Admin August 8, 2024
Tropical Storm Debby forces postponement at Colonial Downs, an amended result from the $20m Saudi Cup and a prestigious award for Brian Hernandez Jr. – all this and more in our weekly digest of recent international racing news
Arlington Million card postponed for 24 hours
USA: Tropical Storm Debby is playing havoc with the racing calendar, forcing Colonial Downs to postpone their showcase Arlington Million card by 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday [Aug 11] owing to the risk of heavy rain.
Colonial Downs had already postponed scheduled cards on Thursday and Friday (now due up on Monday and Tuesday) before taking the decision to delay the biggest card in Virginia’s horse racing history featuring seven stakes. More here
Saratoga will add a pair of G1 events scheduled for Saturday to Sunday’s card as a contingency plan. The Fourstardave Handicap and the Saratoga Derby will be run on Sunday if Storm Debby forces races off the turf on Saturday.
Either way, Breeders’ Cup winner Master Of The Seas will bypass the Fourstardave due to a foot bruise leaving Ottoman Fleet to represent Godolphin in the $500,000 contest. More here
Maximum Security DQ – four years after Saudi Cup win
Saudi Arabia: More than four years after the race, Maximum Security has finally been disqualified from his victory in the inaugural edition of the world’s richest race, the Saudi Cup, in February 2020.
On Friday [Aug 2], the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) announced that Midnight Bisou, who passed the post in second place in the $20m contest, had been promoted to first place.
On a memorable night in Riyadh, Maximum Security passed the post three-quarters of a length in front under Luis Saez. However, the JCSA withheld prize-money after trainer Jason Servis was indicted in a notorious federal investigation into horse doping; he is now serving a four-year prison sentence.
Steve Asmussen-trained Midnight Bisou is now the official winner of the first Saudi Cup for a syndicate headed by owner Jeff Bloom. Mike Smith rode Midnight Bisou, whose connections will now receive the $10m winner’s share of prize-money. More here
Mike Venezia Award goes to Brian Hernandez Jr.
USA: Brian Hernandez Jr., who landed a memorable Kentucky Oaks/Derby double in May, has been named as this year’s recipient of the Mike Venezia Riding Award.
The award is presented annually to a jockey who displays the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as the result of injuries suffered in a spill in 1988. Venezia, a native of Brooklyn, won more than 2,300 races during his 25-year career.
Louisiana native Hernandez, 38, is enjoying a banner year, having become only the eighth rider in history to complete the famous Churchill Downs double thanks to Mystik Dan and Thorpedo Anna. He has won two more G1s on the star filly, who is being aimed at the Travers Stakes.
An Eclipse Award-winning apprentice in 2004, Hernandez now has 2,580 victories to his name. “As a rider, I try to win races on the track and represent the sport as best I can off the track,” he said. More here
Tragedy as Beyer star Ova Charged sustains fatal injury
USA: Popular sprinter Ova Charged, who recorded the highest Beyer Speed Figure of 113 earlier this season, suffered a fatal mis-race injury at Ellis Park on Saturday [Aug 3].
The six-year-old mare was euthanised after breaking down on her right fetlock a sixteenth from the wire while leading the $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes over 5½ furlongs. Jockey Corey Lanerie escaoped injury in the tragedy.
Ova Charged had won her seven previous starts for Louisiana-based trainer Shane Wilson, including a G3 event on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. She won 15 of 19 lifetime starts, hitting the highest Beyer figure by any horse since Flightline in a stakes race at the Fair Grounds in March. More here
The race went to Awesome Treat ridden by Sophie Doyle, who was landing her first stakes victory since the birth of her first child.
Impressive juvenile scorer joins Japan’s Breeders’ Cup team
Japan: More firepower is being added to the Japanese squad for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, where the nation recorded a historic double three years ago courtesy of trainer Yoshito Yahagi.
Latest additions to the team include Hideyuki Mori-trained two-year-old Shin Believe, by the US sire Constitution, is set to target the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile after an impressive five-length debut victory over 1,800 metres (1m1f) on the dirt at Niigata on Saturday [Aug 3]. More here
G3 winner Alice Verite, a four-year-old filly trained by Kazuya Nakatake, will bid to emulate her compatriot Loves Only You by winning the BC Filly & Mare Turf. Having beaten 15 rivals in the Mermaid Stakes at Kyoto on her most recent outing, she will have a prep run either in the Niigata Kinen [Sept 1] or perhaps a race in the US. More here
Japan is also eyeing major targets in Australia, with Hishi Iguazu, Killer Ability and Prognosis entered for the Cox Plate. More here
Baffert secures $3.4m top lot as records fall at Saratoga Sale
USA: Kentucky Derby was in the air as a $3.4m yearling colt by Not This Time attracted the biggest price at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Sale earlier this week.
Cosigned by Nardelli Sales, the colt was knocked down to agent Donato Lanni, acting for Zedan Racing – and he will be trained by a certain Bob Baffert, whose Churchill Downs ban was recently lifted. “We came here to try to buy a horse who you can get to the Derby,” said Baffert, speaking to the Racing Post. “That’s why we bought him.” More here
With 154 yearlings sold for $82m-plus, the two-day sale established new records for gross sales and average. More here
Rosallion sidelined
GB: Top miler Rosallion looks set to miss the remainder of his three-year-old campaign – but is expected to stay in training as a four-year-old.
A dual G1 winner this term in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes, Rosallion missed last week’s Sussex Stakes with a respiratory infection. “Nothing is firmly ruled in or out but I don’t think the Breeders’ Cup is likely,” said Liam O’Rourke, bloodstock adviser to owner Sheikh Obaid, speaking to the Racing Post. More here
Stablemate Haatem features in the Prix Jacques Le Marois on Sunday [Aug 11], where Ryan Moore replaces Kieran Shoemark on six-time G1 winner Inspiral as she attempts to complete a hat-trick in the Deauville highlight. More here
Meanwhile, ambitious plans are afoot for Lazzat, who took his unbeaten record to six last weekend in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. The A$10m ($6.5m/£5.1) Golden Eagle in Sydney on November 1 is in the offing. More here
Elsewhere in racing …
USA: NYRA and Churchill Downs reach agreement More here
USA: Keeneland catalogues 4,396 horses for 81st September Yearling Sale More here
GB: Blue-blooded yearlings across the board as Tattersalls releases catalogue More here
GB: BHA publishes 2025 fixture list More here
GB: Teenage star Billy Loughnane joins star-studded Shergar Cup line-up More here
GB: Entries for Qipco British Champions Day revealed More here
France: Ambitious Aussie plan for unbeaten G1 winner Lazzat More here
New Zealand: Future of jump racing hangs in the balance More here
South Africa: Champion jockey Richard Fourie smashes record with 377 winners More here
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