The most intriguing race worldwide this weekend takes place in the US with the running of the group 1 Belmont Derby Invitational over 1 miles on Saturday, featuring the reappearance of the Japanese-bred Yoshida.
Bloodlines has been eagerly awaiting Yoshida's return after witnessing his quite brilliant win in the James W. Murphy at Pimlico on May 20.
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Bloodlines was shown the video of the win by the China Horse Club's bloodstock manager Michael Wallace and learnt about the club's involvement with the colt, which is prepared by the famed US mentor Bill Mott.
Yoshida is a son of top Japanese stallion Heart's Cry and was an $US800,000 yearling sale purchase at the Hokkaido Sales and is raced in partnership with Winstar Farm and S.F. Bloodstock with the China Horse Club.
![Dawn of a new era: Darley shuttle sire Dawn Approach now has a sibling winner in Haddaf.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170806051503im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/z/t/m/b/7/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx5yur.png/1499354590527.jpg)
Tom Ryan of S.F. Bloodstock outlined plans for Yoshida stating that the syndicate believed he could be an exceptional galloper and would be set specifically for group 1 races throughout the world.
The first of these comes up in Saturday's $US1.2 million race at Belmont Park and there will be plenty watching the outcome with the colt to see if he is worthy of the confidence shown by Mott, who was the trainer of champion Cigar.
Aidan O'Brien has two runners in the Belmont race for the Coolmore team in the shape of Homesman and Whitecliffsofdover with both colts sired by the champion US stallion War Front.
Haddaf fires
Darley shuttle sire Dawn Approach, a racetrack star for the blue army, came up with his first sibling winner at Newcastle (England) last Saturday with Haddaf scoring in maiden class after a black-type placing at his previous start.
Prepared by James Tate, the colt scored in a most attractive manner in a performance that will bolster his stallion career in both hemispheres. Dawn Approach was a champion at two and three years old in England and Ireland, winning four group 1 events.
Haddaf was placed in the National Stakes Sandown and showed great improvement at Newcastle, scoring by four lengths.
Bloodlines has very good reports about the progeny of Dawn Approach in Australia having been popular with breeders and he could be one of the surprise packets at $22,000 at Darley's Aberdeen base this season.
Rosehill talent
There seems to be quite a healthy number of rising three-year-olds heading into the 2017-18 racing season with a much bigger total of representatives than usual in the official barrier trials conducted at Rosehill on Tuesday.
Twelve trials were staged with seven for two-year-olds and five for older horses. The youngsters had 71 starters compared to 48 for the more experienced thoroughbreds.
Leading the way, hardly surprisingly, was Chris Waller whose 42 horses to trial consisted of 23 two-year-olds. Waller has always nursed his "babies" but in recent years has given them more opportunities to show their precocity because of the huge numbers he has in training.
Team Snowden had 11 to trial with five two-year-olds, while Godolphin had 10 runners with seven youngsters and produced a winning colt in Marble (Exceed and Excel) and Team Hawkes had seven trial with three juveniles and won two with a Snitzel colt (Legerity) and a likely type with Byzantium (by All Too Hard) winning his heat.
The major three-year-old spring race in Sydney is the group 1 Golden Rose, which runs before the Randwick Guineas and the Caulfield Guineas, which, disappointingly, are both run on the same day in Sydney and Melbourne.
However, all three races are regarded as events that can propel a colt to superstar status and ensure himself a lucrative stud career. It is odds-on the same philosophy will continue and that means millions of dollars to some fortunate horse players if they can tag a group 1 three-year-old event.
Were there any stallion prospects in action at Rosehill on Tuesday?
That's a $64 question, but once again the progeny of Snitzel were to the fore with the stallion having sired six of the 12 winners, but only two are colts â the Hawkes-trained Legerity and the Waller-trained Snitzel Day.
Snitzel can do no wrong as a stallion and last weekend passed the $15 million prizemoney barrier in his best season with his previous highest just under $10 million.
Galileo winner
Galileo produced his 65th group 1 winner at the Curragh last Saturday when Aidan O'Brien prepared Capri to win the Irish Derby for the Coolmore conglomerate.
The grey colt's win was part of a memorable afternoon for the Coolmore team, but that team had its "downer" after the derby when it was discovered that the English Derby winner Wings Of Eagles had to be retired immediately after his third placing suffering from fractures in his near front sesamoid joint. Earlier, the full sister to multiple group 1 winner Churchill, Clemmies, had won at the Curragh for Aidan O'Brien and the latter's son, Patrick, took out the group 2 Curragh Cup with Rekindling (High Chaparral), which is part-owned by Australia's Lloyd Williams.
Meanwhile, Epsom Derby winner Camelot won on the weekend in France at Saint Cloud when Stella Di Camelot became the stallion's first worldwide winner.
At Churchill Downs in America, Animal Kingdom produced his first black-type winner with Sunny Skies who took out a $US100,000 fillies race. Animal Kingdom missed the 2016 breeding season at Arrowfield last year but he has had five Australian winners and is returning for the oncoming season at a service fee of $27,500.
Derby delight
The Frankel update this week relates to the Irish Derby with Cracksman recording his second placing in a three-year-old classic when runner-up to Capri who will now be given a break by trainer John Gosden with the stable believing he has a great future ahead of him as a middle distance black type performer.