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What a beautiful moving filly I dont think Soumillion didnt even really ask her either, i think she has a few more gears still untapped. In my fantasy world, I would love to see her go in the BC Classic

What a filly. Interesting that the first three horses are all Irish breds.

Wow!!!!!!!! :)

Cheers to Youmzain too, who always tries so hard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARyan

Are they really going to run this race again today?

http://ukpress.google.com/article/AL...U8oE11B0PSaXmw

I wonder who will actually run it again, and who will scratch out...

Guess they declared it a no contest. Never saw if they ran it again.

Sandor Ribarszki, trainer of Overdose, said: "I don't think we are going to run again. I am very very unhappy - we have come 1700km for nothing."

He did'nt run back. :(

Marchand D'Or wins the Abbaye, eventually

Freddy Head's grey looked extremely impressive, cruising up from midfield and then being driven past Moorhouse Lad close home to win tidily. He paid about 9-4 on the PMU, having been 4-1 with conventional bookmakers this morning. It may be five hours after the race was supposed to be run, but it's nice to get a winner.

Poor old Overdose didn't turn up for the re-run and it'll be a long way back to Hungary for his connections. Look out for him at Hong Kong in December.

I think Lady Marian may be headed towards the BC - anyone think she's got a big shot? She may actually be better off with the BC Turf, which is at a 1 1/2 - this filly loves running long.

wonder if the Duke is ok

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seattleallstar

wonder if the Duke is ok

I did'nt notice anything amiss..What happend?

Appears he just did'nt care for the soft going...

"Duke of Marmalade won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Eng-I) in England earlier this year, but is much better on firmer ground and struggled to make any impact.

“I’m not using the ground as an excuse,” said O’Brien, who won the Arc last year with Dylan Thomas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Betsy

This is so great. I just woke up this morning, put on the OTB channel and got to see my favorite fillly, Lady Marian, defeat a top-class filed in the Prix de L'Opera quite easily. I thought she would run well today - how well? I wasn't sure, but I thought post 16 would hurt her. She came with a huge run today right down the middle of the racetrack............

I pounded Lush Lashes in here, but put a little saver on Marian just in case. She produced an unreal closing kick to win..

Best 3 Years Old In The World

What Greatness Looks Like:)

Posted by Superfecta at 3:22 PM

Unless something spectacular beyond belief happens at this year's Breeders' Cup, we've already seen the last of the best horse of the year - possibly the best horse for generations - for this season. Zarkava's brilliance seems to know no bounds; she took on the world's best and waltzed past them as if it were easier than breathing for her. Most of the sixteen other horses she beat were formidable foes - at least to your 'average' Group 1 winner:

This Arc field contained six individual Derby winners from Europe and the Far East, and featured a fabulous collection of top class racehorses. It is a mark of Zarkava's great class that she made most of them look like second-raters. Now, her name can rightly be mentioned alongside that of Allez France. She is a great, who can be hailed as such.
Facing colts and older horses for the first time and having drawn the supposedly bad-luck-ridden #1 hole seemingly had no impact on the 3-year-old filly; she is the first horse in 44 years to win from stall one. We have nothing like her equal in North America at present.

She was helped in no small part by a perfect ride by Christophe Soumillon; the Belgian jockey was a model of patience and confidence, waiting for his moment and barely even needing to tell Zarkava 'go' when it was time to do so.

While no one doubts that her performance places her among the greats, exactly how to quantify it is a matter of some discussion. Timeform assigned her a 133, while the British Horseracing Authority only awarded her a 127. The next set of world rankings comes out tomorrow (and Timeform's own on Wednesday); Zarkava had been tied for 8th overall with Youmzain (who, like last year, finished second -- albeit a much more well-beaten second this time around) in the IFHA rankings and it is difficult to imagine anyone ranking ahead of her now.

One hopes that she will be allowed to continue racing next year; if she's this great at 3, she could be monstrous at 4 (or even 5). While many are suggesting that she will be immediately retired, the only decision made so far is that she will not contest the Breeders' Cup. The Aga Khan summed up what Zarkava means to his operation thusly:

"My family has been breeding racehorses for five generations," the Aga said. "Two generations in India and three in Europe, and I believe this moment is the apogee of that effort.

He's not wrong. Before I sign off, I recommend you check out these Flickrphotostreams featuring Zarkava from Longchamp; she's a beautiful sight.

I will leave you to ponder this, dear reader: why do the French pronounce her name ZARK'a-va, while many Anglo-Americans prefer Zar-KA'va? :{>: :tro: