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John Size continues mid-season surge as Endued and Raging Rapids bring up Sha Tin double
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Storm Rider takes advantage of light weight and sublime Karis Teetan ride to bag Group Three
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The term 'blue hen' may have emanated from the game birds of the American state of Delaware, but its appropriation by the Thoroughbred breeding industry bears similarities to its origins in that it remains a badge of honour. There are few true blue hens across the world but one who has certainly earned that title is Vimal and Gillian Khosla's Green Room, who died in December at Ballylinch Stud at the age of 23. Bred in Kentucky by Juddmonte Farms, the daughter of Theatrical never made it to the racecourse herself, but her name has echoed across the turf over the last two decades. Her own lineage entitled her to such acclaim even before one considers the exploits of her three highest-profile offspring: Lord Shanakill, Together Forever and Forever Together. Green Room was out of the Blushing Groom mare Chain Fern, who was also unraced but was of particular note as a full-sister to the top racemare and producer Al Bahathri and as the dam of GI Yellow Ribbon Stakes winner Spanish Fern (El Gran Senor). It is a time-honoured aspect of the game that breeders from around the globe have gone on to establish their own successful operations through cherry-picking mares and fillies from the drafts of large established owner-breeders. Green Room had in fact been let go by Juddmonte for 20,000gns at the 2005 Tattersalls February Sale. Almost a year later, after she had been repatriated to America, she was reoffered at Keeneland's January Sale by James Keogh's Grovendale consignment. For the Khoslas, the upscaling of a fledgling interest into a passion for breeding began almost exactly 20 years ago with the purchase of Green Room, for $240,000, when she was carrying her first foal by Speightstown. Yes, it was quite a hike in price from the previous year, but very quickly it looked like money well spent. “We started as racing enthusiasts,” says Gillian Khosla. “Vimal had some racehorses but when we got the opportunity to go into breeding, we thought that it was something we could do together. It was a new project for us after we'd sold our business.” She continues, “We've been very fortunate that we've had some wonderful people who shared their knowledge and enthusiasm with us. So we're slightly less naive than we were, but it was pure luck that we got Green Room. She was just a nice mare and an opportunity, and she's kind of guided us all the rest of the way, really.” Khosla credits Caroline Green, formerly of Templeton Stud, and Rob Speers as being of great help during their early years of boarding a few mares in England, and it was Green who put forward the suggestion of buying what has become an important foundation mare for the couple. “Caroline said, 'I really think you ought to buy this mare',” Khosla recalls. “We'd started becoming interested in pedigrees and bloodlines and we were very much guided by Caroline. She was a great sharer of knowledge and was obviously quite important to us then in beginning to get an understanding of what the business was about. “Green Room stayed in America for several years after that and went to different American sires without any great success, it has to be said. Partly because of that, and also because we had no intention of setting up anything in America, we decided that we really needed to bring her over here. So that's when we sent her to the great Galileo.” By that stage, Green Room's first foal, Lord Shanakill, had firmly stamped his mother's credentials for such a lofty mating. He had been offered as a yearling at Keeneland September and bought for Mark Gittins, who sent him to be trained by Karl Burke in Yorkshire. Burke is now established among the top echelon of trainers in Europe, but it was Lord Shanakill who gave him his first Group 1 success when winning the Prix Jean Prat in 2009. He had also taken the previous year's G2 Mill Reef Stakes, as well as being placed in both the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Dewhurst Stakes. Having briefly been sent to race in America for Richard Mandella, Lord Shanakill later returned to the UK to spend 2010 at Warren Place with Henry Cecil, who saddled him to finish his racing career with victory in the G2 Lennox Stakes before Lord Shanakill joined the Irish National Stud roster for five years. The winners Brannagh (Hennessy) and Smart Artie (Smart Strike) followed from Green Room's time in Kentucky, but it was her move to Ireland which reignited the pedigree. “That really made all the difference, and it was quite an important stage in our development, because we began to look more seriously at studying bloodlines and talking to more people,” Khosla says, and explains that, as Green wound down her Templeton operation, a new home was found for their broodmare band. “Green Room was in foal to Galileo and we were sending her next to Sea The Stars, so we approached the Aga Khan Studs in Ireland and asked if we could send her over early. Together Forever was actually born there and then Green Room moved down to Ballylinch, where we've been ever since. And we've learned so much from John [O'Connor, managing director] in particular, and all of the team at Ballylinch. That has been a fantastic thing for us.” From the first of Green Room's six matings with Galileo came the aforementioned Together Forever, a €680,000 yearling purchase by Coolmore who would go on to win the G1 Fillies' Mile before surpassing that accomplishment by producing the Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International winner City Of Troy among her five black-type-earning offspring to date. Together Forever, dam of City Of Troy, wins the Fillies' Mile | Racingfotos Thereafter, Green Room became a darling of the Goffs Orby Sale via her offspring, who, between 2014 and 2019 sold for €1.1m, €900,000, €3.2m and €3m. These included another Galileo filly who was destined to confuse pedigree enthusiasts for years to come when named Forever Together. She was also destined to be good. Forever Together won the Oaks by four and a half lengths and was second in the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes as well as being beaten a neck by Sea Of Class when runner-up in the Irish Oaks. Another of Green Room's Galileo daughters, Do You Love Me, picked up some black type when placed in the Listed Fairway Stakes at Newmarket, while the unraced Espania is now the dam of Warsaw (Wootton Bassett), the winner of a juvenile maiden at Navan last year for Aidan O'Brien. Signe, an 86-rated treble winner for Fiona Carmichael, was the result of Green Room's first mating with Sea The Stars, and she in turn is now proving her worth as a broodmare as the dam of G2 Queen's Vase winner Carmers (Wootton Bassett). Happily, the Khoslas have retained two of Green Room's winning daughters: Black Ruby (Dansili) and Fennela (Sea The Stars), and they also have the mare's final foal, the unraced three-year-old colt Yogini (Waldgeist), in training with Donnacha O'Brien. Khosla says, “Green Room had been very beautifully looked after at Ballylinch in particular. I think the reason that she never raced was that she had lots of issues with her feet. They have done absolute marvels with her, looking after her all the way through, right until the end.” She adds, “I have a great fondness for unraced broodmares, so we have more than one. With fillies who are incredibly successful on the racecourse, it isn't so often that they turn into this kind of blue hen. I suppose partly that's due to time, of course, but I also wonder about other factors within that.” John O'Connor, who oversees plenty of top-class stock at Ballylinch, had Green Room under his care for 13 years. He says, “She was a lovely, kind mare and a pleasure to have on the farm. She was a great mother to her foals and she continued to produce very good-looking and athletic progeny right into her older years. “To have bred three Group 1 winners, she was a rare commodity, but the Khoslas have deserved that because they're great owners and they really care for their horses. “Luckily they have two daughters of Green Room, which are themselves producing very nice stock. And when you think of what the daughters have done in the last couple of years, and with young daughters still to come through and getting good covers, I think we'll be hearing of the Green Room dynasty for many years to come.” Of those two retained daughters, Black Ruby, who is not currently in foal, is already the dam of two winners, Brooklyn (Night Of Thunder) and Rubydooby (Dubawi). Fennela's first foal, a filly by Lope De Vega, was bought by Amo Racing for 550,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1 last year, and she is carrying a foal by the late Wootton Bassett. The Khoslas have also enjoyed the vicarious thrill of watching City of Troy become the co-top-rated horse in the world in 2024. “And for that reason, we sent a Sea The Stars mare to him last year,” says Khosla. “We'll watch his progress with great interest.” She adds, “Coming to this after having built up a business together and sold it, it was fascinating to go out and learn something else about a completely different industry. And I think we're extremely fortunate that we've got to learn about such a complex one, realising that we've only scratched the surface, as it were.” Based in Scotland, the Khoslas travel regularly to Ireland to see their horses and visited Green Room in the week before she died. “After the last foal, who's now the three-year-old, she clearly wasn't wanting to breed again and she'd been having a lovely time out in the paddock. She's always been treated with such affection by everybody at Ballylinch. We wanted her to enjoy her retirement, which I think she did. “Probably the one who resembles her most, physically, is Black Ruby. Obviously for her last progeny, we were really fingers and everything crossed for another filly. But it just doesn't work that way, so we have a colt, and maybe the last one might be like the first one. Who knows?” That is indeed one of the draws of breeding, that for all the research and money one can invest, it remains one of the great imponderables. What we do know, however, is that Green Room's legacy, though already significant, is far from complete. The post Green Room: A True Blue Hen Remembered 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
Godolphin has topped the individual breeders list in North America for 2025 with $27,288,066 in earnings, according to statistics released Wednesday by TJC Innovations. Godolphin, which also topped the list in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, bred 228 starters with 218 wins, 168 seconds, and 183 thirds out of 1,294 starts. Brereton C. Jones was second for the year with earnings of $11,552,109 with 226 wins out of 1,494 starts. Godolphin also led the breeders list that includes partners with $28,590,307 in earnings and 263 wins from 1,598 starts. WinStar Farm LLC was second with $13,185,006 in earnings and 246 wins out of 1,530 starts. Rounding out the top 10 individual breeders were WinStar Farm LLC, $11,428,977 (188 wins / 1,201 starts); Don Alberto Corporation, $10,959,009 (132/782); Calumet Farm, $10,569,545 (300/2,187); Spendthrift Farm LLC, $7,796,784 (144/823); Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, $6,620,664 (118/789); Gary & Mary West Stables Inc., $5,747,255 (133/754); Juddmonte, $5,532,656 (47/249); and Dixiana Farms LLC, $5,174,892 (70/517). Completing the list of the top 10 breeders including partnerships were Brereton C. Jones, $11,803,757 (235 wins / 1,567 starts); Don Alberto Corporation, $11,395,309 (137/844); Calumet Farm, $10,638,647 (301/2,232); Spendthrift Farm LLC, $7,800,487 (144/825); Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, $6,958,891 (126/821); Fred W. Hertrich III, $6,939,154 (139/1,067); Machmer Hall, $6,013,472 (159/1,033); and Gary & Mary West Stables Inc., $5,747,255 (133/754). The complete lists of the top 100 breeders of 2025 are accessible through www.equineline.com. The post Godolphin Tops All Breeders in 2025 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
Veteran riders Alex Birzer and Orlando Mojica each earned career milestones, leading to the panel of racing experts voting the pair Jockey of the Week for Dec. 29-Jan. 4.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) released its full 2026 schedule in addition to the opening of registration for the 2026 Pedigree & Conformation Clinic, sponsored by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association which takes place Mar. 9-10, 2026, at Ocala Breeders' Sales (OBS) in Ocala, Florida. Registration is now open on the TOBA website, and to view the full clinic schedule, click here. The 2026 clinic will feature Mark Casse, a Hall of Fame trainer, who will be presenting during the clinic and sharing his expertise on selection for the sales and evaluating young Thoroughbreds. Casse will be joined by a distinguished lineup of speakers representing every facet of the industry, including: Niall Brennan, Niall Brennan Stables; Tammy Gantt, Florida Breeders' and Owners' Association; Kriss Eisaman, DVM; Marette Farrell, Exhale Enterprises; Dr. Richard Kent, Kaizen Sales; Donato Lanni, Lanni Bloodstock; Tim Leith, Jockey Club Information Systems; David O'Farrell, Ocala Stud; Larry Oxenham, American Society for Asset Protection; Tod Wojciechowski, Ocala Breeders' Sales Company; and Eddie Woods, Eddie Woods Stable. The post TOBA Schedule Outlined, Registration Opens for March OBS Clinic 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
In support of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, the Continuing Stallion Auction kicks off Friday, Jan. 9 and continues through Wednesday, Jan. 14. Bidding opens at 9 a.m. on Friday and closes in the afternoon of the 14th. The online auction offers seasons to 21 Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses, all CHRHF inductees or have Hall of Fame horses in their pedigrees. Among the stallions represented this year, Amie's Flatter, Collusion Illusion, Frac Daddy, Proxy, Reload, Tapiture, Senor Buscador, Tamarkuz and Weyburn. For the complete roster of stallions, click here. The post Proxy, Avie’s Flatter and Tapiture Head 2026 CHRHF Stallion Auction 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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