Horse Racing

All eyes will be on Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune)--aren't they always?--as she takes on an eclectic group in Sunday's G1 Mile Championship at Hanshin Racecourse, a race that looks something other than a one-horse affair. Named the best of her generation at two and three, the immensely popular white filly owns three top-level victories over arguably her favorite trip, having annexed the 2020 G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and last year's G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) over course and distance and this year's sex-restricted G1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo. Fifth to...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. With plenty of interest from an American-bred perspective this weekend, here are the runners for Saturday's programs at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. A pair of juveniles will be features in this space in Sunday's TDN: 4th-TOK, ¥13,400,000 ($96k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m GREAT SAND SEA (c, 2, Into Mischief--Game for More, by...

Pinehurst (Twirling Candy--Giant Win, by Giant's Causeway), winner of last year's GI Del Mar Futurity and this year's G3 Saudi Derby, will be offered on Fasig-Tipton Digital in a one-horse auction beginning Thursday, Nov. 17 at 12 p.m. ET and concluding Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. ET. Pinehurst is being offered by ELiTE, agent, as a racing or stallion prospect. The bay, bred on a similar cross to Gun Runner, was a debut winner at Del Mar last August and followed up with a 4 1/2-length victory in the...

Nine of the finest jockeys representing six of the world's most important racing jurisdictions will take part in the Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) to be held at iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island Wednesday, Dec. 7. Making her third appearance in the IJC, having finished second in last year's event, is England's Hollie Doyle, who set a new record for wins by a female jockey in a British calendar year in last term. The 26-year-old has put together another fine season in 2022 and earned her first...

A pair of three-year-old colts bred and raced by His Highness the Aga Khan are off to Australia after accounting for two of the three top prices during Monday's horses-in-training section of the Arqana Autumn Sale in Deauville. Catalogued as lot 344, the gelding Carini (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) was the owner of current stakes form, having recently finished runner-up in the Listed Prix Vulcain (2500m) at Deauville for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. A three-time winner from his six lifetime starts overall, including conditions events over 10 furlongs at ParisLongchamp in June...

Shadwell's Alflaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) will be forced to miss Friday's G3 Bahrain International Trophy after picking up an injury after routine track work Monday. "Alflaila was having a routine canter at the racetrack at Bahrain this morning. My head lad John Lake was riding him and he was happy with him and how he moved," explained trainer Owen Burrows, who was due to have his first runner in Bahrain. "On the walk home, he felt he was a little bit short so got off him. He had an...

Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), beaten a neck into second by Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the 2021 G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, will be offered on the Goffs Online platform in a timed auction Nov. 21 and 22. A 500,000gns Tattersalls October yearling, the son of the stakes-winning and American Grade III-placed Modernstone (GB) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) won three of his four starts at two, including the G3 Zetland S. for trainer Martyn Meade and had future US champion and GI Breeders' Cup Turf hero Yibir...

A field of 12 was declared Sunday for the fourth running of the £600,000 G3 Bahrain International Trophy to be run over the 2000 metres Friday, Nov. 19, at the Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club. Magny Cours (Medaglia d'Oro) was beaten less than one length into third behind the since-retired Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper) in last year's main event, and the US-bred galloper could be one of as many of four entrants this time around. The seven-year-old was victorious in the G3 Prix Perth at Saint-Cloud in 2021, but was...

Between them, Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) and Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) accounted for three Horse of the Year titles in Japan, 13 Group 1 races--including four overseas--and the better part of $28 million in prizemoney. There is no such thing as a sure thing in the business of breeding horses, but Geraldina (Jpn) went some ways in cementing the accomplishments of mom and dad in their second careers with a tough-trip victory in Sunday's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Hanshin Racecourse. Drawn widest in the field of...

12.50 Lingfield, Mdn, £6,800, 2yo, 10f (AWT) Qatar Racing's hitherto unraced 450,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 graduate SHADOW OF WAR (GB) (Roaring Lion), one of two representing John and Thady Gosden here, is a half-brother to G1 Gold Cup and G1 Prix Royal-Oak hero Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and the dual Group 1-placed Sir Ron Priestley (GB) (Australia {GB}). He is opposed by a baker's dozen which includes stablemate A Gift Of Love (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who is a daughter of Listed Galtres S. victrix Our Obsession (Ire) (Shamardal) and...

Jim McIngvale (Mattress Mack) made history when the Houston Astros won the World Series. He made bets that returned $75 million when they won, the largest win ever in the history of sports betting. The bets were tied into a promotion McIngvale has used many times at his Gallery Furniture Stores in Houston. If he wins the bet, his customers get free mattresses. He's great at getting publicity for himself and his stores, but never had he seen anything like what happened with this bet, the story of which became...

Some eleven years have transpired since the great Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) carried Ryan Moore to a second consecutive victory in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup and it will be up to reigning G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks winner Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to put a halt to the locals' 10-race winning streak Sunday afternoon at Hanshin Racecourse. It has been a magical season, indeed, for Yuesheng Zhang's talented bay filly, who used a runner-up effort in the Listed Salsabil S. at Navan in late April as a springboard...