United States of America
Juddmonte's Idiomatic dominates Spinster
Juddmonte homebred Idiomatic (USA) (Curlin {USA}) continued her ascent to the top of the distaff division Sunday with a dominant and fitting front-running tally in the G1 Juddmonte Spinster S., a “Win and You're In” qualifier for next month's G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff beating her repeat rival Nest (USA) (Curlin {USA}).
This was the second Spinster title for Juddmonte, which began sponsoring the prestigious race in 2005. Emollient (USA) (Empire Maker {USA}) carried the famed green and pink to victory here in 2013.
“Actually, it was not easy looking at the race on paper with Nest being in there, a very good filly,” said winning rider Florent Geroux. “But my filly just keeps on improving and we know the distance is not a problem. She just keeps improving, and Brad (Cox) and his team had her at her prime again today. She's just getting better and better, and I can't wait to ride her again.”
This was Brad Cox's first Spinster victory. Of winning it for the famed operation whose name it carries, he said, “It's very special, and I want to thank owner (Fahad bin) Mr Khalid and his family and obviously the Juddmonte team here in America. This is a big win for this filly, it's her second Grade 1. She's had a fantastic year. This race is a 'Win and You're In' for the Breeders' Cup so we're excited about that. I've run four or five fillies in the past in this race and haven't had much luck, so she was able to break through for us today.”
Cox said of Idiomatic, “She's a tremendous talent, very physical, really. When I was saddling her in the paddock, I was, like, 'Wow, she's the biggest horse I've ever trained.' She's a monster. She has a tremendous stride and covers so much ground. She's really a freak–I mean, she really is a tremendous talent, and we're very fortunate to have her.”
Nations Pride gets up late in Canadian International
It should shock no one that Godolphin homebred Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) has a more-frequently used passport than most of his human connections. The star 4-year-old has raced and won in his native England, is a Grade 1 winner in the United States, a Graded stakes winner in the United Arab Emirates and most recently took a Grade 1 race in Germany before shipping north of the border to Woodbine to score the G1 Canadian International.
“I've ridden in the Canadian International a few times before and I've been placed a few times so it's great to win it,” said winning jockey William Buick. “I knew with Nations Pride I had a pretty good horse so it's just about getting everything right. The track was a bit of a concern, the yielding surface, but he really showed how versatile he is and he's a high-class horse.”
“The concerns going out was the ground changing to yielding,” added Charlie Appleby, in the winner's circle. “To be fair, in Germany, it was probably on the slower side, but we thought the change might be positive.
“We'll stick with plan A,” Appleby responded when asked about a potential next start. “We won't go to the Breeders' Cup. We don't think he stretches out that mile and a half, so we'll take him to the Bahrain Trophy, and then contemplate if Hong Kong might suit him. But our immediate target will be the Bahrain Trophy.”
Oscar Performance colt stays perfect in Zuma Beach
Amerman homebred Endlessly (USA) (Oscar Performance {USA}) upped his perfect record to three-for-three in the G3 Zuma Beach S. at Santa Anita.
Pharoah filly cruises in rained-off Matron
The Jorge Abreu-trained Jody’s Pride (USA) (American Pharoah {USA}) backed up her sensational debut effort to take out the Matron S.
“I broke a step slow and I asked her to get herself into the race from there,” said winning pilot Flavien Prat. “Once I hit the turn, she just swapped leads and naturally on her own took me there. I didn't want to take anything away that came easy.”
Abreu said, “The main thing I like about her is that she relaxed a little bit today.”
Fev Rover beats them all in E.P. Taylor
The high-class Irish-bred mare, Fev Rover (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}), trained by Chad Brown, took out Sunday’s G1 E.P. Taylor S. at Woodbine and ridden by Javiar Castellano.
Fev Rover was no slouch before being imported to North America last year. Under the tutelage of Richard Fahey, she had raced in England, Ireland, France and Bahrain, with her scores including the G2 Ghadwell Prix du Calvados at two and her placings including the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas at three.
Committee Of One bosses out Amidst Waves for Indian Summer win
Committee Of One (USA) (Mendelssohn {USA}) went into the Indian Summer S. a maiden but left a winner albeit by the narrowest of margins over Amidst Waves (USA) (Midshipman {USA}).
“He had a very nice trip,” said winning trainer Steve Asmussen. “I knew there was a lot of speed in the race. I was very confident with him and comfortable where he was travelling.”
Good Samaritan colt pulls off Bourbon shocker
DJ Stable LLC and Cash Is King LLC's Can Group (USA) (Good Samaritan {USA}) was impressive winning Sunday’s G2 Bourbon S. stamping himself a ticket to next month’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Europe
Geography charts passage to Winterfavoriten triumph
Stall Hanse's Geography (Ger) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) followed up a debut success at Dusseldorf in August with a fifth in Baden-Baden's G3 Zukunfts-Rennen and bounced back to claim a career high in Sunday's G3 Wettstar.de – Preis des Winterfavoriten, Germany's premier juvenile contest, at Cologne.
“I didn't really want to go to the front and it wasn't the plan to do so, but we got off to a fast start and nobody wanted to take the lead,” winning rider Rene Piechulek told GaloppOnline. “He just did it all by himself. He has a lot of heart, but was unable to show his true value in the Zukunfts-Rennen at Baden-Baden. We still don't know what happened there.” Trainer Peter Schiergen added, “He's going on winter break now and we'll see whether or not he'll be one of the leading stayers in the future.”
