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Racing News |
First France Then Breeders’ Cup for Fleeting Spirit
01/10/09
Crack British sprinter Fleeting Spirit is primed for action in the Group One Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Sunday, October 4, with a view to stepping out in the $1 million (US) Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on November 7.
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France’s premier sprint race, the Prix de l’Abbaye is one of three Breeders’ Cup Challenge races remaining of the 11 allocated in Europe this year and victory will earn the winner a qualifying berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is an international series of 63 races whose winners earn qualifying positions into a corresponding race at the World Championships, following the payment of applicable entry fees on October 26.
For the full schedule of the Breeders' Cup Challenge races, please visit http://www.breederscup.com/content.aspx?id=40070
The other two European races still to come in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge are the Group Three Diamond Stakes at Dundalk tomorrow, Friday, October 2 (winner earns a place in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon) and the Group One Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket on October 17, for which the victor is guaranteed a place in the $3 million (US) Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Jeremy Noseda trains Fleeting Spirit for The Searchers partnership that includes well-known British owner Andy Stewart and the filly will be bidding to better her fourth-place finish behind Desert Code in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Fleeting Spirit has already enjoyed top-level success this season with a victory over an international field in the Group One July Cup at Newmarket, her home track.
That triumph was sandwiched between narrow reversals in June’s Group One King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, when second to Australian powerhouse Scenic Blast, and the Group One Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock on September 5.
“We’ll be aiming Fleeting Spirit at the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint again,” said Stewart, speaking from the Caribbean. “I think the six and a half furlongs is well within her scope. I’d sooner it was five and a half or six furlongs but on the Santa Anita surface, I don’t think the extra half-furlong will trouble her too much. Jeremy feels the same, as do Tom Queally (jockey) and her work rider, so we will give it a go.
“She was beaten at Haydock by Regal Parade but who knows what might have happened if the ground had been on the faster side. The six furlongs at Haydock came up like a mile and she coped with it.”
Fleeting Spirit relishes a sound surface, something she was denied at Haydock when the going was good to soft, and Stewart is hoping the filly gets her favoured conditions in both France and California.
“Fleeting Spirit will run on Sunday; she’s favourite for the Prix de l’Abbaye and we just hope there is no rain. I’m told by Jeremy Noseda that there might be some rain in Paris but that the ground will be on the fast side of good,” commented Stewart.
“I’m absolutely delighted with her this season. She began well in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot when she was second to Scenic Blast who, at one point, everyone thought would dominate, and we turned him over quite substantially at Newmarket in the July Cup. We are not disappointed with her latest run, given the ground conditions.
“We are hoping to be drawn reasonably low for the Prix de l’Abbaye and after Longchamp we’ll then focus on the Breeders’ Cup, but we’re quite relaxed at the moment.”
Another Breeders’ Cup hopeful heading to Longchamp this weekend is Lord and Lady Lloyd-Webber’s Dar Re Mi, who will contest the Group One Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.
The four-year-old filly won the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in June, one of the 11 “win and you’re in” Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, to qualify for the $2 million (US) Grade One Filly & Mare Turf on November 6, but connections are also considering taking on the males in the $3 million (US) Grade One Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf the following day.
Dar Re Mi was controversially disqualified from first place in the Group One Prix Vermeille at Longchamp on September 13, having seen off French Oaks heroine Stacelita. The Singspiel filly previously slammed this year’s Oaks heroine Sariska in the Group One Yorkshire Oaks and had 2008 Oaks winner Look Here back in third when winning at the Curragh.
Dar Re Mi runs in the pink colours of Lord Lloyd-Webber, better known for his Broadway and West End hits such as Evita, Cats and The Phantom Of The Opera.
The Lloyd-Webbers’ racing manager Simon Marsh revealed today: “Dar Re Mi is qualified for the Filly & Mare Turf but we will see how things go in the Arc before deciding where she goes - she could yet run in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf.
“We entered her for the Arc back in May with an autumn campaign in mind and she has delighted us. She has only run four times this season and has finished first in three Group Ones, beating two English Oaks winners and a French Oaks winner, so she really is a great filly and a pleasure to be involved with.”
Muhannak won the Group Three Diamond Stakes at Dundalk en route to Breeders’ Cup Marathon success last year and this season’s renewal of the extended 10-furlong contest, staged on Polytrack, sees trainer Joe Murphy hoping one of his stable stars can tread the same path as Ralph Beckett’s charge.
The County Tipperary handler will saddle Northgate in tomorrow’s Diamond Stakes, with a view to challenging for Breeders’ Cup honours in the $500,000 (US) Breeders’ Cup Marathon at Santa Anita on November 6.
Northgate, fourth to Muhannak at Dundalk 12 months ago, is a regular at the track and warmed up for the Diamond Stakes on October 2 with a course and distance victory over the Aidan O’Brien-trained Augustusthestrong on September 25.
“Northgate won well last week at the track and is likely to go across to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Marathon after Friday’s race,” said trainer Joe Murphy.
“He would be ideal for America, he loves the artificial surface, the lights, everything. He has a higher rating on the Polytrack than on grass so Santa Anita would suit him.”
There are 12 declarations for the Diamond Stakes with the likely hot favourite trained just a short distance from Murphy’s Fethard stable. Mastercraftsman, winner of this year’s Group One Irish 2,000 Guineas and Group One St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot for Aidan O’Brien, is having his prep for the $5 million (US) Breeders’ Cup Classic in the Dundalk race.
About Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup administers the Breeders' Cup World Championships; Thoroughbred racing's year-end Championships consisting of 14 races and $25.5 million in purses, which makes it the richest event in sports. At last year's Breeders' Cup, more than $100 million in winning wagers were returned to fans at betting locations around the globe. The Breeders' Cup also administers the Breeders' Cup Challenge qualifying series, and the Breeders' Cup Stakes Program. Breeders' Cup has offices in Lexington, Kentucky, and in New York City. Breeders' Cup press releases appear on the Breeders' Cup Web site, www.breederscup.com. You may follow the Breeders' Cup on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BreedersCup
