Plenty on racing’s international plate

While this week is racing heaven at Cheltenham in England for jumps racing fans – the big one of the four-day meeting, the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Imperial Commander, Long Run, Kauto Star and Denman, is on live on pay TV late Friday night Melbourne time – the next stop on the flat racing circuit is Dubai’s World Cup meeting at Meydan on Saturday, March 26.

Singapore’s Better Than Ever warmed up for the $US5 million G1 Dubai Duty Free (1777m) with a course record win in 1:37.69 in the G3 Polytrack Mile Championship at Kranji on Sunday, starting at “Black Caviar odds” of $6 (the Singapore unit is $5). It was his 14th win from 15 starts, all at Kranji.

Better Than Ever (b g 4, French Deputy (USA)-Songfest, by Unbridled’s Song (USA)), in the Duty Free, and champion sprinter Rocket Man (b g 5, Viscount-Macrosa (NZ), by Mr McGinty (NZ)), in the $US2 million Golden Shaheen (1200m) on the artificial Tapeta track, will fly the flag for Singapore at the meeting.

Rocket Man will return to Kranji for the $S1 million KrisFlyer International Sprint (1200m) on May 22, a leg of the Global Sprint Challenge – Black Caviar won the first leg this year, the Lightning Stakes at Flemington in February.Australia has seven KrisFlyer entries, including Gold Trail and Eagle Falls, the Oakleigh Plate winner who ran well at Kranji last year. The others are Ahdashim, Hay List, King Pulse, Love Conquers All and Ortensia.

Ortensia’s trainer Tony Noonan has nominated Buccellati and Kutchinsky for the headline race on the same card, the G1 S$3 million Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m). Other Australian noms are Dao Dao, Fanjura, Maluckyday and the Perth galloper Phenomenons.

Hong Kong is the international focus between Dubai and Singapore, but this year the Hong Kong Jockey Club has split its April meeting – the G1 BMW Champions Mile, a leg of the Asian Mile Series, will be on Monday, April 25, and the G1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) will be run on Sunday, May 1.

Australian noms are – Mile: Danleigh, Dao Dao, Masquerader, Melito, More Joyous, Phenomenons, Triple Elegance and Whobegotyou. Cup: Buccellati, Danleigh, Dao Dao, Kutchinsky, Maluckday and Phenomenons. The HKJC said 18 G1 winners had been nominated for the Champions Mile, listing US Champion Turf Horse Gio Ponti, Singapore’s Better Than Ever, Godolphin’s Mendip and the Gai Waterhouse-trained More Joyous as possible headliners, although Melito is shaping as Australia’s best likely runner.

Visitors could be pitched against Able One, last year’s G1 Champions Mile winner, and December’s G1 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile winner Beauty Flash, who completed a hat-trick of international and local G1s when taking the 1400m Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup last time out and will bid to make it a four-timer in the Dubai Duty Free. Gerald Mosse will ride.

Thirty-one G1 winners have been nominated for the QEII. They include superstar filly Snow Fairy, winner last year of the G1 Epsom Oaks and G1 Irish Oaks as well as the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in Japan before she mowed down a high-class field in the G1 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup.

Hong Kong will run its G1 Derby this Sunday, with champion Australian jockey Damien Oliver heading to Sha Tin to ride Military Move for trainer John Moore.

Meanwhile, a well-known name was a winner at Happy Valley last night – Think Big. This one is a five-year-old Lucky Owners gelding, who has won two of 18 starts. He was one of four winners for trainer Denis Yip at the meeting. The “real” Think Big won the 1974-75 Melbourne Cups for Bart Cummings.

The Singapore Turf Club reports that nominations for its May Group 1 races could produce the strongest line-ups in their short history. The SIA Cup nominations are headed by Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco (trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien), Gio Ponti (twice American Champion Turf Horse), Bold Silvano (trained by Mike de Kock), Luca Cumani’s Presvis and the brilliant Snow Fairy.

Entries for the KrisFlyer, which comes under the Global Sprint Challenge banner for the first time, include Hong Kong pair Sacred Kingdom (winner in 2009) and Green Birdie (last year’s winner), and local Rocket Man, bidding to improve on his seconds to those two.

Japan’s G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m), a leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, is slated to go ahead on March 27 despite the earthquake disaster. Hong Kong connections have decided against sending Green Birdie and Joy And Fun to the race at Hanshin.

Photo: Ortensia in Hong Kong last December.