Ireland Planning New All-Weather Track
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SATURDAY, 9 MARCH 2019 SNOW FORECAST FOR SUPER SATURDAY IRELAND PLANNING NEW By Kelsey Riley ALL-WEATHER TRACK It=s Super Saturday at Meydan, and the Dubai course hosts seven events where aspirants to the Dubai World Cup card on Mar. 30 will have their hopes either vindicated or dashed. The headliner is the $600,000 GI Al Maktoum Challenge R3 over 2000 metres on the dirtBan exhibition for the $12-million GI Dubai World Cup in three weeks= time. Globetrotting Group 1 winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) finished second in this last year before going on to win the World Cup by 5 3/4 lengths. He makes his seasonal return here off a third, beaten 1 3/4 lengths, in the GI Breeders= Cup Classic on Nov. 3, and an encouraging performance would have to leave connections hopeful ahead of a World Cup title defense. Thunder Snow failed to win in three starts last year after the World Cup, but he was also second by just a neck in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. AHe had a busy 2018, so we have given him a nice break,@ Dundalk=s all-weather track under the lights | Racing Post trainer Saeed bin Suroor said. AHe did a very nice final serious piece of work last Saturday and we also took him over to Ireland could have a second all-weather course running by Meydan for a gallop, which went very well.@ Cont. p2 2021, with Horse Racing Ireland having asked racecourses to submit expressions of interest in developing one. HRI Chief Executive Officer Brian Kavanagh said there has been demand from the industry and that the sport=s governing body recognized the many opportunities it would afford. ADundalk has proven the demand for a high quality all-weather racing product and has played a vital role in sustaining the racing industry and employment in flat yards throughout the winter months,@ said Kavanagh. AIt has also served as a shop window for our breeding industry with strong international demand for horses with proven ability. It came across clearly in our consultations and public roadshows last year that there was a demand from the industry for a second all-weather facility. The board has recognised the role which a second all-weather track can play in creating further employment and increasing opportunities for owners, horses, trainers and jockeys. Thunder Snow winning the 2018 Dubai World Cup | Dubai Racing Club AThe development of a second all-weather track in Ireland will require significant investment by the racecourse owners and by Horse Racing Ireland and, funding permitting, we would like to see one introduced by 2021. We are therefore writing to IN TDN AMERICA TODAY existing racecourses to gauge the levels of interest in such a GOTHAM, TAMPA DERBY HIGHLIGHT 3YO PREPS proposal and inviting interested parties to come forward with With exactly eight weeks to go to the first Saturday in May, the Triple their proposals for discussion and consideration.@ Crown trail winds through New York for Saturday’s GIII Gotham S. and Florida’s Gulf Coast for the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 10 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 9 MARCH 2019 Snow Forecast For Super Saturday cont. from p1 G1 Jebel Hatta S. Bin Suroor added, “Obviously the Dubai World Cup is the main The second of two Group 1s on the card is the G1 Jebel Hatta, target, with this the obvious stepping stone. We expect him to which is contested over the same 1800 metres on the turf as the run well, but he will definitely improve for the outing.” $6-million G1 Dubai Turf in three weeks’ time. Godolphin’s Also putting in an inspiring performance at Belmont Park last progressive Dream Castle (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is the lone last-out year was Gronkowski (Lonhro {Aus}), who ran Triple Crown winner in the lineup, he having won the G2 Al Rashidiya over winner Justify (Scat Daddy) to 1 3/4 lengths in his crowning this track and trip on Jan. 24. Saeed bin Suroor’s 5-year-old was moment. The then 3-year-old failed to replicate that effort in gelded after a fruitless carnival last year and looks a different both the GI Travers S. and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and he was animal this year, having gone two-for-two at the carnival. last seen finishing third of four in the GIII Discovery S. at Charlie Appleby saddles defending Jebel Hatta winner Blair Aqueduct on Nov. 24. Gronkowski transfers from the Chad House (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}). After defeating Saeed bin Suroor’s Brown barn to local trainer Salem bin Ghadayer for his Dubai Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in this last year, Blair House was well debut. beaten by that rival in the Dubai Turf, but the margin was much closer again when they next met in Australia’s G1 Caulfield S. in October, with Benbatl prevailing by just a short head. Blair House will have to progress from a fourth behind Dream Castle in the Al Rashidiya last time. “Blair House won this last year when everything fell into place for him,” Appleby said. “If the gaps open again he should run well and we were pleased with his comeback.” Of his other three runners, Appleby added, “First Contact (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Wootton (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) both pleased us in the Zabeel Mile and with a clear run, we feel the latter would have finished a fair bit closer. The Dubai Turf has always been Loxley (Ire) (New Approach {Ire})’s target, so this was the obvious race for his comeback.” Simon Crisford sends out another globetrotter in Century Dream (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), who won Epsom’s G3 Diomed S. Gronkowski | Sarah Andrew last term and was close up in races like the G1 Queen Anne S., GI Arlington Million and G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. Century Dream warmed up with a second in the G2 Zabeel Mile on Feb. 21. Charlie Appleby pitches last-out 1800 metre turf handicap winner Nordic Lights (GB) (Intello {Ger}) onto the dirt for the first time, and he said, “He works on dirt at home where the surface is quite deep, and I think the one at Meydan will suit him better. The Jebel Hatta was the alternative, but we are well represented in that and we think, given his style of racing, good gate speed and natural speed, he may take to the dirt. Thunder Snow is obviously going to be hard to beat, but the rest are pretty evenly matched, so it looked worth a go.” The South Korean-trained Dolkong (Afleet Alex) turned heads at last week’s carnival-closing card, taking a handicap over this course and distance by an eased-down 9 1/2 lengths, and the progressive 5-year-old takes a big class jump to tackle Group 1 company for the first time. FIND US ON FACEBOOK Dream Castle | DRC/Erika Rasmussen www.facebook.com/thoroughbreddailynews TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 10 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 9 MARCH 2019 G3 Mahab Al Shimaal The G3 Mahab Al Shimaal, the card’s opener, sees aspirants to the 1200 metre G1 Golden Shaheen take a turn around the track. Doug Watson’s Drafted (Field Commission) merits attention off a course and distance win in the G3 Al Shindagha Sprint on Jan. 31, where he bested Tato Key (Arg) (Key Deputy), Vice President, International Operations an Argentinean Group 2 winner who ran with credit on his local Gary King debut. Satish Seemar’s Lavaspin (GB) (Hard Spun) is three-for- Twitter: @garykingTDN three over this track and trip this season, and the 5-year-old [email protected] gelding backed up a pair of non-carnival wins with a 2 1/4-length + 1.732.320.0975 score over the re-opposing Switzerland (Speightstown) on Valentine’s Day. I Kirk (Swe) (Eishin Dunkirk) is a progressive International Editor raider from Sweden. A Group 3 winner in his native land in July, Kelsey Riley Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN he showed no signs of rust when defying a six-month layoff to [email protected] win at handicap level on local debut on Jan. 17. European Editor Emma Berry Twitter: @collingsberry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen Twitter: @AlaynaCullen [email protected] Contributing Editor Alan Carasso Twitter: @EquinealTDN Divine Image | DRC/Erika Rasmussen Cafe Racing Sean Cronin Listed Al Bastakiya S. Tom Frary The Listed Al Bastakiya S. for 3-year-olds over 1900 metres on [email protected] the dirt has shaped up as a battle of the sexes between Saeed Irish Correspondent bin Suroor’s G3 2000 Guineas winner Estihdaaf (Arch) and Daithi Harvey Charlie Appleby’s G3 UAE Oaks winner Divine Image (Scat Daddy). The latter has certainly fared better in the draw; she will Regular Columnists exit gate three, with Estihdaaf out in 13. After breaking his Chris McGrath | Andrew Caulfield | John Berry maiden at third asking at Leicester in October and posting a pair Kevin Blake of ordinary efforts at Meydan in January–one on the dirt and one on the turf–Estihdaaf looked a completely different animal on Feb. 7, waltzing to a 5 1/2-length victory in the Guineas when IN TDN AUS/NZ TODAY dropped back to a mile. ALOISIA TO SELL AT CHAIRMAN’S SALE Divine Image has had a more consistent body of work–with G1 Thousand Guineas winner Aloisia will be offered at Inglis’s two wins and a second from three outs–but nothing quite so Chairman’s Sale on May 3.