International chit chat

[my miss storm cat]

Newbury 15:20 - Result
Cga Hungerford Stakes (group 2)
£85000 added, 3yo plus, 7f, Class 1, £48263 penalty, 10 ran
Going: Good Winning Time: 1m 26.09s

Pos. Dr. Dist. Horse Wt Jockey Trainer Age SP
1 3 Red Evie (IRE) 9-4 J P Spencer M L W Bell 4 5/1
in rear, plenty to do and short of room over 1f out, switched right, strong run inside final furlong, led at post opened 9/2 touched 4/1
2 10 s.h Welsh Emperor (IRE) 9-3 M Fenton T P Tate 8 10/1
stumbled start, led to over 5f out, hard pressed from 2f out, stayed on gamely final furlong, caught post touched 9/1
3 2 1 Stronghold 9-3 R Hughes J H M Gosden 5 7/1
mid-division, effort over 1f out, every chance, not paced to challenge inside final furlong opened 15/2 touched 9/1
4 8 nk Wake Up Maggie (IRE) 9-0 G Baker C F Wall 4 9/2
towards rear, headway over 1f out, every chance entering final furlong, kept on one pace touched 11/2 £2200-£400
5 6 1¼ Silver Touch (IRE) 9-0 T P O'Shea M R Channon 4 11/4 f
took keen hold in mid-division, ridden over 2f out, chased leaders going well over 1f out, found little inside final furlong, one pace opened 7/2 £10000-£3000 £9000-£3000 £6000-£2000 £3000-£1000 £1500-£500
6 7 3 Per Incanto (USA) 8-12 R Hills J L Dunlop 3 10/1
led to over 5f out, tracked leader afterwards, going well enough, every chance over 1f out, no extra, weakened inside final furlong opened 8/1 £3000-£300
7 9 1¼ Beckermet (IRE) 9-3 S Drowne R F Fisher 5 50/1
prominent, ridden over 2f out, no headway and outpaced over 1f out opened 66/1 touched 33/1
8 4 1 Dubai's Touch 8-12 Greg Fairley M Johnston 3 16/1
tracked leaders, ridden and every chance 2f out, not quicken over 1f out opened 14/1
9 5 1½ Dark Islander (IRE) 9-5 M Hills J W Hills 4 20/1
towards rear, ridden over 2f out, no impression over 1f out touched 25/1
10 11 hd Caradak (IRE) 9-7 L Dettori Saeed bin Suroor 6 6/1
in touch, chased leaders 3f out, ridden and not quicken enough over 2f out, gradually weakened opened 8/1

Non-Runners
NR Assertive 9-3 R L Moore R Hannon 4

* * *
Good boy anyway.

From Godolphin.....

CARADAK UNPLACED AT NEWBURY
(no author)
18 August 2007


Caradak was unplaced when returning after a lay-off of over 300 days in the Group Two CGA Hungerford Stakes over seven furlongs on good ground at Newbury.


The six-year-old, an entire son of Desert Style, was settled by jockey Frankie Dettori in mid-division on the stands side in the early stages and after making headway after the three-furlong marker, dropped back in the race’s latter stages.


“He lacked match practice and will come on for that run - he’d been off the course for a long time,” said Godolphin’s racing manager Simon Crisford. “He made some progress a couple of furlongs out then Frankie looked after the horse when he was beaten.”

[brockguy]

just looking back, thats the third time in less than a year that Red Evie has got me by a head or less. At Leopardstown last year, I had a huge bet on Peeress. I backed Ramonti in the Lockinge and now Welsh Emperor yesterday.. Im not her biggest fan and Spencer on her makes it even worse..

[NoChanceToDance]

Originally Posted by Cardus

I watched the 1st or 2nd race from Perth on TVG this morning, and the jockey on The Stickler pulled a Garrett Gomez to stay aboard after the first fence. He really pulled a gymnastics move to stay on.

Did anyone catch this race?

Timmy Murphy.

It was a goot 'sit', i thought he was going out the side door. Not only did he stay on board, he got both of his irons back in a matter of strides.

Shame he didn't win really after those skills.

[NoChanceToDance]

Alexander Tango to go to Belmont for her next start, according to assistant trainer Fozzy Stack.

[my miss storm cat]

Very happy about Alexander Tango!

* * *

Bad news.....

Sydney Morning Herald.....


Flu cripples Sydney races
Craig Young and Paul Bibby
August 25, 2007

AUSTRALIA'S multi-billion-dollar horse racing industry is in meltdown with an outbreak of equine influenza spreading to Centennial Park, prompting the almost certain cancellation of today's meeting at Royal Randwick and casting a cloud over the spring carnival.

Racing officials announced early today that horses from the Centennial Park stables had returned positive tests to the highly contagious disease. This came within days of 52 horses being locked down at the Eastern Creek quarantine centre.

Most of those impounded at Eastern Creek are thoroughbred stallions worth about $500 million. They were due to begin serving some of the 30,000 mares registered in Australia when the breeding season starts on September 1.

The impact on the breeding program, combined with the effect on the racing calendar, would push the cost of a flu outbreak into the billions of dollars.

The first big casualty is today's feature meeting at Royal Randwick, which is next to Centennial Park. The meeting is set to be cancelled after racing officials meet at 6am today. No horses are allowed within five kilometres of the course.

"We will have to send security guards into Randwick to ensure none of the 600-odd horses stabled there are moved," said the chief executive of Racing NSW, Peter V'Landys.

The ramifications could be felt Australia-wide. The NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, met Mr V'Landys last night before the test results from the Centennial Park horses were known. The Herald understands the eminent veterinary professor Dave Hutchins had alerted Mr Macdonald's department yesterday to concerns about recreational horses at the stables.

Mr Macdonald immediately contacted the state's chief veterinary officer, Bruce Christie, who in turn sent a team to the stables to carry out tests.

Horses competing in the harness meeting at Harold Park last night were also tested, and their owners asked to place their animals in voluntary quarantine until they were notified of preliminary results.

The federal Agricultural Minister, Peter McGauran, said the suspected diagnosis of equine flu in a quarantined stallion was the biggest risk ever faced by the thoroughbred industry.

"A number of these stallions are between $100,000 and $200,000 per serve, so you can quickly do the arithmetic and see that millions of dollars are being lost. [But] it would be infinitesimal compared to the long-term effects if [the flu] was to escape into the wider horse population."

The stallion at the centre of the scare is believed to be Encosta De Lago, which is quarantined at Eastern Creek.

Encosta De Lago had been booked to service the three-time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva next month.

[_ed_]

Moonee Valley's been called off for the day too, this is really serious.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Moonee Valley's been called off for the day too, this is really serious.

Jesus. Scary stuff.


UPDATE SATURDAY - All racing in Australia called off 25 Aug 2007

By Rob Burnet

UPDATE 11.50AM SATURDAY, AUGUST 25TH, 2007: All racing in Australia has been called off with first news late on Saturday morning that racing at Moonee Valley and Warracknabeal in Victoria, and racing in South Australia, has been called off late on Saturday morning in response to the equine influenza (EI) outbreak at Sydney’s Centennial Park stables.

Secondly news came through just before mid-day that racing in Perth, and all harness racing in Australia, has been called off.

Eleven recreational horses, believed to be ponies, tested positive to EI late on Friday night and this was confirmed on Saturday morning. The NSW state government immediately shut down all racing in NSW to prevent additional horse movement.

Racing has also been shut down in Queensland due to the outbreak, as well as the week’s wet weather in SE Queensland.

With horses from Randwick, which is locked down as it is within a 5k exclusion zone of Centennial Park, have this week travelled to Victoria to prepare for the 2007 Victorian Spring Racing Carnival.

“The risk involved far outweighs the consequences and we have to take steps to protect the horse industry in South Australia,” said Graham Lock, TRSA chief steward.

Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy confirmed that at least two sport horses from Centennial Park stables have been at shows in Maitland and Parkes.

“Everything will depend on reports coming in, but there are reports of a couple of horses showing signs of EI and we have to wait for the tests,” said Murrihy.

Murrihy said that the movement of vehicles and people from the Sydney Eastern Creek quarantine facility was being checked.

“We have to remain optimistic that we will keep it out of the thoroughbred industry,” he added.

Murrihy said that meetings with state officials from the NSW Ministry of Primary Industries and other officials were ongoing throughout Saturday.