Tuesday’s racing round-up includes the news of what draw City Of Troy has been handed for his Breeders’ Cup Classic bid…
City Of Troy has been handed stall three for his Breeders' Cup Classic bid at Del Mar on Saturday. Awesome Again was the last Classic winner to come from stall three in 1998, but with inside draws normally holding a distinct advantage, City Of Troy will seemingly have few excuses. The Travers Stakes winner Fierceness, who is second favourite to City Of Troy in the betting, has been drawn wide in stall nine, while Forever Young was handed the inside gate in stall one.
Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls both looked to unearth useful recruits when The New Lion and Quebecois landed their respective divisions of the Colourfence Newport Long Life Garden Railings Maiden Hurdle at Chepstow. The two horses could be set to clash in the Grade 1 Challow Hurdle at Newbury further down the line, with both trainers mooting that as a potential target.
The 7-2 ante-post favourite Ginny's Destiny featured among the 26 Paddy Power Gold Cup entries revealed today. Paul Nicholls, who has won the contest three times, was also responsible for the entries of Il Ridoto and last year's winner Stage Star. The JP McManus-owned Crebilly was as short as 6/1 for the feature handicap chase, but he did not feature at Monday's entry stage.
Dan Skelton is still monitoring the weather to determine where his exciting young chaser, Grey Dawning, will make his reappearance this weekend. An impressive winner of the Turners' Novices' Chase at Cheltenham in March, Grey Dawning is as short as 16/1 for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup this year. Dan Skelton revealed he is keen to run Grey Dawning in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday, although he does have the option of the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase at Carlisle on Sunday should ground conditions come up too quick.
A bumper crowd of 3,000 turned out to celebrate the life of Keagan Kirkby on Sunday 27th October at Wincanton with a charity memorial race run in his honour raising an amazing £46,700 so far for Racing Welfare - a testament to the regard in which he was held within the racing community. The Keagan Kirkby Raceday included a charity memorial race in his name in addition to a seven-race card and raised funds for Racing Welfare and the Injured Jockeys Fund - the two charities which supported Keagan's friends, family and colleagues after he tragically died in a point-to-point accident in February. A dozen riders, including some of Keagan's close friends, took part in the charity race and in doing so have collectively raised an incredible £46,700 so far.
