In my Tuesday blog, I mentioned about the success of German raider Danedream in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Actually, this filly is always good for a surprise not only in the Arc, but also for her breeder Mr Gregor Baum, who I know for a long time and previously decided to sell this filly as a two-year-old for only 9,000 Euros. Danedream has her first start on a provincial course in France and has improved magnificently during the season to win the Arc in a record time. Her victory in the Grosser Preis von Baden was terrific, but it was on soft ground and it came totally out of my expectation to see how well she handled the good to firm ground, and brought her all-German connection such an emphatic success in Paris.
She will stay in training next season and is likely to have another go at the Arc. With renowned Japanese owner Teruya Yoshida purchased half of the filly’s share, I would not be surprised if she will have the Japan Cup as one of her targets in the future.
Apart from this German filly, actually there were several other jockeys and horses who achieved their own milestones in France's biggest race meeting of the year. One of those was racing fans’ perennial favourite, flamboyant Italian jockey Lanfranco Dettori, known to all as Frankie. He rode the 500th Group race winner of his stellar career in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, a Group 1 event for two-year-olds, aboard unbeaten colt Dabirsim, who is a progeny of 2005 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile winner Hat Trick.
The racing environment in Europe is intensely competitive, especially at the major racetracks, so it's not easy for riders there to achieve 500 wins of any kind, let alone 500 wins at Group level. This tells you how illustrious Frankie’s riding career has been.
Later the same day Frankie followed this by notching up his 501st Group race victory aboard Nahrain in the G1 Prix de l’Opera. I understand that with this Group 1 double, his career G1 tally has now reached 194. With a few more important G1 events to come in the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see if he can reach the magical 200 mark within this year. Will it be at the British Champion Stakes or Breeders’ Cup raceday – or will he wait until he comes to Hong Kong in December, and perhaps achieve this remarkable feat at our Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races?
Meanwhile, one of the horses who reached a milestone in Paris at the weekend was Kasbah Bliss, the Francois Doumen-trained runner who won the marathon G1 Prix du Cadran. This nine-year-old had a good record in jumps races earlier in his career, winning three G2 hurdle events in Europe. Over the past few seasons, however, he has been switched to long-distance flat races.
This was the fourth time Kasbah Bliss had run in the Cadran, finishing in the money at all three previous attempts. And he showed this time that age has not taken its toll at all, delivering an amazing last-to-first run in the straight to become the first nine-year-old to win this event since it was opened to older horses nearly a century ago.
I understand that Francois is planning to bring this veteran stayer to contest the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase again this year, a race in which he finished third in 2009. I'm sure our local racing fans will be eager to see if Kasbah Bliss can repeat his emphatic Longchamp performance on the Sha Tin turf.
Gerald Mosse was the jockey who steered the horse to his famous victory. You can now enjoy watching Gerald's riding skills in the flesh, as he flew to Hong Kong straight after Sunday's meeting and will be riding here again for the rest of the season, starting from our Happy Valley races tonight.
Please forgive me for making my blog shorter this time, as I'm about to give a presentation on challenges facing the global racing business at an international racing conference in London this morning. Because of this UK meeting, I won't be able to get back for our races in Hong Kong tonight. But I've had some spare time to study the form for this rare Thursday night race meeting at Happy Valley.
In the Lions Clubs International President Cup (Handicap), the pace figures to be a bit slow in the early going, which may work in favour of Aerosa. This is only his third career start, but I expect a big performance as he has been working well and has natural speed to be well positioned on the C+3 course in his Valley debut. The main opposition will come from Green Zone, who makes his third appearance during the young season and is better drawn tonight, as well as Time After Time, who is first up after showing some promise late last season. The winner of this race has a chance to make an impression in the 1010 Million Challenge. Unfortunately for Happy Yeah Yeah, currently tied for second in the standings, he has drawn 12 which may prove a bit difficult, but he may be able to cross into a contending position and earn some Challenge points.
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