Saturday’s feature race, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes is the third leg of the 2005 World Racing Championships (WRC), the only UK leg of the Championships and the first race of the Championships to be run on European soil in 2005. Its result could well have a significant bearing on the current Championship leaderboard, as the best mile and a half horses around bid for Europe’s middle distance summer crown.
The winner of the ‘King George’ will join the current joint leaders by earning 12 points. The Hong Kong based Vengeance of Rain and Mummify from Australia, who won the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup in Hong Kong in April and the Singapore Airlines International Cup at Kranji in May, lead the series after their respective victories.
Currently lying in third place in the WRC table on 8 points is the likely ‘King George’ starter, the Andrew Balding trained Phoenix Reach. The points come courtesy of his fifth place finish in Hong Kong, and his runner up spot behind Mummify in Singapore. Phoenix Reach will be seeking to take the outright lead in the Championships.
Points are awarded to the first six finishers, with 12 to the winner and 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1 being awarded to the second to sixth placed finishers respectively.
Phoenix Reach, owned by the Winterbeck Manor Stud, is a much travelled five year old who has three Group 1 victories to his name, all at a mile and a half, and all earned overseas – in Canada, Hong Kong and Dubai in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
If air miles alone were a guarantee of success, then Phoenix Reach would be virtually crowned 2005 champion already. But further international forays are on the cards for this supreme traveller, and plans could include such races in the WRC calendar as the Carlton Draught Cox Plate in October, the Japan Cup in Tokyo in November, and the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup in December, the final event in the WRC programme.
It is this spirit of adventure and willingness to travel to all parts of the world that has set apart the former winners of the World Racing Championships. It was won in 1999 - its inaugural year – by Godolphin’s Daylami, in 2000 and 2001 by Fantastic Light, and in 2002 by Grandera, also in the blue of Godolphin - fitting reward for a stable that was created with the primary objective of competing globally for the world’s greatest races. High Chaparral from Aidan O’Brien’s stable emerged as WRC champion in 2003, while Epalo from Andreas Schutz’s German stable took the Championship last year.
The title of World Racing Champion will not be easily won. David Ferraris stated after his victory in Hong Kong that he would target the Hong Kong Cup in December with Vengeance of Rain, while Mummify can add to his points tally in the Carlton Draught Cox Plate on home turf in October, before heading to Hong Kong for the final leg showdown.
But before then there are ample opportunities for other European and American contenders to emerge. The fourth leg of the WRC is the Arlington Million in Chicago on August 13th where European and the USA’s top turf horses traditionally clash. Next comes the Grosser Volkswagen Preis von Baden on September 4th in Germany, followed by the Baileys Irish Champion Stakes, often in past seasons a key race to the outcome of the Championships. Leg seven is Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Lucien Barriere in Paris in October, Europe’s middle distance weight for age autumn crown.
Leg eight is the Carlton Draught Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in Australia, while legs nine, ten and eleven are all run on the North American continent, namely the Patisson Canadian International at Woodbine on 23rd October, followed by the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf and the Breeders’ Cup Classic “Powered by Dodge” on October 29th. The penultimate leg is the Japan Cup, before the potential Championships decider, the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup, the 13th and final leg, closes the WRC programme.
WRC POINTS TABLES ( After 2 Legs)
Leading Horses Points Leading Trainers Points
Vengeance Of Rain 12 Lee Freedman 12
Mummify 12 David Ferraris 12
Phoenix Reach 8 Mike de Kock 11
Greys Inn 6 Andrew Balding 8
Alexander Goldrun 4 Tony Cruz 5
Russian Pearl 4 Jim Bolger 4
Right Approach 3 John Size 3
Super Kid 3 Danny Murphy 1
Excalibur `2
Terfel 1
Bullish Luck 1
Leading Jockeys Points
Danny Nikolic 12
Anthony Delpech 12
Weichong Marwing 9
Martin Dwyer 8
Kevin Manning 4
Felix Coetzee 4
Glynn Schofield 3
Barend Vorster 2
Brett Prebble 1
Matthew Pumpa 1
For more information about the World Racing Championships log onto www.worldracingchampionships.com
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