TRANSATLANTIC GR.1 DOUBLE FOR JUDDMONTE

Taken from the EBN

Khalid Abdulla’s Juddmonte had plenty to celebrate yesterday with Gr.1 wins on both sides of the Atlantic.

Twice Over, second to New Approach in last year’s Gr.1 Champion Stakes at Newmarket, went one better this year to win a competitive renewal. The four-year-old son of Juddmonte sire OBSERVATORY swept into the lead and was driven out to win by half a length from the strongly finishing Mawatheeq (Danzig).

Out of the Listed winner Double Crossed (Caerleon), he comes from the immediate family of the Gr.1 winners Passage of Time, All At Sea and Banshee Breeze. Trained by Henry Cecil, he received a rapturous reception following the race, which is the final European leg of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge, guaranteeing him a place at the Breeders’ Cup meeting.

Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to winning owner Prince Khalid Abdulla, said: “We hadn’t been looking at the Breeders’ Cup before today, but he has come back and won this race very well, so the Classic would be under consideration. The question mark is that the race is on a surface that he’s never raced on.”

Later, their homebred CHAMPS ELYSEES, who retires to Banstead Manor, where he will join his full-brothers DANSILI and CACIQUE, won the Gr.1 Canadian International at Woodbine. The six-year-old son of Danehill caught Jukebox Jury (Montjeu), close home to win by half a length. The victory was CHAMPS ELYSEES’s third Gr.1 win.

Date: 19 October 2009