Each week a panel of media members, horseplayers, and Breeders’ Cup World Championships officials release a poll tabulating their votes on the nation's top contenders for the 2022 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Tag: Racing
Road to the 2022 Breeders’ Cup: Final Preps in New York, California
The second weekend in October is loaded with “Win and You’re In” qualifying prep races for the 39thBreeders’ Cup World Championships, and in addition to nine of them scheduled at Keeneland Race Course – site of this year’s event a month from now – five more will be held at the Belmont at the Big A meet in New York and at
Melbourne Cup Winner Verry Elleegant ‘Unlucky’ On Arc Undercard, Confirmed For British Champions Day
Last year's Lexus Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant will be given one last chance to show European racegoers what she is made of on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot next Saturday after trainer Francis Graffard confirmed she will join the stable's Prix Vermeille winner Sweet Lady in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.
A four-length winner of the 'Race That Stops The Nation' under a big weight at Flemington last November, Very Elleegant went on to add an eleventh Group 1 success to her glittering CV in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick in February, but she has so far been underwhelming in three races for Graffard in France.
On Saturday she was seventh in the Qatar Prix Royallieu, to which she had been switched when it became clear that a supplementary entry for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc De Triomphe was unnecessary as her downgraded official mark would be too low for her to make the cut in that race.
Graffard has been both frustrated and saddened that the star mare has not been able to do herself justice in Europe so far, but he attributes Saturday's disappointing show to circumstance and will no doubt have taken encouragement from the words of her rider Mark Zahra, and also her former trainer Chris Waller, both of whom have said since that she is well worth another shot. He remains adamant that she retains the ability and the enthusiasm to make her mark at Ascot.
Ending speculation that the Prix Royallieu might have marked the end of the road for Verry Elleegant, Graffard said: “Verry Elleegant will come to Ascot for the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares. She was very unlucky in the way the race was run at Longchamp, where there was no tempo and she was boxed in on the rail and pulled hard. She basically didn't have a race.
“It's hard to see such a fantastic mare beaten like that and it's upsetting too, but I felt that the race was over for her at the first bend when I saw where we were. Everything went against her and it's best forgotten, but she's come out of it well. She's happy and she tries, and hopefully things will go her way at QIPCO British Champions Day.”
Graffard is a big fan of QIPCO British Champions Day and had the Fillies & Mares in mind for Verry Elleegant back in the summer, before she made a delayed debut for the stable at Deauville. At the same time, he also spoke of aiming Sweet Lady for the same race, and the filly confirmed her place on his Ascot team with a gutsy all-the-way win in last month's Prix Vermeille, on Longchamp's 'trials day'.
He won the Prix Vermeille in 2017 with Bateel, who found only the Aidan O'Brien-trained Hydrangea too good on QIPCO British Champions Day, and Sweet Lady is currently disputing favouritism with the likes of Above The Curve, Emily Upjohn and Mimikyu in what promises to be one of the races of the day.
Graffard said: “Sweet Lady will also run and she's in top form. We decided to avoid Arc weekend and focus on the Fillies & Mares, as we did with Bateel.”
Last year's QIPCO Champion Stakes winner Sealiway, who joined the stable last winter, will not be taking on Baaeed after a lack-lustre effort in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but Graffard will bring his 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO) winner for his fourth run in the race and he could also be represented by Hurricane Dream in the Balmoral Handicap.
The Revenant, who was second to King Of Change in 2019 and fourth to Baaeed last year, faces another very tough opponent in Inspiral, but he seems to retain all of his ability at the age of seven and delighted connections when second to Erevann in Saturday's Prix Daniel Wildenstein, which has been his prep race every time and which he won in both 2019 and 2020.
Graffard said: “He's in top form and has come out of Saturday's race very well. He seems to be as enthusiastic as ever and he has always run well on Champions Day. The softer the ground the better for him.”
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Ladies Day: Female Trainers Win All Six Steeplechase Races At Foxfield
Perhaps the time will come when society stops measuring success by gender or calling out milestone moments as notable because they were accomplished by any group outside of the expected. But until then, we'll continue to celebrate remarkable achievements precisely because they are out of the ordinary and rank as extraordinary.
On Sunday at the Foxfield Fall Races, female trainers, who account for 22 of the National Steeplechase Association's 51 conditioners, dominated the card, not only capturing all six races, but finishing first, second, and third twice, and finishing first through fifth in two other contests.
Amazing as it is, this wasn't the first time in 2022 that female trainers have made a clean sweep. At the Virginia Gold Cup Races in May, Leslie Young and Keri Brion combined to capture all seven races.
At Foxfield, Kathy Neilson kicked off the afternoon by taking the $15,000 maiden claiming hurdle with Hard Game LLC's eponymous Hard Game, a four-year-old son of Hard Spun who began his jumping career in April following 14 starts on the flat. With Gerard Galligan aboard, Hard Game sat within striking range, launched his bid at the final fence, and dug in under a drive to prevail by a head over Hey Teacher Partners' Hey Teacher, also trained by Neilson, with Barry Foley in the saddle. Like all hurdle races at Foxfield, the race was run at 2 ⅛ miles.
Keri Brion was a three-time winner – all with leading rider Parker Hendriks – capturing the second, a training-flat race with NSA newcomer Agitare, a five-year-old Irish-bred making his stateside debut following a long career in Europe. In races that count, Brion scored with Jimmy P, the first NSA win for prominent flat owner Madaket Stables. Jimmy P, a four-year-old who is co-owned by Paul and Molly Willis, made his first two starts over jumps at Colonial Downs this summer, finishing a sharp second in his most recent effort. In the fourth, a $30,000 maiden special weights event, Jimmy P settled early and closed over the final fence to win by 3 lengths over Patrick Boyle's Cool Jet, ridden by Graham Watters and trained by Jack Fisher. It was another 4 ¼ lengths back to Greg Hawkins' Webb and Bernie Dalton.
Brion also took the finale, a $20,000 handicap for horses rated at 110 or less, with Sanna Neilson and John Huganir's He'll Do. Racing far back in the field of 12, He'll Do was in 11th, 10 lengths behind after a mile and a half. He advanced on the far turn and closed full of run on the outside to overtake Brion-trained stablemate, Pleasecallemeback (owned by Upland Flats Racing and ridden by Barry Foley), by three-quarters of a length. Mason Hardaway Lampton's pacesetter Three O One, trained by Lilith Boucher and ridden by daughter Mell, was third.
Hall of Fame trainer Janet Elliot found the winner's circle with Saigon in the third, a $25,000 filly and mare maiden. It was the second win in the last three outings for Greg Hawkins' five-year-old daughter of Mizzen Mast. Saigon, a maiden-claiming winner on the flat at Laurel over the summer, was far back early and made her bid with a quarter-mile to go, kicking clear after the final fence by 1 ½ lengths. Ashwell Stable's Eponine (Freddy Procter) was second, Jordan Wycoff's Ocean Air (Teddy Davies), third. The victory gave jockey Gerard Galligan two on the day.
Not to be outdone, leading 2022 trainer Leslie Young saddled Leipers Fork Steeplechasers' Fast Vision, a French-bred five-year-old, to his second hurdle triumph of the season. The win came in the fifth, a $15,000 apprentice/amateur rider allowance for horses rated at 120 or less or entered for a $25,000 tag. Fast Vision sat in third for most of the trip, close to the pacesetters, got into gear in the stretch, and drew clear under Freddy Procter's urging. The margin of victory was 2 ¾ lengths over The International Venture and Belle Meade Jockey Club's Ljay (Theo Sushko), who couldn't hold his late lead. Jeffrey Morris' Shaka (Mell Boucher) was third.
Young's victory gave her 25 on the season, two more than Keri Brion. Jack Fisher remains in third, with 13 wins. Jockey Hendriks' two tallies gives him 19, eight more than Tom Garner and Freddie Procter.
Full results can be found here: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/racing/
The post Ladies Day: Female Trainers Win All Six Steeplechase Races At Foxfield appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
