The ninth season of the British All-Weather Championship will conclude on Good Friday, April 15, with a new venue and international lineup reflecting the show’s expanding role on global racetrack.
Entries included athletes from Europe and Ireland, spanning six championship races when the event first moved to Newcastle from its former home Lingfield. Leading the way in the Championships, the card also includes a listed Coral Burradon Stake, featuring a 3-year-old with a glittering Classic claim.
Some of the top jockey names are given to riding, including Frankie Dettori, Jamie Spencer, and Hollie Doyle.
While the first seasons of the All-Weather Championship went under radar on the international stage, the program has grown to be accepted as a bridge across the void of the winter flat track. . It has also become a proving ground for big money races in Dubai and more recently Saudi Arabia, with horses moving back and forth between those jurisdictions.
Lord North , for example, used the Betway Winter Derby (G3) at Lingfield Park in all weather on February 26 to prepare for the DP World (G1)-sponsored Dubai Turf in Meydan a month Later. He came in second Alenquer at Lingfield but won the Meydan race in a deadly match against Panthalassa . Alenquer went on to finish sixth in the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) with the same card.
None of that will be watched on Good Friday, after using the show to achieve a later season finish. However, the whole card is strong and competitive.
The AWC feature at Newcastle is the £200,000 (about US$260,000) Betway Easter Classic on 10 feathers. Five other 3-year-olds at six outcrops, track and field and mares at seven outcrops, an open sprint at six distances, a two-mile marathon, and a quarter-mile event. classified in the UK as “gap middle.” Sponsor Betway, Coral and MansionBet.
Horses qualify in one of two ways. The simplest is a win in the “Fastest Qualifier” of the season, which guarantees a direct entry to the respective finals.
The second path to the final is more difficult and lies within the international reach of the show. It requires a horse to run at least three times on all-weather surfaces in the UK, Ireland and France; or twice on all-weather surfaces in the UK, Ireland, France, and once on land in Dubai or Saudi Arabia and subsequently rated highly enough by the UK Equestrian Authority.
Antepost’s favorite knowledge in the field of Easter Classic is Tyrrhenian Seaa 4 year old child dark Angel gelding who is 3 in all weather against Newcastle. He comes after the first loss of his career — finishing in 4th place when heavily thwarted at Kempton Park on March 2. Roger Varian trains his owner/raider, Flaxman Stables of Ireland Ltd.
“He’s a light racehorse so undefeated. He’s been pickpocketed in Kempton more than 10 hairpins, which can happen, and until then he’s looked good in his short career. own,” said the coach.
“He looks like he’s going to run well at the Easter Classic,” Varian added, “and we like to think he has a chance to get there. But it was a tight race and he still had to do it on the track. “
Andrea Atzeni is placed aboard the Tyrrhenian Sea, who starts from the stall inside in a field of six.
Easter Classic School also has Felix a 6 year old child by Lope de Vega the closest runner-up in this race in 2021, then to Dubai, where he finished third against Lord North in the Dubai Turf.
Coach Marco Boti said of Felix: “I thought for a while that Newcastle would suit him better than sharper tracks like Lingfield. “Newcastle is a galloping track and, given his running style, it should play to his full potential.”
Joseph O’Brien is expected to bring two people from Ireland with San Andreas compete in the £150,000 (approximately USD 195,000) All-weather Miles Championship and Grandmaster Flash in the £150,000 Betway All-weather Marathon Championship.
“We’ve been very happy with San Andreas all winter and he comes into this game after a good win at Dundalk,” said O’Brien, son of Ballydoyle master Aidan O’Brien. “He looks as if he has to compete in ratings and we hope that he can run into a spot.”
San Andreas finished third in a local group 3 event in Qatar with two re-starts.
The French team includes intern Nicolas Caullery Fort Payne in the £150,000 All-weather Miles Championship.
“Fort Payne is doing very well and I think he goes there with good prospects,” Caullery said. “The mileage is right for him and his all-weather record is good.”
