The weekly TRC industry digest - a round-up of the international racing news from the past week.
Pyledriver all set to chase international riches
Europe: G1 Coronation Cup winner Pyledriver is being lined up for an ambitious international campaign over the next four months that may take in some of the richest races in the world, including the $20 million G1 Saudi Cup.
He is an intended runner in the G1 Hong Kong Vase next month and the plan then is to send him to Riyadh, where his options include the Saudi Cup and the $1.5million G3 Neom Turf Cup. He may also be aimed at the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan at the end of March.
The 4-year-old landed the listed Churchill Stakes at the all-weather track at Lingfield on Saturday on his first run since winning the Coronation Cup at Epsom in June.
Trainer William Muir, who trains in partnership with Chris Grassick, will now send Pyledriver for the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin on December 12 before a possible tilt at the world’s most valuable race at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh on Saturday February 26.
Pyledriver missed his intended big-race summer targets with a pulled muscle, meaning he heads into a worldwide campaign as a relatively fresh horse.
The son of Harbour Watch’s biggest victories have come over distances around a mile and a half, but he had little trouble dropping down to ten furlongs for the Churchill Stakes. The Saudi Cup, at nine furlongs on dirt, is shorter still, but Muir is not overly concerned about a possible switch of surface.
“They reckon it’s the nicest dirt track in the world. I talked to David Egan and Ted Voute [Prince Faisal’s racing manager] who was out there last year and they both said it was a lovely surface. It’s not like the dirt tracks in America, and Ted said our horse would love it.”
He added, “The Saudi Cup meeting fits in with our time plan. At this moment in time, we’re looking to go to Hong Kong, Saudi, then we’ll go on to the Sheema Classic in Dubai. The Saudi Cup is attractive as it’s the richest race in the world, but it’s one step at a time.”
Seemar in trouble over Ramzan Kadyrov link
Middle East:Six-time UAE champion Satish Seemar has had his training licence suspended after being placed on a U.S. sanctions list “due to one of my former clients being included on the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control list”.
That former client is tyrannical Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been widely condemned for systematic murder, torture and other human rights abuses since he became head of the republic close to the Caspian Sea 14 years ago. Kadyrov owned North America, a Meydan G1-winning son of Dubawi, who was formerly with Godolphin.
The Zabeel Stables boss admitted that the “horse in question, North America, is no longer in training and has been exported from the UAE”. He was “confident my name will be removed from the list in the near future”.
His assistant Bhupat Seemar will hold the licence until further notice and the man who has saddled the most number of winners in the UAE expects his #2 to “uphold the high standards we have maintained throughout the past 30 years”.
World #1 McDonald tops Hong Kong challenge line-up
Far East: World #1 James McDonald heads a star-studded list of riders invited to take part in the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s 2021 Longines International Jockeys’ Challenge (IJC) on December 8 at Happy Valley racecourse.
McDonald, the Australia-based Kiwi who won the Melbourne Cup earlier this month, will be taking on four local Hong Kong-based riders - Joao Moreira, Alexis Badel, Vincent Ho and Zac Purton – for the 4-race points challenge.
Hollie Doyle returns to the IJC after she became the first woman to ride a winner in the championship. The 25-year-old was also the only non-Hong Kong-based jockey to ride a winner on last year’s card. She will be joined by her fiancé, Tom Marquand, who is looking for a first Hong Kong win after failing to find the mark in six rides on last year’s card.
Compatriot Ryan Moore is set to make his 15th IJC appearance and is looking to win a third title, which would see him equal the record set by Purton.
Mickael Barzalona, who was successful at Ascot in October when winning the G1 Champion Stakes on Sealiway, makes his fourth IJC appearance. The field is completed by another Melbourne Cup winner, Australia’s Damian Lane, making his IJC debut, top Japanese jockey Yuga Kawada, who rode Loves Only You to victory at the Breeders’ Cup last week, and South African rider Lyle Hewitson.
With £50,000 up for grabs for the winner, Andrew Harding, the HKJC’s executive director of racing, said he believed that this year’s iteration has “all the ingredients to provide another memorable edition” and remains a “symbol of Hong Kong’s world-class racing and the city’s most prestigious international event”.
Death of Rock Hard Ten
Asia:Korea Racing Authority records have confirmed the death of multiple G1 winner Rock Hard Ten on November 12 at the age of 20.
The son of Kris S had been standing at Jeju Farm in South Korea since 2013, after nine seasons at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky, where he sired 25 black-type stakes winners, including G2 scorers Capital Plan and Doubles Partner.
Rock Hard Ten’s was first seen on a racecourse at 3 and was placed in 2004 Santa Anita Derby for trainer Jason Orman and was runner-up in the Preakness Stakes. He was undefeated as at 4 from three starts: the G2 Strub Stakes and Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap, as well as the G1 Santa Anita Handicap.
He retired with $1,870,380 in earnings before siring 330 winners and his progeny have amassed more than $27 million in earnings. He bred 94 mares in his first season at stud in Korea, but his book had dwindled to ten mares this year.
Rock Your World to Spendthrift
North America: This year’s Santa Anita Derby winner, Rock Your World, has been retired from racing and will stand the 2022 breeding season at Spendthrift Farm for a fee of $10,000.
The son of Candy Ride will participate in Spendthrift’s ‘Share The Upside’ breeding program for a fee of $12,500 for a 2-year commitment, in which breeders must breed a mare in 2022 and 2023 and have two foals in total.
Fallon quits assistant trainer post
Europe: Less than a year into shared training endeavour with fellow ex-jockey Darryll Holland, Kieren Fallon has left his role as assistant trainer at Holland’s Harraton Court Stables in Exning, Newmarket, because of commitments with his main employer, Godolphin.
The 6-time champion jockey had been riding out for Godolphin’s world #1 trainer, Charlie Appleby, throughout the year, a role that has seen him be in the U.S. for the Breeders’ Cup before starting his first winter spell at the trainer’s Marmoom Stables in Dubai.
Fallon said he was “only involved to get him started” and praised Holland for training ten winners in his first season. Fallon bemoaned the lack of money “at the bottom end”, which meant that that “even if you’re having winners it’s hard to make it pay”.
“Hopefully that will pick up and I wish them all the best for the future,” added the Irishman.
Holland said, “We would like to thank Kieren Fallon and wish him all the very best in his current and future endeavours. The future for Harraton Court Stables is bright, and myself and my team could not be more excited.”
Alternation moving on
North America:Alternation is being relocated from Pin Oak Stud in Kentucky to nearby Darby Dan Farm by Steve Belford’s Maccabee Farm for the upcoming breeding season, where the 13-year-old son of Distorted Humor is being re-syndicated and will stand for a fee of $7,500.
“We’re excited to bring a horse of Alternation’s caliber to Darby Dan,” stallion director Ryan Norton said of the multiple Graded stakes winner and sire of 2019 Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress.
Elsewhere In racing …
North America: Well-travelled G2-winner Sleepy Eyes Todd has been retired to stud in Indiana. More here
Europe:A Frankel half-sister to German Derby winner and Lanwades Stud stallion Sea The Moon was headline act on day three of the Goffs November Foal Sale on Wednesday when selling to Juddmonte Farms for €550,000. More here
North America: Anne Sabatino Hardy has stepped down as executive director of Horse Country. More here
Europe: Apprentice jockey Finley Marsh has been given a six-month ban after admitting betting on horses. More here