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Genetic testing plots Globe’s path
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Key details confirmed for Junior Drivers’ events
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Aardie’s Express back and with lofty goals
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Walker closing in on history making win
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Mascot set for Monash return
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Sharrock duo set for Te Rapa
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Clement seeking Awapuni success
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Rotorua win for Fay Khan It
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Louie Louie claims spot in Group 3 Winter Cup
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Walker closes in on 200-win season
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Bigger targets ahead for Sharrock duo
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Linlithgow Stakes
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By my calculations, if you remove the 2 extra FY25 meetings, that represents an increase of 13.3% YOY turnover. Extrapolating from that and applying the same increase to say $400m GBR, assuming margins remain stable, that would mean an annual increase of about $50m GBR. Of course, not all of that is due to the online monopoly. Some has come from CPI, increased marketing etc., but even if it were, it is still only about 1/2 the predicted recapture at this stage. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
After having a bone chip removed following her runner-up finish in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Legion Racing's Drexel Hill is back on the worktab for trainer Whit Beckman.View the full article -
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
DONCASTER, ENGLAND – Tilly and Hannah Marley, the daughters of renowned pinhooker, breeze-up consignor and pre-trainer Roger, are the newest names on the consigning block at Goffs and will be bidding to get MG Bloodstock [Marley Girls] off to a flying start with its three-strong draft at this week's Premier Yearling Sale. The Marley girls have already proved themselves a chip off the old block when their Ubettabelieveit pinhook turned a profit of 50,000gns when selling to Richard Hughes on behalf of Jaber Abdullah at last year's Somerville Yearling Sale. That filly turned out to be dual winner Sayidah Hard Spun, who now boasts a rating of 86 and is a good advertisement of what the young girls are capable of. From their corner in barn A, which was a beehive of activity on Monday, Hannah simply said, “We're feeling quite cool, calm and collected at the moment. We are very lucky to have Dad as our right-hand man and to guide us in the right direction. He answers every question that we have and, to be honest, we wouldn't be able to do this without him.” Tilly added, “I feel like we are in the very same position as when Dad is consigning. The only difference is that it is our name over the door.” The money earned from last year's pinhooks has allowed the Marley sisters to speculate again. They will be hoping lightning can strike twice with their Ubettabelieveit colt [lot 330], who was picked up for 11,000gns as a foal, and with their Sergei Prokofiev filly [348], sourced for the same sum. Meanwhile, the Minzaal filly [310] has been sent to the young consignors on behalf of a client. Tilly explained, “We did well with a Ubettabelieveit filly at the Somerville Sale at Tattersalls last year. She sold very well – 12,000gns into 62,000gns – and went on to win twice for Richard Hughes so she is a good flag-bearer for us to have. We put that money straight back into foals and now here we are.” Tilly, 21, has spent a summer working in France at Henri Bozo's Monceaux Stud while Hannah, 23, has gained experience with Coolmore, Paul Shanahan and has ridden out for Richard Hughes. There is no such thing as pre-sale nerves here and, one thing is for sure, the Marley Girls are going to have a lot of fun win, lose or draw. Hannah said, “We are heavily-involved in the running of the farm at home and do all of the breezers with Dad under Church Farm. This is just our own little side hustle! The name MG Bloodstock is very original! We were just throwing names out there and thinking how we would like to go about it MG Bloodstock is the one that stuck.” Tilly concluded, “Hopefully we will have a bit of luck and we have chosen the right horses for the right sale. From there, it's out of our hands. We have been very busy so far. Obviously we had Arqana last week but not everybody goes there. This is the first British yearling sale of the season and it feels as though everyone is here and it seemed as though a lot of buyers were eager to get in here this morning and to get on with it.” The post ‘It’s Our Little Side Hustle’ – Marley Girls Newest Names To Consigning Ranks 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
We've seen ebullient yearling markets in Japan, America and France so far this year and now Britain enters the fray with what for many is a favourite sale of the year. No matter how long it has now been Goffs UK, the sales company formerly known as Doncaster Bloodstock Sales (DBS) will always be Donny. More confusingly for those who are not aware of its history, it will always have its roots in the Scottish Borders rather than Yorkshire, but that's a story for another day. Donny is Donny, and this week it's where it's at. Henry Beeby, the group chief executive of Goffs, says, “When we changed the brand, Peter Doyle said, 'Oh, it won't be Doncaster anymore.' And I said, 'It's only the company we've changed, not the name of the town.'” It's not just Goffs UK which has Scottish heritage. Beeby is a son of Hawick and is these days a GB export to Ireland, the true Goffs heartland. He's back where it all started for this week's Premier Yearling Sale (or, more correctly, just across the road from where it all started) but in his mind the countdown is also on to the company's premier Irish sale, the Orby, which kicks off in a month's time. Two countries, two sales, two distinct identities, but with a team that unifies them, as well as an impressive array of graduates from each venue this season. To pluck just two, Power Blue, the G1 Phoenix Stakes winner, is perhaps the typical 'Donny Rocket' (I had to, I'm sorry), while treble Oaks winner Minnie Hauk exemplifies the profile of horse for which the Orby cataloguers strive. As a daughter of Frankel from the family of Kingman, and a stunning individual to boot, Minnie Hauk duly topped the Orby Sale of 2023 at €1.85m, while Power Blue, who became the first juvenile Group 1 winner of the year, and the first for his sire Space Blues, was a more reasonable £44,000. “The horses you want for Doncaster, nearly forget about the page, it's all about the individual,” Beeby says of the selection process. “Now, maybe all sales should be about the individual, but originally we couldn't get access to the pedigrees. But it slowly but surely builds up.” The six-time Group 1 winner Laurens is a fine example of what can be found at Doncaster, and Beeby is equally proud of another famous graduate. “It's a sale that has a very strong identity. You don't come to Donny and ever wonder what the horses will look like. We're proud of the fact that when you come to Donny, whatever it says on the page, you're going to find a good bunch. “I rejoice in the fact that one of the hottest stallions at the moment, Wootton Bassett, was a Donny yearling and he won our sales race – a race that's also produced Acclamation, Dark Angel, Tasleet. It punches well above its weight.” Beeby admits that having to compete with the might of Tattersalls can be energising, but he says, “The frustration for us in Donny is that the world has become so Newmarket-oriented, and that's not a criticism, because there's lots to recommend the other place. But the market thrives on alternatives. “I'm going to talk to a number of vendors in the next couple of weeks and say, 'Look, you've got some nice horses coming to us. I know because I've seen them or Nick [Nugent] has seen them. Put your head above the parapet and say, we've got a lot of nice horses this season.' Maybe we're oversensitive, but it is a frustration for us that sometimes people say, 'Well, Newmarket is coming.' I would be a believer in, whether it's horses or anything else, buy what you see.” He continues, “Again, no criticism of anybody else, [Tattersalls] is a wonderful place, wonderful sales and the other team do a great job, but we do too. We've had a treble Oaks winner this year, a couple of Royal Ascot winners, we're giving away a million quid's worth of bonuses, and we've made a concerted effort to go round a lot of the major stud farms in Ireland and have said, 'If you want there to be a vibrant market, there needs to be two [sales companies].' This year's Orby catalogue includes the sister to Charles Darwin and Blackbeard. Another of their full-siblings, Run Away, topped the sale back in 2022 when sold for €2.6m. “I have rarely seen a nicer yearling. She's a supermodel,” Beeby says. “And Kirsten [Rausing] has the most delightful Frankel. Ballylinch have got a lovely draft, including Saffron Beach's sister. What we're presenting to the market is a world-class selection of horses that would grace any catalogue, in Europe or anywhere else. We're saying to the purchasers, get ready.” Fifty Not Out The Goffs sales complex at Kildare Paddocks turns 50 this year and it will be welcoming to its midst Orby first-timers and British-based consignors Highclere Stud and Barton Stud. “I hope they sell well and are encouraged to do more of it,” says Beeby. “You should always spread your risk. There's very few Pat O'Kellys in the world. She had a small, concise draft every year. If you go to Camas Park, or Yeomanstown, or Tally-Ho, or Staffordstown, or wherever, they could be showing you 40, 50, 60 horses. They're not going to send them all to us, and probably nor should they. “But I think we will build on trying to get overseas horses to come and, if you like, swim against the tide, because everything's in place and the currency difference is negligible. You can stand out and the Orby Book 1 is a concise two-day sale, then we have Orby Book 2. You can pack a good bunch of horses in the four days and people are there, they like working it, the bonuses apply and the [Goffs] million applies to both books. “We've given away £500,000 in bonuses in England this year already, and we've got a couple more to give away in Ireland. This is the second year, but it's the first year people have really paid attention and targeted races.” The bloodstock business is of course as much about people as it is about horses, and Beeby stresses the need to work closely with breeders and vendors in compiling the catalogue in the first place. Just as there are horses for courses, so are there horses for sales. “I can categorically say we don't make the decision before we go to the field,” he says. “We would try not to pigeonhole horses, but by the same token, when you're in said yard or field, I will often say, 'That's a real Donny horse.' “But the selecting of yearlings is very much about working with the vendor. Most vendors of experience will say, I'm thinking of this sale. They're normally right. Our challenge is to go and say, 'But what's that?' “We zone in on that horse who might be going to Book 2 and if we think it's really smart and looks like a two-year-old we'd say, 'Wouldn't you think about Doncaster?' But really you're working with the vendor, and you're really trying to persuade the vendor to give you as good a crack at the whip as you can get.” A concern for some smaller operators is how hard it can be to get a yearling into a sale. That said, the widely reported drop in foal numbers in Britain, Ireland and beyond, may ease that situation in the coming years, but how much is that shrinkage of the pool of Thoroughbreds a worry for the sales companies? Beeby says, “It's not that it's not of concern, but in my time I've seen that it's a very cyclical business. Things rise and fall, ebb and flow. “I worked my first sale in 1978 and it seems to go in seven-to-10-year cycles, and it's only a question of how high the peaks are and how low the dips are. Obviously, the financial crash was the worst one of my career. Covid looked like it could be and we actually managed Covid quite well, all of us.” He continues, “Britain and Ireland have a strong international reputation, and it's also hooked into the psyche. That's the great thing about the bloodstock business in Britain and Ireland: it's largely populated by lifetime professionals, whatever their area of expertise may be, who all say 'I love my job, it drives me bonkers, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else.' “What gives me great heart is seeing how many young pinhookers turn up at the Goffs November Foal Sale every year. I worry that you don't have the same depth of that in England, so that's a concern.” Yorkshire Stampede In England this week, however, there appears to be something of a gold rush feel already at Doncaster. Our man on the ground there is Brian Sheerin, and his verdict on Monday morning was that when he attempted to start his rounds at Barn A it was like lining up for the start of the Grand National. “There are a lot of challenges in England and Ireland and worldwide, but there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic too,” says Beeby, who is never not outwardly optimistic, but then nobody wants a pessimist in charge of a sale. “Saratoga and Japan would make you very optimistic from a bloodstock selling point of view. And there's huge overseas investment going on from the big entities.” A positive start to the yearling season in Britain will be welcomed all round, but nowhere more so than within the Goffs board room. “Look at the record of Donny, with the July Cup winner [No Half Measures] and the Phoenix winner just recently. That demonstrates what's here at Donny, so miss it at your peril,” warns Beeby. “But also, from an Orby point of view, we've got a catalogue that I know is packed full of horses that are the measure of any. And I'd like to ask people to give us a fair crack of the whip, whether it's vendors or purchasers. Work the sale, work the catalogue, and buy what you see, not what's left.” What could be in front of you this week is another Weatherbys Super Sprint winner, like Anthelia, who cost her trainer Rod Millman £6,000 this time last year. He can add a few noughts to the end of that now. Or Tadej, a £65,000 purchase who won the G3 Prix de Cabourg in August for Archie Watson, or Jm Jungle, a £46,000 buy four years ago who has won in every racing season since then and is producing his best work at the age of five. And let's not forget, she may have returned whence she came, but Lady Iman was also on the Doncaster sales grounds last year. These, among others, will all have been shouted home by the Goffs team with gusto this season, along with Saturday's G2 Debutante Stakes winner, the Orby graduate Composing, or another from the same sale, Lifeplan, who landed the G2 Gimcrack Stakes just 24 hours earlier. Beeby says, “Sometimes people ask why we say 'our horses'? It has nothing to do with us, we know that, but just because we've held them in our hands for about two minutes we feel a link to them for the rest of their careers. We love them.” Passion. It's what this game is all about. The post ‘Get Ready’: Henry Beeby on the Diverse Delights of Donny and the Orby 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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