Racing News round-up: Hurricane Run, brilliant winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, will miss a crack at the Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont Park on October 29th.
The Andre Fabre-trained three-year-old, bought by Coolmore and Michael Tabor just before his victory in the Budweiser Irish Derby, stormed home under Kieren Fallon in the Longchamp showpiece earlier this month.
"Hurricane Run coughed last Friday and again over the weekend and will miss his intended engagement in the Breeders' Cup Turf," said Fabre yesterday. The son of Montjeu will not race again this season but will remain in training next season.
Hurricane Run, winner of six of his seven starts, was 2 to 1 favourite with Coral and William Hill for the Turf.
Polar Jem gamely made all the running for Johnny Murtagh to claim the European Breeders Fund Harvest Stakes at Windsor yesterday.
The Meath man was allowed to dictate affairs in the Listed contest over an extended mile and three furlongs, keeping a bit up his sleeve for the closing stages.
The five-year-old mare, trained by George Margarson, kept on strongly to beat Red Peony by a length and a half, with Red Whirly another length away in third. "I told Johnny to take the race by the scruff of the neck and he's done very well on her," Margarson said afterwards.
"Hopefully she might go again in the Listed Severals Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday.
"We dropped her back into Listed company to try to get her confidence up and she may possibly stay in training next year."
The disappointment of the race, was the favourite Briolette, who could never reach a challenging position. Kieren Fallon took the mount on the Aidan O'Brien-trained filly after his delayed return from America, replacing Darryll Holland, who had been down to deputise for Fallon on Briolette.
Holland himself appeared to escape serious injury after taking a tumble from Rock Lobster in the preceding race, the betfredpoker.com Handicap, and did not ride for the rest of the day.
The stewards looked into the incident and found interference took place between Holland's mount and Richard Quinn on the third-home Tybalt. However, they were satisfied it was accidental and took no further action.
Ryanair have stepped in to replace the Daily Telegraph as sponsors of the newest championship chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
The addition of a fourth day of the meeting in March led to the introduction of the two-mile-five-furlong chase, but a change of ownership has prompted the Telegraph not to renew the sponsorship next year, leaving the way open for the l airline to step in with an initial three-year commitment.
The £150,000 Ryanair Chase will be run on the third day of the fixture, Thursday, March 16th.
Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive officer, said: "We will now be adding extra flights and lower fares for the four-day extravaganza next March. In addition to a direct web link from Cheltenham to the Ryanair website, Ryanair will also have a flight desk in Cheltenham for each of the four days."
