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By Chief Stipe · Posted
Farmers for their time perhaps but methods improved and not many of the old school moved with the times hence the lack of track maintenance. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
DEL MAR, Calif — “I drank too much.” Ever the professional, even when feeling a little worse for wear, Yoshito Yahagi was at a 7.30 a.m. press call with his Breeders' Cup Classic winner Forever Young (Jpn). The latter was looking sparkier than his trainer, but then he hadn't been out late in a Mexican restaurant celebrating the LA Dodgers sealing back-to-back wins in the World Series. “I'm a bit hungover. The horse is in much better condition than me,” Yahagi admitted. An avowed fan of baseball, he unzipped his red Forever Young jacket to show his Dodgers t-shirt underneath, but the trainer's one regret was that the win of his team, which includes Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, took a little of the gloss off the landmark win of his own equine superstar in the Thoroughbred World Championships. “Of course, I'm really happy the Dodgers won the World Series. But on the other side, I'm sad that the Dodgers took all the news headlines, as that's like stealing from our achievement,” he said. In this bubble of the racing world, however, all the plaudits are for Susumu Fujita's tough-as-teak 4-year-old, who scrimmaged his way to third-place finishes in last year's Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic before outgunning one of the world's best, Romantic Warrior (Ire), in February's Saudi Cup. That $20m contest is unsurprisingly on his agenda once more, with Yahagi advising that Forever Young will go straight to Riyadh without a prep run. “I think we will give him a little spell until the Saudi Cup,” he said. “Because we will try to have him in the best condition possible and he needs to recover physically. So we want to give him space to recover. “At the moment, we are already planning to go to the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup. We won't make any plans yet for after the Dubai World Cup. Of course, if he's fresh and he says yes, then we'll go forward after Dubai.” The trainer also dangled a tantalising carrot for race fans in Europe that Forever Young may yet be tried on grass. “If I select a turf race, I will try just one time,” he said. “So I have to select one race. Maybe the Arc, you never know.” Forever Young's old foes Sierra Leone, Fierceness and Mystik Dan are now all heading to the stallion yards of Ashford Stud and Airdrie Stud, and Yahagi said that connections would consider offers for his horse in time. As well as Forever Young's notable achievements on the track, he boasts a pedigree with broad international appeal. His sire Real Steel (Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn), is from the family of Miesque and is closely related to Study Of Man (Ire), who is carving out a successful stud career in Britain. Moreover, Forever Young is from the same family as his runner-up in the Classic, Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), with their respective dams Forever Darling (Congrats) and Heavenly Love (Malibu Moon) being half-sisters. “We are not ready yet,” he said of a stallion deal. “But we try to open the door for people from all over the world for the syndicate for Forever Young. So anyone interested, please knock on the door.” There is an extra sense of pride for Yahagi in having also trained the Dubai Turf winner Real Steel, who is a full-brother to his 2021 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Loves Only You (Jpn). That year he also sent out Marche Loraine (Jpn) (Orfrevre {Jpn}) to win the Distaff at Del Mar. “When I won here with Marche Loraine, I thought I had done something incredible,” Yahagi said. “But I was very sad that there wasn't much coverage in Japan. The difference between then and now is, with Forever Young winning the Classic, the whole of Japan, everyone is so happy. This is the difference between Marche Loraine's achievement and Forever Young's achievement. There is a big gap.” With career earnings in excess of $20m and Grade I wins in America and Saudi Arabia as well as his native Japan, Forever Young's popularity is spreading rapidly. He will surely now be a contender for Horse of the Year in America, even though he will leave the country on Monday. “His achievements, it's not for me as a trainer, it's for Forever Young. It's all him,” Yahagi said. “When I train the produce of horses I have trained, like Real Steel, Contrail, Mozu Ascot, and they win races it gives me the same special feeling as I have with Ryusei Sakai when he is riding winners. He's my stable jockey and now he has won the Breeders' Cup Classic. I have known him since he was a kid and when I look at how he has grown in confidence and his technique, that is what makes him a world-class jockey right now.” Yahagi attributes Forever Young's improved performance at this year's Breeders' Cup to the fact that Real Steel's offspring are “late-developing horses”. He said, “This year the biggest change in Forever Young is physical, and also his recovery. It's amazing how he has recovered in himself already. Physically, he's really built up and now we feel that he can compete with American horses.” Compete he did, on a dramatic afternoon which those of us watching won't forget in a hurry. The post ‘The Horse is in Much Better Condition Than Me’: Yoshito Yahagi on a Wild Night of Celebrations for Forever Young and the LA Dodgers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
Dont think S.A needs any advice on that score. I recall the morning when Mr Gould went around the course proper on his hunter, jumped some fences too as I remember. For all the angst that caused among trainers, at least silver spooners like the Goulds and their ilk - Hutton, Montgomery, Rutherford, Greenwood - were farmers. Privileged, yes, but had an understanding of stock, land, and did at least race and breed a horse or two. Richard Rutherford still doing so in a significant manner I believe. Not like the current incumbents, most of whom have no familiarity at all with the very animals and people they administer. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Fully 10,000 miles from their birthplace at Tweenhills Farm and Stud, Qatar Racing homebreds Buckaroo, Middle Earth and Valiant King now face the most important two-mile test of their lives on Tuesday, with a place in history assured should one of them reach its end as a Melbourne Cup winner. From the lush paddocks of Tweenhills to the manicured turf of Flemington, it's been quite the journey, both literally and figuratively. Between them the trio amassed 27 starts in Europe – Buckaroo and Valiant King with Joseph O'Brien, Middle Earth with John and Thady Gosden – but now Australia is well and truly home, chasing the sort of bumper paydays that simply wouldn't have been available to them on home soil. Already Buckaroo has earned over A$3 million (around €1.7 million) from 19 starts in Australia. A Group 1 winner in last year's Underwood Stakes, the son of Fastnet Rock has finished placed at the top level on seven other occasions, including when flashing home to pass the post just a short head behind Via Sistina in the latest running of the A$6,000,000 Cox Plate, Australia's premier weight-for-age race. “He's been incredibly unlucky,” says David Redvers, Tweenhills owner and racing manager to Sheikh Fahad Al Thani. “He probably would have won three Group 1s with different rides, if not four. The rub of the green has gone slightly against him with poor draws and him having to come very wide and late. He's always getting there but on occasions not quite in time. “If I'm honest, I thought the 10-furlong option on the Saturday after the Melbourne Cup [the G1 Champions Stakes] was probably the more sensible option, but then he could have won a Melbourne Cup last year with a different draw and a bit of a clearer run.” Beaten less than four lengths in the 2024 edition, Buckaroo will be partnered this year by Craig Williams, who belatedly broke his Melbourne Cup duck in 2019, having been deprived of the opportunity to partner Sheikh Fahad's 2011 winner, Dunaden. “Craig should have ridden Dunaden to win the Melbourne Cup, but he got a late ban which is why Christophe Lemaire flew down,” Redvers remembers. “It would be just deserts if he could do it, but he's far from our only runner in the race – he's actually far from our best chance in the race, to be honest.” Step forward Valiant King who, like Buckaroo, joined the Chris Waller yard from O'Brien late in 2023, both of them now owned in partnership with Ozzie Kheir, among others. This time last year, Valiant King was a 90/1 shot when finishing 13th in the Melbourne Cup, most definitely not the immediate hit Down Under that was Buckaroo. Twelve months on, however, and the son of Roaring Lion appears to be peaking at just the right time, having followed his breakthrough Australian win in Flemington's G3 The Bart Cummings with a staying-on third in the G1 Caulfield Cup. “For me, he is the best handicapped horse in the race,” says a bullish Redvers. “When I saw him in July, I was frankly blown away by how he's done, physically. He actually looked the image of his father. He'd gone from being quite a shelly horse to suddenly looking very well-muscled and mature. Chris has been very, very patient with him and it's definitely paying off. “I wouldn't be worried about the ground softening up for him – in fact, it can do whatever it likes. Hopefully, he can repeat his Caulfield Cup run and get a bit of luck in running. Obviously, the favourite [Al Riffa] is a very, very good horse, but I would be optimistic that he can go two better than he did in the Caulfield.” Completing the trio of homebreds in which Sheikh Fahad retains a significant share is Buckaroo's year-younger sibling, Middle Earth, who ran easily his best race since joining Ciaron Maher when last seen finishing third in the G3 JRA Cup at Moonee Valley. “He's taken a bit of time to find his feet, but he seems to be finding them well now and the aim always was that he'd be a Melbourne Cup horse,” says Redvers. “Ciaron and his team have worked backwards from this race. “He ran in blinkers the other day [in the JRA Cup] to try and get him to cop on a little bit, because he's slightly been going through the motions, and they seemed to work the oracle. He's crying out for this extra distance, so we're very much looking forward to seeing him run. Hopefully, he can keep up the family tradition.” Certainly, it's quite the achievement for the Galileo mare Roheryn to have two runners in the Melbourne Cup, around 10 weeks after she also had two runners – Kihavah (Harbour Watch) and Siege Of Troy (Siyouni) – in Europe's richest Flat handicap, the Ebor. Just a few days before the Ebor, she also had her latest offspring, a colt by Siyouni, sell to Godolphin for €600,000 at the Arqana August Yearling Sale. “She's been phenomenal,” Redvers says of the mare he purchased for $400,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “She won a Listed race for us with Ger Lyons and she's one of those rare things in that she's done it for us both on the track and in the breeding shed. “She has produced the goods time after time and was very worthy of being a broodmare of the year finalist [at the 2025 TBA Flat Breeders' Awards]. She didn't have a foal this year, but she's in foal to Justify and I think she'll go to Not This Time next year, so the story is very definitely still being written.” Sadly, for everyone concerned with Tweenhills and Qatar Racing, the story of Roaring Lion's stallion career was all too short, with the four-time Group 1 winner succumbing to colic after just one season at the Gloucestershire farm in 2019. From the resulting 107 foals, Middle Earth and Valiant King already feature among eight individual stakes winners for their late sire, but a Melbourne Cup victory for either of them would be something else altogether. “We've also got Saint George running on the card [in the Listed Kirin Ichiban Plate],” Redvers points out. “He is another Roaring Lion out there and the most beautiful horse, almost completely white now. He has been plagued with foot problems, but Ciaron Maher's superb farrier has now fixed them. He ran an absolute blinder at Seymour last time, in a Listed race over a mile. He's a definitely a mile-and-six-furlong horse, so we're excited to see how he progresses as he steps up in distance. We're looking for a big Roaring Lion double. “The bit that I'm personally extremely proud of is that we've got four stunning-looking runners for Melbourne Cup day and they were all bred by Qatar Racing at Tweenhills, in our little corner of Gloucestershire.” But why send these four stunning-looking horses to Australia, when they could still have been running in – and more than likely competitive in – plenty of good races back home in Europe? “With horses that obviously aren't going to become stallions, Sheikh Fahad has very much been chasing prize-money,” Redvers explains. “I suppose it all started off with Selino. We had him here with James Fanshawe and he was running third in Group 3s at Doncaster and the like and picking up 15 grand. We then sent him over to Australia where he won a Sydney Cup and, suddenly, you've got over a million coming into the bank account. The prize-money for these horses in Australia is obviously way beyond anything they could earn in a career's worth of competition here, let alone one race. “Sheikh Fahad took the view that he would sell large chunks of these horses to Australian owners to race down there. Ozzie Kheir, through Matt Houldsworth and Matt Becker, has been buying into our nice horses, as have other people. And Sheikh Fahad is very happy to keep 50% to race in Australia because of the vast prize-money – it's a policy which has paid off extremely well.” If Sheikh Fahad has a deep love affair with Australian racing, then much of that is owed to the globetrotting superstar that was Dunaden, the first flagship horse for the owner's Pearl Bloodstock, the forerunner to Qatar Racing. His Melbourne Cup victory was the middle leg of a hat-trick which also took in the G3 Geelong Cup and G1 Hong Kong Vase in 2011, before he returned to Australia to win the Caulfield Cup the following year. “He was a remarkable horse,” Redvers sums up. “It [the Melbourne Cup] was one of the most agonising photo-finish results I've ever been through, but also one of the most rewarding. I'm trying to pull together the same team that was there when Dunaden won for when we turn up on Tuesday.” He continues, “I don't think it's been touted enough just how much Dunaden did for and British and French racing–and probably Australian racing as well. It wasn't just his victories in the Geelong, Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, it was the fact that he ignited a flame in the Qataris and made them realise that they could take on the Sheikh Mohammeds and the like. “He ensured that Pearl Bloodstock turned into Qatar Racing and that a lot of investment came in through Sheikh Fahad and his brothers. For that, we should be pretty grateful to him.” The strength of one Qatari investor, in particular, was again in evidence at the recent Tattersalls Autumn Horses-in-Training Sale. Here, the shoe was on the other foot for Sheikh Fahad as he sold his G3 Darley Stakes runner-up, Gladius, to Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown for 950,000gns. The son of Night Of Thunder was bought on behalf of Wathnan Racing, the increasingly influential enterprise of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar and a cousin of Sheikh Fahad. “It was bittersweet, obviously,” Redvers says of last week's sale, which also saw the operation's homebred Grade I winner New Century change hands for 390,000gns. “You hate selling good horses and seeing them go on in somebody else's colours. But we have to run Qatar Racing as a business and, as a self-funding operation, we have to generate funds through sales and moving horses to other jurisdictions to chase the prize-money. “Gladius was part of a colts' partnership that involved David Howden and China Horse Club and he was always going to be sold at the end of his three-year-old career. We would have loved to stay in him to go to Australia, but Richard Brown had picked the best horse in the sale and Wathnan wielded a big cheque. It was great to see him go to a good home. We will all be following his new career, and that of New Century, with great interest.” Whilst able to reflect on a successful sale from a business standpoint, Redvers admits to becoming “more concerned on a daily basis” when it comes to the general health of British racing, dreading to think what the European sales would have looked like without the international buyers propping them up. He says, “The cracks are being plastered over by the fact that the international market has been giving the impression that the bloodstock sales have been really strong. So many of these horses are being bought for export – you only had to look at the trade at the horses-in-training sale last week. The export of our best horses abroad, whilst great in the short term, is very damaging in the long term. “We are really struggling here and we're going to struggle as the economy continues to tank thanks to some rather dubious economic policies of the current Government. I think we're going to find domestic racehorse owners in shorter supply and the knock-on effect from that is less horses being bred for sale and to race. The whole thing has a snowball effect on field sizes. “We're racing to the bottom quite quickly, until something is done to redistribute funds from the racing product more equitably and we can put more money into prize-money.” Despite those concerns, Redvers can always find contentment in his “little corner of Gloucestershire” at Tweenhills which, among other things, is home to a stallion who has made a very promising start in the 2,000 Guineas hero Kameko. “He's looking really solid,” Redvers says of the sire whose first crop yielded the aforementioned New Century, in addition to the consistent Pattern performer Wimbledon Hawkeye. “He's making it very obvious that he can get a very good horse and what is exciting about him is the fact that, with Zoustar staying Down Under, he got the best book of mares he'd ever had last year. His foals this year were the best foals he's had to date and then the mares he covered this year was the biggest and best book he's had since his retirement to stud–the future is looking pretty rosy for him.” Kameko also delivered Tweenhills a notable result in the sales ring last year, with a full-brother to New Century being knocked down to Godolphin for 1,000,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. That price was a new record for a colt at Book 2, headlining the first Tweenhills consignment at any yearling sale since 2012. This year, the operation offered another 25 yearlings across Books 1, 2 and 3 at Park Paddocks, including a Kameko half-brother to the G1 Coronation Cup winner Defoe (Dalakhani), who was bought by Will Douglass Bloodstock for 250,000gns at Book 1. “It's been very rewarding for my team,” Redvers says of the return to consigning yearlings, a happy consequence of Sheikh Fahad's rationalisation of his racing interests. “Ivo Thomas and Scott Marshall, who manage Tweenhills, have been doing an amazing job. I think it's important for them and their team that they have the exposure and the interest of taking yearlings to the sales. “[This year] I think we managed to sell everything we took to the sales bar one and it was very successful. We didn't have the real bellringer that we had last year, but we had some very solid results. They were a lovely bunch across the board and they were all raised in the same paddocks as the horses that are going to be trying to win Melbourne Cups and what have you. “You never stop learning, but Tweenhills seems to be running extremely well at the moment. We farm the land very lightly and very traditionally, we've got lots of cattle and a huge amount of acres per horse – and I think it shows.” The post The Little Corner of Gloucestershire Firing Three Darts at the Race That Stops A Nation 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
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Australian representative Gary Hall Junior will take a 15 point lead into the second day of the World Driving Championship at Kaikoura on Monday. On Sunday the multiple Group 1 winning driver from Perth had almost the perfect start to WDC 2025 with two wins and a second from the opening three heats. He has 44 points, with Italian Giampaolo Minnucci second on 29, and former world champion Pierre Vercruysse third on 21. New Zealand’s representative Blair Orange is sixth equal on 17 points. His best performance was a third with Ohoka Cobra in the day’s third heat. Hall was installed the outright favourite for the WDC after the fields were released for the opening day at Kaikoura and he didn’t disappoint. “Everyone told me if you are not leading after the first day they’ll be something wrong with you – so I’m pretty happy,” Hall said post race. He won the first heat comfortably when the in-form Tom Bagrie-trained Hoof It Hagrid held on from a game Rachmaninov and Granny Rose while hotpot Midnight Diamond was drawn one the second row in Heat 2 but found space early on and cruised by her rivals to win easily. It was the Ross Houghton-trained mare’s fourth win in a row. In the day’s third and final heat Hall was leading with Spirit Downunder only to be run down by Scrunch (Giampaolo Minnucci), trained by Robert and Jenna Dunn. The two wins and a second capped off a big few days for Hall after he couldn’t find his passport and was in danger of missing his flight, only to get a replacement at the very last minute. “It was the most stressful day of my life I reckon,” he says. Monday will see two more heats, Race 3, the Donegal House Heat 4 (1.20pm) and the Kaikoura ITM-sponsored Race 5 at 2.16pm The day will also feature the 100th running of the Alabar NZ Kaikoura Cup at 4.40pm. After Kaikoura’s two day meeting the WDC heads to Cambridge on Wednesday where there will be another five heats. Then it’s on to Addington on Friday (Nov 7) and Winton (Nov 9) before the grand finale on IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup day at Addington on Tuesday, November 11. Points (after 3 heats at Kaikoura) : Gary Hall Junior (Australia) 44 Giampaolo Minnucci (Italy) 29 Pierre Vercruysse ( France) 21 Santtu Raitala (Finland) 18 Brett Beckwith (USA) 18 James MacDonald (Canada) 17 Blair Orange (New Zealand) 17 Mats Djuse (Sweden) 9 Michael Nimczyk (Germany) 7 Jaap van Rijn (Netherlands) 5 Both Vercruysse (2013) and MacDonald (2017) are both previous winners of the WDC. View the full article
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