My Favourite Grey's

Quicken Away (及時而出): Two-times Hong Kong Champion in 1988/89 and 1989/90. He won the Chairman's Prize (1200m) as a 3 year-old in 1989, defeating Morning Patrol (晨鋒) and Handclap (掌聲), 2 of the best at that time. He won the same race 2 more times in 1990 and 1991. He had also won the Hong Kong Champion & Chater Cup (1800m) in 1990.

Here is his first of three Chairman's Prize victory, on May 14, 1989:

Oriental Express (奔騰): Hong Kong Champion in 1997/98. He had won the Chairman's Prize, Hong Kong Derby, QE II Cup and twice the Hong Kong Champion & Chater Cup. Distance won spanned from 1200m to 2400m.

His last win, his second Hong Kong Champion & Chater Cup at the age of 8, was the most fascinating. Watch here.

Legendary greys that I only knew about them through books and video clip: Spectacular Bid, Desert Orchid and Native Dancer

Holy Bull, Skip Away and Silver Charm: all Florida-bred greys who didn't have a fashionable pedigree, all of them champion themselves (HOY for the first 2), all racing in the mid/late 1990s. They are very inspirational to my interest in thoroughbred racing during that period when I was heavily involved.

Free House: what can I say. He has the class to be the among the elite, but didn't have the luck to win those that matter the most. He went head-to-head against Silver Charm in multiple occasions. I was quite shocked when I learned about his death in an accident a few years ago.

Then there were couple of powerful horses bred by the Aga Khan: Timarida and Daylami

I had the privilege of seeing Timarida life in the 1995 E. P. Taylor Stakes. She was a very beautiful filly, and the race was also very well ridden Frankie Dettori.

Here is her win in the Beverly D. in 1996:




Daylami was an exceptional racehorse. He has achieved a Timeform rating of 138, on par with Nijinsky, Cigar and Celtic Swing in the all-time list. He was big and muscular. His stride was incomparable.

See his sensational Breeders' Cup Turf win:




O Canada: With Approval, Izvestia. What is the odds of having 2 Triple Crown winners, for the same owner-breeder, in consecutive years, and both are greys? These 2 horses had really ignited the Canadian breds in the late 80s and early 90s. Both of them were inducted to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Their Crowns were followed by Dance Smartly in 1991 and Peteski in 1993. That is 4 Triple Crowns in 5 years.

With Approval went on to more fruitful result at stud. His best offspring includes Talkin Man (sire of Better Talk Now), T. H Approval, Lasting Approval (sire of Honey Ryder). At 22 years of age now, he is currently standing at stud in the Lanwades Stud in the UK.

On the other hand, Izvestia's career was cut short due to an accident when running the Rothmans International when he was 4. He had to be euthanized.

This is a very good tribute the Izvestia.




Izvestia's Queen's Plate:



Izvestia's Prince of Wales:



Izvestia's Breeders' Stakes:

Stan (NZ) - can he go 3 for 3 in 17 days?

The first win for the 9 year-old under regulation in almost 3 years was achived on April 3 at Aintree in the Grade 3 Red Rum Handicap Chase at 2 miles.



Then 13 days later, he won at Cheltenham in the Grade 2 Mears Group Silver Trophy at 2m5f on April 16.



His owner,Paul Beck, said after the Cheltenham victory (from http://www.racingpost.com/):

“I love this horse dearly, and for him to give me my first winner at Aintree and then my first winner at Cheltenham within the space of two weeks is beyond imagination - and, believe me, I have a vivid imagination. I can die happy now.”

He is entered in a £30,000 2 miles handicap chase at Ayr on April 19, which is only 3 days after the Cheltenham win. I really hope he can three-peat.

Blythe Knight is Versatile

If you have not heard of this horse, then you should know more about him. Click here for the past performance of Blythe Knight (IRE).

He began his racing career in his juvenile season with trainer Ed Dunlop. Below is an excerpt from Ed Dunlop website:

Profile
He was a lightly raced two year old, who then won twice at three years.

We ran him in many of the major Handicaps last year, which often meant that he was running in large fields and had a lot of weight to carry. He ran a great race at Epsom to win the City And Suburban Stakes and also gained some black type when third in the Listed Wolferton Stakes at Ascot.

His 2005 campaign began with a good run in the Winter Derby at Lingfield, in which he finished second. This was followed by decent efforts in both the Magnolia and the Lincoln, where on both occasions he finished in the prize money. He has since run in several Conditions stakes and has been unfortunate not to have added a win to his 2005 form.

His dam had five starts at two and three years. He is a half brother to three winners including High Topper, who won two races over sixteen furlongs at three years.

Blythe Knight is from the family of:Authaal (Shergar)) - won four times including the Irish St Leger and also won three times in Australia including the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Under Dunlop, he ran 33 times from 2 to 5 years-old, with only 3 wins with his best effort being an Epsom class 2 handicap at 10 furlongs when he was 4. In the Tattersalls Horse In Training Sales in October 2005, he was sold for 90,000 guineas to former jump jockey John Quinn, which was the break-through point for Blythe Knight.

In his first start for Quinn as a 6 year-old, he captured the flat season opening feature, the valuable Lincoln Handicap that was run at Redcar in March 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/4837088.stm

In November of the same year, he tried jumping for the first time and won right away in a novices' hurdle race at 2m 1f. He ended the 2006/07 National Hunt season by capturing the Grade 2 Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree under a great ride by Tony McCoy, defeating Osana, (who also had his good moment in Dec 2007 defeating eventual Champion Hurdle winner Katchit in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham).

Since then, the name Blythe Knight equates to "versatility". He subsequently took the Listed Hambleton Stakes (1 mile) at York in May, and the Group 3 Diomed Stakes (1 mile 1/2 f) at Epsom in June 2007.

Here is his Epsom win:





Blythe Knight did not have another win since then, but he continued to do well consistently, including:

• 3rd in the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein (1 mile flat) at Longchamp in Oct 2007
• 2nd, by 5 lengths behind Katchit (IRE), in the Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle (2 mile) at Wincanton in Dec 2008
• 2nd in his 4th Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster in March 2008

He is the most versatile horse in training now in the UK. Since his Lincoln victory in 2006, he did not have a break that last for more than 3 months, which might not be a bad thing. He has shown the talent to have the speed to win at a mile at Group level, and also has enough stamina to stay the minimum distance of 2 miles jumping over the flight at Graded level.

San Juan Capistrano

This Sunday is the last day of the current Santa Anita meet. The tradition feature race, San Juan Capistrano, will be run for the 69th time. I believe this is the only graded stakes race in the US that goes beyond 1½m on any surface. It is not that long ago that it was still a Grade 1 race with a purse of $400,000. Due to decreasing popularity of staying races in general and lack of runners, it lost its Grade 1 status in 2004 and the purse was dropped to $250,000. It was also not that long ago (and it was only in the 1990’s) that the race was still won by some of the true legitimate Grade 1 horses, such as Marlin (1997), Great Communicator (1988), Kotashaan (1993), Bien Bien (1994) and his son Bienamado (2001). All of them are multiple Grade/Group 1 winners who were true staying turf horses. So in just a matter of 10 years, they are all gone!?

So this goes back to the question I always have – what’s wrong with staying races and horses with plenty of stamina? There are less interest among horsemen to breed/own/train/race long distance runners, there are less race, there are less horses capable at extreme staying distance. And this cycle will just be continuing. But why is this only happening in the US?

Since the introduction of the Breeders' Cup Champions Day in 1984, the Breeders' Cup Classic has become the ONE race every horseman wants to win after the classics. It is at 10f on dirt/synthetic. So, we are seeing the distance of the Jockey Club Gold Cup was 2 miles before 1975,1½m from 1976 to 1989, and 1 1/4m since then. Also, the Coaching Club American Oaks used to be run at 1½m, but it was shortened to 10f in the early/mid 90's, return back to 1½m from 1998 to 2003 but was switched back to 10f.

The Breeders' Cup set the standard of the maximum distance for horses running at the highest level: 10f on the dirt and 1½m on the turf. So if you have a horse like Yeats or Sergeant Cecil in the US ... then too bad! There are a lot of criticism for the Breeders' Cup to add the $500,000 BC Marathon Dirt. It will most likely attract a field of G3 handicap or high allowance horses that prefer more distance. Evening Attire is the one immediately comes to my mind. So from my standpoint, I don't really have an issue ... at least to let it run this year and see what kind of horses it will attract.

Anyhow, for the upcoming renewal of the San Juan, the entry will be posted on Thursday (April 17). Many of the horses who ran in the San Luis Rey will return, and this looks like a race to be confronted among them once again.

Let's enjoy the exciting finish of the 1988 San Juan Capistrano:




And John Henry's win in 1980:

April 13 is Vella Day at Woodbine

My first day of live racing was pretty good. Anytime I have a net gain at the end of the day is not bad, especially after I include the cost of fuel, Racing Form and food. I hope I can continue this nice trend for the rest of the year. On top of that, the weather was perfect for mid April.

Trainer Danny Vella had big day. In Race 2, a 5 furlongs MSW for 3 year old fillies, was won by first time starter Bonded Messenger (inbred 3x3 to Vice Regent). She is bred by the Minshall Farms, and co-owned by Vella and the Solera Farm.

The day's feature race, the $150,000 Star Shoot Stakes for 3 year-old fillies, was won by Vella-trained Verdana Bold, who came from just off the pace in the 6-horses field. Although she was the longest shot on the board, her pedigree without a doubt is the best in the field. Having a Werk Nick Rating of A+, she is by Rahy, out of True Legacy, by A. P. Indy. The picture on the side showed Verdana Bold was being readied before the race. Go to news from Woodbine website or video replay provided through TDN for more information.


I saw few "invaders" from Steve Assmussen's barn today. Although they didn't have any win today, they already had one from yesterday (Saturday April 12).

Other notable wins on the day ... veteran Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk took Race 4, a 5.5f OC 80k/N3X ... 5 year-old maiden Tugaske (by Richter Scale, out of Kalene, by Carson City), who is a homebred of Gail Wood, took Race 1, a 5f MSW. He did not race for almost 3 years ... Hill n' Dale Farm homebred, El Grande (by El Corredor, out of Tom's Annie, by Storm Cat) , broke maiden in Race 5, a 7f MSW.

I usually don't like doing post-race review, but since this is my first day at the track this year and I did well, so I need to capture it somehow.

On the track, I noticed the construction of the new Standardbred paddock is well in progress. It will be located in the area between the main thoroughbred track and the turf course at the first turn. Once it is built, people will not be able to see the 7 furlongs starting gate from the grandstand (at least from level 2 based on what I observed today) as the new structure will completely block the view. I have to check it next time the view from higher level. And I guess that's why from the simulcast monitor, they showed a head-on shot at the start of the gate for the 7 furlongs race because it can't be captured from the regular camera location from the grandstand.

So, I watched all 11 races on track. It was a good day. Quality and size of the fields was good, track was not biased, weather was picture-perfect, and I didn't spend much time on the simulcast tracks nor Trevor Immelman's Masters. There are less than 3 months left for Queen's Plate, but I have no idea yet who the contenders and pretenders are. Everyone right now is just talking about the Kentucky Derby.

Golden Slipper and Scottish Grand National

There are 2 separate stake races run on April 19, 2008. In Sydney Australia, the Golden Slipper Stakes-G1 for two-year-olds will be run at 1200 metres at Rosehill. On the other side of the world, the Scottish Grand National-G3 (handicap) for five-year-olds and up will be run at 4 miles 110 yards (about 6538 metres) jumping over 27 fences at Ayr, Scotland.


The Scottish Grand National will likely attract Miko de Beauchene (FR), winner of the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on Dec 27 and the RedSquare Vodka Golf Cup at Haydock in February 2008 , and Himalayan Trail who captured the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter on March 15.


As for the Slipper, the Australian have a busy schedule for these 2 year-olds. Many of the contenders are still fighting for a spot just a week before the big day, such as those running in the Group 2 Darley Stakes and the Group 2 Magic Night Stakes at Rosehill on April 12.


With a total purse of $3.5 million AUD expected, the Golden Slipper is the richest thoroughbred race for two-year-olds in the world. The Scottish Grand National, which is usually run 1 or 2 weeks after his bigger brother, the Grand National at Aintree, still warrants an attractive purse of ... £200,000 (increase from £170,000 the year before). Based on the exchange rate on April 11, the Slipper's purse is more than 8 times bigger than the Scottish Grand National's. OK, maybe I should not be using the Scottish race to compare to the Slipper. The Aintree Grand National, which has a total purse of £800,000 which is equivalent to $1.58million USD, is still only half of the purse of the Golden Slipper.



I love to watch both type of races. The Golden Slipper is probably the next big race in Australia after the Melbourne Cup. It is the highlight of the Autumn Racing Carnival. Watching these fast, muscular and precocious 2 year-olds running at top speed is exciting. If I can see the close-up of these horses that will be even better. Winners of the Slipper will almost ensure a full book at stud (for colt - like Flying Spur) or a mating to the stallion with the highest stud fee (for filly - like Polar Success was mated to Giant's Causeway and produced first time winner Polaway). I will conduct more study of the stud careers of former winners of the Golden Slipper and will be posted later.


Almost on the opposite extreme of a thoroughbred's aptitude, horses running in the Grand National (whether it is the Scottish, or Aintree ... anything longer than 4 miles) have tonnes of stamina. Their physiques are very different from a Golden Slipper horse. Those who are capable to run in the Golden Slipper could never be running in the Grand National. These horses are born to be more precocious and mature at a very early age. They are brilliant, and some of them are capable to continue to run at the top level as they grow older and run up to 1600m. The only exception is Miss Finland, who won the Slipper in 2006 and captured the Group 1 Victoria Oaks at 2500m as a 3 year-old.


As for a Grand National winner, many of them are late-developing horses who can run miles, and they are bred to do just that. Hot Weld, who won the Scottish Grand National in 2007, did not begin racing until he was 4, and he only got his first win towards the end of his 5 year-old season. And only until he is 7 year-old when he started to shine when he won the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup at Cheltenham in March 2006.


Here is Hot Weld's win in last year's Scottish Grand National:





Racehorses have different built. It is important to give them the opportunity to perform as a racehorse. If the pedigree of a horse just won't allow him to start running until late as a 4 year-old, and he just doesn't have the speed at all but have tonnes of stamina, why in some major racing centre that there is just no opportunity for this horse to show what he is best at? You may say there are just not enough number of horses that will run in these type of long distance race. But look at Ireland, France, and Japan. The key is having a healthy balance of speed and stamina in the bred, and you need to have the similar balance of the type of race to support them. Otherwise, in a long term, the overall bred will be skewed which is not a healthy sign. At my home base of Woodbine, we have racing from beginning of April to early December. There are only 2 races in the entire year that is more than 13 furlongs: a starter handicap at 15f and the Valedictory Stakes-G3 at 14f, both of them run on the final day of the season on polytrack. Is that fair?


I firmly believe that both speed and stamina are important. And between the two, speed has to come first. Even in the Grand National, you still need to have speed to position yourself right in the early part of the race. On the other hand, a horse can have tonnes of speed but you still need the stamina to stay even 1200m. I have seen too many thoroughbreds who can run very fast half mile but after that he basically stops. They are becoming more like quarter-horse. So a Golden Slipper winner may have 6 parts of speed with 1 part of stamina, and a Grand National winner may have 20 parts of stamina with 3 parts of speed. Both of them have his strength and weakness. So give each of them the opportunity to show his best!

Just in time!

It is always fun to see your horse closing in the stretch from far behind and just get up in the last stride to win the race. These things happened every day, and especially on turf race. However, it takes more for a horse to close on a dirt track.

Deep Impact is one of the best deep closers I have seen in recent years. The pace in many of the Japanese races were set up right for his running style. But he usually went so wide and he closed so strong that you rarely see him only win by a small margin.


Even these "just in time" race happen so often, I think the one that has the biggest money on the line has to be the one below.





Victory Gallop - Belmont Stakes:




A few other good ones:


Stay Gold - Hong Kong International Vase:





Darjina - POULE D'ESSAI DES POULICHES:





Personal Ensign - Breeders' Cup Distaff:




Awad - Manhattan Handicap:

April 5 & 6: Canterbury, Aintree, Santa Anita, Oaklawn and Sha Tin

The past Saturday was a busy day. It began at Canterbury the night before and ended at Sam Houston. I was too tied to continue for the races at Sha Tin overnight.


Canterbury:
There were a couple of G1 races and both were won in stylish fashion - Tuesday Joy took the Ranvet Stakes at 1900m and Forensics won the Queen of the Turf at 1500m. I’d always like to follow races there more, but very easy to lose interest when they have so much emphasis on sprint races.


Aintree:
Since I was first introduced to National Hunt racing about a year ago, the Grand National has become my most favourite race. The distance of 4m4f, 30 National fences, 40 runners and it being a handicap make the race so unique. Comply Or Die is a legitimate chance from all the trends analysis done - he is in top form, the proper age, proper weight, and at the end, he showed his strength in his stamina and out-stayed all of them. In the history book (as in all of the previous Grand National) and I also respect the courage of all the horses and jockeys who can jump all 30 fences and finish the race. Watch it here:




Now, I have to wait for 12 months. But still there is the Scottish Grand National in a couple of weeks and I wonder if any of the Aintree runners will come back. They shouldn’t be as the GN is a very demanding race but you never know about those owners and trainers.
In the same meet, there were several ups and downs: the loss of Kauto Star, Master Minded, but Ruby Walsh’s hat trick on Friday was the highlight of the meet too. Al Eile won his third Aintree Hurdle was also worth watching.



Some horses just like some track over others, and I am sure KS and MM don’t like Aintree. But on the other hand, Voy Por can win at 2m4f and Our Vic become a refreshed horse after getting blinkers. I hope both of them continue to stay healthy, but as much as I wish, this is a tough game and it is extremely difficult for any of these top class jumpers to maintain their form across season. My Way De Solzen has failed so many times this season. So was he like Black Jack Ketchum who has lost interest in racing? What’s wrong? I guess not even Alan King know. His last win was the Arkle a year ago, maybe returning to the big obstacles and try the shortest trip next season. Oh, but of course he has to avoid Master Minded.

Ruby’s win on Big Buck’s is another one of his trademark win. See here:



And I was thinking … maybe it is a good idea to have a match race between Big Buck’s and Big Brown. Let’s have a 2 mile hurdle race between them at Camden.


Kentucky Derby prep and those so-called handicap on dirt:
With the Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial and the Illinois Derby, this is the second last chance for Derby contenders to get their entrance ticket to Louisville. The last chance will be next week’s Blue Grass and Arkansas Derby. Colonel John has proven his ability and is one of the top 3 in many people Derby’s list, alongside Pyro and Big Brown. Bob Black Jack has also ran his race and don’t discount him. He will improve further from this race and I think he is a pretty versatile horse, which is different from Pyro, Big Brown and Colonel John. He is my long shot. Over at New York, Tale Of Ekati got into the Derby picture but he did not convince me. War Pass ran well considering the fractions he made. He still has a chance but of course he has to go against Big Brown.

I am actually more impressed in the 2 races at Oaklawn - Zenyatta took the Apply Blossom Handicap-G1 and Tiago captured the Oaklawn Handicap-G2 for the same owner-trainer-jockey team. Zenyatta is a beast. She is a late maturing deep closer. But as I mentioned at TBC, the way she won her MSW/Alw reminds me of Magnificience and Nashoba’s Key in terms of hey style. She has class, her future is bright. As for Tiago, he closed well under a good ride by Mike Smith. Based on the result, and especially for Tiago, they both like the real dirt. I wonder if the connections will have other plans for them in the rest of the season outside SoCal which are now dominated by synthetic? But based on DRF, Tiago’s next race could likely be the California at Hollywood. I wonder if they will try Zenyatta on the grass. Her running style is definitely suitable. But since she is still undefeated on dirt and synthetic, and already a Grade 1 winner but still lightly raced, she will most likely stay on this surface for a little longer.

Here is Zenyatta's win:




Sha Tin:
I am really surprised to see 好利威 (Armada) winning the Chairman’s Trophy. Being out for almost a year, and his last race was not typical promising, he ran very well. 喜聚寶 (Jackpot Delight) is not a cheap one either, but had been 2nd place for three consecutive races already. I have the feeling the connection is pretty demanding and I won’t be surprised to see him again on QE day, either at 1600m or 2000m. 勝利飛駒 (Joyful Winner) was my pick and he ran a close third too. He is winless in almost a year now but he was always close in almost all the races this season. I like this horse, and everyone know he is a 1400m specialist. But he is one of the many horses that are penalized by Hong Kong rating system. Once you move above 115 but is to really up to the highest level yet, you are stuck to limited number of options in terms of races to run on. I don’t want him to run in the Champions Mile because he can’t win there. The final chance is probably the Group 3 Premier Cup Handicap on June 15 at 1400m.


And what else? Too much racing, too little time to think. It is a pleasure to have a race like the Grand National with such a big field and so much attention can be put in to do analysis. Not that there is no other race in the three-day Aintree meet, and some of them are also high profile, but the National is just so different. There are various Grand National at other racecourse in the UK and Ireland, but none of them can be compared with the one at Aintree. Cheltenham is the attention of the entire NH racing season from late fall to early spring. After Cheltenham is then when people start thinking of Aintree. Unless you know you have an Aintree specialist like Al Eile that you purposedly pass Cheltenham, and unless you are going to the Grand National, Aintree (or Punchestown in a few weeks time) is not your primary goal of the season. Yet, only one race, the Grand National, captured so much attention and so much thrill ane excitement.

This is definitely a busy weekend with a lot of history made, a lot of promise fulfilled or failed. But guess what is my pick for the most exciting race of the weekend?

The first one is this: http://www.hkjc.com/english/replay/replay.asp?lang=e&race_date=06/04/2008&race_no=1&speed=500&venue=ST

Followed closely by this one: http://www.ntra.com/video.aspx?id=31680

You don't need a Curlin or Deep Impact (granted they did!) to make a good race, and you won't have them every year (so appreciate them when they are racing). But, a win like the one from 獨領風騷 (Limoncello - London News x Helleness, out of Northfields) and his jockey 楊啟棠 is already good enough to make my day.

Finally, Woodbine season began on Saturday with ten 5f races. It is good to see Emma Jayne-Wilson back to the winner circle after her 2-months winless "trip" to Hong Kong.

First post

Welcome to my blog.

I will use this space to share my thoughts on thoroughbred horse racing. I have been involved, on and off, for 20 years. As just a typical racing fan, I appreciate more on the racing side than the betting side of things. Sorry, I don't like harness racing.

With the help of technology, the racing world is becoming smaller and smaller and to follow it closely I enjoy watching races from around the world ... from Aintree to Aqueduct, from Nakayama to Nad Al Sheba, from Cheltenham to Caufield.

There were a lot of activities over the April 5-6 weekend. I will have more in the next post.