Weld chases Arlington prize with Cannon Hill
USA: Dermot Weld, no stranger to big-race success across the Atlantic, will seek his fourth victory in the Grade 2 American Derby at Arlington on Saturday when he runs Cannon Hill.
Pat Smullen rides Bertram Firestone's son of Holy Roman Emperor, who has scored over 7f at both Gowran and Navan this season and breaks from the inner in a field of ten.
Despite its grandiose title, the American Derby is really a $200,000 trial for the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes for three-year-olds on the Arlington Million card on August 13. Although Weld has won the American Derby in the past with Pine Dance (2000), Evolving Tactics (2003) and Simple Exchange (2004), his last two runners were both unplaced.
Saturday is the designated Arlington MillionPreview day in Chicago, where the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap is the recognised trial for the track's signature contest.
Elsewhere on a big night in the States, Cape Blanco and Jamie Spencer have been drawn seven against six rivals in the Man o'War Stakes at Belmont, where dual US turf champ Gio Ponti is seeking a hat-trick
West coast star Twirling Candy, second favourite behind Await The Dawn in British ante-post lists for the Breeders' Cup Classic, bids for his second Grade 1 victory under top-weight in the prestigious Hollywood Gold Cup.
The four-year-old, who has won seven of his nine starts, steps up in trip to 1m2f for only the second time in his career, having disappointed as odds-on favourite on the previous attempt in the Santa Anita Handicap.
Game On Dude, who won that race, bids to confirm the form for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Chantal Sutherland.
Comments