India s First Horse Racing India Magazine - Racing World India - INTERNATIONAL RACING- JUNE

INTERNATIONAL RACING- JUNE - JULY 09


Crack at the Guineas, traditionally the best trial for Epsom.
	represented Manton instead of last season’s champion two-year-old Crowded House. Meehan had expressed fears about the fast ground, but Delegator, who came here on the back of an impressive victory in the Craven Stakes, certainly had every chance, and, while he moved through the gears when Jamie Spencer popped the question, it was the classy Sea The Stars, making his first appearance since he won the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at The Curragh last September, who found that bit extra up the hill, winning by a length and a half, with Ghan Amras, whose pedigree screams out a mile and a half, running a terrific Derby trial to finish third, followed by the Aidan O’Brien pair, Rip Van Winkle and Mastercraftsman. Because of Sea The Stars’s link with Galileo, plenty of punters had looked upon him more as one for Epsom than Newmarket, but the wily Oxx, who has never been guilty of declaring his geese as swans prematurely, admitted afterwards that he was “quietly confident”.
It is 20 years since Nashwan completed the 2000 Guineas-Derby double, but John Oxx and Mick Kinane hope and believe that they have found a colt capable of repeating that feat in Sea The Stars, who booked his place for Epsom on the first Saturday in June when producing a polished performance to land the Newmarket classic. Only two horses were ever travelling, Sea The Stars, who is a half-brother to Derby winner Galileo, and the Brian Meehan trained favourite Delegator, who
- Geoff Lester (UK)
For the entire article pick up a copy today.

Ghanaati
	Ghanaati’s success for his son Richard in fast time in the 1000Guineas, in which odds-on favourite Rainbow View, last season’s champion juvenile filly in Europe, was like a cat on hot bricks on the ground and finished a disappointing fifth. Ghanaati had never previously run on turf, but when she won by six lengths on the Polytrack at Kempton last November, Hills told me that this powerfully-built Giant’s Causeway filly was “very special”, and so it proved as she turned the screw on the chasing pack from the two-furlong pole and repelled all-comers up the hill to beat the Bolgertrained Cuis Ghaire by a length and a half.
Barry Hills has been training for 40 years, but few of his classic successes have given him greater pleasure than
- Geoff Lester (UK)
For the entire article pick up a copy today.

Mine That Bird - In 50-1 Kentucky Derby Shocker
	longest priced winner since 1913, and the bookies in Vegas could not have been happier as all the ante-post bets went down the drain. What the race has done is propel a bunch of relatively unknown racing owners, trainers and breeders into the limelight for a couple of months at least, a refreshing change from hearing the same old sound bites from the usual suspects. Trained by a cowboy with a brokenleg from New Mexico, and ridden by a 50 year old jockey who is unable to read, the children's comic book ending had the non-racing press in the USA excited. After all, the son of Birdstone - Mining My Own had not won a race since October 2008, and that win like his three others had come at LVoodbine. He had finished dead last behind Midshipman in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, and last time out he could only finish fourth in the Sunland Derby Mine That Bird only cost $9,500 as a yearling, and trainer Bernie LVoofley had racked up just one win out of 32 starts in 2009 prior to the big one. All week he had more or less been treated like a red-neck cartoon character by the racing press in Louisville, with most of the stories focused on the lengthy trailer ride it took to bring the horse from New Mexico to Kentucky.
According to the experts in Kentucky all week, the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby was supposed to be a wide open affair where any one of 11 super primed thoroughbreds were capable of winning the race. As usual they were all wrong and left scratching their heads as 51-1 longshot Mine That Bird romped home in the slop by 6 % lengths over Pioneer of the Nile and Musket Man. It was the
For the entire article pick up a copy today.

THE DUBAI WORLD CUP (Gr. 1) - US$ 6 Million 2000m Dirt
	boys!” screamed jockey Gryder as he weighed in. “Last race at Nad Al Sheba, and we won it!” The victory was nearly double Curlin’s seven and three-quarter length win last year, the previous record winning distance. Trainer Harty has a strong connection with the UAE , having been hired by Godolphin to train their two-year-olds in the US in 2000 and spent two years readying the juveniles in Dubai. Harty developed Street Cry, who went on to win the 2003 Dubai World Cup, but was thrilled to repeat the feat in his own name this time. He said: “It’s the biggest win of my career. I owe a lot to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who got me started and plucked me from relative obscurity. This horse chipped a bone in the UAE Derby and then he fractured his pelvis and the vets wanted to put him down. Two years on he’s won the richest race in the world.” The fancied Albertus Maximus and Asiatic Boy were the disappointments of the race, finishing sixth and 12th respectively. The former’s rider Alan Garcia said: “He was fighting me. I can’t really explain it right now. Last time I rode him in the Donn he was a totally different horse.” Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin felt Albertus Maximus was, “fighting Alan the whole way. He was trying to get out the whole way, and that’s not him”. While Asiatic Boy’s rider Johnny Murtagh commented: “He is a horse who needs to get organized early on and we got shuffled back. After that we were flat to the boards and always struggling.”
America brilliantly bookmarked the Dubai World Cup chapter at Nad Al Sheba, where Well Armed absolutely destroyed his 13 rivals, recording an astonishing 14 - length record - winning distance. Cigar’s victory in the inaugural race in 1996 took most people’s breath away and there was a similar reaction to Well Armed’s win - in what is the last race ever to be run at Nad Al Sheba, as racing moves to the state-of-the-art Meydan next year. The six-year-old bounced out of the gates a length in front and was never headed in the US$6million showpiece. The win for trainer Eoin Harty, jockey Aaron Gryder and ownerbreeders WinStar Farm looked in the bag rounding the home turn, as his rivals failed to make any inroads on a huge lead. Gloria De Campeao gave chase to finish second, while the Saudi Arabian outsiders Paris Perfect and Muller ran on well for third and fourth. But this was all about one horse. “Here we go

Presvis prevails after last-to-first dash in Audemars Piguet QEII Cup
	raced to an authoritative win in the HK$14 million Audemars Piguet QEII Cup. On a turf track reclassified as yielding, Moore was content to settle Presvis in last place as Viva Macau cut out the early pace, with the local favourite Viva Pataca staying in middivision. Viva Macau was still in front with 300 metres left in the straight, and Presvis still last, but Moore stayed close to the rail and launched Presvis on a decisive run up the inner to run down Viva Pataca and win going away by a length at the line for his first Group 1 success. Thumbs Up ran on for third, with the French challenger Chinchon in fourth.
Presvis, trained in Newmarket by Luca Cumani, and given a super-confident ride by Britain’s champion jockey Ryan Moore,
For the entire article pick up a copy today.

Sight Winner - swoops in Champions Mile shock
	and came up trumps as Sight Winner, the largest-priced of the quartet, edged out Egyptian Ra after a sustained stretch duel on a soggy Sha Tin track. Riding Sight Winner for the first time, Brett Prebble conjured a late burst from the Faltaat five-year-old and prevailed by a short-head at odds of 64/1 from the fancied front-runner Egyptian Ra, trained by Tony Cruz and ridden by Felix Coetzee. The fast-finishing Australian runner Dao Dao finished just a head behind in third and the race favourites Good Ba Ba and Collection ran fourth and fifth respectively.
Reigning champion trainer John Size fielded four runners in the Champions Mile
For the entire article pick up a copy today.