The racing season in America never ends. It is, therefore, correct to say that the season has no beginning.

In the US, Florida and California take centre-stage. These two States have warm weather this time of the year. Some of the New York-based jockeys are now in Florida. California continues to present Graded events but at a much slower pace.

In Chicago, where I live, there has been a lot of snow in the past few days. Hawthorne Racecourse is running a thoroughbred meeting. Some racing days have been truncated or cancelled because of poor weather and a frozen track. Hawthorne races for another two weeks and thoroughbreds take a break until late February.

Harness racing goes on without an interruption. Race tracks and off track parlours are open. You watch and wager on races in the US and Canada. On select days, there is a simulcast program from Australia.

In England, flat racing is held at all-weather facilities. In France, at the moment, Deauville is conducting racing on its all weather surface.

In the Far East, the big racing days are over. Racing action, however, continues and attracts big crowds.

It is summer in Australia and New Zealand. There is a lot of racing activity.

Dubai racing is going into high gear. The Dubai World Cup will be run in the final week of March. Qatar is beginning to play a bigger role and plans are afoot to stage a million dollar race in 2008.

Bourbon King’s win in the Mumbai 2000 Guineas only cements his reputation. I saw Bourbon King winning in Mumbai in February 2007.  If my memory serves me right, the race was the Poonawalla Million for sophomores. One of Bourbon King’s victims was the Ryan Moore-ridden Our Excellencee. There is more to come and I believe that Bourbon King will be hard to down in his future engagements.

There were two big races run in America over the weekend. The Grade I Hollywood Starlet for freshman fillies was won by Country Star. An Empire Maker filly, Country Star is trained by Bobby Frankel. Country Star’s mother is Rings A Chime by Metfield. Empire Maker chased Funny Cide in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. In The Belmont Stakes, Empire Maker won decisively in the slop.

Country Star was held up by jockey Rafael Bejarano. Coming four-wide into the homestretch, Country Star passed the front runners in effortless fashion. The winning margin was two and three quarter lengths. Grace And Power took the runner-up berth. The time was 1 40.54 for 1,700 metres on the cushion track.

Country Star was second in her debut at Belmont Park. She made her second start a winning one in the Grade I Alcibiades in Keeneland in early October. The Hollywood Starlet win gave her a two for two record in Grade I races. Country Star was the even money choice.

Trainer Bobby Frankel was delighted. “I am reflecting, she is the best two year-old filly I have ever trained. She needs to be considered for the Eclipse though Indian Blessing deserves it more.”

Rafael Bejarano talked about the improvement Country Star has made. “She’s much better than she was in Kentucky. You can place her anywhere you want. I tried not to use her and let her relax. I followed the speed. When I put her in the clear, she exploded.”

At Calder in Miami, Florida, Redaspen, Eddie Castro up, was victorious in the Grade II La Prevoyante Handicap. Redaspen returned $18.60. The winning margin was three parts of a length. The time for the 2,400-metre trip on the grass was 2 26.63 seconds.

The Arc de Triomphe will be the richest grass race in the world in 2008. France Galop--the French racing body, signed a five-year deal with the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club. The Arc will double in value to four million euros. It will have the second biggest purse after the Dubai World Cup. The World Cup is likely to offer 4.5 million euros in 2008.

The Arc weekend will offer 6.7 million euros in prize money. The Qatar Club extracted a significant concession. There will be four races for purebred Arabians over the weekend. Lucien Barriere, the hotel giant, gave up sponsorship of the Arc this year.

Louis Romanet, Director of France-Galop, expressed relief. “We got a new partner and we are thrilled. Thanks to this deal, the Arc will reach new heights and take first place among international sporting events in all disciplines.”

Qatar Racing Club is holding a million dollar race in 2008. Qatar is well on its way to becoming another major racing stop in that part of the world.

At Wolverhampton in England, favourites won all the six races in the evening card on Saturday. A phone patron made a 10-pound accumulator wager with Coral (a British bookmaking company) and he received 4,175 pounds. The ten-pound bet keeps rolling as the winners keep coming in. The six winners returned 417.5 to 1. Dave Stevens, a Coral spokesman said, “Six favourites winning at Wolverhampton on a Saturday night is far better (for the bookies) than six favourites winning at Cheltenham on a Saturday afternoon.” Two of the horses, at longer odds in the morning, were gambled on course to favouritism.

Sacred Kingdom has been given a rating of 123 on the basis of his win in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint. He won by two and one half lengths.

As of December 13, 2007, here are the numbers in the Ricardo-Baze race. Jorge Ricardo has 9, 958 winners and Russell Baze has 9,943 winners.

See you in India soon!