By Alan Carasso
Two of the top horses in Poland emerged victorious from efforts at the last weekend at Warsaw's Sluzewiec Racetrack and each could venture abroad to face tougher competition next month.
Sunday's main event was the Polskiej Derby over the metric mile and a half in which €7,000 Arqana Autumn Mixed Sale graduate Caccini (Fr) (American Post {GB}) was a warm favorite to record his fifth consecutive victory. Drawn gate three, the bay colt took up a position in the latter third of the field for the opening mile and raced with cover while well away from the inside entering the second turn. Pulled out to the grandstand side with 500 metres to travel, Caccini descended on the leaders with a minimum of fuss a furlong and a half from home and pulled away to score by three impressive lengths (video). The colt, who was previously given an entry for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, is set to make his next appearance in the €175,000 G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten Sunday, Aug. 14.
In the afternoon's co-featured event, Va Bank (Ire) (Archipenko) ran his record to a perfect 10-from-10 with a sparkling success in a local listed stakes going 2600 metres. Settled in fourth position of the seven runners into and around the final bend, Va Bank took his cue turning for home and displayed his trademark turn of foot to report home a 1 3/4-length winner in his second start of the season (video). Va Bank, a €4,500 graduate of the 2014 Tattersalls Ireland yearling sale, was named champion in each of his first two years at the track, annexing each of his three starts at two before adding five more wins in 2015, including a sweep of the Polish Triple Crown. He could make his next start at Baden-Baden in late August.
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