Horse Racing Planet | Where the world is Flat

TW3

Meanwhile in … Pennsylvania: King Leatherbury strikes again
Asia

Now for the Triple Crown: it’s so easy for superstar Contrail in Japan
North America

Santa Anita: watch Improbable impress over Maximum Security – plus Princess Noor’s star show
Comment

‘It’s like losing a member of the family’ – David Menuisier on the tragic loss of Thundering Blue
Rest of the World

World record: legendary jockey Jorge Ricardo hits 13,000 in Brazil

Saudi Cup: Maximum Security inquiry ‘at the mercy’ of the US authorities

With the result of the 2020 Saudi Cup still under scrutiny, next year’s event has been launched with a new date and more prize-money.

Arc weekend: Abbaye hope Air De Valse takes Cirrus trainer back into G1 spotlight

Corine Barande-Barbe will attempt to win the Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye with Air De Valse, the sprint filly who is keeping her training business afloat.

Hugh Bowman and Kerrin McEvoy called up for Aidan O’Brien Melbourne Cup hopes

Kerrin McEvoy will ride Aidan O’Brien’s lead fancy Tiger Moth in the Lexus Melbourne Cup and Hugh Bowman has been booked for Anthony Van Dyck.

‘The best I’ve ever had anything to do with’ – watch how Russian Camelot becomes Cox Plate favourite

Trainer Danny O’Brien was full of praise for stable star Russian Camelot after a dominant victory in the G1 Underwood Stakes.

‘I hate to run them against each other’ – Bob Baffert on Maximum Security vs Improbable at Santa Anita

Bob Baffert takes centre stage at Santa Anita for a card full of Breeders’ Cup trials on which he is forced to run his stable stars against each other.

Belated birthday present with a winner for 91-year-old NZ trainer Brian Marriott

One-horse trainer Brian Marriott turned 91 on Tuesday – and saddled a winner on Thursday with his only horse Bellissimo.

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Italy: Il Palio di Siena Famous equine throwback to a medieval age of jousting and pageantry as mixed-breed horses representing ‘contrade’ (neighbourhoods) partnered by bareback riders (‘fantini’) hurtle around a picture-postcard Tuscan city-centre piazza in front of thousands of frenzied spectators. Fists and whips are much in evidence. It happens twice a year, on July 2 and August 16; apart from 2020, owing to coronavirus.
Germany: Duhnen mudflats A mixed racecard (also featuring trotters) is held annually in July on what is effectively the seabed at Duhnen, a North Sea resort on the outskirts of the port city of Cuxhaven. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Elbe estuary, an international shipping lane, the racing surface is exposed by the ebbing tide. About 30,000 spectators attend, watching from the nearby dyke.
Germany: ‘Seejagdrennen’ (lake chases) Germany’s abbreviated jumps programme (less than 20 races) features four examples of ‘Seejagdrennen’, wherein horses have to negotiate a large body of water. Best-known are the two at Bad Harzburg in Lower Saxony in July, though the lake is deeper at Hamburg, requiring some equine doggy paddle during the Deutsches Derby meeting. Quakenbruck hosts the other one.
Japan: Ban’ei racing on Hokkaido Staged only at the suburban racetrack of Obihiro on ‘horse island’ Hokkaido, ban’ei (‘pull play’) involves sturdy draught horses twice the weight of thoroughbreds pulling heavy iron sleds along a straight 200-metre sand track featuring a pair of inclines. You can bet on it, there’s a starting gate and ‘jockeys’ wear conventional silks.
USA: Twin-horse chariot racing Ben Hur-style is the order of the day at the Golden Spike Event Center in Ogden, Utah, on the edge of the Rockies just north of Salt Lake City. Teams compete in a series of drag races over 440 yards lasting about 22 seconds; the ‘American Chariot Racing World Championships’ are held in March.