THE smallest field in recent history will tackle the second leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, the $A520,000 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m), at Royal Ascot, UK on Tuesday night (AET).
When final payments were taken overnight only 12 horses remained in contention for the Group 1 sprint, with Nicconi and Gold Trail chasing Australia’s fourth win in five years.
Read more: SMALL field confronts the AUSSIES in King's Stand at ROYAL ASCOT
IT'S all systems go for next week’s Royal Ascot meeting in the UK after the final preliminaries for most of the overseas contenders on the famous Newmarket heath.
Royal Ascot hosts the second and third legs of the rich Global Sprint Challenge and Australian hopes Nicconi, Gold Trail and Alverta were among several visiting horses to take advantage of the marvellous training conditions at Newmarket.
JOCKEY Calvin Borel guided Super Saver through the mud to win the the 136th Kentucky Derby at the weekend, to give trainer Todd Pletcher his first Derby win after 24 fruitless attempts.
Courtesy of the New York Times, here’s how sportswriter Joe Drape captured the magic of the race that stops the nation of America.
Read more: GOOD things come to those who wait in the Kentucky Derby
ONE of Europe’s premium Group 1 races, the Prix de Ganay will be run at the home of French racing, Longchamp Racecourse on Sunday.
The challenging 2100m journey will not only showcase some of world’s best gallopers but will produce the third leg winner of the Tatts Cox Plate WFA Global Championship.
Read more: FRENCH leg of Cox Plate Global Championship run Sunday
ON May 1 the first date of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing in the United States will begin, and the Kentucky Derby odds favor the two major candidates, the colt Eskendereya and Sidneys Candy.
Eskendereya is emerging as one of the favorites for winning this year's edition of the Kentucky Derby, which will be held at Churchill Downs.
IT was a chilling moment that South African jockey Kevin Shea will never forget as long as he lives, one that threatens to haunt him for the rest of his riding career.
In a graphic report for The Telegraph, J A McGrath reports: ‘It was the split second Shea thought he had won the world’s richest race, the $10US million Dubai World Cup, only to learn minutes later that he had been beaten a nose in one of the closes finishes ever seen.
Read more: CHILLING finish to Dubai World Cup that proved a nightmare for SA jockey
GLORIA DE CAMPEAO TAKES MEYDAN'S FIRST DUBAI WORLD CUP
DARING the best horses in the world to catch him, Gloria de Campeao raced to an early lead and relied on the courage that trainer Pascal Bary said is his hallmark to hold off a late lunge from the unheralded Lizard’s Desire to win the Dubai World Cup, sponsored by Emirates Airline in a thrilling finish that left the Meydan crowd wondering who had prevailed in the first US$10 million race in history.
Neither horse’s connections were sure until the results of the official photo finish were announced. Brazilian-based owner Stefan Friborg of Estrela Energia Stables yelled with delight and was immediately mobbed by family and friends.
Read more: REPORTS from magnificent WORLD CUP meeting at Meydan in DUBAI
DAVID Hayes shunned the crowd of owners, trainers and media trying to identify horses in a heavy mist at Meydan yesterday and whisked Eagle Falls away to a nearby training track for a leisurely gallop leading into Saturday’s $US2 million Golden Shaheen.
Hayes had been working Eagle Falls with the other international horses near the 1600 metres chute on the Meydan racecourse before he discovered the training track adjacent to Meydan which is normally reserved for local horses.
Read more: HAYES confident of success with EAGLE FALLS in DUBAI
THE final stages of the countdown has begun to the running of the world’s richest race, the Dubai World Cup, worth a staggering $US $10 million at the new billion dollar Meydan complex on Saturday.
In what promises to be a celebration of ultimate horse power, the best of the best and the swiftest of hoof from throughout the thoroughbred world have assembled in the desert to lay down their claims to greatness.
Here is the latest news leading into the Dubai World Cup meeting courtesy of the Dubai Race Club Media Centre:
Read more: LATEST news heading into the DUBAI WORLD CUP meeting
TOP international jockey KIEREN FALLON was punched while unsaddling Elna Bright after the second race at Lingfield on Saturday by an owner of two horses who had run in the same race.
David Reynolds, joint owner of 3-1 favorite The Scorching Wind and third-placed Seek The Fair Land, was later escorted off the track by security guards, who were quickly on the spot after the incident in the unsaddling area behind the weighing room.
Read more: OWNER punches top international jockey after race in UK