A change of address for.....

[_ed_]

Another good Hong Kong horse coming back home to NZ.

Cambridge trainer Murray Baker has some new secret firepower to launch onto the sprinters' front.
Grand Supreme, a smart Hong Kong speedster who was unbeaten in his first five starts, is set to trial over 1000 metres at Cambridge next Tuesday for Baker.

"He was a very smart sprinter in Hong Kong and he's looked good in his work," said Baker.

"He's quick and he does it so easily.

"I want to see what he does in the trial before deciding where to go with him."

A son of Danehill, Grand Supreme is sure to make an impact at the Cambridge trials, though it will not be his first appearance on New Zealand racetracks.

Grand Supreme was unbeaten in two trials for trainer Mark Walker in October 2005, scoring at Taupo and Rotorua as an unnamed Danehill colt, then he headed to Hong Kong the following January to join the stable of Peter Ho.

Grand Supreme proved an exciting sprinter from the outset, winning on debut as a three-year-old over 1000 metres in Hong Kong on April 8, 2006.

He went on to score over the same distance two months later then, as a four-year-old, he took the Hong Kong Country Club Challenge Cup (1000m) in 57.40 in September that year before making it four wins on end a few weeks later when running the same distance even quicker (57.30 seconds).

Grand Supreme was stepped up to 1200 metres in November 2006 and again proved superior, taking his stake earnings to $HK2,519,400 ($NZ412,225).

Grand Supreme then chipped a knee and was unplaced in his sole start last year (September).

Ho made the decision to send the horse to New Zealand late last year and Grand Supreme arrive on December 15 and underwent quarantine before joining Baker's stable.

He is being raced by Ho, who makes no secret of the high regard he holds for the stallion who was bought from the 2004 Queensland Magic Millions Sale for $A150,000.

Grand Supreme was officially named Danfive in New Zealand after winning his two trials, but an application will be made to have him renamed Grand Supreme to avoid any international confusion.

Grand Supreme has the looks and breeding to make him an appealing sire prospect.

He is from the Sadler's Wells mare Eyes Of Belief, who has left five winners and is a sister to the Gr I winners Insight and Saffron Walden and a half-sister to another Gr I winner Dolphin Street.

Insight won the Gr I Woodbine E.P. Taylor Stakes and was a Gr II winner at Longchamp as well as being eight times Group placed, including a third in the Gr I Chantilly Prix de Diane.

Saffron Walden won the Gr I Irish 2000 Guineas and the Listed Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Prelude and is a successful sire.

Dolphin Street is better known to New Zealanders as a successful sire and as a racehorse he won the Gr I Longchamp Prix de la Foret, was runner-up in the Gr I Newmarket July Cup and third in the Gr I Tokyo Yasuda Memorial.

"It's great for New Zealand to get a horse like this," said Baker.

[my miss storm cat]

Oh yea!!!

Gallant will be happy... that's one of her Supreme boys.

(Happy early birthday).

His record, replays.....

http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/R...p?HorseNo=G229

Nice that he gets to go home.

[my miss storm cat]

From South Africa Racing...

No author listed.


CAPTAIN'S LOVER AND LITTLE MISS MAGIC WILL RACE IN FRANCE

Team Valor International has finalised plans for its two Grade 1-winning South African fillies Captain's Lover and Little Miss Magic.

Both fillies will be trained to race in France this season. Little Miss Magic, best last year in the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein, has been sent to Alain Royer-Dupre. The Chantilly-based trainer sent out South African-bred sprinter Tiza to win Group stakes in France in 2007.

Captain's Lover currently is on the Isle of Mauritius and due to land in France on April 2, when she will join the Chantilly yard of leading French trainer Andre Fabre, with whom Team Valor currently has a juvenile colt bred in Kentucky.

Of the acquisitions from the National Yearling Sale in South Africa, Team Valor International principal Barry Irwin said "We decided on France for a few reasons. Captain's Lover likes a cut in the ground and she figures to get that in France. She is versatile and the French program should suit her. And, of course, there is Andre Fabre. What can one say about him that has not already been said. I would expect her to be ready to race in the autumn.

"Little Miss Magic should be most effective in sprints up to seven-eighths and there is a good program for her in France. Alain Royer-Dupre has already shown what he can do with a South African runner, so he will not have to try to reinvent the wheel."

Irwin expects Little Miss Magic to be ready to race in late spring or early summer, as she has been legged up and acclimated in England by former South African trainer Neil Bruss at his new training center near Lambourn.

Both fillies race for TVI and Anant and Vanashree Singh of Durban, South Africa. The fillies were part of the first of what have since become annual partnerships formed by TVI after they are acquired at public Auction in South Africa.

Team Valor International races and maintains a select breeding operation in France, where it breeds to race and sell. It's most recent star to carry its colors in France was Sweet Stream, a Group 1 winner of the Prix Vermeille and Champion staying filly or mare in England, where last December she was sold at Tattersalls for the U. S. equivalent of more than $2.3 million.

[my miss storm cat]

Linngari leaves Brown, back to Sir Michael.....

[my miss storm cat]

http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/in...onal/?id=34925


Prince Sultan buys Argentinean star for 2009 DIRC 19 May 2008

Dubai Racing Club

Perfectly will aim to follow in the footsteps of Asiatic Boy and Honour Devil at the 2009 Dubai International Racing Carnival.

Argentine Group 1-placed winner Perfectly has been purchased on behalf of Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud al Kabeer to be aimed at major three-year-olds races in Dubai next year.

The promising two-year-old bay colt was an impressive two-length winner of his debut under the world’s leading rider Jorge Ricardo, before finishing second by a half-length in the Gran Premio Raul y Raul E. Chevallier (Arg-G1) on turf at San Isidro on April 12.

Perfectly raced for Stud Aladino and trainer Roberto Pellegata, who trained the subsequent UAE Derby winners Honour Devil and Asiatic Boy in Argentina.

In other Dubai news Light Green, in action in her native Brazil, will now continue her career in France.

Brazil’s star filly Light Green, who competed twice at this year’s Dubai International Racing Carnival including a fine fourth to Honour Devil in the UAE Derby, has joined Alain de Royer-Dupre’s stable in France.

The three-year-old daughter of Blush Rambler will resume her racing career for owner Eduardo Rocha Azevedo’s Haras Santa Camila.

'Mick Kinane (who rode her in her two UAE starts) thought that she could be competitive in graded stakes events in Europe, especially with the newly upgraded European stakes program for fillies and mares,” said Eduardo Guimaraes, racing manager for owner Haras Santa Camila.

She was a star in her native Brazil, and just a neck shy of sweeping the Sao Paulo Jockey Club's Triple Crown series for three-year-old fillies on the turf when placing second in the Group 1 Grande Premio Diana (Brazilian Oaks) on October 6.

'She came to Dubai and was a bit sick upon arrival with a cold and fever,' recalled Guimaraes.

'It took a while for her to improve and she was not seriously trained before the end of January. We were able to race her back in the Balanchine (her first UAE start) and she got her head in front with 150 meters to go and got tired, she then ran a great race against the colts in the UAE Derby.'

[my miss storm cat]

Racecar Rhapsody, now with Herman Brown (South Africa) is pointed to the Russian Derby...

[NoChanceToDance]

South Central (winner of this years' Norfolk stakes at Royal Ascot) has been sold to race in Hong Kong.

*you'll have to keep an eye out for him, mmsc..... let me know of any name change if possible