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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Guillaume Herrnberger, currently managing director of AFASEC, has been appointed to the role of deputy managing director of France Galop, alongside Henri Pouret who has held the same title since February 2024. France Galop will now be managed in tandem by Pouret and Herrnberger, both of whom will report to the president, Guillaume de Saint-Seine, who chaired a meeting of the Board of Directors on Monday. The appointment of Herrnberger and changes to the leadership structure follow the departure of Elie Hennau from his role as managing director last month. “I am very pleased to join France Galop to lead the transformation alongside Henri Pouret,” said Herrnberger, who has been the CEO of AFASEC since 2021. “I have been a racing enthusiast since my youth, having been a breeder and owner with a high school friend. My background, involved in corporate transformation as an employee and expert consultant in this field, is an asset for meeting the challenges ahead alongside Henri Pouret. “I thank Guillaume de Saint-Seine and the members of the Board of Directors for their confidence.” Guillaume de Saint-Seine added, “Our ambition is to accelerate the recovery of French flat racing, to evolve our economic model and our way of working, while preserving our equestrian culture, unique in the world of sports and leisure. “The partnership between Henri Pouret and Guillaume Herrnberger, who have two very complementary profiles, is perfectly suited to our ambition to lead modernization while respecting our fundamentals.” The post Guillaume Herrnberger Named Deputy Managing Director of France Galop appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Among the top trainers on the New York circuit for decades, John Kimmel has announced his retirement. Citing the economic difficulties facing many trainers these days, Kimmel, 71, said he would devote his time to building his business as a bloodstock agent. Kimmel has been doing double duty over the last three or four years, continuing his training operation while acting as a bloodstock agent to outside clients. While training full-time, he was known for having a keen eye when it came to picking horses out at the sales, including the many future stars that became part of his stable. His recent success stories include the purchase of Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie), whom he purchased on behalf of Flanagan Racing for $725,000 at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale. Trained by Chad Brown, Chancer McPatrick won the GI Hopeful Stakes and the GI Champagne Stakes. “It's been a long time for me, working seven days a week as a trainer,” Kimmel said. “But all during this time, I've always had an affinity for going to the sales. I first started going to the sales with my father when I was in high school. I've developed a very good eye for a horse and what I look for in a horse. Probably the majority of the Grade I and top graded horses I've had are horses that I've purchased for my clientele. I think that's something that I can use. I think people recognize it, but they might be a little reluctant to use me as their bloodstock agent fearing that as a trainer, I might be adversely affecting their clients. “I've bought horses in the last few years for Linda Rice and Chad Brown. We've had a lot of luck with Chancer McPatrick, who is a multiple Grade I winner. We've also had With the Angels, who just won the Correction, and Hot Currency, two horses we bought for Winning Move Stable. The long and the short of it is, that I think I can bring to the table a wealth of experience that can't be matched by many people that are in the bloodstock industry. I hope I can use that to my advantage and see if I can generate some new business.” Kimmel said he will be working closely with bloodstock agent Nick Sallusto. Kimmel plans to hit the ground running, saying he will be active at the upcoming OBS March sale. Though his training business slowed in recent years, Kimmel was a major force in New York throughout the 1990s and the 2000s. He was introduced to the sport by his father, the owner Caesar Kimmel, but began his path in racing as a veterinarian. He holds a pre-med undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school in 1980 before starting his training career in 1984. His first winner came at Calder on Oct. 29, 1984 with a horse named Chachi Man. He has won 1,449 races during his career, and his best year came in 2001 when he won 105 races. He won 89 graded stakes races and trained 10 horses that won Grade I events. His best horse may have been Hidden Lake (Quiet American), who was named Champion Older Female in 1997. She won five graded stakes including the GI Beldame Stakes, the GI Hempstead Handicap and the GI Go for Wand Stakes. Kimmel trained three horses that earned over $1 million, including Bar of Gold (Medgalia d'Oro), who won the 2017 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. He was the first trainer of eventual GI Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch. After four starts with Kimmel, the horse was sold privately to Michael Tabor and landed in the barn of D. Wayne Lukas. Kimmel won six training titles on the NYRA circuit outright, and in 1997 he finished in a tie with Bill Mott for leading trainer at Saratoga with 15 wins at the meet. In 1999, he led all NYRA trainers in the category of money earned. But as has happened in the era of the “super trainer,” Kimmel, who, for much of his career had a stable that numbered about 44 horses, was having trouble keeping up with his rivals. He won 11 races in 2023, 14 in 2024, and seven in 2025. So far this year, he was winless from seven starts. “The super-trainer thing has gotten to the point where if you're not on the front pages of every big racing day, it seems like people have a very short memory about what you have accomplished,” Kimmel said. “A lot of the new money that's come into this game may not even know my track record or my past history. The fact is that there is a new business model. With this business model, it is extremely difficult to make ends meet. If you're not making significant money through purses or buying and selling horses, there's no way that you can offset the cost of doing business, particularly in New York. It might be better in some states, like Kentucky, where businesses seems to be doing much better than they are in New York. Here, maintaining a stable and dealing with the labor laws and the costs of the labor to run things the way I like to do it, it just became a very inequitable formula. “The labor costs, the fee costs, the costs of doing business, just outweigh what you can charge on a day rate. It's absolutely crazy. You could run literally millions of dollars through your training accounts. And at the end of the day, you look at your profit/loss and you're not making any money on your day rate. It's just a losing proposition. That's a reality that most trainers face. I'm sure you've heard the same thing from many trainers.” Kimmel said he will send out his final starters this weekend at Aqueduct, adding that he currently has just five horses in his stable. In 2024, Kimmel was featured in a story in the TDN written by Chris McGrath. The post John Kimmel Steps Away from Training to Focus on Bloodstock Business appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Tuesday's Observations features a horse to follow at Chantilly. 3.05 Chantilly, Debutantes, 3yo, f, 9 1/2f (AWT) MAINE (FR) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) is the 12th foal out of the Wertheimers' G2 Prix de Royallieu winner and outstanding broodmare Balladeuse (Singspiel), who is responsible for the Prix Vermeille heroine and Arc runner-up Aventure (Sea The Stars) and another Vermeille-winning luminary in Left Hand by Night Of Thunder's sire Dubawi. Also the second dam of the Group 2-winning Prix du Jockey Club runner-up First Look (Lope De Vega) and Dubawi's Group 2-placed Audubon Park, her latest progeny is in the care of Aventure's trainer Christophe Ferland who pitches her into a contest also featuring the Andre Fabre-trained Moussac Family colour-bearer Mennula (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), a daughter of the Long Island Handicap winner Aigue Marine (Galileo). The post Aventure’s Half-Sister Maine Debuts at Chantilly appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
All four newcomers to the Darley stallion ranks in Europe – Inisherin, Rosallion, Shadow Of Light and Tribalist – have now had their first mares scanned in foal. Rosallion and Inisherin, both Group 1-winning grandsons of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's blue hen Reem Three, have recently embarked on their first seasons at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket. Rosallion, who won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at two and the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes at three, has been introduced at a fee of £40,000, while Commonwealth Cup hero Inisherin stands for £12,500. In Ireland, Shadow Of Light commands a fee of €17,500 at Kildangan Stud, having retired as only the third two-year-old since the Pattern began to win both the G1 Middle Park Stakes and G1 Dewhurst Stakes. Completing the quartet of newcomers is Tribalist, who enjoyed his career highlight when making all to win the G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. He stands for €6,000 at Haras de Castillon in France. The post First Mares Scanned In Foal to Darley’s Inisherin, Rosallion, Shadow Of Light and Tribalist appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Over the course of the past two seasons, Abraham Gardea has been steadily picking up momentum as a trainer, spending much of his time along the Southern Florida circuit of Tampa and Gulfstream Park while shipping to Colonial Downs in New Kent, Virginia for summer racing. After taking out his training license in 2018, the Chihuahua, Mexico native made a brief return to private training sector before returning to the racetrack in 2024. Collecting his first career victory at Tampa midway through that racing season, he registered a personal career best in 2025 with his runners amassing $362,243 while finishing in the top three 24% of the time. Gardea currently has 20 horses in training at the track, in addition to a handful of babies. Marking a career first in 2026, Gardea makes his first foray at the OBS March Sale when his consignment company–Next Level Thoroughbreds–presents six juveniles at the three-day juvenile in training sale in Ocala, Florida from Mar. 10-12. “I have more pedigree this time than I did last year. There just different types of horses. I spent more money this year than I did last year. I am really high on them and I think they will show up and do well.” First Swing a Home Run The up-and-coming trainer made his first appearance at OBS last April, selling a bullet-earning son of Galilean for $250,000. He worked in :9 4/5 during the breeze session. Out of Royale Michele (Elusive Quality), the Florida-bred colt was the sole juvenile offered by Next Level Thoroughbreds in 2025. Purchased by MHM Stables, the colt, named Agustinian, was sent to Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Now three, the colt has yet to finish off the board in six career starts, including a six-length maiden win over Gulfstream's synthetic surface last November. Purchased privately for $24,000 after RNA'ing for $23,000 at the 2024 renewal of the OBS October Yearling Sale, the bargain bay has amassed over $124,000 in earnings to date. Augustinian is currently the leading earner for Galilean, who stands at Questroyal North in Stillwater, New York. “That was a great experience, especially being my first consignment,” said Gardea. “He always had pretty good conformation, and he was a well-balanced horse.” He continued, “I think hurt the final price was that he was out of an older mare–she was about 20 at the time and he was her last foal. Also, he was by a stallion that stands in New York but he's a Florida bred.” “He always showed he could run. Once I put blinkers on him and started stretching him out, I saw a big change. Once he's tacked up and goes to the track, he's like another horse.” Having already had a glimpse for the physical type buyers are looking at the juvenile sales, Gardea arrives at OBS with a what he asserts is a solid group of horses with more depth on the catalog page than last year. “I have been selling horses on and off for a while, but in 2024, I sold a few horses [on behalf of someone else] and I did ok. I was given an opportunity last year to sell horses for Vincent Conanan's Next Level Stables and we came back with a few more this year.” Armed with an equal number of colts and fillies for 2026, Gardea's offerings are highlighted by Hip 731, a colt by Omaha Beach. Selling on behalf of Next Level Stables, the chestnut is out of Malibu Moon's Emilia Moon, winner of the Peruvian G1 Clasico Polla de Pontrancas. Out Peruvian Group 3 winner Thunder Emilia (Thunder Gulch), 10-year-old Emilia's Moon is a half-sister to GII Tampa Bay Derby winner Helium (Ironicus) and Grade III-placed Mighty Scarlett (Scat Daddy). “He's always been pretty straight forward,” he said. “He does have a lot of potential. He gallops out strong–he can go a quarter or three eighths on the gallop out, no problem. He's pretty good minded when he gets down to breezing. She's always shown ability.” Next Level Stables is also represented by Hip 254, a colt by Frosted and Hip 540, a filly by Munnings. The latter was purchased by Next Level Stables for $50,000 at last summer's Saratoga Sale. “She's pretty quick,” he said. “She does everything right. She doesn't turn a hair. She's also very straightforward.” He added, “The Frosted colt is one that has taken a little bit longer to understand things, but he's really coming into himself now, right in time for the sale.” Also likely to garner a second look from potential buyers is Hip 359, a filly by Freshman sire Mind Control. The May 4 foal is out of Silver Hustler (Political Force). The filly, a homebred for Bob and Bonnie Roth's Majestic View Farms, hails from the family of multiple graded winner on the turf, Spring House. “Everything she's done, she's made it look easy,” Gardea said of the Mine Control filly. “She is a New York-bred filly Also on behalf of New York-based Majestic View, Gardea presents Hip 300, a filly by Volatile. She was purchased for $27,000 at the OBS October Sale. “She's a pretty big filly. I picked her out of the October sale for my new clients. She might not be a :10 flat type of sprinter but she's very strong in the gallop out. She's just a big, strong filly.” Gardea's 2026 OBS group is rounded out by Hip 771, a colt by Colonel Liam out of Fond of Sarah (With Distinction). According to Gardea, he has two more juveniles slated for the upcoming OBS April Sale. And come what may next, Gardea is prepared to stand behind his team. “If we really like them and we can't get what we want for them, we just race them,” he said. “But I hope everything goes well and we will continue to build up more and more as they come. You start building and see how things go.” The post Gardea Looking to Take It to the Next Level at OBS March appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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