Prix de Diane

I called jockey Lemaire from London about 9 P M Paris time. After exchanging pleasantries with his wife, I got Lemaire on the line. I congratulated him. “Thank you,” he said.

“She is one of the best I have ridden. I have been on some good ones in the past. Stacelita has high cruising speed. She has a great temperament. I was comfortable all the way. She is high class. We do not know how good she is,” Christophe continued.

I asked him to compare Zarkava and Stacelita. “Zarkava was in a class of her own. Stacelita has some way to go but she’s getting there. Yes, she can beat the boys. She will have a big chance if she goes in the Arc.”

“It has been a good year with many Group I races coming my way. I will see you, Tom, at Ascot. Elusive Wave has a chance in the Coronation Stakes. She beat Tamazirte in the 1000 Guineas.”

I mentioned that Stacelita may present Lemaire with his best chance of winning a Breeders’ Cup race. “Yes, Tom, that’ll be nice. I would like to come to America and win it.”

At Cologne, Wiener Walzer won the Oppenheim Rennen going away. The winning jockey was A De Vries. Peligroso, the Godolphin runner ridden by Frankie Dettori, was prominent, disputed the lead with 500 metres left and weakened. Wiener Walzer, the 11-4 second favourite, covered the 2200-metre trip in 1 16.81 seconds.

In Milan at San Siro, Quijano, ridden by A Starke, justified favouritism (7-4) in the Gran Premio di Milano Snai. Age Of Reason, a Godolphin candidate with Martin Dwyer, was second. It was an Italian Group I race.

Salisbury had a flat racing card on Sunday. I wrote about ‘name-rhyming’ the other day. In the 3 05 race, the winner was Mrs Breton, a 7-2 chance ridden by Adam Kirby and trained by Walter Swinburn. In the 4 15 race, Miss Mujanna, J-P Guillambert up, came through at 12-1. In the next race at 4 45, Kieren Fox rode the 15-2 Miss Mojito to victory. The missing link was a ‘Mister.’

Jockey Paul Hanagan rides primarily for trainer R A Fahey. They combine for a lot of winners. On Saturday at York, jockey Hanagan was getting ready to leave the paddock with William Morgan, a freshman making his debut. Hanagan was kicked by the colt. He was taken to the hospital. Fortunately, there were no broken bones. Jockey Hanagan will be in action at Carlisle on Monday. He will be doing duty at Royal Ascot.

Now about Royal Ascot’s opening day. There are six races. The first race is at 2 30 PM. The last race is at 5 30 PM. The curtain raiser is the Group I Queen Anne over 1600 metres. Gladiatorus, three for three at Dubai and an emphatic winner in the Dubai Duty Free, is the 2-1 favourite. Gladiatorus will race in the royal blue silks of Sheikh Mohammed and will have Ahmed Ajtebi in the saddle. There are nine runners. Paco Boy is at 3-1 but Richard Hannon, Paco Boy’s trainer, has stated that his trainee may not go if the going is (very) firm. Main Aim, a Michael Stoute runner, is a 9-2 chance. Alexandros, the other Godolphin runner, will be handled by Frankie Dettori and is an 8-1 chance.

The second race is the 1000-metre King’s Stand, another Group I event. Fifteen will answer the starter’s call. Amour Propre, the leading British hope trained by Henry Candy, is the 10-3 favourite. Scenic Blast, the Australian speedball, is at 7-2. Cannonball, from the America-based Wesley Ward’s barn, is in the King’s Stand field and will have John Velasquez.

The next race is the 1600-metre St James Palace. My belief is that the St James Palace is over the round course. The Queen Anne is on the straight mile. Mastercraftsman is all the rage at 4-5 in the St James Palace. Johnny Murtagh will ride. Delegator, getting a jockey switch from Jamie Spencer to Jimmy Fortune, is a 4-1 chance. Ten sophomores go.

The fourth event is the Coventry Stakes. It is a 1200-metre sprint for freshmen. Fourteen run.

The fifth and sixth races are the Ascot Stakes and the Windsor Castle Stakes. The Ascot Stakes has 20 runners going 4000 metres. The Windsor Castle is a 1000-metre race with 22 horses.

Tom Costello, a retired ‘jumps’ trainer has died. Costello trained Best Mate to three wins in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. One Man and Florida Pearl are other stars that Costello trained. Costello died after a stroke at a Limerick hospital in Ireland. He was 77.

I have talked about proposition bets. Here are some examples. On Wednesday, what will be the color of the Queen’s headgear? Yellow is 5-1, blue is 5-1, pink and green at 7-1, cream-beige is 7-1, turquoise is 8-1, purple is 8-1, peach at 8-1 and so on.

In the Ascot Gold Cup, in a match bet, Yeats is 4-5 and Geordieland is at 10-11. In 2008, Yeats was first and Geordieland was second in the Gold Cup. A Yeats-Geordieland perfecta (exacta) is 7-1. It is 33-1 for Yeats to win by five lengths. It is 12-1 if Patkai has the lead with 200 metres to go and does not win. The list is endless. Is not the UK gambling nirvana?

Meydan racecourse in Dubai will have its first meeting on January 28, 2010. There are two tracks. There is a 1750-metre all weather track. There is a 2400-metre turf course. The grandstand can accommodate 60,000 people.

Here is news from America. Mine That Bird will race next in the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park on August 1. Then it will be Saratoga’s Travers on August 29. The final goal is the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 7.

Summer Bird’s next race will be the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on August 2. Then it is on to the Travers and the BC Classic will be the year-end objective. A story in the NTRA website has an interesting angle on Summer Bird and John Sadler, one of California’s trainers. Silent Kitten, a filly, and Summer Bird, owned by Dr K K Jayaraman and Devi Jayaraman, were with John Sadler. Silent Kitten suffered a fatal injury on December 13, 2008 racing on Santa Anita’s pro ride surface.

Dr Jayaraman explained his thinking. “When we lost the filly, I did not want my horses running on synthetic tracks. Summer Bird had not raced yet. I sent four of our horses (including Summer Bird) to Tim Ice in Arkansas.”

There is many a slip between the cup and the lip. If only Silent Kitten had not been hurt, would John Sadler have saddled the winner of the 2009 Belmont Syakes?

Now the question is whether Dr K K would want Summer Bird to race in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita’s pro ride track. . May be, he will have a change of heart. Summer Bird may make the adjustment. Knowing Dr K K as I do, he would put his horse’s welfare above everything else.

I am in two minds about going to Windsor Monday evening. Racing begins at 6 00 P M and ends at 9 00 P M. Windsor is intoxicating. It is a setting that cannot be described. It has to be seen to be believed. A visit to Windsor will mean not being in bed before midnight. With Royal Ascot beginning on Tuesday, the wise thing to do is get as much sleep as possible.