THURSDAY, 21 JUNE, 2016 LIGHT SPRING FOR PROMISING GHISONI POSTPONED OUT OF KING Godolphin=s 3-year-old filly Ghisoni (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}), a GEORGE WITH INFECTION dual group-winning sprinter this autumn, will have a light spring campaign, with the G1 Coolmore Classic next autumn her primary target, trainer John O=Shea told Racing.com. "She races best on the fresh side and the plan is not to expose her too much," O=Shea said of the G2 Surround S. and G3 Glenlogan Park S. winner. "I thought the best run of her campaign was when she got beat in the Arrowfield Sprint at Randwick [when fifth]. She just didn't have any luck and I'd imagine that form around Japonisme, Counterattack and the like will be strong this spring.@ O=Shea added, "The Coolmore Classic is a race we think is the perfect target in the autumn and it is a race where weight plays a huge part, and the mares carrying too much find it difficult." Cont. in Worldwide News p9 Three-time Group 1 winner Postponed training in IN TDN AMERICA TODAY Newmarket earlier this month | Racing Post CALIFORNIA CHROME RETURNS IN SAN DIEGO G1 Dubai World Cup hero California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) makes a much-anticipated return to the races in Saturday’s Sheikh Mohammed Obaid=s Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), GII San Diego H. at Del Mar. He gives five pounds to multiple heavily favoured to defend his title in Saturday=s G1 King George Grade I winner Dortmund (Big Brown). VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot, has been ruled out of the Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. mile-and-a-half contest after trainer Roger Varian revealed he is suffering from a respiratory infection. The condition was discovered after the 5-year-old was scoped on Wednesday. AUp until this point, Postponed had not given us any worry during his training regime,@ Varian said. AHowever, we felt Postponed did not work with his usual zest this morning and a subsequent scope showed he is suffering from a respiratory infection. This news is obviously very disappointing and it is a real shame for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, the team and the racing public that he will not line up on Saturday. But, as is always the case, the interests of the horse must come first. If he is not 100%, the only sensible thing to do is not to run.@ AWe will let the horse recover from this setback before making a plan of where he runs next,@ Varian added. AWe still have many big days ahead to look forward to.@ Postponed won last year=s King George for trainer Luca Cumani and has not lost since, his win streak now sitting at five following victories in this year=s G1 Dubai Sheema Classic and G1 Coronation Cup. Cont. p2 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 2 OF 9 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • 21 JUNE, 2016 The race is over three miles and six furlongs of the Newmarket Round Course, adjacent to Frances and Peter Stanley's New England Stud back paddocks. The race is started by flag and there are stipulations for both horse and rider. Horses must be at least four years old and have finished first, second or third in a British or Irish point-to-point steeplechase in the last 18 Postponed Out Of King George With Infection cont. from p1 months. Horses carry 12 stone and overweight is limited to four The Queen=s G2 Hardwicke S. winner Dartmouth (GB) (Dubawi pounds with a maximum permitted field of 15 runners. Riders {Ire}), who was supplemented for the King George, is now must be 16 or older and professional jockeys, stable staff and favoured at 2-1. He would become the first winner in 62 years grooms are not permitted to ride. The winner is presented with for The Queen in the race named for her parents. a box of Newmarket Sausages, a product the town is almost as proud of as its racing. It is a truly marvellous event which has been won by both an accountant and a neurosurgeon in recent years, and this year it was won by one of the greatest supporters of our industry, Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, whose racing silks have been carried to victory in none I have just returned from an annual other than the visit to the UK and it's always a learning Melbourne Cup aboard curve. Newmarket celebrated 350 years Dunaden. I am not of horse racing since King Charles II convinced that the traveled to this small town in Suffolk moment Dunaden and commanded that a course be crossed the line that created to enable him to run a race in day, Sheikh Fahad had his name. This was the beginning of envisaged himself modern horse racing. carrying the yellow James McDonald and English racing is fascinating. The and blue silks to Big Orange | Racing Post public have the privilege of being able victory at the famous July course, but his exultation as he passed to interact with Her Majesty The Queen the winning post in front was clear for all to see. A prince won and The Royal Family in a much more informal way. the race and an MP finished second--what a wonderful start to It is wonderful to see the sheer exultation on Her Majesty's any race meeting. face when one of her horses wins at the Royal Meeting, and a The July Cup is a Group 1 sprint over 1200 metres on great reminder for us all that they are still human beings and Newmarket's July course, and it would have to be one of the they too feel the thrill and excitement that we all experience most testing sprint races in the world. I walked the track and I when our horses reach the pinnacle of success. can assure you it is very testing. To race ride in England, jockeys The abundance of have to be extremely fit. Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens once races over varying said, "I thought I was fit until I went to England. It's a whole new distances are a joy to ball game over there." James McDonald, who is originally from behold. One of my New Zealand, but is now based in Australia as Godolphin's most treasured number one rider, put in some breathtaking rides in the UK. He memories in this steered Big Orange to victory in the G2 Prince Of Wales's S., historic town was leading from pillar to post giving the gelding back-to-back watching our great victories in the race. He used the horse's speed and outwitted friend, Frances his fellow riders, a technique that is certainly underutilised, Stanley, ride in the especially in Europe. Down Under it is a popular trend for horses Newmarket Town Sheikh Fahad winning the Town Plate to come from back in the field but being married to a statistician aboard Almagest | Racing Post Plate. In 1666 the and form student, it is interesting to note that those expected to inaugural Town Plate was run and won by King Charles II and he be in the first quarter of the field, win about 25% more than stated that it should be run forever. their numbers would indicate. Cont. p3 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 3 OF 9 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • 21 JUNE, 2016 Many years ago, when my father T.J. Smith first took out a opposed to the more pronounced and testing canters where training licence, he and my mother Valerie traveled to America. horses undertake their slower work. Dad was determined to learn more, better himself and improve It is very hard to compare English and European training his knowledge, enabling him to achieve his desire of being facilities to those that we have in Australia, America and many Australia's greatest trainer. He returned with one invaluable parts of Asia. What they do develop is great stamina, and I know piece of information that became a game changer: the amount from training European horses that their aerobic levels are far of corn and oats that was fed in the 50s in the U.S. was far superior to my Australian stayers. Japan, similar to Europe, has a greater than that fed strong focus on building a horse's aerobic capacity and this can to the Australian be seen in their successes on racetracks around the world. horses, most of Speaking of Japan, I was delighted to see Charles "Chuck" which were being fed Fipke, proprietor of C.F. Farms, make the pilgrimage to a chaff base. Dad Hokkaido, where he purchased the Deep Impact--Topliner returned to Sydney yearling filly (lot 81) and immediately from Katsumi changed his feeding Yoshida's Northern program with the Farm draft. Being a assistance of half-sister to Group 1 Gai Waterhouse and her father TJ Smith veterinary sensation, winner Star Billing, Dr. Percy Sykes. His the Deep Impact winning total for a season went from very few winners in filly's blue-blooded 1947/1948 to 26 in 1951/1952, to 54 and the start of his pedigree caught the 33-year Sydney Premiership run in 1952/53. If you want to read eye of Chuck, an Charles Fipke with his Deep Impact filly out of more about my father, his biography, The Midas Man, is a astute breeder in his Topliner at the JRHA sale | Kelsey Riley riveting story. own right, having Similar to my father, I have noticed the difference between bred multiple Grade I winners such as Perfect Soul, Perfect Shirl the feeds in the UK and Australia.