I have seen David Allan ride in England. He is very competent. He rode 61 winners this year. His mounts earned over 570,000 pounds. In the summer of 2008, I cashed a wager or two on David Allan’s horses. He has made a tremendous first impression in Bangalore. I expect him to have a productive campaign in India.

A judge in Kentucky has rejected the proposal to sell a 20 percent interest in Curlin for a sum of four million dollars. Jess Jackson, the primary owner, had made the offer. Two owners who are appealing a (criminal) conviction have the 20% share.

Chris Munce, an Australian jockey, was sentenced to a 30-month jail term for giving out tips for cash. He was then riding in Hong Kong. After spending six months in detention in Hong Kong, jockey Munce spent the rest of the time in a Sydney facility. He was released in late October. Now, Chris Munce has been found guilty on more counts and a 30-month ban has been imposed. It has retrospective effect dating back to March 2007. Munce will be free to ride in September 2009. Jockey Munce won the 1998 Melbourne Cup. He has won other Group I races.

The Japan Cup, the grass version, was run at Tokyo racecourse on Sunday. Screen Hero, a 40-1 chance, beat the heavily fancied Deep Sky by one half length. A similar gap separated Deep Sky from Vodka who took third.

Seventeen horses went to post. Screen Hero, ridden by Mirco Demuro, jumped out well and raced fifth and sixth. Taking the lead with 200 metres to run, Screen Hero ran on to beat back strong challenges from Deep Sky and Vodka. After being away for 11 months, Screen Hero had raced only four times in 2008. The time was 2 25.5 for the 2400-metre race. A four year-old, Screen Hero is by Grass Wonder out Running Heroine, a Sunday Silence mare. The winner’s share of the purse was $2,173,000. Yuichi Shikato trains the winner and Teruya Yoshida is the owner.

Trainer Shikato talked about Screen Hero fulfilling the promise. “He arrived at my stable coming off a recovery from a bone fracture. He made steady progress from an allowance horse to a grade-race runner. All the jockeys who rode Screen Hero would come back and say that he (Screen Hero) will make it big.”

Jockey Mirco Demuro talked about the significance of a Group win for him. “It is a great moment to win a Group I. Having won the Japan Cup after having been here just a month is special. I have a short term license. It was a slow pace. I had good position. Everything worked out well. I said, “Oh, my God,” when Deep Sky came on the outside but my horse is a fighter.”

Purple Moon, among the British runners, did the best. The Luca Cumani trainee finished ninth. Papal Bull and Sixties Icon were not in contention at any point.

A sum of 31,294,859,400 yen was bet on the race. The handle for the day was 22,165,857,600 yen. The attendance was 107,904. These are big numbers.

The final race in the Autumn Series will be run on Sunday, December 7. It is the Japan Cup on the dirt over 1800 metres. The race is at Hanshin, a right-handed track.

Soon after the race, the announcement about the retirement of Sixties Icon came. The fast ground at Tokyo was cited as the reason for Sixties Icon’s dismal showing. Winner of the 2006 English St Leger, Sixties Icon was out of the money in the BC Marathon at Santa Anita in late October.

Tale of Ekati failed to catch Harlem Rocker in Saturday’s Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in New York. The verdict was a nose. Edgar Prado was making his run on the rail with Tale of Ekati and Harlem Rocker, according to the judges, cut Prado off. The placing was reversed. Tale of Ekati returned $19.80.

Harlem Rocker, a striking roan by Macho Uno, was in the rear for the most part. In a surge that rocketed him to the top, Harlem Rocker took what looked like a winning lead and held on to win by the narrowest of margins. Todd Pletcher, Harlem Rocker’s trainer was disappointed. He said, “Tale of Ekati did not appear to really check and he had every opportunity to go by our horse. He was never going by in my opinion. It’s a tough call in a Grade I. I will talk to Frank Stronach (the owner) and see if he wants to appeal.”

Barclay Tagg, trainer of Tale of Ekati, was happy that the judges saw it the way he did. “The longer the inquiry goes, they usually don’t change it. I could see it happening. Harlem Rocker took the lane away from us.”

Tale of Ekati is by Tale of the Cat. The dam is Silence Beauty who is by Sunday Silence.

There was an undercurrent of sadness in the running of the Cigar mile. Wanderin Boy, a seven year-old and a strong presence at the highest level, broke down. Wanderin Boy broke the sesamoids in his left front leg. He was euthanized. In 24 starts, Wanderin Boy won nine times for earnings of 1.2 million dollars.

In the same card, Old Fashioned ran away with the Grade II Ramsen Stakes for freshmen. Ridden by Ramon Dominguez, Old Fashioned, the 75/100 favorite, won by seven and one quarter lengths in a time of 1 50.33 for the 1800-metre race.An Unbridled’s Song colt, Old Fashioned is now three for three in his career.

Jockey Dominguez showered praise on his mount. “Once he made the lead, I took a peek back, hit him one time and he took off. That was pretty impressive. Judging by today, there is no telling how far he can go.”

Jockey Dominguez flew from New York to Los Angeles late Saturday. He had two rides in two Grade I races on the turf at Hollywood Park. He won both races.

Riding Cocoa Beach, a Saeed Bin Suroor pupil, Dominguez rallied strongly to catch the pace-setting Precious Kitten who was making the last start of an illustrious career. A 19-10 chance, Cocoa Beach ran the 1600-metre race in 1 35.49. A daughter of Doneraile Court, Cocoa Beach was second to Zenyatta in the BC Ladies’ Classic. Visionera is the dam who is by Edgy Diplomat.

“My focus at first was not to lose too much ground. Then I knew I had so much horse under me that I wasn’t even worried about saving ground. I just wanted to be able to go when I wanted,” Dominguez said.

Cocoa Beach, owned by the Godolphin group, has nine wins in 12 starts. She has $1,651,141 in her account.

Then came the Grade I Hollywood Park Derby for sophomores. Dominguez’s mount was Court Vision, the 7-2 second favorite. At one point, Court Vision was ten lengths away from Muny, the pace-setter. Taking the widest way for home, Court Vision ran down one after another to win by three parts of a length. Gio Ponti, the 3-1 chance, ran into all kinds of road problems.

Ramon Domingues commented on his ride. “I was concentrating on getting my horse to relax. I did not want to be that far back. Looking back, if I knew they were going that slow, I would have been worried.”

Trained by Bill Mott, Court Vision is owned by the IEAH Stables who also own Big Brown. Gulch is Court Vision’s sire. Weekend Storm is the dam and she is by Storm Bird.

I am counting the days. I will be in Chennai in the early hours of Jan 2. I have been following the events in India. All the reports I have seen are encouraging.