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racing news
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Goldikova Remains On Target for Fourth Breeders Cup Mile Despite Longchamp Upset 04/10/11
Despite losing in a photo finish to Dream Ahead in the Group One, Prix de la Floret at Longchamp on Sunday, three time Breeders Cup Mile Champion, Goldikova, will still head to America next month looking to claim a fourth victory in the race which will undoubtedly confirm her amongst the greatest racehorses of all time and possibly the greatest ever mare.
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Now six years old, Goldikova has not had the most distinguished of seasons comapred to others she has enjoyed. She's finished in second place in three races and only won twice. However, all five runs were at Group One level and she can be forgiven for finishing behind horses of the calibre of Canford Cliffs, Immortal Verse and Dream Ahead. She certainly should not find that level of horse at Churchill Downs for the Breeders Cup meeting on Saturday 5th November, unless of course, Dream Ahead’s connections send him over or indeed, Khalid Abdullah decides to take on the world with his top rated and unbeaten, Frankel. It should be noted that both Dream ahead and Goldikova pulled six lengths clear of the field in the Prix de la Floret, form which demonstrated more than adequately their superiority over the rest of the field and which clearly showed that the mare in particular has lost very little of her ability.
Goldikova has an incredible career record; she has raced in Stakes races 22 times winning fifteen of them, fourteen of them at Group One level and finishing runner up a further five times. Her one and only failure came in the Group One Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp in 2009 on soft ground over nine furlongs and where she was found to have run with a high temperature. She bounced back from that defeat with a resounding win in the Group One Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket and has not run a bad race since, beaten only by better rivals when failing to win.
Immortal Verse will be a likely opponent in the Breeders Cup Mile in November assuming she does not run on Champions Day at Ascot on 15th October. Unbeaten as a three year old, this filly represents a true test to Goldikova particularly as she finished a length clear of her in the Prix du Haras over a mile at Deauville last month and she is still progressing and it isn't clear yet what her French trainer, Robert Collet, will do with her.
American opposition looks a little "thin on the ground" and should Immortal Verse not head across the Atlantic then the race looks to be at the mercy of Goldikova which is why she is as short as 5/2 in the antepost market and unlikely to bigger come the off in what is likely to be the final race of a glittering career.
