Shared News Europe | Horse Racing Free Tips

Plenty of Action During Tuesday Track Work at Meydan

Morning action at Meydan continued apace on Tuesday, with several Dubai World Cup night contenders stretching their legs just a few days before the blockbuster nine-race card on Saturday.

Last year's JRA Champion Dirt Horse and G1 Champions Cup hero Chuwa Wizard (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), who goes for the $12-million Dubai World Cup, galloped over the dirt track on Tuesday morning with regular pilot Keita Tosaki in the irons. He was ninth in the Saudi Cup in February.

“He has trained well so far,” said Tosaki. “The trainer told me to start a slow gallop at the beginning and then in the rest of the work I should decide the way he ran. I asked my horse to run comfortably and drive a bit more strongly towards the end of the stretch. He is more enthusiastic about his job compared to last time in Saudi, and I really understand how he is doing well and how good his condition is. He appears ready to race.”

Japan also fields a strong challenge in the $5-million G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic. Chrono Genesis (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}), a three-time winner at the highest level in her native land including the G1 Arima Kinen Grand Prix in late December, galloped over the turf track with pilot Yuichi Kitamura on board.

“I picked up from the third bend and drove her comfortably to bring out her flexibility, without having too strong a breeze in the stretch,” said Kitamura. “It was my first ride on the turf track at Meydan, and the ground seems to be firmer than I expected. I thought it would be more cushioned but the grass itself is in really good condition. The ground won't be her issue anyway. I am very proud of how well she has travelled for the first time with a long flight. She feels really good and is settling in well at the quarantine barn.”

G1 Japanese Oaks heroine Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) worked on the dirt track with jockey Oisin Murphy aboard at 5 a.m.

“I have asked Oisin to get a feel for her and he said she was very fresh and sound,” said trainer Yoshito Yahagi. “I want her to put on a bit more weight as she lost some weight while she was isolated in Japan. But her flight experience last year when she came to Dubai helped her a lot this time. Since she arrived in Dubai, she has settled in well and her appetite has been back, and I hope she keeps improving her condition for Saturday's race. Oisin will give her a gallop either on dirt or turf tomorrow. He can choose whichever he likes.”

Simon and Ed Crisford's $4-million G1 Dubai Turf duo Court House (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), who was second in the G2 Al Rashidiya in February and G3 Darley S. third Epic Hero (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) breezed 1200 metres on Tuesday morning. Head lad Dan Hutchinson was on Epic Hero and Ryan Powell rode Court House.

“Both worked very well this morning, they are fit and ready and we couldn't be happier with them.” Simon Crisford said. “Court House has run extremely well on the Meydan turf in his last two starts so we are hopeful he can run another consistent race. He's training well and enjoys racing up with the pace.

“Epic Hero has done very well since his first Carnival race and we are hopeful he can run a nice race. Obviously, he will need to improve on his best form, but he deserves to take his chance.”

Last out G1 Jebel Hatta victor Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper) who is also targetting the Dubai Turf, was also in action, and breezed a quarter mile on the Meydan grass.

Trainer David O'Meara said, “Lord Glitters did a nice breeze over 400m on the grass this morning. That will be his final piece of fast work before the weekend and he is in good order.”

Trainer Nigel Tinkler's stakes winner Acklam Express (Ire), from the first crop of leading European first-season sire Mehmas (Ire), breeze on turf under rider Rowan Scott. Second and third in the G2 Meydan Sprint and G3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint in February and March, respectively, he is entered for the $1-million G1 Al Quoz Sprint.

Tinkler, who is currently in the UK said, “Acklam Express worked this morning and he worked very nicely as he followed Lord Glitters during his gallop. He has been doing very well in Dubai and seems to like it there.”

The post Plenty of Action During Tuesday Track Work at Meydan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Jessica Harrington: Covid Casts A Different Light On Communication

It has been a strange year and the Covid pandemic has meant that we have had to revolutionise the way we try to keep owners informed. We use a very good system now called Racing Manager and we do a lot of videoing of the horses, talking to their lads, talking to the jockeys. Because people haven't been allowed to come racing we interview the jockeys in the parade ring before racing, take photos of the horses in the parade ring and afterwards and then another video with the jockey's summing up of the race, whether good, bad or indifferent. It's something we have really had to embrace—normally we would ring people but now we have really had to step outside the box and I hope owners have found it useful.

We don't just do the horses, we have been making funny videos around the yard as well and just trying to make it as though the owners were here. Some people haven't been able to see their horses for well over a year or 18 months, so it's very strange. Some people in Ireland have been able to get down to the yard when they can but for the people who are abroad, very few of them have even been able to get into Ireland.

On the Racing Manager the owners also get pedigree updates if anything else in the family has won, which is great as it can be hard to keep track of all of that. I find it a very good platform to keep people informed.

I have a horse for the Irish National Stud, Kojin (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), which is part of their racing club, and they get great fun out of the app when the videos go up; there are always lots of replies to it and I hope it makes the club members really feel involved, not just in their horse but in every horse in the stable.

We've recently launched a new website and I think it's really important for the fans of racing as well, to see videos of the horses that they've been following on social media or on the website, especially when they haven't been able to go racing.

There's no doubt that Covid has made us look at things in a completely different way.

Roll on the Flat

We're looking forward to the Flat season. We have around 70 2-year-olds coming in and this year for the first year I actually have quite a few more older horses, and that's rather exciting that so many of them have remained in training.

Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), Cayenne Pepper (Ire) (Australia {GB}), Valeria Messalina (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Silence Please (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) all won either Group or Listed races last year and they have all stayed in training.

Then of the colts and geldings we have the Niarchos Family's Free Solo (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), who has run very little in his career but he was placed twice in listed races last year and he is now back as a 4-year-old. Then I have the 4-year-old Lobo Rojo (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) for Ballylinch Stud. Leo De Fury (Ire) (Australia {GB}) has also stayed in training. He's now five and was a Group 2 winner last year for Zhang Yuesheng, who has also has the 4-year-old Harpocrates (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) who won up in Dundalk recently. Indigo Balance (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who was second at the Curragh on Sunday, has come back from Australia. I trained him as a 2-year-old and he then went to Peter and Paul Snowden. He returned in the middle of last year but he took a long while to acclimatise so he didn't run last season.

Then there's Njord (Ire) (Roderic O'Connor {Ire}), who who won the big handicap at Ascot on Champions Day, and of the fillies I have Flor De La Luna (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who won a maiden in the autumn for her breeder Kirsten Rausing and I think she's a nice filly.

So I have a really good team of older horses, including a new horse who is new to our yard: King Of Comedy (Ire) (Kingman {GB}). It will be interesting to see how he gets on. I'm not sure I'll ever improve on John Gosden but he came to me in the autumn and he is pencilled in for a race on Sunday at Naas, but it will depend on what the ground is like.

The Younger Brigade

Among the 3-year-olds we have the two good Lope De Vega (Ire) colts Lucky Vega (Ire) and Cadillac (Ire). I think they will both go directly to their respective Classic targets: Cadillac will go to the Irish 2000 Guineas and Lucky Vega will go to Newmarket. That's my thinking at the moment but I reserve the right to change my mind!

Then there are quite a few 3-year-old colts who have just had the one or two runs which I think are quite exciting, like Taipan (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), who won on his only start for Fiona Carmichael, Ace Aussie (Ire) (Australia {GB}), Mcpherson (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) and Hell Bent (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire})—the types that were always going to be 3-year-olds.

We are also lucky to have some nice 3-year-old fillies with Classic entries. Oonadatta (Ire) (Australia {GB}) was very good last year and was placed in the G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. She and Sacred Rhyme (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Loch Lein (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), No Speak Alexander (Ire) (Shalaa {Ire}), Golden Lyric (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Zaffy's Pride (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}) all seem to have done well over the winter. And of corse there are some that didn't run last year who were never going to be 2-year-olds, such as Pappina (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who has an Irish Oaks entry. I feel I have a really nice balance of horses.

On the 2-year-old front I have some really well-bred horses including the full-sister to Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) who is called Discoveries (Ire), and a filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) out of Green Room who probably won't make a 2-year-old but she is a lovely filly and is a half-sister to the Group 1 winners Together Forever (Ire) and Forever Together (Ire). It's really exciting to have a nice bunch of 2-year-olds but we don't know how fast they can go yet.

We also have the full-brother to St Mark's Basilica (Fr) named Paris Lights (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) for his Australian breeder Bob Scarborough who also co-owns Oonadatta. Bob is a fantastic and very enthusiastic owner and we've enjoyed increasing the Australian connections in our yard, which includes OTI Racing and several Australian members of our Alpha Racing syndicate which we are running again this year with eight 2-year-olds.

Syndicates The Way Forward

Alpha Racing was set up by Richie Galway with Patrick Cooper doing the buying and it's in its third year now. The members of the syndicate have had a lot of fun so far, especially with Cadillac, and we're trying to set up some more syndicates on a slightly different level, basically with the aim of trying to get younger and new people into racing.

The It's All About The Girls syndicate is still going strong and they have one 3-year-old and three 2-year-olds to race this year. They've been a very lucky syndicate and have had winners every year and for a small investment. It's been great fun, which is what it's all about.

We are fortunate that the investment in Irish racing from overseas has remained strong even throughout this difficult year, and equally importantly the smaller syndicates are still going. That's the one thing I thought might be affected; I was worried that perhaps people might give up when they couldn't go racing. But thankfully most people are hanging in there and saying 'at least we have the racing'. They are able to watch it and still get great fun out of that, but of course it is nothing like actually being there when your horse runs.

I think this year was the first time in 45 years that I haven't been to Cheltenham, but it is as it is. I just hope that when we all get back out there we will be able to remember the art of socialising.

The post Jessica Harrington: Covid Casts A Different Light On Communication appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

A Fresh Look With Liam Norris

Continuing our assessment of the prospects of first-season sires with runners in 2021, bloodstock agent and breeder Liam Norris shares his view on this year's crop.

He says, “Ardad (Ire) was such a good 2-year-old. We sent mares to him and from what I saw of his stock at the sales, they looked forward and racy types. I'd be disappointed if they don't pop out of the traps with huge precocity.

“I was always a huge fan of Highland Reel (Ire) as a racehorse. It's important not to forget that he was a good 2-year-old himself who was out in June and won the G2 Vintage Stakes at Glorious Goodwood the following month, and his stock looked like they wouldn't be backward. They had balance and great movement and I'd be very hopeful he will be a great sire. I bought two yearlings by him who are now with Spain's champion trainer Guillermo Arizkorreta and I know he is very happy with their progress.

Norris adds, “The sire for the future whose stock were exceptional for me is Almanzor (Fr). They have great presence and he is a classy, exciting stallion. With both Highland Reel and Almanzor I will expect to see their first-crop runners coming to the fore in the second half of the season.”

The post A Fresh Look With Liam Norris appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Goffs Online March Sale Begins on Wednesday

The Goffs Online March Sale, featuring horses-in-training, NH broodmares and young stock, and NH form horses, will begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, with the first lot closing at noon. Subsequent offerings will close in two-minute intervals according to the time noted on their respective catalogue pages.

Currently, there are 66 horses set to be offered, including a trio of horses holding entries for the Apr. 10 Randox Grand National: multiple graded winner Alpha Des Obeaux (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}) (lot 47); the G1 Ryanair Chase winner Balko Des Flos (Fr) (Balko {Fr}) (lot 20) and the multiple graded winner Ballyoptic (Ire) (Old Vic {Ire}) (lot 31).

The post Goffs Online March Sale Begins on Wednesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post