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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Writers Edward L. Bowen and Ray Kerrison and photographer Charles Christian “C. C.” Cook have been selected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor. Edward L. Bowen (1942-2025), who was inducted into the Hall of Fame earlier this year as a Pillar of the Turf, enjoyed a prolific career as a racing journalist and historian for more than 60 years. An editor-in-chief of The BloodHorse magazine and the author of 22 books on horse racing, Bowen also served 24 years as president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, traditionally the leading source of funding for veterinary research specifically to promote horse health and soundness. He was the chair of numerous committees at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, including the contemporary Nominating Committee for 38 years, beginning in 1987. “Ed contributed to the betterment of racing in so many ways and the historical record of his outstanding writing will live on forever,” said Brien Bouyea, the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame and Communications Director. “Ed built a reputation on integral reporting and captivating storytelling. He loved horses and horse racing and that passion shined through in his vivid work.” Charles Christian “C. C.” Cook (1873-1954) was one of American racing's first and most influential photographers. A native of Carmi, Illinois, Cook worked as a photojournalist for newspapers in Chicago before becoming a freelancer around 1900. His images of animals in the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and the Barnum and Bailey Circus attracted wide attention. Cook began his association with racing photography at Washington Park in Chicago in the late 1890s. Cook was one of the first photographers in the United States to specialize in horse racing photography, as well as portraits and scenic images at various racetracks. “Cook was a prolific photographer who established trends in U.S. racing photography as both an artist and as a pioneer of track photography equipment that evolved heavily in the early decades of the 20th century,” said Keeneland Library Director Roda Ferraro. “The Cook Collection remains a pillar of Keeneland Library's vast photography collections, and Cook's seminal body of work is alive and influential as we connect people daily to his captured race day moments for use in international articles, books, films, exhibits, social media, and track and farm marketing campaigns.” Ray Kerrison (1930-2022) was one of racing's most respected writers and had few peers as an investigative reporter. A native of Australia, Kerrison wrote for the New York Post from 1977 through 2013, serving the paper as both a news and horse racing columnist. He covered 32 editions of the Kentucky Derby and numerous other major races, including Breeders' Cup events. “Ray was smart, kind, dryly witty, and as committed to his craft as any journalist I've ever known,” Bob McManus, The Post's retired editorial page editor, said after Kerrison's death in 2022. “He was a man of unshakable principle, which was obvious in his writing, but also a fellow who respected his readers' intelligence. His goal was to persuade, not to lecture, and while his work could be controversial, it always was honest.” “I used to refer to him as the Fred Astaire of thoroughbred racing because he was the best,” former Post sports editor Greg Gallo said. “He was the classiest guy who ever worked that beat. No one was better as a journalist.” For more information on the newest Joe Hirsch Media Roll honorees, click here. The post Bowen, Cook, Kerrison Selected to Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor 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
The Australian Turf Club has secured a temporary injunction from the Supreme Court of New South Wales halting Racing NSW's move to place the club under administration, with the matter set to be heard on Thursday, December 18. Racing NSW announced on Monday it intended to appoint an administrator, citing concerns over the ATC's financial position and corporate governance, claiming the club failed to present a credible remediation plan during a protracted show-cause process. ATC chairman Tim Hale rejected those claims, saying the club is “financially strong and operationally stable”. “As of today, the club holds approximately $29 million in cash and continues to meet all financial obligations as they fall due,” Hale said. “Our balance sheet is supported by more than $400 million in land and property assets, including strategically significant holdings at Canterbury and Camellia.” Hale also said Racing NSW currently owes the ATC $1.2 million in outstanding payments, with almost $800,000 more than 120 days overdue. Racing NSW responded on Tuesday afternoon with a statement. Chairman Dr Saranne Cooke said the decision followed what she described as a misrepresentation of the situation by the ATC in a notice to members. “Racing NSW will continue to act in the best interests of the NSW Thoroughbred Racing industry, and we believe the facts in the attached letter speak for themselves,” Cooke said. A sizable part of the letter called into question the conduct of Hale around the proposed sale of Rosehill Gardens and his communications at the time with the Hon Mark Latham. The letter stated that Hale did not inform the rest of the Board that he was communicating with Latham at that time. Racing NSW expressed concern for the “changing nature” of Hale's correspondence with Latham, and that “the conduct of the ATC Board gives rise to serious and systemic corporate governance concerns”. The matter returns to the Supreme Court on Thursday. The post ATC, Racing NSW Head to Court 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
The "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby" returns with the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki Racecourse Dec. 17 with none of the runners who contested the first leg in November.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
It may not have rivalled the headline acts Romantic Warrior, Ka Ying Rising or even Sosie, but for Justin Timmons, the success of his graduate Helene Supafeeling (City Light) in Hong Kong on Saturday provided the popular breeze-up consignor with reason to celebrate. And why wouldn't it? Helene Supafeeling, formerly known as Port Light in Europe, landed a £107,160 cheque when making his debut at Sha Tin a winning one on what is one of the most important fixtures of the year in that jurisdiction. Not only that, but the 24,000gns yearling purchase, who was then sold to Tom Biggs of Blandford Bloodstock for €41,000 at last year's Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale, is yet another highly-rated horse to have been sold by Timmons under the banner of Dolmen Bloodstock. “It might have been a race on the undercard, but the biggest thing that I took from it was that he managed to win first-time up in Hong Kong,” Timmons said. “A lot of people tell me that it usually takes horses a couple of runs to acclimatise and adapt to the style of racing in Hong Kong so, to win on his debut, that was quite impressive.” Timmons added, “He was rated 100 in Britain and won off a Hong Kong rating of 72 so he could be well ahead of that rating. Who knows, he could be running in one of the bigger races on that card in 12 months' time! He's definitely quite useful.” Helene Supafeeling was winning for trainer David Eustace, but it was Archie Watson who managed the horse's career in between the breeze-ups and that valuable Hong Kong victory. A dual winner for Watson, Helene Supafeeling finished fifth behind Cosmic Year in a Listed contest at Newmarket before being sold to continue his career in Hong Kong. They say one swallow doesn't make a summer, though, and, luckily for Timmons, he has come up with a good horse from small numbers every year for the past number of years. He explained, “I have sold a horse rated 90 or 100 every year but they never seem to blitz in their breeze. Orderofthephoenix (Phoenix Of Spain), for example, was 70th or 80th on the clock at Tattersalls Ireland, yet she won over six furlongs at Woodbine earlier this year. She's obviously very quick for a Phoenix Of Spain, who seems to be getting mile-plus horses, but, for whatever reason, she didn't clock. “Lost Signal (Lucky Vega) looks a nice horse as well. He was only beaten a few lengths by Gewan on debut at Newbury but he won his next two starts and is now rated 89. He's another who didn't rock the clock in his breeze but he looks an exciting horse for next year.” Timmons added, “I only breeze on average five or six every year and I don't even have the hunger to go up in numbers anymore because it is just very hard to get riders these days. The way I work it is, I go to all of the sales and I try to buy something I really like. There are plenty of days I come home with nothing as a result. I don't need to fill a stable for the sake of it because I'm trying to keep numbers tight. That way, I can do a lot of the hands-on work myself. I have a good rider, Niall O'Connor, who is a big help to me. People say breezing is a numbers game but there's no point in having horses for the sake of it. It's hard to say what's right and what's wrong but, for me, I know that keeping the numbers tight is working so we'd rather keep it as a boutique operation.” Along with producing nice horses, the one constant to Dolmen Bloodstock over the past number of years is that the horses sold under that banner rarely feature in the top third of the time sheets at the breeze-up sales. It doesn't seem to hinder them on the racetrack, however, and Timmons believes that his consignment highlights the value on offer to buyers willing to look beyond the clock at the breeze-up sales. He said, “I would like to think by now that there are one or two buyers out there that are savvy enough to know my horses don't blitz the clock. Tom Biggs, for example, bought the City Light off me last year and, off the back of him, he asked me what I liked this year. I told him that the Lucky Vega was my pick and he followed him into the ring. Fair enough, he didn't get him but he bid on him. He trusted me and I didn't set him wrong so there is definitely value to be gotten at the breeze-ups if you look beyond the clock and analyse the breeze as a whole. People build up a profile on consignors and they know what to expect from different vendors.” Timmons added, “I started out in this game in a racing yard and have also dabbled in the breeding and stud farm side of the business as well. Every time I get a horse in, I train them like they're racehorses. Maybe from a trading perspective, I should be training more for the clock but this is what I know and I am set in my ways. The breeze-ups were fundamentally about getting a yearling in, breaking them and letting them go up the track in a good style. Buyers had the advantage of being able to see them gallop up the track without blitzing and I think that's what breeze-ups should always be about. There's a part of me that would love them to be able to go quicker in the breeze but, I'm 35 now so maybe I'm too old to change my ways!” The post Early Christmas Present For Timmons With Success Of “Value” Breezer In Hong Kong 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
It might be over-egging the pudding a bit to describe this year's Prix Morny as a familiar tale of woe for the home team. However, in order to understand why the 2024 winner, Whistlejacket, is such a welcome addition to the Normandy stallion ranks for next season, it's important to acknowledge the gaping void that necessitated his purchase in the first place. Increasingly, France seems to be falling behind its British and Irish counterparts when it comes to producing top-class, sprinting juveniles. This struggle was depicted in no uncertain terms by what we witnessed at Deauville in August, when only one of the six runners for the Morny was actually trained in France. The colt in question, Imperial Me Cen (Mehmas), proceeded to trail home at the rear of the field, eight lengths adrift of the winner, Venetian Sun (Starman). Andre Fabre's Earthlight stemmed the tide somewhat when hitting the target in 2019, but it remains only four times this century that the Morny has been won by a French-trained horse, with the consecutive victories of Whipper (2003) and Divine Proportions (2004) being followed at much longer intervals by first Dabirsim (2011) and then Earthlight. A familiar tale of woe, indeed. This year, however, there has at least been an encouraging epilogue to the story for French breeders, with Whistlejacket – the first Morny winner to retire to stud in France since Shalaa – possessing many of the attributes that they've been crying out for. A battle-hardened colt who ran eight times in his juvenile campaign alone, the son of No Nay Never filled the runner-up spot at the top level on two other occasions, in the Phoenix Stakes and Middle Park Stakes, as well as winning the G2 July Stakes and dishing out a near-four-length beating Arizona Blaze in the Listed First Flier Stakes. “We were really impressed by his two-year-old career and we were thinking that this is the type of profile we don't have here in France at the moment,” says Jean-Daniel Manceau of Capucines Bloodstock, the man tasked with managing Whistlejacket's stallion career at Haras de Grandcamp. “We'd been looking for a stallion for a couple of years. We were looking for a speedy, early type, from a nice family and with a fashionable sire. He was ticking all of these boxes so, when he came up for sale, I was more than interested. I worked on making a nice partnership with some French breeders to purchase the horse and to give him a place at stud here in France.” Whistlejacket is joined on the Haras de Grandcamp roster for 2026 by the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes hero Big Rock and Grosser Preis von Baden scorer Zagrey, with Jean-Philippe Dubois leading the group of breeders who have committed to supporting the former Aidan O'Brien trainee in his second career. Manceau adds, “I think he will fit plenty of mares and [appeal to] plenty of breeders. We made a little syndicate with a few shares to sell. In only 48 hours that was done, so it was showing already a few good signs. “We will support him a lot as well. We're trying to buy around 15 mares and fillies with a speedy profile to support him during the year and to give him the best start possible at stud.” Whistlejacket's arrival at Haras de Grandcamp sees him become the fourth son of No Nay Never to find a place at stud, with the others including this colt's full-brother, Little Big Bear, who demolished his Phoenix rivals by seven lengths in 2022, and Blackbeard, who won the same year's Morny and Middle Park. No Nay Never, of course, won the Morny himself in 2013. “He comes from a very good sire-line,” Manceau continues. “His father No Nay Never was a Group 1 winner. He actually won the Morny, like Whistlejacket, and his grandfather, Johannesburg, won the Morny as well. Scat Daddy was a two-year-old winner [at Grade I level], Johannesburg was one and Hennessy was one, so that's five sires in his sire-line who were Group 1 winners at two, like him. “He's an outcross to the Sadler's Wells line and the Danehill line. He has this nice Scat Daddy blood, so I think he can be crossed with all of the Kodiac, Dark Angel and Galileo mares. All of these lines could fit him well, I think.” Bred by Camas Park, Lynch Bages and Summerhill, Whistlejacket was a knockout yearling when sold to MV Magnier and White Birch Farm for 500,000gns at Tattersalls Book 1. Within seven months he was debuting at the Curragh, becoming one of the first Ballydoyle two-year-olds to be unleashed that season. Clearly, the ambition is that Whistlejacket will produce high-class horses built in his own image, ready to go early in their juvenile campaigns, although Manceau is quick to point out that there is more staying power on the distaff side of the pedigree. “He came from a family that I love, a Wertheimer family from the good mare All Along, who was a five-time Group 1 winner,” he explains. “He's out of a Bering mare called Adventure Seeker and, obviously, he's a full-brother to Little Big Bear. He comes from that good French family which we all like here. I think that can help him to have horses who can be [talented] three-year-olds, stay a bit more and go over all type of distances. “He's standing at 16 hands. He has a lot of scope and a good walk. He's a very nice, well-made horse – that's why he made that [amount of money] at the sale.” Already, Whistlejacket is drawing admiring glances from breeders in his new surroundings at Haras de Grandcamp, little over an hour from where he enjoyed his finest hour in the Morny, beating the G2 Coventry Stakes winner Rashabar (Holy Roman Emperor) by three-quarters-of-a-length. Named after the chestnut racehorse famously depicted in George Stubbs's 18th century painting, Whistlejacket will command a fee of €14,000 in his debut season, with Manceau eager to get the ball rolling. “He was a Group 1-winning two-year-old and we need this type of profile here,” Manceau sums up. “I think, at this price point, he will be good value for breeders here in France. “He just came a week ago to the farm and I was delighted to see him in the flesh. He's such a nice-looking and calm horse. He's already had a few good shows and a few good visits. All of the breeders were pleased with him. I'm really excited to work on it and to support him at the sales, buying mares and trying to do really something great.” The post Haras de Grandcamp Welcomes Prix Morny Hero Whistlejacket 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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