Global Weekly Review 19.10.15
By any standards, last weekend featured a fascinating collection of races that proved stimulating on a global scale.
By any standards, last weekend featured a fascinating collection of races that proved stimulating on a global scale.
For sheer excellence, it would be hard to better Muhaarar's triumph in the G1 British Champions Sprint or Solow's win in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot (UK), and for dogged determination none were better than St Leger winner Simple Verse, who took the G1 Fillies & Mares Stakes on a star-studded Champions Day.
In Toronto, Saeed Suhail's Cannock Chase landed the G1 Canadian International in the hands of Ryan Moore, who also picked up the G1 E P Taylor Stakes aboard Curvy, thus giving the former British champion both the big prizes at Woodbine.
And in Australia, local pundits are calling this Spring Carnival potentially the best ever after witnessing Mongolian Khan beat Trip To Paris by a half a length in the G1 Caulfield Cup. Mongolian Khan picked up a 1kg (2lb) penalty for the G1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 3.
With the Breeders' Cup in America looming, and the G1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster (UK) and the G1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, Melbourne, both scheduled for the coming weekend, any notion that the racing season might be fizzling out is grossly exaggerated.
Let's digest the outstanding performers at Ascot's Champions Day, at which, it should be pointed out, Godolphin won the finale on the glittering card and were also recognised officially as the 2015 UK Flat Champion Owner.
John Ferguson, Bloodstock Advisor to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, collected the prize for champion owner from Her Majesty The Queen at Ascot on Saturday.
Muhaarar, owned by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, gave Champions Day the right endorsement with a sprinting performance curiously reminiscent of the owner's outstanding sprinter Dayjur.
A son of Oasis Dream, Muhaarar was brilliant in winning the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, the G1 July Cup at Newmarket, and the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville. His crowning achievement came on Saturday. He simply outclassed his rivals.
Although trainer Charlie Hills says Muhaarar could win a Breeders' Cup Mile, Sheikh Hamdan has taken the decision to retire his champion to stud immediately. The colt has the attributes to make an immediate impact as a stallion at his owner's Shadwell Stud.
Solow is a gelding and, hence, should be around for a couple more seasons, which will be a welcome luxury to those who compile ratings and compare generations. His trainer Freddie Head has done an excellent job in discovering his true field of expertise, racing at one mile.
Finally, Godolphin have much to look forward to with Jack Hobbs, who finished an honourable third in the G1 Champion Stakes to the Dermot Weld-trained Fascinating Rock.
Trainer John Gosden backed William Buick in going forward on the Irish Derby winner in the first furlong. "He was drawn very wide and there was little else he could do. Jack Hobbs still shows some signs of immaturity but he will be better at four, as indeed his stallion Halling was, too," Gosden said.
