Saturs
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Prince Khalid Abdullah, said on Thursday that it would be the ideal conclusion to an outstanding racing career if Midday could win the Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on Saturday. Sir Henry Cecil's mare has won six Group One races in a 22-race career which began when she finished seventh of 15 behind Pachattack – a runner in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic on Friday – in maiden at Glorious Goodwood in July 2008.
Midday had an alternative engagement at this meeting in the Friday'sdiscount jerseys Filly & Mare Turf, a race which she won in 2009 before finishing a neck second as even-money favourite 12 months ago. However, she will go up against the male horses in the Turf, one of the feature events of the meeting with a first prize of just over £1m, having already amassed lifetime earnings of £2.2m.
"Midday has been a very special horse for us," Grimthorpe said. "She's through-and-through Juddmonte-bred [Prince Khalid's stud operation], she's by Oasis Dream, with four generations of families that the Prince has raised. She's won six Group Ones and with a bit more luck might have won a couple more. She's everything an owner-breeder would desire to produce and race really. She's genuine, consistent and top-class.
"We discussed [her target] with Henry and he felt that last year's race cheap nhl jerseys didn't work out for her particularly well. We know that she stays a mile and a half really well, so this is an ideal spot for her. She's travelled really well and she came out of her last race at Ascot very well too. We thought straight after the race that she felt she'd got a bit more to give and the way she's gone about it here has been very pleasing."
Grimthorpe also had positive reports of two more of Prince Khalid's runners at the meeting, Sea Moon, who also runs in the Turf, and Announce (Filly & Mare Turf).
"Sea Moon is a very progressive horse," he said. "He didn't really nba jerseys cheap get the run of the race in the St Leger but he still ran a really good race. He's come on and the plan was always to look at this race after that. He had a very nice spin on the turf yesterday [Wednesday], he was moving really nicely and happy with the ground, so there's no great issues there.
"The Derby was a consideration for him but he wasn't quite NFL Jerseys Cheap right in the spring, he just hadn't come to himself, so [Sir] Michael [Stoute] did the right thing, gave him some time and that paid off in the Great Voltigeur at York. He enjoyed the way things happened there, he travelled very well and then showed a really good turn of foot to put the race to bed. This is a step up, he's meeting proven Group One horses at this distance, so he's got to keep progressing.
"Announce started off the year pretty encouragingly, then lost her way a little bit in the summer. André [Fabre] gave her a break [and] she ran a super race in the Prix de l'Opera at Longchamp. She was just beaten by the photographer really, so it's a natural progression to come here."
John Gosden also has a good chance to improve an already impressive record at the Breeders' Cup on Friday when he saddles Elusive Kate, a likely favourite, in the Juvenile Fillies' Turf and Questing in the Juvenile Fillies.
Elusive Kate is already proven at the highest level, having won the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp last month despite drifting left in the home straight.
"It's a high quality race," Gosden said of the Juvenile Fillies' Turf, "probably the best renewal that there's been. Elusive Kate can do anything. She doesn't have to lead, she's come from off the pace too and she came from last to first in her first stakes win in France.
"She got in a muddle coming down the hill [at Longchamp] and got on the wrong leg and drifted out. The problem for any two-year-old at Longchamp is that, when you come into the straight, it's a massive, huge expanse and, if you lose the rail, you can just wander.
"Questing handles the [dirt] surface very well but it's all about kickback.cheap nfl jerseys
With a filly like that, if they get a faceful of that, they start climbing, they're not used to it and they don't think about running at all and drop themselves out.
"Dirt is a whole different ball game. I've always said it's not the dirt so much as the kickback. That's where the turf horses come unstuck. I've had turf horses work on dirt at Hollywood Park over a mile in one minutes 36 [seconds] and change when they're on their own, but as soon as they get the dirt in their face, they wouldn't go round there in one minute 41.
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"It's a whole different style of racing, it's about tactical speed and getting a breather and kicking off the bend. Horses look like they're accelerating on it but it's more like the ones in front are coming back to them. Dirt is [a] slowing [surface], so the last quarter is often run much slower than the first quarter. That's the style of dirt racing, whereas on turf, the last quarter is usually run faster than the first."
Midday had an alternative engagement at this meeting in the Friday'sdiscount jerseys Filly & Mare Turf, a race which she won in 2009 before finishing a neck second as even-money favourite 12 months ago. However, she will go up against the male horses in the Turf, one of the feature events of the meeting with a first prize of just over £1m, having already amassed lifetime earnings of £2.2m.
"Midday has been a very special horse for us," Grimthorpe said. "She's through-and-through Juddmonte-bred [Prince Khalid's stud operation], she's by Oasis Dream, with four generations of families that the Prince has raised. She's won six Group Ones and with a bit more luck might have won a couple more. She's everything an owner-breeder would desire to produce and race really. She's genuine, consistent and top-class.
"We discussed [her target] with Henry and he felt that last year's race cheap nhl jerseys didn't work out for her particularly well. We know that she stays a mile and a half really well, so this is an ideal spot for her. She's travelled really well and she came out of her last race at Ascot very well too. We thought straight after the race that she felt she'd got a bit more to give and the way she's gone about it here has been very pleasing."
Grimthorpe also had positive reports of two more of Prince Khalid's runners at the meeting, Sea Moon, who also runs in the Turf, and Announce (Filly & Mare Turf).
"Sea Moon is a very progressive horse," he said. "He didn't really nba jerseys cheap get the run of the race in the St Leger but he still ran a really good race. He's come on and the plan was always to look at this race after that. He had a very nice spin on the turf yesterday [Wednesday], he was moving really nicely and happy with the ground, so there's no great issues there.
"The Derby was a consideration for him but he wasn't quite NFL Jerseys Cheap right in the spring, he just hadn't come to himself, so [Sir] Michael [Stoute] did the right thing, gave him some time and that paid off in the Great Voltigeur at York. He enjoyed the way things happened there, he travelled very well and then showed a really good turn of foot to put the race to bed. This is a step up, he's meeting proven Group One horses at this distance, so he's got to keep progressing.
"Announce started off the year pretty encouragingly, then lost her way a little bit in the summer. André [Fabre] gave her a break [and] she ran a super race in the Prix de l'Opera at Longchamp. She was just beaten by the photographer really, so it's a natural progression to come here."
John Gosden also has a good chance to improve an already impressive record at the Breeders' Cup on Friday when he saddles Elusive Kate, a likely favourite, in the Juvenile Fillies' Turf and Questing in the Juvenile Fillies.
Elusive Kate is already proven at the highest level, having won the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp last month despite drifting left in the home straight.
"It's a high quality race," Gosden said of the Juvenile Fillies' Turf, "probably the best renewal that there's been. Elusive Kate can do anything. She doesn't have to lead, she's come from off the pace too and she came from last to first in her first stakes win in France.
"She got in a muddle coming down the hill [at Longchamp] and got on the wrong leg and drifted out. The problem for any two-year-old at Longchamp is that, when you come into the straight, it's a massive, huge expanse and, if you lose the rail, you can just wander.
"Questing handles the [dirt] surface very well but it's all about kickback.cheap nfl jerseys
With a filly like that, if they get a faceful of that, they start climbing, they're not used to it and they don't think about running at all and drop themselves out.
"Dirt is a whole different ball game. I've always said it's not the dirt so much as the kickback. That's where the turf horses come unstuck. I've had turf horses work on dirt at Hollywood Park over a mile in one minutes 36 [seconds] and change when they're on their own, but as soon as they get the dirt in their face, they wouldn't go round there in one minute 41.
http://mamma.forumotion.com/t4157-topic
"It's a whole different style of racing, it's about tactical speed and getting a breather and kicking off the bend. Horses look like they're accelerating on it but it's more like the ones in front are coming back to them. Dirt is [a] slowing [surface], so the last quarter is often run much slower than the first quarter. That's the style of dirt racing, whereas on turf, the last quarter is usually run faster than the first."
