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Major Fed Team Decides To Skip Ellis Park Derby, Train Up To Kentucky Derby

Major Fed, runner-up in the Indiana Derby on July 8, had been under consideration for Sunday's Ellis Park Derby at the Henderson, Ky. track. Instead, Travis Foley, assistant and son to trainer Greg Foley, told the Daily Racing Form that the 3-year-old son of Ghostzapper will head straight to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.

Based at Churchill Downs, Major Fed worked a half-mile beneath the Twin Spires in :50.20 on Aug. 1.

“We're happy with where we are with him and comfortable with the points situation,” the younger Foley told drf.com. “Everything's good and we didn't feel like we needed the race in between.”

Major Fed also owns a second-place finish in the G2 Risen Star Stakes, and a fourth from the G2 Louisiana Derby, leaving him with a total of 38 points toward the Kentucky Derby. He currently sits 16th on the points leaderboard.

Ayr Meeting Abandoned

Wednesday’s meeting at Ayr was abandoned after the fourth race after heavy rain was found to have caused patches of false ground. The Scottish track had received more than an inch of rain on Tuesday and it continued to fall during the afternoon on Wednesday, causing conditions to deteriorate.

“Jockeys came in after the third race and reported they felt a bit of false ground,” Clerk of the Course Graeme Anderson told Racing TV. “We had a look but it just seemed to be a wetter area, a heavier patch. They came back in after race four and reported a couple of areas, one about the furlong-and-a-half mark and one about just the half-furlong. We had a look. They were pretty deep holes, just really heavy ground. We’d had eight millimetres since 12:30 [Wednesday] on top of 28mm [Tuesday]. It’s been relentless so it’s taken its toll.”

The card’s last five races were abandoned.

“It’s right in the centre,” Anderson added. “We looked at trying to run the races on the round course and abandon the sprint race, but there’s a fear you can’t avoid it during a race. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“It’s an area where we’ve never had a problem before. It just seems to be wetter than others and just holding water and the holes are starting to fill with the rain coming down. It’s going to ride false. I’m hoping it’s just a case of the amount of rain we’ve had and it’s nothing more than that, but we will definitely be investigating and see what caused it and see what it’s looking like. It’s two weeks on Monday for our next meeting and then the Gold Cup meeting about three and a half weeks after that.”

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Devin Debutante Takes the Eye at Deauville

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday’s Insights features a half-sister to G1SW Epicuris (GB) (Rail Link {GB}).

5.37 Deauville, Cond, €22,000, 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT
CAPTIOUS (GB) (Frankel {GB}) debuts in the Khalid Abdullah silks for the Henri-Francois Devin stable and is a half-sister to the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Epicuris (GB) (Rail Link {GB}). Among her rivals is Haras Voltaire’s fellow newcomer Babylone (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), an Andre Fabre-trained daughter of the former Niarchos Family homebred Typique (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of Denebola (Storm Cat) who was bought for €450,000 at the Goffs November Mares Sale.

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Siskin’s Next Start Up in the Air

Classic hero Siskin (First Defence), who lost his unbeaten tag with a third in last week’s G1 Qatar Sussex S., has emerged from that effort well, but his connections are not sure where he will start next. Trained by Ger Lyons for Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte operation, the homebred had scored an impressive victory in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas in his sophomore bow at The Curragh on June 12. The bay was unbeaten in four runs as a juvenile, including the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. and G2 GAIN Railway S.

“He’s come out of the race well,” said Abdullah’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe. “I’ve got to discuss with Prince Khalid what he would like to do. We’ll look at all the options, which are pretty straightforward really.”

Another Juddmonte colourbearer also received a positive update, as two-time G1 Prix de l’Arc heroine Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) continues to shine after take the July 25 G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S. at Ascot, her third win in the race. Second in the 2019 Arc ,the John Gosden trainee filled the same position in the G1 Coral-Eclipse S. on July 5. She is pointing to either York’s Aug. 20 G1 Yorkshire Oaks or Aug. 19 G1 Juddmonte International S., followed by another try in the Arc in France in October.

Added Grimthorpe, “All is good with Enable. She hasn’t done a lot since Ascot, but she came out of the race well and everybody is happy with her.”

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