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Life Is Good Draws Gate One in Dubai World Cup

WinStar Farm and China Horse Club's Life Is Good (Into Mischief), who won the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. in dominating fashion, has drawn gate one in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup. The 4-year-old colt is six for seven, with five of his wins at the graded level.

Elliott Walden, president and racing manager of co-owner WinStar Farm said, “It's an 11-horse field. He has enough time to get over, and has enough speed to put himself in a good position. It's been amazing. He has a beautiful way of moving, I think he knows he's special. It is just a blessing to have him. It's a great honour to be favourite. We feel grateful to have him.”

The Todd Pletcher trainee is joined in the starting gate by American compatriots and Grade I winners Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in stall seven for Roadrunner, Boat Racing, Strauss & Gainesway and trainer Doug O'Neill; and Bob Baffert's Country Grammer (Tonalist), who runs for Zedan Racing, WinStar and Commonwealth TB, who leaves from gate five.

Leandro Mora, assistant trainer to Doug O'Neill, said, “[We are] very happy. He needs to prove it. We talked about it we wanted any post from one through seven, so we are happy.”

Added Roadrunner Racing's Greg Helm, “To be a part of this event in Dubai is outrageous. I am shaking like a leaf. I'm so excited to be here.”

Steve Asmussen's multiple Grade I-placed Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), who carries the silks of Winchell Thoroughbreds, LLC, has drawn post eight.

Carlos Rosas, exercise rider for Asmussen, said, “I didn't want him inside drawn on the rail so we have gone for the middle in eight. Hopefully his jockey Jose Ortiz can get a good position from there. He has been training beautifully since he finished third in the Saudi Cup.”

The 2000-metre main track race is a truly international contest, as Godolphin's duo of Real World (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and last year's third-place finisher Magny Cours (Medaglia d'Oro), for trainers Saeed bin Suroor and Andre Fabre, leave from stalls six and nine, respectively.

Bin Suroor said, “I'm very happy with that, we've got the best draw. This was always the plan for him and we've always trained him on the all-weather track at home. He's always shown his form really well on that and he's trained really well so I'm very happy with him. He worked last Saturday and it was the best work I've ever seen, clocking 1:26 on the bridle.”

He added, “He came back very well from his last run, his draw is brilliant and Christophe [Soumillon] the jockey knows the track very well. He's a two-time winner of the race [with Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) in 2018 and 2019] so it's great to have him on our side.

“It's a very tough race and it's hard to win. You always have to have a good horse. We've won it nine times and we'll try to do it again.”

Godolphin's managing director Hugh Anderson added of Magny Cours, “We have the best trainer in Europe at present and the leading jockey in Dubai on our side. Maybe they won't thank me for drawing nine, but he is in better form now having disappointed us a little last time in Saudi. He finished third in this race last year so we know he likes the track.”

Super Saturday's G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 victor Hypothetical (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), a colourbearer for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum and trainer Salem bin Ghadayer, leaves from stall 10. Dubawi (Ire)'s Remorse (Ire), second to Hypothetical, will exit from the widest post, 11, for Al Rashid Stables, LLC and trainer Bhupat Seemar.

Japan, which has launched their strongest assault to date on the Dubai World Cup card, is represented by Shinobu Nakanishi's Chuwa Wizard (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) from post three. He was runner-up in the 2021 edition of the race.

Trainer Ryuji Okubo said, “I'm happy with the gate and his condition is better than last year. He's got the experience of Meydan last year and that has served him well for this year. I'm happier this year and gate three is perfect.”

Stud Old Friends and Antonio Cintra's Aero Trem (Brz) (Shanghai Bobby) will leave from barrier two. Cintra said, “It's a good draw for him, he's a horse that can't run in the back [during his races] so it's a good draw.

“We're very proud to be here again. Last season was the first time we had a horse in the World Cup but I think this year we arrive with Aero Trem who is looking 100% so we're hoping for a good race from him.”

Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz's Grocer Jack (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a Group 3 winner in Germany for William Haggas, has drawn gate four.

Haggas's wife Maureen, said, “We're quite happy with that, he's inexperienced on the dirt so he wouldn't have wanted to be drawn on the inside in stalls one to three. To be more to the outside is better for him and he'll work it out on the dirt.”

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Home Affairs To Skip TJ Smith In Favour Of Royal Ascot

Instead of contesting the Apr. 2 G1 T J Smith S. over 1200 metres at Royal Randwick, dual Group 1 winner Home Affairs (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus})), will be freshened for a Northern Hemisphere campaign with his sights set on Royal Ascot, according to a tweet by Chris Waller Racing. A winner of the G2 Silver Slipper S. and third in the G2 Todman S. for trainer Chris Waller, Coolmore, Wynaus, Et. Al as a juvenile, the bay progressed at three to take the G1 Coolmore Stud S. on Oct. 30 and the G1 Lightning S. on Feb. 19, both at Flemington. He exited the G1 Newmarket H. with a ninth on Mar. 12.

“Home Affairs has pulled up bright and well following the Newmarket H., however [he] does have some tightness across his back and hindquarters,” Chris Wall Racing said via Twitter on Tuesday. “We have therefore made the decision that rather than running in the T J Smith, he will have a quiet time over the next two weeks while we concentrate on a Northern Hemisphere campaign including Royal Ascot. We will keep you informed once plans are finalised.”

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Racing League Reveals Team Managers And Jockey Draft For 2022

The seven team managers for the 2022 Racing League were announced on Tuesday. In addition, there will be a jockey draft held at Doncaster on Saturday, Mar. 26. The second season of the Racing League, featuring prizemoney of £2 million, will begin at Doncaster on Aug. 4 and end at Newcastle on Sept. 15. Other Thursday evening fixtures in the series are at Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Windsor, and Southwell. All six meetings will be shown live on ITV Racing alongside long-term partner Sky Sports Racing.

As part of a new format, teams representing Ireland, London and the South, Scotland, the East, the North, Wales and the West, and Yorkshire will take part. Each team will provide two runners per race, with horses and jockeys determined by the team managers. The seven team managers are:

Ireland – Kevin Blake
London and the South – Matt Chapman
Scotland – Linda Perratt
The East – Rupert Bell
The North – Mick Quinn
Wales and the West – Jamie Osborne
Yorkshire – Leonna Mayor

A total of 123 trainers signed up to be involved in Racing League 2022 and all have been assigned to represent either their preferred or second-choice region. Full details of the competition, including the teams and their respective trainers, can be found at www.racingleague.uk/. For the full list of trainers and their assigned regions, please click here.

Jeremy Wray, Racing League CEO, said, “We are delighted to announce team managers with such a wealth of racing knowledge and experience to represent the teams.

“They will play an important role this year starting with the jockey draft on Saturday which is something new for the sport and adds a really fun element to the competition. One hundred jockeys have registered and those selected will join over 120 trainers who have signed up across the seven regional teams.

“We greatly appreciate the support shown by so many horsemen and look forward to adding further new initiatives for Racing League 2022 over the coming months.”

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Stage Set For Inaugural Dubai Breeze-Up Sale

DUBAI, UAE–The interesting thing about talking to trainers from different parts of the world is that one man's gallop is another man's breeze, or indeed another woman's canter. Even within the specialised sector of the breeze-up sales, a Donny breezer may set a different pace to a Guineas breezer, often deliberately so, and for the inaugural Dubai Breeze-up Sale the focus is more on letting the 2-year-olds stretch out and show their moves over the two furlongs rather than rousting them along at a searing pace.

Not one for the clock-watchers, then, but that's no bad thing, and the 69 horses set to sell on Wednesday evening at Meydan racecourse weren't exactly hanging around as they skipped across the dark Tapeta all-weather surface of the Meydan training track.

As we have come to expect from this seasoned band of breeze-up vendors from Ireland and Britain, an impressive array of young bloodstock was on show on Tuesday morning. The consignors flitted to and fro, some looking a little more pensive than others, but they will have been heartened by the group of potential buyers perched trackside on steps and benches to witness this inaugural venture laid on by the Dubai Racing Club in association with Goffs. Among them was Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum, proudly supporting a baseball cap with the name of his dual Group 1 winner Perfect Power (Ire), who is a shining example amid the breeze-up graduates of 2021. Sitting alongside the sheikh was Richard Brown, the man who bought not only Perfect Power but also his sire Ardad (Ire), another classy breezer, both from their breeder Tally-Ho Stud.

The man in the driving seat for much of the project has been Goffs' Tom Taaffe, who not so long ago could have been found around this time of year sending strapping steeplechasers to Cheltenham. The former trainer appears to have a pretty breezy attitude to life in general, and he must have drawn some satisfaction watching on as the canters, gallops – call them what you will – were conducted without incident.

Up on the balcony of the track's watch tower was 'the voice' of Goffs, group chief executive Henry Beeby, who must have felt almost at home, as if he was on his elevated rostrum in Ireland, only this time a little warmer and brighter. To Beeby's mellifluous backing track the 2-year-olds appeared one by one, around the turn and down the straight, cantering off into the distance with the vast Meydan grandstand as a backdrop. On Wednesday evening they will be auctioned off in its shadow, with the business end of the sale taking place in the Meydan winner's enclosure – a place to which many of their eventual buyers will no doubt hope to return one day.

“It went like clockwork,” said Beeby after the breeze show. “As a group the horses breezed exceptionally well. I think the breeze-up vendors have really risen to the challenge and given us a lovely bunch of horses. It's a new venture and they have taken a chance but the conditions that the Dubai Racing Club has put in place have given them confidence.”

The general consensus among those who put their money into finding horses to bring to Dubai at last year's yearling sales is that the operation has run smoothly so far, with plenty of vendors having reported being very busy through the viewing sessions. Time will tell if that interest turns into a decent return for them on this first date in the 2-year-old sales calendar, but present indications are encouraging.

Mickey Cleere of MC Thoroughbreds was the guinea pig, both as consignor and rider, when breezing lot 1, his colt by Gun Runner, the stallion who was runner-up to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup five years ago. The bay colt is out of the 10-time winner Bank Audit (Wild Rush), whose victories include two at Grade II level.

“We're absolutely delighted to be here and to be a part of this sale,” said Cleere, who has three juveniles catalogued, including the only one by America's champion sire Into Mischief. “The horses travelled over great, the facilities are top class and all the right people seem to be here looking. I think it should be a success looking at the quality of horses here. There seem to be a lot of people with very nice horses, and we think we have nice horses too. The three of them are very different but they are nice and by the right sires with decent pedigrees.”

Cleere's fellow breeze riders included an accomplished gang of Irish jockeys, featuring Gary Halpin, Pat Dobbs, Andrew Slattery and Rory Cleary, while Louis Steward, who is set to ride Volcanic Sky (GB) for Saeed Bin Suroor in Saturday's Dubai Gold Cup, also took to the saddle. And for National Hunt fans of a certain vintage, there was the chance to see Norman Williamson gather up his reins again aboard two horses to be sold under his Oak Tree Farm banner. For all his success at Cheltenham and beyond, Williamson is just as well known in these circles as the vendor of War Of Will (War Front) and last season's European champion 2-year-old, Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

Among his offerings in Dubai is a French-bred colt who will become the first son of Godolphin's Group 1 winner Cloth Of Stars (Ire) to be offered at a breeze-up sale. Slated as lot 29, he looked very professional in his breeze on Tuesday morning and hails from a family deep in European black type, his dam Mediteranea (Fr) being a Smart Strike half-sister to the Group/Grade 1 winner and young sire Erupt (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) as well as Listed winner Marie De Medici (Medicean {GB}).

American-sired juveniles outnumber their European counterparts in the catalogue, which intriguingly also includes a colt by Shadai stallion Daiwa Major (Jpn) out of the former champion filly Peeping Fawn (Danehill), who owns a pedigree to match her sparkling race record. A three-parts-brother to the Chesham S. winner and G1 Moyglare S. runner-up September (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), he is consigned by Willie Browne's Mocklershill as lot 31.

Looking ahead to Wednesday'a main event, Henry Beeby added, “We're very hopeful. With a new venture you never know but I think the conditions we find ourselves in now, with quality horses, the interest pre-sale and at the breeze-up, it's looking in good shape.

“We are very grateful to Sheikh Rashid at the Dubai Racing Club for appointing us. It was a big vote of confidence in Goffs and we appreciate it.”

Uniquely for a Thoroughbred auction, all buyers have to pre-register and, in the style of fine art auctions, will be issued with a paddle with which to bid. The sale is set to commence at 5pm local time. At the time of writing, there have been three withdrawals (lots 7, 35 and 58). For the full catalogue and to view the breeze-up videos, please click here.

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