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With you mentioning High Chapparal earlier Andy, I was thinking about looking for a 3yo that hadn’t done much racing yet, through injury or slow coming to hand, and maybe winning a Listed or G3 race in the next couple of months, but you’ve got a similar Shamardal one for us already. I’ll probably do it during the Cheltenham Festival, as that is when I’ll have time off work.
There, I wrote that without using Spring or Autumn, so no one in either antipodes got confused.
It’s staggering the amount of "plodders" that have been sent to contest Australian races in recent times by European trainers. It doesn’t work, it won’t work, and it will never work. Darley Sun, like Alandi, who is the most puzzling of any horse to be sent to Australia in history, is a 100-1 shot to win the Melbourne Cup if he is sent.
Well I would have understood Alandi before he ran in the Prix du Cadran, because he had been impressive over 2800m. But after seeing him in the Prix du Cadran, I’m not convinced.
By the way, Hood only just won at Goulburn, albeit over 1300m (approx 6.5 furlongs).
Hopefully onwards and upwards!
Alandi’s just one of those who won’t let their selves down on the Firm ground. His hopes just stop there, not to mention an OR of 120.
Ah yes, well he will be in big trouble here then, unless it is like the spring of 1992 when it was wet every weekend.
I did think, when they bought the two Aga Khan horses, that Mourayan would be more suited to the Australian style of racing.
Big heads up for you all – today, at Flemington, 2007 English Derby placegetter Aqaleem, who is racing as Our Aqaleem in Australia, is having his first start since the Gordon Stakes in August 2007 over 1600m. He is with David Hayes (who has seemingly been very much out of form over the past two years), and he has been given plenty of time to get over his issues. If he is a shadow of the horse he once was, he’ll be going close today, and he’ll be set for the Melbourne Cup.
- Total Posts 17716
I did recommend Mourayan to a number of NZ and Oz clients. I didn’t mention Alandi to anyone. I hope I got that right on both counts.
Our Aqaleem won first up today at Flemington, looked absolutely fantastic – only won by a short half head, but it is a great start to his Australian career as he no doubt needs further.
That win from the renamed Aqaleem has sort of stunned me. I reckon it’s because he never had to carry Richard Hills.
I thought you may be interested Andy to know that Baccalaureate, the winner of the Triumph Hurdle trial race at Cheltenham today at 100/1, is a High Chaparral.
Close, but no cigar for the Japanese looksee; I should have been looking for other horses with the same OWNER, instead of trainer.
Japanese green light
* Adrian Dunn
* From:
* Sunday, 31 January 2010FOUR years after they confirmed their staying prowess, Japanese horses will return for the 2010 Melbourne Cup.
The Yoshida family, which raced 2006 Melbourne Cup winner Delta Blues, has shown interest in returning with Dream Journey, rated the best older colt or horse in Japan last year.
Racing Victoria racing operations manager and international scout Leigh Jordon said the Department of Agriculture had given the green light for Japanese horses to come to Australia.
"The import risk assessment that they (the Department of Agriculture) circulated has Japan to be treated as a normal country," Jordon said.
"It’s great news that Japan is now back in the fold and they will be able to send horses again to our spring carnival."
Japanese horses were banned from entering Australia in 2007, the year after Delta Blues and Pop Rock ran first and second in the Melbourne Cup, when the debilitating equine influenza virus swept through the country’s stables.
Australian Quarantine Inspection Service officials will visit Japan soon to approve quarantine facilities.
While there has been a three-year hiatus for Japanese horses entering Australia, the interest has never waned.
Jordon said he had remained in contact with Katsumi Yoshida, who was still committed to bringing horses to Australia.
He said the most likely Yoshida horse was Dream Journey, who won Group 1s – the Takarazuka Kinen (2200m) and the Arima Kinen (2500m) – and the Group 2 Sankei Osaka Hai (2000m) last year.
Significantly, Dream Journey defeated Derby winner Deep Sky and Japan Cup winner Screen Hero in the Takarazuka Kinen.
Among the beaten brigade in the Arima Kinen was Buena Vista, the champion Japanese filly also raced by Yoshida’s Shadai Farm.
Delta Blues and his stablemate Pop Rock are the last Japanese horses to race in Australia.
An indication of how dominant the Japanese stayers were that year can be gauged from the fact that third placegetter Maybe Better was 4 1/2 lengths away.
Dream Journey definitely looks a nice horse, and I’d expect him to be competitive here.
There has been a lot of hysteria in Australia about the Japanese, everyone believes that they will win this year.
Thing is, everyone said that the Irish would be winning every Melbourne Cup after Vintage Crop was victorious.
The fact that the Japanese haven’t been here since 2006 has only added to the hysteria, in my opinion.
But I believe that it was actually quite a weak Cup – Maybe Better didn’t do much afterwards, Zipping did improve considerably but cannot run a strong 2 miles, and Land ‘n Stars ran 5th – surely that tells you the strength of that year’s Cup!!!!
I’d be very wary of their runners this year, I don’t think they will blow them away a la Delta Blues and Pop Rock.
It was actually the first Cup I went to, and I’m now in the habit of going every year – if any of you can get to it from Britain, I’d thoroughly recommend it.
Thought some of you might be interested in this, this was a question that I asked of Racenet’s Dallas Baker.
Question of the Day – where are the imports?
Dallas Baker
Monday, 1 February 2010The David Hayes-trained Our Aqaleem burst onto the Australian racing scene on Saturday and he is one of a strong contingent of imported horses in Australia with their progress the subject of Racenet’s question of the day.
Racenet reader Andrew Hawkins has asked about imports now under the care of trainers Lee Freedman, Robert Hickmott from the Lloyd Williams-owned Macedon Lodge and David Hayes.
In addition to Our Aqaleem, Hayes has Changingoftheguard which was sensationally scratched on the morning of last year’s Melbourne Cup, prompting a furious reaction from the trainer.
“Our Aqaleem will head towards the Australian Cup, most likely at his next start,” Hayes’s stable manager Gary Fennessy said.
“Changingoftheguard arrives from Lindsay Park tonight and will only have a couple of runs, possibly starting in the St George Stakes at Caulfield on February 20, with the focus on setting him for year’s Melbourne Cup.”
Macedon Lodge has two former UK stars in training, Alandi (pictured above winning the Irish St Leger – photo – http://www.sportsfile.com), winner of back-to-back Group I races, the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp and the Irish St Leger, as well as Irish Derby placegetter Mourayan.
“They are absolutely fantastic,” part-owner Nick Williams said.
“Both have been in work since the middle of January and will follow our usual path of having a run this preparation then being set for the spring.
“Expect to see them from late April to mid May.”
Doctor Fremantle, pictured right, is the winner of a Group II event and three Group III races in the UK and arrived at Lee Freedman’s Markdel property on New Year’s Day.
“He’s settled in beautifully, we are delighted with him,” Freedman’s racing manager Sam Pritchard-Gordon said.
“He’ll have a light autumn preparation of one or two starts at weight-for-age and then be set for the spring with the Cox Plate being his ultimate goal all going well.”
The stable had success last year with Speed Gifted and has two additional UK gallopers trained by Freedman to hopefully fly the flag in this year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
Owned by the Ball and Chain Syndicate, Above Average and Fanjura are “two to three weeks behind Doctor Fremantle” but will follow a similar campaign to Speed Gifted last year, having one or two runs this preparation before being set for the spring.
On Speed Gifted, Pritchard-Gordon reported “he is absolutely flying” and set to resume in the St George Stakes.
Don’t know why we don’t have a St George race in England, I suppose we make up for it with King Georges instead. (Favourite is the recently upgraded to G2 5f at Glorious Goodwood.
)Queen could attend Melbourne Cup
AAP
Everyone knows Queen Elizabeth is an avid horseracing fan, but will she come to Melbourne in November to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup?
Victorian Racing Minister Rob Hulls on Tuesday refused to say whether or not the Queen had been invited to attend Australia’s premier horse race.
"I know that the Queen is a great racing fan, and I honestly don’t know whether or not she has any plans to come here," he told reporters.
Mr Hulls would not say whether Premier John Brumby extended an invitation during his meeting with the Queen at Balmoral last year.
Asked if she would be invited, Mr Hulls said: "I’m not going to pre-empt what may or may not occur in relation to who’s invited to the Cup.
"But I expect there will be a whole range of dignitaries from around the world who will be desperate to get to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup."
Mr Hulls helped launch a calendar of events to celebrate the Melbourne Cup anniversary in the lead-up to the November race.
"It’s really Cup day every day throughout 2010," he said.
© 2010 AAP
Melbourne Cup legends inspire 150th anniversary celebrations
WILL BRODIE
February 2, 2010 – 2:49PMThe Victoria Racing Club has revealed the new design of the 2010 Melbourne Cup trophy as it launched celebrations of the great race’s 150th anniversary today.
Phar Lap is the inspiration for the 2010 trophy, with designers Hardy Brothers basing their design on the model won by the legendary horse in 1930.
Mark De Mestre, grandson of the first Melbourne Cup-winning owner/trainer Etienne De Mestre, presented the cup to VRC chairman Rod Fitzroy.
Cup-winning jockey Damien Oliver, trainer John Meagher and owner/breeder Lloyd Williams were also on hand to kick off the anniversary.
Events are planned throughout the year to mark the 150th anniversary of the race that stops the nation.
Prize money for the 2010 edition of the 3200 metre group one classic will top a record $6 million, cementing it as the world’s richest handicap. With equine flu fears abating, Japanese horses will compete for the first time since Delta Blues and Pop Rock were first and second in 2006.
The 150th year celebrations, supported by the State Government, will focus on the heritage of the great race, and its relevance to ordinary Australians.
But the international flavour of the modern race was evident at today’s event, with winning Irish trainer Dermot Weld and Japanese jockey Yasunari Iwata amongst those feted by host Bruce McAvaney and Deputy Premier and Racing Minister Rob Hulls.
The new Melbourne Cup trophy was modelled on the "three-handled loving cup" preferred by renowned master jeweller James Steeth, first presented to the owner of the 1919 winner Artilleryman, and used throughout the 1920s. It became one of the most recognisable trophies in world sport.
After 1930, the Great Depression forced the cup to be reduced in size, but turf historians contend that in 1953 and 1980 Phar Lap’s 1930 cup was presented to Wodalla and Beldale Ball respectively.
Etienne de Mestre received a hand-beaten gold watch as a trophy for winning the first Melbourne Cup with Archer, in 1861.
No one on here happens to be close to Her Majesty, do they? I think that would be truly something, to have her at our Cup!!!
Are there moves afoot to have another referendum on Australia becoming a republic?
I’m fairly sure that Her Majesty wouldn’t visit the country during that process.
If she were unable to attend, she might send a horse such as Kingdom of Fife (Zetland Cup winner) to represent her. That’s just me trying to second-guess.
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