Sea Moon to miss Breeders' Cup Turf
Last year’s Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up, Sea Moon, will not be heading to USA to try his luck in this season’s edition of the mega event, scheduled to take place at Santa Anita next month.
Sponsored by Emirates Airline, the 2011 Grade 1 event was held at Churchill Downs, where Sea Moon finished second to St Nicholas Abbey. The 4-year-old had been due to attempt to go one better this year, but following his last two poor acts, the connections
have decided not to take him to America.
Owned by Khalid Abdulla, the son of Beat Hollow started this season on a high. After securing a narrow win over Dandino at Glorious Goodwood, he continued the fine work, and scored another classy triumph at Royal Ascot. In the Group 2, Hardwicke Stakes,
the colt lived up to the high expectations, and sealed a comfortable 3¼-length victory over Dunaden.
After a couple of outstanding acts, the Juddmonte Farms Ltd-bred suddenly lost his momentum, and could not do anything special on his previous two starts. In July’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes Sponsored By Betfair (British Champions Series)
(Group 1), he totally failed to justify his highest price of 2 to 1, and ended up fifth behind Danedream.
His misery continued outside Great Britain, as he recently suffered a terrible loss in France. The audience at Longchamp saw him finding a lot of trouble in the Group 1, Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. As a result, he could only secure the eighth place
– one step behind Camelot.
According to the a posting on a social networking website, Sea Moon’s chances of going to Santa Anita are no more than zero; however, the connections have declared it an unofficial announcement. Abdulla's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe said:
"The line on the internet is not an official line and we are very unhappy, we don't know where it has come from. Sea Moon is not going to the Breeders' Cup but we are trying to get to the bottom of where the rumour started."
The ongoing season so far has been a little stop-start for Sea Moon, and it will be interesting to see how he regains momentum. His camp, however, is yet to decide on the future appearances.
Tags: