JC / Railbird

Longchamp

Top of the World

This is how good Treve was winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe:

An RPR of 130 is bang on average for an Arc winner, but, if we factor in her 1.5kg (3.3lb) fillies’ allowance, it would have taken a 134+ performance from a colt to have beaten her on Sunday — and the last Arc winner to achieve that sort of figure was six-length winner Sakhee back in 2001.

Posted in Racing on October 11, 2013 / Tagged International, Longchamp, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Rankings, Treve

What It’s All About

1) Zenyatta running her record to a perfect 19 in the G1 Lady’s Secret Stakes. “Everything was a blur to me,” trainer John Shirreffs told Steve Andersen after the race. “Where’s the wire? You’re looking at her, looking at the wire. I can’t begin to describe it.” Much like the 2009 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar, the Lady’s Secret looked lost in the final yards. Until it wasn’t.

2) Goldikova winning her eleventh Group/Grade 1 race in the Prix de la Foret. Challenged by Paco Boy and Dick Turpin in the stretch, she gamely dominated going over soft ground. She’s now headed to the Breeders’ Cup, where she’ll attempt to win the Mile for an unprecedented third time.

“We are living in a small ‘golden age’ — let’s call it a gilded age,” writes Steve Dennis. “We had Zarkava, Sea The Stars, Rachel Alexandra. We have Zenyatta and Goldikova. These are true champions, these horses who win again and again, beating the best around.” Let’s enjoy.

Posted in Racing on October 3, 2010 / Tagged Champions, Distaffers, Gilded Age, Goldikova, Longchamp, Oak Tree, Records, Zenyatta

Euro Babies

Bookmakers wasted no time knocking down odds on Frankel for the English classics after the 2-year-old colt (named for the late trainer) beat two rivals by 13 lengths in the Conditions Stakes at Doncaster. “He has a long way to go but at home he’s giving me the feeling of better than average,” said trainer Henry Cecil. “He could be special but he’s not yet.” Cecil might have learned more about his promising charge’s abilities today had maiden winner Farhh not been scratched at the gate for acting up.

Trainer Freddie Head is talking less cautiously about Moonlight Cloud after the filly won by six lengths at Longchamp on Thursday. “The best two-year-old I have ever trained,” said the man who launched two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova on her stellar career as a juvenile in September 2007. Moonlight Cloud looked even better an hour later, when Putyball, second to the filly last month, won her conditioned one-mile race by a neck.

Posted in Racing on September 10, 2010 / Tagged Buzz Babies, Doncaster, Frankel, International, Juveniles, Longchamp, Moonlight Cloud