Jones injured in jump-outs
South Australian-based jockey Caitlin Jones was injured Tuesday morning when participating in a set of jump-outs held at Morphettville Parks.
Jones sustained a compound fracture of the tibia into the ankle joint. It was reported Jones was awaiting the orthopaedic surgeon with further updates to come on her condition.
Shinn replaces Williams
Blake Shinn has replaced Craig Williams on the Edward Cummings-trained Duais (Shamus Award) in the G1 Might And Power S. at Caulfield Saturday week.
The replacement came about as Williams is scheduled to head to Sydney to partner Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) in the $5 million King Charles III S.
Blake Shinn | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
“Everything is all systems go to the Might And Power with a new jockey,” Cummings told Punters.
“Blake Shinn is riding her and I think he will be a good match for her.
“Duais is in the right space, I was in Melbourne Tuesday morning and she’s going well.
“It will be interesting what runs in the Might And Power with the Hill Stakes and the Turnbull Stakes this weekend.”
Smart heads for spell
Sharp ‘N’ Smart (NZ) (Redwood {GB}) has headed for a spell after a disappointing performance in Saturday’s G1 Arrowfield Stud Plate at Hastings.
The Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained gelding had his trainers scratching their heads until a veterinary examination revealed the likely reason Sharp ‘N’ Smart failed to show his best.
“He has got a viral blood disorder,” Rogerson informed New Zealand Racing Desk.
“His work was enormous last Tuesday and whether it was the Heavy track and everything all added up, but he was fully vetted on Monday which revealed a viral infection.
“He hasn’t got a bacterial infection, he has a viral one, so we are treating him. We are going to do another blood in 12 days’ time and that will say what we do with him this time.
“The horse comes first and all the owners are right behind us.”
Absurde seeks jockey
Willie Mullins is in search of a jockey to partner his second intended Melbourne Cup runner - Absurde (Fr) (Fastnet Rock).
“There’s a couple in the mix. I’ve been travelling and Willie’s (Mullins) been in France at Longchamp for the weekend, so no one confirmed,” David Casey, travelling forman for Mullins, told Racing.com.
“I’d say it will be a local jockey. Absurde won an Ebor, so he’s not a bad horse in his own right and I think he will probably handle the ground if it's on the quicker side come Cup Day.”
Stackhouse sticking with Benedetta
Daniel Stackhouse will head to Sydney to partner Benedetta (Hellbent) next Saturday when the 4-year-old will either contest the $1 million Silver Eagle or the G3 Sydney S.
Trained by Jason Warren, Benedatta arrived at John Thompson’s Randwick stables last week and is scheduled to jump-out Friday.
“Just because she is a lightly framed filly that can leave a little bit of feed every now and then, we went up nice and early for that reason,” Warren told Racing.com.
“I am keen for her to have a jump-out as well and just give her a gallop on that Sydney leg.
“We are slightly leaning towards the Silver Eagle with her against her own age.”
Wolfgang excites McDonald
James McDonald will have a typically strong book of rides on Saturday at Flemington. The superstar hoop will partner Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G1 Turnbull S. but has also picked up the ride on Wolfgang (Exceed And Excel).
The 2-year-old colt, trained by Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans, will debut in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial S. and was an impressive Cranbourne jump-out winner prompting McDonald to seek the ride.
Wolfgang as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“He’s a hungry little bugger,” Kennewell told Racing.com.
“He watched the Cranbourne jump-out and was on the phone, so he obviously doesn’t miss much and he is one of the best for a reason.
“Zac Spain had been on Wolfgang for most of the work and jump-outs and he has been terrific all the way through. But unfortunately for Zac he won’t get the ride on Saturday, but his time will come.”
Parker insists all is fine with star
After a visually below-par trial at Randwick on Tuesday morning the star galloper Think It Over (So You Think {NZ}) was assessed by Racing NSW vets where it was reported he had a delayed recovery.
Trainer Kerry Parker insisted all is fine with the 8-year-old.
“It was probably a little bit of the heat but wasn’t there to have a run around, wasn't there to be chasing those Everest horses,” Parker told Racenet.
“The vets have been over him and he’s 100 per cent. He’s fine so we will head to the King Charles.”
Breakup settles in
The Tatsuya Yoshioka-trained Breakup (Jpn) (Novellist {Ire}) is settling in well after arriving at Werribee on Monday.
The Japanese raider is set to target the Group 1 Caulfield and Melbourne Cup and has pleased assistant trainer Kosuke Hamana with his condition after the flight.
“It was a very smooth flight and I’m really happy with the condition and the way he is,” Kosuke told Racing.com.
“He went out for a spell after the Takarazuka Kinen in June but we have increased his workload in September and he is coming on really well so far.
“We got him pretty fit in Japan, he’s probably 70, 80 per cent fit already, so we just have to tick him over in Melbourne.”
Damian Lane will partner Breakup in the Caulfield Cup before relinquishing the ride to Japanese jockey Kohei Matsuyama in the Melbourne Cup.
McDonald’s intense recovery
Champion hoop James McDonald admits it was a bad time of the year to have an injury but despite a broken foot, McDonald was never worried he would miss the spring carnivals and the reunion with Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}).
“I had three-and-a-half weeks off, and it just halts everything. But I did hours and hours of hyperbaric chambers, red light therapy and chiros - I did endless hours in there every day,” McDonald told Racing.com.
“I don’t think I missed a day for three weeks; I spent a lot of time on those things, and I think it definitely helped. I recovered pretty well and I was back probably a week earlier than anticipated.
“I just circled the Turnbull date, and thought as long as I’m back a week before that I’ll be happy.”
Jewel 'bright as a button'
Simon Miller has declared Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni {Fr}) is ‘thriving’ in Melbourne after taking out Friday’s G2 Stocks S. at Moonee Valley.
“She’s been super, unbelievable,” Miller told Racing.com.
Amelia's Jewel | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Amelia’s Jewel had never been night racing before, but we got home at 10.30pm, saw her again at 4am and she’d already knocked off her night feed.
“Clearly, she’s thriving coming off what was a hard run. She set a track record and she was still bright as a button on Saturday morning.”
Fan-favourite Sodashi retired
Kaneko Makoto Holding Co Ltd's Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune {USA}) whose snow-white colouring combined with considerable racetrack ability made her a fan favourite in every corner of the globe, has been retired, according to multiple reports.
The homebred, whose year-younger full sister Mama Cocha (Jpn) won Sunday's G1 Sprinters S. at Nakayama, was an immediate hit while carrying the Deep Impact (Jpn) colours. Undefeated in four tries at two, including a victory in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies to secure her first championship, Sodashi made the one-mile G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) her fifth-straight success before finishing eighth in the G1 Yushun Himba over a stamina-stretching 2400 metres. Sodashi defeated the globetrotting Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G2 Sapporo Kinen en route to being named the top of her generation in 2021.
Blue Point breeding right to be auctioned by Darley
With Dubawi (Ire) as its lynchpin, there have of course been plenty of red-letter days for Darley in recent years, but the results from the Arc meeting at Longchamp on Sunday can nevertheless be deemed to be extra special.
Best of all was the victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for the unbeaten Ace Impact (Ire), a member of the first crop of Cracksman (GB). That stellar performance was backed up by a first-crop Group 1 winner for Blue Point (Ire), who is leading the first-season sires' table and supplied the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner, Rosallion (Ire), a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid. Furthermore, the hugely likeable Highfield Princess (Fr) gained yet another Group 1 success in the Prix de l'Abbaye, and is a daughter of Night Of Thunder (Ire).
“To have three Group 1 winners by the stallions without Dubawi being one of them was new territory for us,” admits Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions.
Blue Point (Ire) | Standing at Darley
With Blue Point out in front on 39 individual winners, he looks unlikely to be caught in the freshman championship, but Darley's Too Darn Hot (GB) has also made an eye-catching start with his first runners, and now has four Group winners to his name.
“Too Darn Hot's runners were never going to be precocious but sure enough, once he got to August and September, away he went.”
On the back of Blue Point's success this year, Darley will soon launch a “ground-breaking” feature on its website which will facilitate the sale of select breeding rights in its stallions. The project will launch on the weekend of the Darley Dewhurst S., with a breeding right in Blue Point the first to come onto the market.
“We have an auction site on the MyDarley website for any breeders who want to register,” Bullard explains.
“There are no breeding rights in Blue Point at the moment. There will never be more than 30, but we're going to sell one, and if there's a demand, we'll sell more.”
Darley will release further details on this unique feature in the coming weeks.
Ace Impact: decision on future to be made this week
From a January debut at Cagnes-sur-Mer to a jaw-dropping victory on France's biggest day of racing, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}) has had quite the season and is now the hottest property in European racing.
We already know where he will stand at stud eventually since his part-sale after his victory in the Prix du Jockey Club to the Chehboub family's Gousserie Racing. Kamel and his daughter Pauline Cheboub will now decide with their partner and the colt's original owner Serge Stempniak and trainer Jean-Claude Rouget whether the unbeaten star will retire to their Haras de Beaumont for the 2024 covering season or remain in training as a 4-year-old.
In an update on Ace Impact on Monday morning, Pauline Cheboub told TDN, “He's in good shape and recovering well. We're really happy with him.
“We'll make the decision this week with the team and our partners and take the time to make the right decision for the horse. He deserves that.”
The temptation will obviously be strong to retire a colt of the calibre of Ace Impact to stud, but Chehboub insisted that her family and Stempniak will take their time to consider the best course of action.
She continued, “We don't know his limits but it's difficult to top this season. He's a champion.
“It's an exciting time for us. We are very lucky to be part of this and we are pleased that we have a horse like him that we will be able to bring eventually to the French breeders, and Sealiway as well.”
Record-setting dual Group 1 winner Marsha passes away
Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) a two-time Group 1-winning sprinter who later set a record price for a Thoroughbred sold at public auction in Europe, has passed away aged 10, according to multiple reports.
Bred and raced by the Elite Racing Club and trained by Sir Mark Prescott, Marsha made the first nine starts of her career at eight different venues across England and Ireland, winning Listed events at Ayr and York in the summer of 2016 before venturing beyond the borders of the United Kingdom for the first time. She made the final two starts of her 3-year-old season at Chantilly, finishing runner-up in the G3 Prix du Petit Couvert before causing a 23-1 boilover in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye.
Marsha proved the star turn at the 2017 Tattersalls December Mare Sale, heading to M.V. Magnier for 6 million guineas (AU$11.4 million). Her first foal, the 3-year-old filly Tender Kiss (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was well-beaten at Leopardstown on debut this past April and her two most recent foals are by Frankel (GB) – a yearling filly and a colt foal.
