Shedaresthedevil bids for second Gr.2 Azeri win

Qatar Racing and Pearl Bloodstock have runners in four different countries in the next few days, including returning star Shedaresthedevil in the Gr.2 Azeri Stakes – the race she won on her 2021 reappearance – in the United States on Saturday…

First up are two fancied Qatar Racing runners at Wolverhampton in Britain on Friday. The Andrew Balding-trained Wolsey bumped into a subsequent Gr.1-placed horse on debut and then made the running into a strong headwind on second start. He returns upped to almost ten furlongs in the three-year-old novice at 7.45pm.

The closing race (8.15pm) features our Government – part-owned by David Howden – who seeks to follow up his all-the-way novice win at Southwell for Hugo Palmer. Three-year-old Government is also up in distance on his handicap debut and currently favourite. Both are ridden by Cieren Fallon.

Kicking off the Saturday action is Parliament who runs in a mile-and-a-half conditions race (10.50am UK time) at Mont de Marsan in France for trainer Ludovic Gadbin. Parliament was placed on the first two of his three starts last year and can hopefully get off the mark on his four-year-old reappearance.

All eyes will be on Shedaresthedevil as she lines up in the Gr. Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park (11.10pm UK time) on Saturday. She has won three Gr.1s, a Gr.2 (this race) and three Gr.3s in her career and should take all the beating on her five-year-old return. She went through the sales ring for $5m last November when Whisper Hill Farm bought into her, joining existing owners Qatar Racing and Flurry Stables.

In another corner of the globe, Sheikh Fahad’s Pearl Bloodstock runs debutante Je T’aurai – which means ‘I’ll get you’ in French – in a three-year-old fillies’ maiden over a mile and a quarter at Chukyo in Japan. Trained by Mitsu Nakauchida, Je T’aurai is a homebred daughter of the late Deep Impact.

It also looks like another homebred, Criollo, will run in the Listed Prix Montenica Stakes at Chantilly next Wednesday for William Haggas. Cieren Fallon is set to ride.