Big A pick-six: More bad news than good

The good news: A two-day, $236,310 pick-six carryover at Aqueduct assures that the Wednesday pool will exceed $1 million.

The bad news: First; the forecast calls for between an inch of rain and two by the time the program is underway. Second; after Explosive Count, the only qualified play of the day, in the fourth race, there is no other single in the sequence. Third; the nightcap has a field of 12, half of them first-time starters and screams, “all button.” Fourth; three of the four races that separate the single from the all are very contentious. Ambidaxtrous will be a popular single in the sixth race but a shaky proposition at best; the fifth and seventh races call for at least four horses and the eight requires about a half-dozen. Fourth; total price of a one-single play with a reasonable chance of success is well into four figures before scratches.

Certainly there will be a scratch of two in the six designated races anchored by a wide-open overnight stakes that is typical of most other races in the sequence, which means that it calls for a deep spread. Nevertheless, the immediate inclination is to pass the pick-six and leave the day’s fate in the hands of Explosive Count, an in-form 10-year-old gelding who has won 23 races and is 5-for-10 on wet tracks.

Three-day carryovers, though commonplace in California, are quite rare in New York but this card has at least some potential to prove elusive, which would create a bona fide frenzy on Thursday.


Top international figures pointed toward Hong Kong

From the Hong Kong Jockey Club

Next month’s Audemars Piguet QEII Cup and Champions Mile will tempt several of the world’s best thoroughbreds to Sha Tin, early signs indicate.

Forming one of the most prestigious occasions on the international racing calendar, the Group 1 double bill goes ahead on April27. Together the races attracted over 400 entries from 20 racing authorities at the close of first nominations.

Supported for the tenth year by the master Swiss watchmakers, the HK$14-million Audemars Piguet QEII Cup is the season’s springtime showcase. In the past runnings, the race has gone from strength to strength, won by an array of champions from South Africa, Japan, France, Germany and Hong Kong.

This season 27 intercontinental Group1 winners stand out from 90 entries, chief among them the current titleholder, Viva Pataca, and the reigning Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup and Vase heroes, Ramonti and Doctor Dino respectively.

Two of the last three winners of the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup have lifted the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby en route and trainer Tony Cruz believes Helene Mascot, the latest Derby kingpin in Hong Kong, can maintain this trend.

Vodka, the first filly to win the Japanese Derby for 64 years, spearheads a typically strong representation from across the East China Sea, while multiple Group1 winners Sir Slick and Latency are in line to extend the race’s cosmopolitan traditions. The former is a five-time Group 1 victor from New Zealand and the latter is even more prolific in Argentina, but currently in Dubai with connections keen to travel on to Hong Kong.

Events at the Dubai World Cup meeting on March 29 will influence the composition of the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup and the Champions Mile line-ups, particularly from the Emirates-based stables of Godolphin, Mike de Kock and Herman Brown, all of whom have multiple entries in both races.

Saeed bin Suroor has entered Literato and West Wind, the Champion Stakes and French Oaks winners last year. De Kock may rely on Group1 winners Divine Jury or Sun Classique and Brown could run Jay Peg, runner-up in the Group 2 Jebel Hatta last week.

There are several headline entries for the Champions Mile, including a potential rematch of the first three past the post in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile: Good Ba Ba, Creachadoir and Darjina.

Majestic Roi from Britain and Meisho Samson, the Japanese ace, stand out among the 54 Group 1 winners for the Champions Mile, the third leg of the Asian Mile Challenge, following on from the Futurity Stakes in Australia and Dubai Duty Free. The HK $8-million event is also linked to the Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" designation.

Niconero won the first leg of the AMC in Melbourne and has a shot at the US$12.5 million bonus fund – the richest prize in racing history - for winning all four legs. The final leg is the Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo in June.

Divine Madonna and Racing To Win, with four Group 1 victories apiece, lead several more Australian contenders whose participation could be compromised by the Sydney Autumn Carnival that was put back by a month after the lengthy equine influenza hiatus last year and which now clashes with the Sha Tin meeting.

However, Racing To Win has been allotted top weight of 60.5 kilograms for the Doncaster Handicap in Sydney on April 26 and trainer John O’Shea may be tempted to reroute to Hong Kong.

Supplementary entries for the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup and Champions Mile close on 8 April with selections announced a day later.