical and Addeybb, who dominated the finish of last year's renewal, renewing old rivalries again.

Magical prevailed by three-quarters of a length 12 months ago, after which her trainer Aidan O'Brien intimated she had run her final race.

However, the daughter of Galileo was kept in training and the decision has been handsomely rewarded, with the mare chalking up three more Group 1 victories (taking her overall haul to seven) and probably running as well as she's ever done when getting the better of Ghaiyyath, the world's highest-rated turf horse, to win a second Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last time.

She could be joined in the line-up for the mile-and-a-quarter showpiece by star stablemates Serpentine, this year's Investec Derby winner, plus Mogul, winner of the Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris, not to mention last year's Juddmonte International winner Japan, and Sovereign, winner of last year's Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.

Addeybb has not rested on his laurels, either, chalking up two Group 1 victories in Australia in the spring before finishing runner-up in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. He swiftly got back to winning ways in a Listed race at Ayr last time.

Standing in the way of the O'Brien contingent and Addeybb are two outstanding candidates trained by John Gosden in Mishriff, the Prix Du Jockey Club victor, and Lord North, emphatic winner of the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

Mishriff followed up his French Classic success by landing a Group 2 contest at Deauville, while Lord North was third behind Ghaiyyath and Magical in the Juddmonte International at York on his latest start.

Another fascinating runner among the home team is the William Muir-trained Pyledriver, who drops half a mile in distance after being beaten just over a length into third in the Pertemps St Leger at Doncaster last time. His exploits earlier in the season included emphatic wins in the King Edward VII Stakes, at Royal Ascot, and Sky Bet Great Voltigeur, at York.

Muir is delighted by the well-being of his stable flagbearer and is relishing dropping him back in distance. The trainer, seeking a first Group 1 win after 29 years with a licence, said: “He's getting stronger and is starting to retain his weight easier. His work has been good, the same as ever, and I'm very confident I've still got him at his best.

“I think if it hadn't been for this type of year, we would probably not run him over a mile and a six in the St Leger. You can't be dogmatic and say he didn't stay because he ground it out, but that was his class. He wasn't as effective because we took his gears and speed away from him. Martin [Dwyer] was sitting, waiting and having to hold him on to him when he wanted to kick.

“I'm not worried about the ground and the trip won't be a problem. Straight after he won the Voltigeur, the jockey went on TV and said he had the pace to win a Group 1 over a mile and a quarter.”

Pyledriver will be staying in training next year. Muir said: “We've got loads to look forward to with this horse and, no matter what else, the boys [the trio who own the horse] have had a fantastic time. We've enjoyed every minute of it and we've got next year and the year after with him, when we will be looking at the big races all around the world.”

Cirrus Des Aigles (2011) and Almanzor (2016) have been French-trained winners of the QIPCO Champion Stakes in the past decade and Skalleti will attempt to again take the prize across the Channel.

The 5-year-old grey, trained by Jerome Reynier, has won 12 of his 15 races and scooped the Group 2 Qatar Prix Dollar for a second time at Longchamp this month. Before that, he had mastered Sottsass, the subsequent Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, in a Group 3 contest at Deauville.

Other possibles among the 16 entries include three-time Group 1 winner Benbatl, who is also engaged in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO).

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