Barry Iriwin our Birthday boy 21 April

Morning Barry and all the best for yesterday, afraid its still pissing down here, hope the chaps at ABC have better weather for your big day on Sat?

Lizzy <

Breeders Cup and World Cup notwithstanding, England still the World Capital of racing.

Unlike elsewhere, their great races will never be handicaps.

If you didn't make it there.....

Injury puts end to Gitano Hernando summer plans

CORAL- Eclipse Stakes absentee Gitano Hernando has a splint problem that has forced trainer Marco Botti to scrap his summer plans for the colt which included a crack at the Arlington Million.

The colt has not raced since the Dubai World Cup but was being targeted at this weekend's Group 1 showpiece until he pulledoff a shoe a fortnight ago.


Botti said: "He pulled a shoe off a week before last but the reason we had to stop was he had a splint and he was sore. He is going to miss Sandown and it's a matter of how long we are going to lose with him before we can make a plan.

"At the moment we have to wait and see when we get him back in full training. I can't say now which race he will go for. He's not cantering yet."

Gitano Hernando was off the track for four months last summer but ended the year strongly by winning the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita in October. He finished sixth behind Gloria de Campaeo at Meydan in March.


"He is entered in the Arc and he was entered in the Arlington Million and that was the plan for a while. We were going to run him in England then take him there. He is going to miss that race as well because he couldn't go there without a prep race.

"The horse is a good horse but he has his problems. After Chester last year he went wrong and we had to stop with him. It's frustrating but that's what we have to cope with sometimes."

Gitano Hernando given Champion Stakes target

GITANO HERNANDO, not seen since finishing sixth in the Dubai World Cup in March, could be aimed at the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket on October 16 after pleasing trainer Marco Botti with his recovery from injury.

The four-year-old, owned by Team Valor and Gary Barber, provided Botti with the biggest success of his career in last year's Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita and was fancied to run a big race in the world's richest race after impressing in a Listed race at Lingfield in February.


His next target was the Coral-Eclipse in July, but he was forced to miss that with a splint problem, although Botti reports the son of Hernando to be "doing well".

"Gitano Hernando had a splint but he is back in full work now and we are looking forward to the autumn," Botti said on Thursday.

"The horse is doing well, so we have given him an entry in the Champion Stakes and we will see how he comes along. He looks well and he is an athletic horse, so he always keeps himself quite fit at home. I am pleased with him."

Gitano Hernando was one of 66 horses entered for the Champion Stakes on Wednesday and Botti added: "At the moment, nothing is set, there is plenty of time to decide between now and the middle of October, so we will see how he progresses before committing him to any target.

"He will probably have a prep race and that is something I will discuss with the owners closer to the time. It is not easy to get a horse fully fit for a race like the Champion Stakes after a long layoff without a prep, but it all depends on how he is in the next few weeks.

"I will leave plans in the owners' hands and we will sit down and decide where he goes. It has not quite been decided yet if the Breeders' Cup is his long-term target, we will just see how he progresses and then considerhis options, but the Champion Stakes is a race we will look at."