The likely Breeders’ Cup Turf favourite Sarafina turned in light exercises ahead of the race
H. H. Aga Khan’s 4-year-old filly, Sarafina, arrived at the Churchill Downs and went out for a jog to soak in the environment before her big race the Grade 1 Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf on 5 November, 2011.
This is Sarafina’s first visit to the Churchill Downs, and she is likely the favourite to win the race despite coming off a non threatening seventh place finish in the Grade 1 Prix de l’Arc Triomphe at Longchamp France on 2 October, 2011, over at 1 and a
half miles.
The A. Royer-Dupre trained filly on 1 November went out for an easy jog. The filly is one of three contenders in the race taking to the track for some light exercise.
The French bred daughter of Refuse to Bend, out of Sanariya by Darshaan, Sarafina prior to her seventh place finish was on a winning streak of three wins on the trot.
It started from the Grade 2 Prix Corrida on turf over at 1 5/16 miles at the Saint-Cloud race course on 23 May, 2011, under her regular jockey C Lemaire, who has ridden the filly throughout the 2011 season.
Sarafina then ran at her favoured distance of one and a half miles in the Grade 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on 26 June. She kept her composure while stalking till the stretch and unleashing her potent run from the back of the stretch which helped her gain
momentum to dash through rivals to finish first.
She completed her hat-trick at Longchamp, where she represented her connections in the Grade 2 Prix Foy on 11 September, 2011, at about one and half miles and went on to defeat the St Nicholas Abbey in that race who finished third. Sarafina covered the distance
in 2 minutes and 32.28 seconds.
Another European contender is the Aidan O’Brien trained Midday, who is contesting for the turf for the first time. The Breeders’ Cup veteran won the Grade 1 Filly and Mare Turf in 2009 and finished second in the same race last year.
The third European contender is the Sir Michael Stoute trained Sea Moon, who will be running in the one and a half mile Breeders’ Cup Turf race for the first time.
Tags: