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Constitution Hill will not run in next month's Champion Hurdle after Nicky Henderson ruled his stable star out of a jumps return, with his future now lying solely on the flat.View the full article

Sold it for $1 didn't they but voluntarily as they still had the right to do at the time without NZTR grabbing the dosh.

But Hokitika wasn't sold by NZTR - the Club effectively gave it away.  Although they did have prior agreements with local stakeholders.

Constitution Hill will not run in next month's Champion Hurdle after Nicky Henderson ruled his stable star out of a jumps return, with his future now lying solely on the Flat.View the full article

Blue Diamond Stud encompasses approximately 40 mares split between our divisions in Newmarket and Stonereath Farm in Kentucky. In an exciting development, we are also breaking new ground this year by sending Grade I winner Abscond to Japan to visit Kitasan Black. The global operation is overseen by our CEO Ted Voute, with Andrew Rawlin at the helm of our mare division of Blue Diamond Stud and Cian Gahan the stud manager of Stonereath Farm. ABSCOND 9 m Blame – Solitary Life (Grand Slam) Visits KITASAN BLACK Winner of the GI Natalma Stakes as a two-year-old, Abscond represents our first foray into Japan. We were keen to take advantage of what the Japanese market has to offer, especially given its reputation for producing such tough and sound horses, and thereby use the country's leading stallion Kitasan Black with one of our best mares. Abscond was one of our early acquisitions in a concerted move to collect mares from the Roberto line, in particular daughters of Blame. Another of our stakes-winning Blame mares, Dancing Kiki, goes to Oscar Performance. Abscond's first foal is a Not This Time colt who has been retained and goes to Chad Brown. ATAKAMA 6 m Le Havre – Best Intent (King's Best) In foal to Not This Time. Visits FRANKEL A multiple stakes-placed mare from the Coup De Folie family, Atakama has returned from Kentucky to Newmarket in foal to Not This Time and heads to Frankel as we try to give her the best opportunity. The cross also produces inbreeding to Allegretta. BEAUTE CACHEE 7 m Literato – Sign And Seal (Hurricane Run) Visits NOT THIS TIME Winner of the GI Jenny Wiley Stakes, Beaute Cachee was bought in November 2024 having appealed as a top-performing member of the Kendor/Grey Sovereign line, something which is becoming increasingly harder to find despite having been so successful. We have used Not This Time on multiple occasions over the past four seasons and are delighted to be doing so again with this Grade I winner. CHILI FLAG 7 m Cityscape – Flag Day (Pivotal) In foal to Not This Time. Visits FRANKEL A granddaughter of brilliant two-year-old Blue Duster, Chili Flag won the GI Just A Game Stakes and is physically quite typical of the Sharpen Up/Selkirk line. Like Grey Sovereign, that is becoming increasingly harder to find despite its success. Cityscape's early daughters at stud include Give And Take, to whom Frankel produced last year's Group 2 winner Luther, while Frankel has also had success with Selkirk mares through the likes of Inspiral and Darkaniya. Blue Duster's descendants also include high-class Galileo grandsons such as Highland Chief and Euphoric, all of which makes Chili Flag a potentially good fit for Frankel. COUNTESSA 8 m Camelot – Elitiste (Danehill Dancer) Foaled bay filly by Kingman. Visits DELACROIX A young winning mare from the Miesque family who was bought in Australia. She has a very good first foal by Siyouni, now a yearling. The immediate family has worked well with Dubawi and we were keen to try the line with her; Delacroix as a top-class horse and one of the most exciting stallions to stud this season fitted the bill. FLORET 10 m Galileo – Ventura (Spectrum) In foal to Not This Time. Visits INTO MISCHIEF A half-sister to Moonlight Cloud from the Doff The Derby family. Floret has a two-year-old filly by Blame going to Francis Graffard and a good yearling filly by Justify. Into Mischief is such a versatile stallion, capable of throwing good turf horses in addition to obviously being a brilliant influence on dirt. He's proven effective with Galileo mares in the past, a case in point being the GI Ashland Stakes winner Leslie's Rose. We're also using Into Mischief on Taiga. By Bernardini, the damsire of Sovereignty, she is a close relation to Arabian Knight. FREE LOOK 6 m Tapit – Wild Mint (Medaglia d'Oro) Foaled chestnut filly by Curlin. Visits GUN RUNNER It's no secret how effective Gun Runner is with Tapit mares – the source of 10 stakes winners so far – and we'll be supporting him again with the Grade II-placed two-year-old Free Look. She is a relation to Violence and her first foal is a yearling colt by Gun Runner. HAUTE COUTURE 5 m Kingman – Pearling (Storm Cat) Foaled by bay colt by Havana Grey. Visits TOO DARN HOT Haute Couture belongs to one of the cornerstone Blue Diamond families as a half-sister to our multiple Group 1 winner Decorated Knight and a daughter of Pearling, a full-sister to Giant's Causeway. We bred one of Too Darn Hot's best horses, Group 1 winner Hotazhell, and were keen to support him again. He's obviously done particularly well with Danzig-line mares, and that includes Fallen Angel out of an Invincible Spirit-line mare. I'M WONDERFUL 10 m Giant's Causeway – Rebridled Dreams (Unbridled's Song) In foal to Gun Runner. Visits BLAME Stakes producer I'm Wonderful, a full-sister to Carpe Diem, is one of four mares we are sending to Blame this season alongside Arwa (Holy Roman Emperor), a half-sister to Order Of St George, Chantry View Road (Quality Road), a member of the Best In Show family, and Honey Ryder Stakes winner Ocean Safari (Temple City), who has just foaled a lovely filly by Tapit. Blame represents affordable yet proven access into the Roberto sire-line and if you get a filly, then even better given his record as a brilliant young broodmare sire. I'm Wonderful already has a nice two-year-old colt by Blame set to go to Brad Cox and a yearling colt by Tapit. NASHWA 7 m Frankel – Princess Loulou (Pivotal) Foaled bay colt by Dubawi. Returns to DUBAWI Our champion, multiple Group 1-winning mare Nashwa foaled a very smart foal by Dubawi on January 27, a good-sized, strong, attractive colt, and it made sense to send her back to him, especially given his record with Galileo-line mares. Her Dubawi half-brother, Nebras, won the Listed Quebec Stakes for us at the end of last year and hopefully will continue to progress further this season. PENLIGHT 10 m Shamardal – Porto Roca (Barathea) Visits KINGMAN We have two mares going to Kingman; Penlight and Rose Of Miracles. Penlight is a strong mare by Shamardal – the damsire of Field Of Gold – who is a half-sister to G1 Dubai World Cup winner Monterosso. She has already produced a fast horse in Milford, a stakes-placed two-year-old, and Kingman should complement her on paper and physically. Rose Of Miracles, a Dalakhani relation to Goldikova, has produced several highly-rated horses for us including Royal Ascot winner Amtiyaz. She appears most effective when sent to stallions with pace so Kingman should suit, especially as Dalakhani can be found in the background of his Group winners such as Zardozi and Cormorant. PRINCESS LOULOU 16 m Pivotal – Aiming (Highest Honor) In foal to Dubawi. Visits SEA THE STARS Produced our multiple Group 1 winner Nashwa and Listed scorer Nebras, who stays in training for us as a four-year-old this season. She has a Frankel full-brother to Nashwa named Nasheed, is back in foal to Nebras's sire Dubawi and she'll now visit Sea The Stars. He's obviously a sire of the highest order who had a brilliant year in 2025 and going to him taps into another strain of Urban Sea. ROMINA POWER 6 m Le Havre – Rockatella (Rock Of Gibraltar) In foal to Night Of Thunder. Visits TOO DARN HOT Winner of the Listed Diana-Trial, Romina Power belongs to the Reprocolor family via the branch responsible for G1 winner Puchkine. She's in foal to the champion sire Night Of Thunder and now goes to another son of Dubawi in Too Darn Hot. We also have Princess Nadia, a homebred winning daughter of our G3 Princess Margaret Stakes winner Princess Noor, in foal to Too Darn Hot. The daughter of Sea The Stars now goes to Night Of Thunder; it's notable how effective Night Of Thunder can be with mares that provide him with more Urban Sea and/or Allegretta, and Sea The Stars has contributed to that as the damsire of his stakes winners Thunder Sea, Night Tornado and Tuscan Hills. SOUND THE TRUMPETS 13 m Bernardini – My Flag (Easy Goer) In foal to Cody's Wish. Visits GUN RUNNER A daughter of champion My Flag and granddaughter of champion Personal Ensign. It's a phenomenal Phipps family and we were delighted to buy into it in November, particularly through a mare like Sound The Trumpets whose first foal Miles D was a stakes winner and placed in the GI Travers Stakes. Gun Runner's affinity for mares carrying A.P. Indy is well known, including through Bernardini, and the mating also produces inbreeding to Quiet American, also found in five of Gun Runner's stakes winners including Grade I scorer Gun Pilot. TISA RIVER 12 m Equiano – Senta's Dream (Danehill) Visits CAMELOT A half-sister to Grade I winners Iridessa, Order Of Australia and Santa Barbara who has already added her value to our broodmare band by producing the stakes two-year-old Bolt Action and four-time winner Enchanting (Blue Point), a very fast filly for us who goes to Havana Grey. Tisa River has a very good-looking two-year-old colt by Camelot named National Anthem heading to John and Thady Gosden. Camelot has worked well with the family before through Santa Barbara and so it was a cross we were keen to repeat. Our Listed winner Dawn Of Hope (Mastercraftsman), the dam of four winners who is in foal to Blame, has returned to Europe from Stonereath and is also going to him. We have retained Dawn Of Hope's daughter Gaugamela (Sea The Stars) and she is one of three mares that we have going to Sands Of Mali alongside Juri (Invincible Spirit) and Najeeba (Dansili) ZOTILLA 15 m Zamindar – Louvain (Sinndar) Visits DARK ANGEL The dam of G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Mangoustine and it made sense to go back to her sire Dark Angel. A half-sister to champion Flotilla from the successful Flanders family, Zotilla also has a yearling colt by Dubawi. Her daughter Sandirella (Too Darn Hot), who was placed on her only start, has also joined the band and goes to Baaeed. The post Blue Diamond Stud Branching Out With Kitasan Black In Japan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

If we can get @Chief Stipe on course then I am sure we can arrange that sort of thing!  Though, don't think Chief has ever come this far South....

An eight-time stakes winner, primarily against California-bred competition, Grand Slam Smile enters off back-to-back stakes wins for trainer Sean McCarthy.View the full article

With the encouragement of Sergio de Sousa from Hidden Brook Farm and Carrie Brogden from Machmer Hall, a group of 17 Thoroughbred industry stakeholders have pledged to donate a total of $35,000 in prize money for a series of TAKE2 Thoroughbred Hunter and Jumper Classics at the Kentucky Horse Shows and Split Rock Jumping Tour in 2026. The 20 TAKE2 Classics, offering $1,750 in prize money each, will be held at 10 horse shows at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, between May and September. The TAKE2 Classics sponsors are: Adrienne Camire, Byron Nimrocks, Cary Bloodstock, De Sousa Stables, Eaton Sales, Elite Sales, First Finds Farm, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Hidden Brook Farm, Julie Davies LLC, Notch Hill Farm, Okalee Farm, Peppermint Stables, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Valerie Mastromonaco and Woods Edge Farm. De Sousa, in addition to serving as managing partner at Hidden Brook, has competed in the TAKE2 Jumpers since 2022. “The TAKE2 League is the perfect next step for adoption and retraining programs for Thoroughbreds around the country,” he said. “It allows horses and riders to compete at high-level venues, giving continuation to their development. Hopefully, some will move up from TAKE2; if not, it is a great level of competition for amateur riders like me.” Brogden added, “I aspire to see demand for Thoroughbreds return to the robust levels experienced during the breed's peak in the 1970s and 1980s and with this kind of leadership and support, I truly believe it is possible. These sponsored classes are a huge step in the right direction!” The TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program offers prize money and year-end awards for League members competing in Thoroughbred Hunter and Jumper divisions at more than 500 horse shows across the country, including the $20,000 TAKE2 Hunter & Jumper Finals which have been held in Lexington each year since 2019. This season it will be held Sept. 20 at Split Rock Kentucky National, where the final have taken place since 2023. “It's heartening to see the commitment to the horses by the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry,” TAKE2 Executive Director Andy Belfiore said. “Aftercare and the smooth transition to second careers are causes we can all unite behind, and the Classic sponsors are staunch supporters.”   The post Stakeholders Donate $35,000 in Prize Money for 2026 TAKE2 Thoroughbred Classics appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Editor's note: Currently, Lasix is banned in two-year-old racing and in stakes races 48 hours before a race. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) is approaching a critical vote regarding the use of race-day Lasix in the rest of racing. Per the original Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020, the drug is effectively banned under that same 48-hour rule, though most states currently operate under a three-year exemption put in place to allow time for studies to be conducted. That exemption is now coming to an end on May 22. A final decision on whether to extend that exemption, or to ban the medication entirely, will be subject to a vote of the nine-member HISA Board of Directors. In order to extend the exemption, the vote must be unanimous; otherwise, Lasix will be banned.  The following letter to the HISA board was signed by trainers W.I. Mott, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Jena Antonucci, and Ron Moquett; and Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, and provided to the TDN. The HISA Board faces a consequential choice: pursue reform grounded in science–or pursue symbolism that may ultimately harm the very horses they seek to protect. If a human Olympic runner bled into his lungs every time he sprinted, no one would call treatment “cheating.” They would call it medicine. Yet calls to eliminate furosemide, commonly known as Lasix, from horse racing are often framed as a necessary stand against “doping.” It is a powerful word. It signals integrity. It reassures the public. But when rhetoric outpaces veterinary reality, well-intentioned policy can produce unintended consequences. That disconnect is at the heart of the debate over furosemide and whether it should be eliminated from the sport entirely. Critics frame its use as a symbol of racing's excesses. Supporters see something far less sensational: a regulated veterinary tool used to manage Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH), a condition that affects all equines and a significant percentage of racehorses during intense exertion. EIPH has been studied extensively, including by researchers affiliated with the American Association of Equine Practitioners. During high-speed racing, extreme cardiovascular pressures can cause delicate pulmonary capillaries to rupture. In mild cases, bleeding may be microscopic. In more serious cases, repeated episodes can lead to scarring, chronic inflammation, diminished lung function and, in rare instances, catastrophic outcomes. Horses are obligate nasal breathers. Unlike human athletes, they cannot open their mouths to increase airflow when exertion peaks. The physiological stress generated inside their chest at racing speed is extraordinary. This vulnerability is rooted in anatomy–not in training methods or competitive ambition. Furosemide's primary pharmacologic action is diuresis, reducing vascular pressure and mitigating the severity of pulmonary bleeding. It does not create speed. It does not manufacture stamina. It does not alter a horse's innate ability. It addresses a medical risk associated with extreme exertion preventing pulmonary bleeding that contributes to career longevity. The term “performance-enhancing drug” carries powerful emotional weight. But preventing internal lung bleeding is not the same as artificially enhancing speed. The science on subtle secondary performance effects remains debated. What is not debated is that furosemide reduces the severity of EIPH. Eliminating the medication will not eliminate the condition. It will remove a regulated therapeutic tool currently administered under veterinary oversight and strict protocols. Those of us who work in barns before sunrise understand that stewardship is not a slogan. It is daily accountability for the health and comfort of an animal that cannot advocate for itself. Preventative medicine is a cornerstone of humane care in every other athletic discipline–human or animal. As such, evidence-based policy is imperative, not symbolic prohibition for welfare of the horse. We recognize that public trust in racing is fragile. Integrity and transparency are essential. That is why we support uniform rules, clear reporting, rigorous veterinary supervision and continued scientific research. If future evidence yields safer or more effective alternatives, horsemen will adapt–as this industry has repeatedly done in pursuit of safety and reform. Policymaking decisions driven primarily by optics and not science risk undermining equine welfare in the name of appearances. The question before the Authority Board is not whether the sport must evolve–it must, it is and will continue to. The question is whether eliminating a treatment that reduces lung bleeding serves the horse or simply satisfies a narrative. Treating pulmonary hemorrhage under veterinary supervision is not doping. It is responsible care. And in any reform effort, the horse–not the headline–must come first. —W.I. Mott, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Jena Antonucci, Ron Moquett, and Eric Hamelback The post Letter to the Editor: Horse Must Come First With Any Reform Efforts appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article