Date With Destiny Makes a Winning Debut at Newbury |
| The ill-fated European champion George Washington (by Danehill), who was virtually sterile, had a solitary foal from his only season at stud. The filly, appropriately named Date With Destiny (out of Flawlessly, by Rainbow Quest), made a winning debut on July 9 at Newbury in England. Richard Hughes rode Richard Hannon’s ward to victory before jetting off to Bangalore, where, as is well-known, he scored a brilliant treble which included the day’s feature, the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby (Gr.1). Across the English Channel, the Aga Khan's Behkabad (by Cape Cross) charged home in the historic Grand Prix de Paris (Gr.1) at Longchamp on July 14 by three-parts of a length from Planteur (by Danehill Dancer), with Jan Vermeer (by Montjeu) a further five lengths in arrears. The winner’s trainer, Jean-Claude Rouget, had won this event with Millkom (by Cyrano De Bergerac) way back in 1994. Gerald Mosse guided the winner home. Interestingly, Behkabad’s grandam had a half-sister in India named Badedra[IRE], who produced some useful runners in Comedy Of Errors, Charlie Parker and Rahil. In the US, Jockey Eibar Coa reached a milestone on July 9 when he guided his 4,000th winner to victory. The mount which enabled him to cross this peak was Maddy's Crowd (by Crowd Pleaser), who annexed the 9th race at Monmouth Park. The all-time leader in this category is Russell Baze, who has visited the winner’s circle on an amazing 10,966 occasions! Meanwhile, 114 miles to the South East at Delaware Park, Blind Luck (by Pollard’s Vision) won the Delaware Oaks (Gr.2) by a nose on July 10, thereby recording her sixth career Graded Stakes score. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, the game filly races for Mark DeDomenico LLC, John Carver and Peter Abruzzo, and was sold by Fairlawn Farm as a yearling at the 2008 Fasig Tipton July Sale for just $11,000. She now has a record of 12-8-2-2 and earnings of $1,578,712. Talk of a healthy return on investment! The same afternoon, the 2009 Champion Turf Horse and Champion Older Male Gio Ponti (by Tale Of The Cat) got up in time to record his maiden win of the 2010 season. The occasion was the running of the $600,000 Man O’ War Stakes (Gr.1) on turf at Belmont Park, a race which the Christophe Clement-trainee had captured in 2009 as well. Gio Ponti appeared to have lost a step this term, going without a win in his first four starts this season. Ramon Dominguez steered the Castleton Lyons homebred, who sat off a pedestrian pace set by Mission Approved – 6 furlongs in 1:18 and change – and pounced late for a neck victory. With his tenth career triumph, the good looking bay has banked the healthy sum of $4,123,800 and is sure to be an attractive stallion prospect. Supporting action across the continent saw E Z’s Gentleman (by Yankee Gentleman) sizzle to victory in the Triple Bend Handicap (Gr.1) at Hollywood Park. Trained by Bob Baffert, the rig covered the seven-furlong trip in 1:21 flat. Another Baffert runner, Sangaree (by Congaree), followed him home. Belmont Stakes (Gr.1) winner Drosselmeyer (by Distorted Humor) could be out of action for the rest of 2010 due to “ankle issues”. Trainer Bill Mott advised that the chestnut colt had been temporarily taken out of training to be sent to his owner’s WinStar Farm in Kentucky for a bone scan. Depending on the results, his connections would decide on a future course of action. The Southern Hemisphere breeding season is almost upon us. Amongst the stallions flying down to Argentina for the 2010 season are Pollard’s Vision (by Carson City), who will be shuttling to Haras La Mission, Exchange Rate (by Danzig) and Freud (by Storm Cat), both headed to Haras La Leyenda and Catcher in the Rye (by Danehill). The last-named was Leading Freshman Sire in Argentina in the 2009-10 season and amongst his mates will be recently-retired Argentinean Champion 3-y-o filly Kalath Wells (by Poliglote). Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, triple Gr.1 winning sprinter Sacred Kingdom (by Encosta de Lago) was crowned Horse of the Year, as also Champion Sprinter. The speedy Australian-bred gelding, who is trained by P.F. Yiu, has also shone outside the former crown colony – he took the KrisFlyer Sprint (Gr.1) in Singapore and was a decent fifth in the Golden Jubilee Stakes (Gr.1) at Royal Ascot. |
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