Wandering Eyes

Calandagan is the world's top-rated horse and rides a string of three straight group 1 wins but faces one more challenge this season--the Nov. 30 Japan Cup.View the full article

Sunday, Tokyo, Japan, post time: 15:40, JAPAN CUP-G1, ¥960,400,000, 3yo/up, 2400mT Field: Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Croix Du Nord (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}), Cosmo Kuranda (Jpn) (Al Ain {Jpn}), Deep Monster (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Sunrise Earth (Jpn) (Rey De Oro {Jpn}), Ho O Biscuits (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Jpn}), Seiun Hades (Jpn) (Silver State {Jpn}), Struve (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), Admire Terra (Jpn) (Rey De Oro {Jpn}), Yoho Lake (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Brede Weg (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), Danon Decile (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}), Masquerade Ball (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), Shin Emperor (Jpn) (Siyouni {Fr}), Durezza (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), Tastiera (Jpn) (Satono Crown {Jpn}). Click here for the complete field. The post Black-Type Analysis: Can Calandagan Overcome Japan Cup Foes? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

A grey son of Frankel became the first seven-figure lot of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale when selling for 1,150,000gns to MV Magnier. Lot 882 was consigned by West Blagdon Stud and is a son of the G3 Prix de Lieurey heroine Cloudy Dawn (Kodiac). He was bred by James Wigan. Under the third dam is Group 1 winner and celebrated producer Grey Lilas (Danehill). “A great result for James Wigan – he is one of the best breeders there is,” said MV Magnier. “It's a great farm and they have a great track record of raising very good horses. Frankel is a very good stallion, as you all know, and a lot of sons of Galileo are doing well at stud. We'll bring him back home and we'll review what we do in the summer but I would say most likely he will go to Ballydoyle. It's a lot of money for him but, I suppose when you breed a horse like that, the Wigans deserved to get that price.” The post MV Magnier Pays 1.15m Gns For Son Of Frankel At Tattersalls December appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Calandagan is the world's top-rated horse and rides a string of three straight group 1 wins but faces one more challenge this season—the Nov. 30 Japan Cup.View the full article

TOKYO, JAPAN — For 20 years the Japan Cup has remained at home. Alkaased (Kingmambo) was the last foreign raider to wrest it from the locals, winning in 2005 for the Italian-born, British-based combo of Luca Cumani and Frankie Dettori. This time around, for the 45th running of the race, the international challenge has been whittled to just one – but he's a good one: Calandagan. The son of Gleneagles, who will jump from stall eight, is the third runner in the race for Francis Graffard, who sent out Erupt (Dubawi) to finish sixth a decade ago and Goliath (Adlerflug) last year for that same sixth placing. The way his season has gone – with major international wins in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup, as well as two Classics at home, Graffard cannot be overlooked when he shows up at a major race day. That is particularly true this Sunday when his representative happens to be topping the table for the Longines World Rankings. Two years ago those rankings had a Japanese horse and a Japanese race at the top for the first time after Equinox (Kitasan Black) brought his globally enjoyed career to a close with a Japan Cup performance which moved his trainer Tetsuya Kimura to tears. On Friday night, the stallion was rightly inducted into the JRA Hall of Fame. At the vast JRA-run Miho Training Centre earlier in the day, the trainer of this year's favourite, Masquerade Ball (Duramente), was pondering how his rising star of a three-year-old will cope with all the commotion in those crucial final moments before the start of the race. Asked if he is feeling confident, Takahisa Tezuka replies with a laugh, “Not really. That's the short answer.” For a longer answer, he adds some context. “The main reason is that the distance of the Tenno Sho is shorter [by 400m], and for that race they start from the chute in a very quiet area. The start of the Japan Cup is right in front of the grandstand where all the fans are clapping and shouting. Masquerade Ball is still mentally immature and sometimes gets agitated in different atmospheres. Personally, I think it would be nice if we could have a lead pony, like in the United States, that might help to calm him down. But we don't have that system in the JRA.” Takahisa Tezuka, trainer of Masquerade Ball | Emma Berry Instead of the services of a lead pony and outrider, Tezuka can call upon one ofJapan's most acclaimed jockeys, the French import Christophe Lemaire, who is currently leading the jockeys' championship and made his first partnership with the Shadai Farm homebred a memorable one by winning the Tenno Sho (Autumn) on November 1. It was quite the performance given that it was Masquerade Ball's first run in five months after finishing second to Croix Du Nord in the Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun). “In the Derby at Tokyo he was second and looking back at his record at Tokyo racecourse we know that he is really good there. That was one of the reasons that we chose the Tenno Sho after the summer break,” Tezuka says. “We used the summer break to give him a rest as we didn't want to train him during the summer heat.” The trainer, who has previously saddled Win Marilyn for victory in the Hong Kong Vase, may consider a foreign foray for Masquerade Ball when he returns to training next year. Tezuka also has plenty of respect for this year's international visitor to Tokyo. “He's only a three-year-old and he still has some maturing to do and I am not sure how well he will adapt to a different environment,” he says. “So at the moment I am just focusing on the domestic races for him and I don't have a specific race in a specific country in mind. [Travelling abroad] will be one option for him next year but it will be up to what the owner wants to do.” That happens to be Teruya Yoshida, a man with a greater global outlook than most and whose Shadai Farm is seeking a first win as owner in the Japan Cup. Of taking the challenge overseas, Tezuka adds, “Japanese horses need more than ability. They need to be able to adapt to their surroundings, to the undulations of the courses. Sending horses abroad always goes with the experience, not only for the horses but for the trainers or the staff who will take care of the horses daily. But we have to keep challenging overseas. “This year the Japan Cup will be a bit different. We have had several overseas-trained horses here for the past few years but Calandagan is a bit different. I am very happy that Masquerade Ball is going to run against the current number one in the world in the IFHA rankings.” Durezza in his stable at Miho Training Centre | Emma Berry By Friday evening's gala dinner for the Japan Cup, Lemaire, who has for a long time now been adopted by Japanese racing professionals and fans as one of their own, arrived to a hero's welcome. Conducting interviews in fluent Japanese, English and his native French, he is understandably looking forward to having a favourite's chance to equal the record of five wins in the Japan Cup held by the evergreen Yutake Take. “It will be a tougher race against the older horses but Masquerade Ball has got plenty of talent, he's improving race after race and the trip will be perfect for him,” says Lemaire. “I'm quite confident of victory again this year. “Yutaka is a legendary jockey here in Japan and all around the world, so breaking or tying one of his records would be a big achievement. Five Japan Cups would be fantastic for me of course, but I won't focus on that particular number. I will just focus on Masquerade Ball and giving him the best trip I can to try to win the race.” Masquerade Ball will also be running against no fewer than three Derby winners. His conqueror this year Croix Du Nord – whose sire Kitasan Black won the Japan Cup in 2016 and then supplied Equinox, the horse who gave it world-leading status in 2023 – is joined by Danon Decile and Tastiera, the winners of the two previous years and by stallions who also boast Japan Cup form in Epiphanaeia, the winner in 2014, and Satono Crown, who was runner-up to Kitasan Black. Danon Decile had the measure of Calandagan when the pair met in earlier this year in the Dubai Sheema Classic and he was then fifth in the Juddmonte International on his further international endeavours in the UK. Tastiera, too, has been on his travels and won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong back in April. Then of course there are the returning dead-heaters from last year, Durezza and Shin Emperor, who finished joint-second behind Do Deuce (Heart's Cry), last year's Horse of the Year in Japan who is now at the Shadai Stallion Station. If Calandagan can't win then the Aga Khan Studs team would be happy with a victory for Siyouni's French-bred son Shin Emperor, the brother to Arc winner Sottsass, representing Breeders' Cup Classic-winning trainer Yoshito Yahagi. He is yet to win at the highest level, though the race he won in Riyadh in February, the Howden Neom Turf Cup, has recently been granted Group 1 status as a boost to the Saudi Cup undercard for next year. Tomohito Ozeki welcomes the press to his stable | Emma Berry Durezza is another reminder, along with Masquerade Ball, as to what a loss his sire Duramente was when he died at the age of just nine. Now five, Durezza landed the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) of 2023 and he returned from a leg fracture last year to post his valiant effort in the Japan Cup. He was also third behind Danon Decile and Calandagan in the Dubai Sheema Classic. “This is his third time racing against Calandagan so I am hoping he can finish in front of him in the Japan Cup,” says trainer Tomohito Ozeki, trainer of the dual Hong Kong Vase winner Glory Vase, as he shows a horde of marauding foreign press around his quiet stable at Miho. If there are other ways in which he'd rather spend his morning just 48 hours out from such a big race, he politely doesn't show it. He says, “[Calandagan] is the top-rated horse in the world and I think this will be a threat to my horse.” Another concern is Durezza's wide draw in stall 17 of 18, but Ozeki adds, “He was in 17 when he won the Kikuka Sho so perhaps it is a good number.” If you're looking for another good number, the sleek, dark brown Croix Du Nord, who loves to jump smartly and get on with it, breaks from gate two. Never mind all that, however. After a two-decade drought it's about time we had another European winner. So in this corner of TDN, to borrow the brilliant catchphrase of Georgia, daughter of the Aga Khan Studs racing manager Nemone Routh, we hereby declare ourselves to be CalandaFans. The post Japan Cup Home Defence Looks Strong; Just Don’t Tell the CalandaFans appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

A host of big-race successes in 2025 has contributed to Billy Jackson-Stops scooping the bloodstock agent of the year award for the first time. The presentation was made ahead of the penultimate session of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale on Friday, with Geoffrey Howson, the Hon. President of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents, handing over the prize. Jackson-Stops said, “I am greatly honoured to be named Bloodstock Agent of the Year. One of the greatest achievements anyone can have in their industry is recognition from their peers, so to be acknowledged by Geoffrey and others at the FBA means the world to me. “I must thank my wife, Lily. Without her, I could not have achieved anything close to what I've been fortunate enough to accomplish. Her ability to work, run a house, and largely raise our two children on her own is the reason I'm able to travel and work as much as I do. She gives me the peace of mind to focus fully on my job, and none of this would have been possible without her.” He added, “I've also been extremely fortunate to work with great trainers. I will always be indebted to George Scott, who took me on when I returned from Australia unemployed in 2017. We've shared some of our greatest successes together, with hopefully many more to come. Tom Clover and Andrew Balding have also been tremendous supporters. Good trainers can make average agents look good, and I've been lucky to have those three in my corner. “Finally, all the Group 1 winners this year tie back, in one way or another, to my three biggest supporters. Al Rabban Racing originally owned Gewan; Michael Blencowe initially owned Royal Supremacy and still retains a share; and Shaikh Nasser owns both Caballo De Mar and Bay City Roller. Being able to repay these people with success at the highest level has been hugely rewarding, and I cannot thank them enough for their continued support.” The post Billy Jackson-Stops Crowned Bloodstock Agent Of The Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Alpine Princess put away 27-1 longshot Corningstone in deep stretch to win the 110th running of the $385,000 Falls City Stakes (G3) by two lengths in the traditional Thanksgiving Day fixture at Churchill Downs.View the full article

The Lindsay Park team of Ben, Will and J D Hayes have their eyes on a second win in a Victorian slot race with one of their stable favourites Here To Shock (NZ) (Shocking). But first, Here To Shock heads to the Listed Testa Rossa Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday which the stable sees as the ideal pipe-opener for the A$1 million The Supernova (1400m) at Pakenham on December 13. Here To Shock led home a one-two finish in the inaugural running of the Supernova last year and Ben Hayes said The Supernova in two weeks’ time was certainly in the stable’s planning this year. Lindsay Park Racing owns a slot in the Supernova. Here To Shock has not raced since finishing sixth in the Gr.3 Moonga Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in October but had a jump-out over 800m at Flemington on November 21, finishing third. “This should be a nice prep run,” Hayes said. “We purposely freshened him to target this with the Supernova in mind, and then we might consider going over and trying to go back-to-back in the Group One over in New Zealand. “It’s the kind of race he can be very competitive in.” After his win in the Supernova last year, Here To Shock was freshened before travelling to New Zealand where he won the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa in February. The Lindsay Park team has had success on previous hit-and-run missions to New Zealand, claiming the Karaka Millions 3YO Classic with Long Leaf (Fastnet Rock) in 2017 while Conqueror (Fastnet Rock) ran second to Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) in the corresponding race 12 months later. The Hayes brothers are planning on sending Torture (NZ) (Sword Of State), winner of the Listed Debutant Stakes at Caulfield in October, to New Zealand for the Karaka Millions 2YO Classic at Ellerslie in January. Joining Here To Shock in the Testa Rossa Stakes on Saturday will be Run Harry Run (Written Tycoon) who is coming off a first-up win in the Ararat Bowl (1300m) on November 9. Hayes said Run Harry Run had been freshened for a late tilt at the spring carnival. “But when we got the heavy track, we decided to be patient and he came out and won the Ararat Bowl, so it was good to get him back in the winner’s stall,” Hayes said. “He actually has pretty good form behind Globe, and he’s been racing very consistently. “It’s obviously a big step up in class to what he’s been running in, but he’ll run a nice competitive race again and he’s in great order.” View the full article

Andrea Atzeni will once again team up with his old boss Marco Botti after securing the plum ride on Giavellotto for next month’s Group One Longines Hong Kong Vase (2,400m). The Mastercraftsman galloper enjoyed his brightest day in the sun when spearing between horses to land the race under Oisin Murphy 12 months ago, despite being hampered 400m out and having to weave his way through. Botti’s six-year-old has continued to age like fine wine in 2025, winning in Group Three company at Kempton...View the full article

Dealt With stamped himself as one of the most exciting three-year-old prospects last season, earning himself a slot in the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m), but he was withdrawn at the 11th hour through injury. It was a bitter pill to swallow for his connections, with the son of Ace High looking a strong contender after previously winning his first two starts before placing in the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) and Listed Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m). Trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood have taken a patient approach with his return and they are looking forward to him resuming his career at Otaki on Sunday in the Levin Truck Services Levin Stakes (1200m). “He had multiple soundness issues and it has been a long, slow process but hopefully we are back for the long haul,” James said. “He is certainly in nice order, albeit he is a big, burly fellow and he will derive considerable improvement out of the run on Sunday.” Dealt With finished runner-up in his resuming trial over 1000m at Avondale last month, and James expects him to race kindlier from barrier two this weekend. “It was typical him, he was bull-headed, bullish and hard going, but I think with that trial under his belt he will be more amiable on Sunday,” James said. “He has drawn well enough to help him a little bit in that regard.” Dealt With was replaced in the NZB Kiwi by stablemate Zormella, who returned to form when runner-up over a mile at Pukekohe this month, and James is hoping she can go one better in the Treadwell Gordon 1600 at Wanganui on Saturday. “It was one of those races where she got there very easily and then floated around a little bit and got run down late,” James said. “It was still a good run and she has trained on very well since.” Zormella will have plenty of supporters this weekend courtesy of her Frac Club micro-share syndicate, and James is looking forward to another micro-share horse in Incandescent making his debut in the Independent Traffic Control 1100 at Ellerslie on Saturday for MyRacehorse. The son of Per Incanto was purchased by TAB Racing Club out of Little Avondale Stud’s Book 1 Yearling Sale draft at Karaka earlier this year for $200,000 and was quickly snapped up by MyRacehorse when the TAB Racing Club began its dispersal. He was runner-up in his 900m trial at Taupo last month and has opened an equal $3.70 favourite for his debut alongside the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott-trained Dashing Dixie. While James wasn’t expecting his juvenile gelding to be dominating the early market, he does have plenty of time for him and is hopeful of tackling some lofty targets later this season. “He has opened up favourite, which does surprise me,” he said. “I hope he is a Karaka Millions (1200m) prospect, but I see him more as a 1400 to 1600m horse.” James is also looking forward to heading to Ellerslie on Saturday with Sweynesday, who will resume in the Harrisons 1100. The five-year-old gelding has been a model of consistency so far in his career, winning three and placing in three of his six starts to date. He hasn’t been sighted on raceday since his runner-up effort over 1200m at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day, with his trainers taking a cautious approach with his return after battling soundness issues. Their patience looks to have paid off, with the son of Sweynesse winning his resuming trial over 1000m at Avondale earlier this month. Sweynesday is nominated for the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham in January, and his connections are hoping he continues his upward trajectory towards that elite-level target. “He has always been a talented galloper,” James said. “I thought his trial was very good and his work since has been very good as well. “He has got 61kg on his back, but we have chosen to claim three (courtesy of apprentice jockey Sam McNab), and that should level it out a little bit. He goes into the race in great order. “His form line is very good and he has done nothing wrong in his career other than the fact that he had an unusual soundness issue last season, hence the long time between runs. We are very happy that he is back to the form that he was when he went out.” He will be joined on Saturday by stablemate Osteria, who was victorious over 1300m at Tauranga earlier this month. “Osteria probably hasn’t got the same talent as Sweynesday, but is weighted (56.5kg) accordingly,” James said. “There is no reason why he can’t pop up and be competitive in a field like this. “He is an interesting horse. We tried him once over 1400m when he was perhaps a bit of a weaker horse and it could be a road that we take with him as we get deeper into the season.” Meanwhile, James said the stable’s star mare Orchestral suffered an atrial fibrillation when 10th in last Saturday’s Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m), and they are currently working through her next steps. “She fibrillated on Saturday and she hasn’t gone quite in the direction we had hoped since,” he said. “We are right in the midst of addressing what we do from here, but hopefully by the middle of next week we have got more positive news on that.” View the full article

A dominant last-start victory confirmed travel plans for Tellum to head south for a first crack at a black-type feature. The promising filly will bid to continue her hot run of form in the Listed O’Leary’s Fillies’ Stakes (1340m) on Saturday, with Lynsey Satherley booked for the ride by trainer Debbie Sweeney. Tellum has won her last two on the bounce at the expense of older opposition, but it was her most recent victory romp at Te Aroha that ensured her place in the Wanganui contest. “She’s been super and it’s hard to beat the older horses, which she’s done,” Sweeney said. “Wanganui was always the plan, and we said we would head that way if she won her last one.” A daughter of Ocean Park, Tellum had broken her maiden over 1400m at Te Aroha in October and repeated her course and distance heroics on a return visit earlier this month. “She keeps taking the next step up and has improved again,” Sweeney said. Tellum has been patiently handled and finished in behind the major players in both of her two-year-old outings before she was sent for a break. “We didn’t do too much with her last season, and she’s always showed she had ability but was a bit weak,” Sweeney said. “She needed a bit more time and she’ll be even better with another six months.” Sweeney will see how Tellum fares at the weekend before confirming future plans for the filly. “There’s quite a bit of form in the race on Saturday, it’s quite a strong three-year-old fillies’ race so it will be interesting to see her against her own age and sex and how she measures up,” she said. “She’s certainly done nothing wrong to date and was pretty impressive last start.” Meanwhile, Sweeney is also upbeat about the summer prospects of Tellum’s older stablemate Gillian. The Wentwood Grange-bred and raced daughter of Darci Brahma produced a strong staying performance to win last time out at Te Aroha over 2200m, with all three of her career victories posted over middle distances. “She’s only lightly raced and will head to Tauranga in a fortnight for a Rating 75 over 2100m race,” Sweeney said. “We’ll keep her in her own grade at this stage and, hopefully, we’ll look at some of those nice Cups’ races over the Christmas period. “She has always showed a lot of promise and has bounced back to form.” Gillian is also likely to tackle the Dunstan Horsefeeds Stayers’ Championship Final (2400m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. “She obviously stays well so she’ll target that as well,” Sweeney said. View the full article

Wingatui trainers Brian and Shane Anderton will head to Cromwell on Sunday with a strong hand, led by Mayor Of Norwood who will attempt to seal his berth north to contest January’s Gr.3 NZ Campus Of Innovation & Sport Wellington Cup (3200m) at Trentham. The six-win gelding finished fifth first-up over 1400m at his home track earlier this month and his handlers have been pleased with his progression heading into Sunday’s Happy hire Cromwell Cup (2030m). He has been lumbered with top weight of 61kg but will get some weight relief courtesy of apprentice jockey Triston Moodley’s 1kg claim. “He has come through his race well,” Brian Anderton said. “We have got to be a bit careful with him, he is getting to a dangerous place in the weights. “Our ambition is to have a go at the Wellington Cup, so hopefully he comes through everything alright.” Stablemate Capo Dell Impero is also set to carry 60kg in the KB Contractors Open 1400, 5kg more than is closest rival. Lugging big weights is nothing new to the eight-year-old gelding, who carried the same impost when runner-up first-up over 1400m at Wingatui earlier this month, and his trainers are hoping he can go one better on Sunday. “He has come through it well and hopefully the 1400m won’t be too short for him,” Anderton said. All going to plan after Sunday, the son of Ghibellines will be targeted towards a pre-Christmas assignment on his home track. “He is getting at the stage where he is hard to place but there is a mile here in the December meeting, so we will probably look at that with him,” Anderton said. The stable will have a three-pronged attack in the Otago Engineering (1400m) courtesy of the in-form No Party, Move On and Afire. Proisir gelding No Party has won both of his starts this preparation, while Move On has finished runner-up in her last two outings and Afire was victorious at her last start, and Anderton is hoping for more of the same from the trio. “No Party has continued to do well,” he said. “He has had a nice time between each start and we are looking for a good run from him. “I am just worried the track might be a bit tight for Move On. “She is (rating) 75 and is going to be in with the big boys if she wins that, but we have got to give it a go. “Afire is aiming to go further, we think that she is a staying type of filly.” The stable will also be represented by Elusive in the Magpie Scaffolding Maiden (1400m) and the in-foal Helldancer in the Positive Signs + Print (1220m). “Elusive is not far away,” Anderton said. “Helldancer was very disappointing at Riccarton first-up and she is scanned in-foal to Alflaila.” View the full article

By Michael Guerin A remarkable stat for one of harness racing’s most surprising careers could get another boost in the national junior driver’s champs at Addington tonight. The series brings together 12 of our best young drivers for six heats, two at Cambridge last night, two at Addington tonight and the final two at Methven on Sunday. The series was for years casually referred to as “the boys’ champs” because until about 20 years ago most of those competing in it were male. That name clearly doesn’t suit any more as the last seven championships have been won by female drivers, Sarah O’Reilly with a remarkable four as well as Kerryn Tomlinson, Alicia Harrison and last year, Crystal Hackett. One of the six females competing this season is northerner Monika Ranger, who admits she only got into driving “because I had nothing to lose” and has earned the respect of leading northern drivers for the way horses respond to her. After Cambridge last night she has a two point lead heading into tonight’s third and fourth heats at Addington after a win with Melton Mogul and a second placing with Patrick Mahomes. She has 29 points, with closest rival Carter Dalgety on 27. Horses are assigned to drivers by random draw and Ranger has two decent chances in Major Happy (R6, No.5) and Donna’s Boy (R7, No.5) at Addington tonight, the latter a smart trotter for trainer Bob Butt. While Ranger is having a career-best season with 20 wins, she has really excelled partnering trotters, which account for 11 of those victories, which can only be a confidence boost for those considering backing Donna’s Boy tonight. “I love driving trotters, even more than pacers,” says Ranger, whose previous personal best was 16 last term. “It has been a really good season and I am lucky to have a loyal bunch of trainers who put me on so often. “When I started driving I didn’t think it would get to the level it has now, it was more or less because I had nothing to lose. “So I am looking forward to being part of the series again but I might be the boring one. I am 30 now so I might be the Nana of the group,” she laughs. While junior drivers love being part of the series Ranger admits it comes with a little more work. “When I drive up here I tend to know the horses quite well but for something like this series, and this is my third time competing, I will do a bit more video work on the website. “I liked the look of Major Happy, she looks really nice and consistent and Donna’s Boy was really good on Cup Day when he showed good gate speed.” It took a wonderful performance from a race rival tonight in He Aint Fakin (Emily Johnson) to beat Donna’s Boy on Cup Day and the two northern female juniors look set for good points in at least that heat as they try to make it eight straight years that a female wins the series. The series has set up beautifully, completely by fluke, with the random draw of drives seeing a very even spread of talent, with many of those participating being Friday night regulars at one of our two biggest tracks. Both tonight’s heats failed to attract the capacity 12 runners so the drivers who miss out on a drive in any heat get seven points added to their overall tally. While the best version of former pacer He Aint Fakin may well win tonight’s second heat (and fourth overall) for Johnson the pacing heat looks more open, with Ellie Barron on favourite Classie Linc while Wilson House gets his chance to continue a massive season with a good chance drawn the pole in Sandy Shore. Sam Thornley, no stranger to winning Drivers Series, partners last start Addington winner Brandi Snapp. View the full article

By Michael Guerin Todd Mitchell is looking forward to getting back on two speedy trotting stablemates at Alexandra Park even though he knows he might just be keeping the seat warm on one of them. The four-time New Zealand Cup- winning driver partners two winning chances from the Wallis/Hackett stable including one of the big movers of the northern trotting spring in Belle Neige (R6, No.10). Belle Neige won three races in a month in August-September and while Mitchell has driven her before he gets on tonight as regular driver Crystal Hackett will be at Addington for the New Zealand Junior Drivers Champs. “She is a really nice mare so it will be good to get back on her but it isn’t an easy assignment,” admits Mitchell. “She is off a decent handicap and it is a good field for this grade. “I am sure she is being aimed at the mares Group 1 trot in a few weeks so she should improve with the run and I actually thought her stablemate Hillbilly Blues would be hard to beat off the front.” The latter has always looked an open class trotter in waiting as he can peel off 57-second last 800m sectionals and is developing the strength to compliment that speed. It is a deep field though and a rarity being an 11-horse race at Alexandra Park in which any one of them could win without surprising. Earlier in the night Mitchell partners Shesgold (R4, No.4) in a far easier race and she is back doing what she loves best. Shesgold has had five career wins and all have been in 2200m standing starts, four at The Park and two with Mitchell in the sulky. “You can forgive her last run because she got parked out on a strong speed which doesn’t suit her but this looks more her race,” says Mitchell. “And I think she is best with two weeks between her runs so she gets her chance on Friday.” Shesgold meets a progressive trotter in Stone Cold and a horse showing talent in Hill Billie Bundy as well as the once-promising Levi in a tricky little field. While other trotters like Look To Da Stars (R2, No.10) will attract plenty of punter attention tonight the class race of the meeting is the handicap pace in which Captain Sampson (R7, No.4) takes on smart old pacers in the $30,000 Thames Goldfields Cup. Captain Sampson is a lovely three-year-old on his way to the top but was nutted on the line last start by a race rival tonight in Little Spike at Cambridge. They start off the same 20m handicaps tonight as they did last start so Little Spike is an obvious danger for trainer Arna Donnelly, who also has The Surfer and Jolimont (30m) in the standing start 2200m. View the full article

A breeding right to Mehmas topped Thursday's Arqana November Online Sale when going the way of Hugo Merry Bloodstock for €180,000. The sire of nine individual Group winners and 48 stakes winners from his first five crops, the Tally-Ho Stud stallion's leading performers in 2025 include the top-level winners Believing and Wise Approach. A share in the unbeaten Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Ace Impact was another highlight of the sale when knocked down to Horse France for €152,000. Based at Haras de Beaumont, Ace Impact's first foals have sold for up to €220,000. The National Hunt stallions Goliath du Berlais and Nirvana du Berlais also proved popular, with a breeding right to the first-named horse selling to Christophe Bridault of Espace Trot for €84,000. Meanwhile, a share in Nirvana du Berlais, the sire of the Grade 1-winning hurdler Lulamba, was bought by Highflyer Bloodstock for €80,000. Of the 24 lots offered, 18 sold for a total of €871,500. The post Breeding Right to Mehmas Tops Arqana November Online Sale at €180,000 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

After a lightning strike threatened his life, Thanksgiving would not only recover; he would thrive.View the full article

Representatives from Europe's breeding nations gathered to discuss the key challenges and potential threats facing the European Bloodstock Industry at the EFTBA 2025 autumn meeting in Newmarket. New members included Cathy Grassick, representing Ireland, and Naomi Mellor, who is the CEO of the TBA. Dr. Des Leadon led the report from the EFTBA Veterinary Advisors Committee Animal welfare in transportation was widely discussed and the EU discussions are now at a trilogue stage (EU Commission, DG Sante and MEPs). EFTBA Chairman Joe Hernon felt that a good case had been made and a fact sheet was presented. A new threat to animal health is in the form of a mosquito born virus called Western Nile Virus. France Galop are taking precautions as they could threaten the racing and sales during the summer months. Chairman of the TBA Philip Newton also commented on the global reduction of the thoroughbred breeding numbers, especially in the UK. If this continues, it will and has already impacted in field sizes, which will have a major impact on betting turnover and this will impact the Levy. The bloodstock sales revealed startling statistics, such as the gross spend in the UK, £85M, of which 40% of total gross sales was spent on 5% of yearlings offered and 25 buyers were responsible for 60% of total purchases, with three-quarters of the yearlings sold failing to recover costs. There is notable concern that an increasing number of geldings are winning major Group 1 Races, denying many colts their opportunity to stand as stallions. This compounds further the tightening of the gene pool. The TBA reported that it is working towards a solution to this. The post European Federation Of Thoroughbred Breeders Meet In Newmarket appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

As updates go, being a half-sister to the Cartier Horse of the Year is not a bad one, especially when the mare in question is carrying to Calandagan's sire, Gleneagles. Caliyza has plenty more in her favour to boot. She's a dual winner by the late Le Havre and, only five, she is in foal for the first time. Offered as lot 1452 by Overbury Stud on Monday during the first of two Sceptre Sessions, the Aga Khan Studs-bred mare is returning to Tattersalls just 12 months after being bought in the same ring for 155,000gns by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock. Since then, her year-younger half-brother has won three consecutive Group 1s and could even deliver yet another update on Sunday in the Japan Cup. “I would stress that anything that looks clever that happens at Overbury Stud has been organised by Richard Brown,” says Overbury's Simon Sweeting modestly. “There's no point in saying otherwise. We're incredibly lucky that he can be bothered because he's got far more important things to do than to be buying horses for Charlie and me. So it's not me that's being clever.” The Charlie in question is Charlie Wyatt of Dukes Stud, with whom Sweeting has had a 25-year business partnership and a friendship that stretches back even farther to his days working in Newmarket for Luca Cumani and Henry Cecil. Traditionally, Overbury Stud and Dukes Stud combine forces to sell as foals, and this year is no exception, aside from the fact that this year they are selling a half-brother to this year's G1 Dewhurst Stakes winner Gewan (Night Of Thunder), which does make the Overbury draft a little exceptional. The colt (lot 747) is from the first crop of another Dewhurst winner in Native Trail, whose 35 foals sold last week at Goffs returned an average of €40,772, including a top price of €150,000. It has been quite the year for the Overbury Stud and Dukes Stud partnership, as not only did the Yuesheng Zhang-owned Gewan win the Dewhurst and G3 Acomb Stakes among his three victories for Andrew Balding but Havana Anna (Havana Grey) – a Tattersalls December Foal Sale graduate at 42,000gns – won twice, including the Listed Marwell Stakes, as well as finishing runner-up to True Love in the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes. “We've got some nice foals,” Sweeting says. “A half-sister to the second in the Cheveley Park and a half-brother to the winner of the Dewhurst. So I'm excited – well, nervous, but excited. “Havana Anna's sister we've actually put in on Saturday. She's a lovely foal. She's by Caturra and she'll just stand out there,” he adds of the daughter of the Danehill Dancer mare Miss Villefranche. “I would definitely rather sell on a lesser day. I always feel that a horse might make a bit more than it deserves. If it was going to make below the average of Friday, it'd sell better on Wednesday. “The Miss Villefranche foal should be a Friday horse, but she'll still make her money on the Saturday, I'm sure. There'll be some people who haven't bought what they want, and we might get lucky. I spend a lot of time trying to work out what days to put them on, and I always try and undersell them a little bit rather than over.” He continues, “We've been lucky selling on Saturday, and that's where we sell most of our stock. We've been at it for 25-odd years together now. We were both getting started in our respective farms at the same time, and we thought if we combined our forces, we could get a slightly better mare. And it's gone on from there. “And, yes, we've produced something decent this year. I mean, there have been some lovely horses along the way, as well as some bad luck, and it just seems to have come together this time, which is wonderful. But, as Charlie said, we've chucked an awful lot of money against the wall.” Some of it has clearly stuck, however, and this is not the first twirl in the spotlight for Sweeting, a successful dual-purpose breeder who is in an elite group to have produced top-level winners on the Flat and over jumps. On the National Hunt side he has bred the Grade 1-winning hurdlers Thyme Hill and Cornerstone Lad, by the late Overbury stallions Kayf Tara and Delegator. So does having the Dewhurst winner and a live Classic prospect top that? “Of course. It's wonderful. And you just have to pinch yourself to believe it really has happened, ” he says. “And, of course, we've got the winter now to dream about it all again. The great thing is [Gewan] is in the best place. There might be trainers as good as Andrew, but there's none better. He's trained the Guineas winner twice in the last few years, so the horse has got the best possible chance to go on and do that. “The whole thing is really exciting. But we've had 25 years of knowing what the flip side is, so it helps keep you very grounded.” Simon Sweeting and Charlie Wyatt | Tattersalls There was indeed a time when it looked as though events were conspiring against Sweeting and Wyatt when it came to Gewan's dam Grey Mystere (Lethal Force), another Blandford purchase, this time from Arqana four years ago. “We thought we'd had terrible luck with the mare in that she lost her foal last year. That was dreadful but it happens. And last year we were kicking ourselves because we got 100,000gns for Gewan. It might sound like a lot of money, but actually it was a slap in the face for a Night Of Thunder colt but it was because his x-rays weren't great. “Rob Dallas, who's our vet, said he was absolutely fine for racing. And we sold him to Mick [Murphy, Longways Stables], who is one of Rob's clients, so he was able to reassure him. But if he had had good x-rays, that horse would have been bought by Mick Kinane and he'd be in Hong Kong now and we wouldn't have had the Dewhurst winner. So it can work out. When it seems like a bad result at the time, it can actually work out in your favour, and it has done in this case.” The eight-year-old Grey Mystere is now booked in for a return visit to the soon-to-be-crowned champion sire Night Of Thunder. Sweeting of course has his own team of stallions to manage at Overbury in Gloucestershire, where the roster is led by Jayne McGivern's popular dual-purpose stallion Golden Horn, whose son Trawlerman was last week named Cartier Stayer of the Year. “Jayne limits the number he can cover. We could sell 250 nominations but we're restricted to 175 or thereabouts,” says Sweeting, who added that Golden Horn's 2026 book will contain more Flat mares than in his three previous seasons at Overbury. “It's straightforward for him to get through a book like that. He's very fertile and he's a pretty straightforward animal to work with. “And he rewards us. He's had an absolute marquee year. Everything that you thought could come together for him has done all at the same time. To have Cheltenham winners and Royal Ascot winners is beyond dreams.” “We've booked a lot of really nice Flat mares for next year – ones that I'd be excited about.” With his mix of six Flat and National Hunt stallions, Sweeting is well in tune with the changing fortunes of the bloodstock sector as breeders exercise more caution and foal crop numbers reduce. “As long as you get the [stallion fees] right and you're sensible about it, then we are in a position with these stallions to get the mares. But the problem is that there isn't the breadth anymore,” he says. “At Overbury, we're very lucky with the horses we've got. They do seem to be popular. Yes, a horse in his fourth year, like Caturra last year, is always going to be a little bit more difficult. But when you've got Golden Horn, when you've got Ardad, who this year has had 37 two-year-old winners, more than any other UK-based stallion, he's absolutely bang up there. But there aren't enough stallions about to give a chance to some of those to pop up that nobody would have expected necessarily to be the successful ones. There has always been some of those around, and we're going to start missing those now because only the commercial, attractive-looking horses are the ones that are actually going to be given the chance in the first place. Thank goodness there are some fairly attractive horses coming to stud for the first time this year.” The covering season can be a concern for another day, however. In Sweeting's immediate future, he has some select foals to sell, along with potentially one of the jewels of the Sceptre Sessions in Caliyza. “Everything that could have fallen into place has fallen into place for her,” he says. “Calandagan has done what we hoped that he might. His half-sister Calamandra is Group 3-placed now. Their dam is in foal to Siyouni. “Caliyza is a great outcross. She's very easy to mate. There's no Northern Dancer blood in there, and it's Clodovil's family.” Sweeting adds, “I hope people will appreciate the mating. When we sat down and we were thinking about it, we weren't sure that we were going to sell at that stage and we wanted to breed a racehorse rather than something that would draw attention at the sales, and I think Gleneagles has had a good year. He's popular. And I hope what is inside can go on and be a great racehorse.” The post A Big December Sale in Store for Overbury with Siblings to Calandagan and Gewan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The first edition of the Emirates Racing Authority Online Sale, hosted by Tattersalls Online, was topped by the lightly-raced three-year-old Daayyem at AED58,000 [roughly £12,000] to Khalifa Alneyadi. Leading vendor of the day was Jebel Ali-based trainer Michael Costa. who consigned a draft of four lots on behalf of Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, which all sold for an aggregate of AED138,500 [£28,500]. The draft was highlighted by lightly-raced three-year-old Daayyem (Bolt D'Oro), who holds a ERA rating of 67. As the first online auction to be held by the Emirates Racing Authority, the sale marked a milestone for the region's racing industry and represents a significant evolution in the world of digital bloodstock trading. At the conclusion of the sale, Tattersalls Online Sales Manager Katherine Sheridan commented, “Today's sale marks an important advance in the global thoroughbred online market. We were honoured to have been entrusted with staging the inaugural Emirates Racing Authority Online Sale. “The initial support from vendors together with the international depth of bidders underlined the potential of this initiative. Our thanks go to the Emirates Racing Authority for their confidence in the Tattersalls Online platform and to our consignors and purchasers for their enthusiastic participation. We look forward to building on this concept in the future, broadening its reach and continuing to set the standard for innovation in our industry.” Unsold lots remain available and offers can be made through the Make An Offer facility on the Tattersalls Online website. Enquiries are also welcome by phone or via email to the Tattersalls Online team to tattersallsonline@tattersalls.com. The final sale of the year to take place on the Tattersalls Online platform will be the Online December Sale on 10th – 11th December with entries closing on Friday 28th November. All entries can be submitted through the Tattersalls Online website at www.tattersallsonline.com. The post Daayyem Tops Inaugural Tattersalls Online Emirates Racing Authority Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Sunday’s Sha Tin race meeting will be held behind closed doors as a mark of respect for the victims of this week’s tragic Tai Po fire. All gross income from the meeting, which the Jockey Club estimates to be around HK$70 million, will be donated to support those affected by the tragedy, while Saturday’s Mark Six draw has been postponed to next Tuesday. “The Hong Kong Jockey Club is deeply saddened by the loss of so many lives during the tragic fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, as well as the...View the full article

St Jean (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), sire of G1 Caulfield Cup and G1 Melbourne Cup winner Half Yours, died in a paddock accident at Brackley Park on Nov. 25. Stud manager Grant Dwyer said the 15-year-old had covered the mare Memory Lane on Nov. 24 and was returned to his usual paddock. “For reasons unknown, St Jean ran into a fence post overnight, breaking it off at ground level and shattering his near-side front leg,” Dwyer said. “His death was very untimely, just as breeders were beginning to appreciate his pedigree.” A Group 3 winner by Teofilo (Ire), St Jean sired 35 named foals, 22 runners and 12 winners, with Half Yours his lone stakes winner. The post St Jean, Sire of Melbourne Cup Hero Half Yours, Dies at 15 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Watching big-name Longines Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) runners fall away is nothing new, however the speed at which Calandagan went from in the fields to not coming was quite something. In a turn of events that sparked memories of the time Aidan O’Brien’s Magical was in the Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) field for little more than 12 hours – but never actually coming to Hong Kong – Calandagan was listed in the Cup field by the Jockey Club on Wednesday afternoon before being ruled out...View the full article

TOKYO, Japan — Under the vast, silent stand of Tokyo racecourse the best horse in the world enjoys a saunter around the turf track which will become his stage for the final act of a tremendous season. Calandagan (Gleneagles) will encounter an altogether different atmosphere on Sunday when that same grandstand will sing with the anticipation of around 100,000 racegoers come to bear witness to one of the world's great horse races. The passion with which the Japanese fans approach racing means that the Japan Cup is more pilgrimage than sports event and an 18-strong field which boasts the last three winners of the Japanese Derby means that the home team will have plenty to absorb them beyond this sole international visitor. But it is a compliment to the race and of vital importance to its global standing to have attracted the Aga Khan Studs' representative, who will bid for a fourth consecutive Group/Grade 1 victory after winning the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and then emulating Brigadier Gerard by taking both the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Champion Stakes in the same season. Just think, this time last year Calandagan was branded a bridesmaid horse. Now, after a racing year which began in Dubai and has continued through three trips to England as well as one performance on home turf in Paris, here he is in Japan, looking perky of mind and a bit more substantial of body. It would be a stretch to call Calandagan physically imposing, but in his talent he has imposed himself on the racing scene to a degree which makes it now impossible not to barrack for him. That his trainer Francis Graffard is similarly talented is beyond dispute to even casual racing observers these days. There's barely been a major meeting this year where he hasn't popped up and made his presence felt. Such is the strength in depth of Graffard's Chantilly yard that Calandagan has to battle internally to be labelled as stable star. But even in a season in which Zarigana and Gezora handed him French Classic victories before the latter delivered Graffard a longed-for first Breeders' Cup success, and Daryz capped the domestic season with his Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe win, it is Calandagan who stands out, and the very nature of his gelded status means that his trainer can take a different approach to his racing season. “My only focus for him is winning races,” Graffard says after watching Calandagan and his travelling companion Le Nomade complete half a lap of the Tokyo turf in a swinging canter. “I don't have to plan what will happen after racing, and what distance he should be racing over to be commercially interesting for a stallion career, or things like that. You only do it for the horse and for the sport, and I think that's why I like these geldings – I think they are great for the sport.” He's been here before of course, just last year, with Goliath (Adlerflug), who will be heading instead for Hong Kong next month. Goliath finished a creditable sixth last year behind Do Deuce (Heart's Cry), but the fact that he too is a gelded King George winner is where the comparison ends with Calandangan, according to their trainer. “The two horses are very different, so I have had to prepare them completely differently,” he says of the challenge of keeping a horse at his peak this late in the year. “I do it according to the horse, not to the race, and I know how to get Calandagan to his best. So that's what we are focused on, and the preparation has been right for Calandagan but different to last year.” Having settled upon the Japan Cup as a target with Princess Zahra Aga Khan after Calandagan's King George victory, Graffard said that the pressure was off when using the Champion Stakes – a revered Group 1 in its own right – almost as a prep race for Tokyo. “We said that this was where we wanted to go over the autumn and I was looking for a race to get him ready for the Japan Cup. The only suitable race for that was at Ascot in the Champion Stakes. It sounds a little bit silly because it was a very, very strong race, and the horse would need to be a champion that day. And obviously, winning the Champion Stakes, he proved to be the best horse in Europe anyway. It was a risk to prep for the Japan Cup in the Champion Stakes in England but I didn't have much pressure, because if he was beaten, it's okay. You take a risk, and I think it's very good for the sport, and I'm lucky because my owners have complete trust in me.” Nemone Routh and Francis Graffard at the Japan Cup press conference | Emma Berry Graffard is clearly relishing the luxury of knowing that, soundness and willingness permitting, Calandagan will be in his stable for some seasons to come. “We have got to know him well,” he says of the four-year-old. “But horses change, they mature, and we have to adapt all the time, but that's why this job is so interesting, because they're all different, and you have to go with their way. And with a colt, as they get more mature, they get heavier, and there is a line where they start to think more with their body, thinking about another job. So with a horse like Calandagan, it's much easier, and you can really train him as an athlete.” An athlete is exactly what Calandagan looks this unusually warm autumnal morning in the Tokyo sunshine, pointing his toe under his regular rider Jeremy Lobel. The only trace of the well reported former antics of his days as an enfant terrible is in the wearing of a hood – more familiarity perhaps than necessity these days. Nemone Routh, racing manager for the Aga Khan Studs, is in Tokyo already along with her colleague Pierre Gasnier ahead of the arrival of Princess Zahra Aga Khan for the big race. Success breeds success has long been the simple catchphrase of the operation's marketing division, and in a year in which it lost its figurehead with the death of His Highness Aga Khan IV in February, it can also now be said that the succession is breeding success. Princess Zahra Aga Khan, who has long played a key role in the development of the Aga Khan Studs, doubtless wishes that no such official changing of the guard had been necessary, but in the inevitable passing of familial duties from one generation to the next the horses – and those charged with their care – have not let her down. “Really, we couldn't dream of a year like this,” Routh says. “For the year to finish with us having the world's best horse, trained by Francis – and also a quick shout out to Daryz, who is the third-best-rated horse in the world and who won the Arc – and for it to fall in this difficult year at the beginning, and for the horses to perform at the top level throughout, it's indescribable, really. “We're very proud of the year that we've had. And it's wonderful to come here with such a good horse who's at the top of his game and who seems to have travelled very well. We're under no illusions that it will be difficult. It's a hard trip for a horse to take at the end of the year but he seems very well and we're very confident in his abilities.” During the press conference, Graffard referred to the things over which he had no control – the post position draw and a race start which takes place right in front of what will by Sunday be a grandstand humming with excitement. “I'll be happy with any number less than 10,” he said of a starting position, and by the afternoon another bounce of the ball had gone his way with a draw in stall eight. The rest now is up to Calandagan, to keep calm and carry on winning. The post ‘We Couldn’t Dream of a Year Like This’: Calandagan Team on One Last Push for the Japan Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Kingsclere Stables will have representation in all three three-year-old stakes races this weekend, and trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood are hopeful they can get their hands on some of the spoils. Circus Maximus gelding Road To Paris (NZ) (Circus Maximus) has made quite the impression on the Cambridge horsemen, which was enhanced by his last start victory over 1400m at Avondale. They have taken a patient approach with the gelding to date, and they are looking forward to testing him over a mile for the first time when they head to Otaki on Sunday in the Gr.3 Jennian Homes Wellington Stakes (1600m), with his performance dictating future plans. “He is guy with a real future,” James said. “We have taken the slow road a little bit. He is a later maturing three-year-old and we are going to find out a little more about him on Sunday. “We don’t really know what his best distance is. At the end of his two-year-old year we thought he was our Derby horse for next year. He has got a bit of sharpness about him, and does he need to go a mile-and-a-half? We are going to learn that the deeper we go into his preparation. “With three-year-olds that can hopefully run a sharp mile, which we will find out on Sunday, there are a lot of options open to them. He is a very interesting runner.” James is also excited about the prospects of unbeaten filly Fairy Dream (NZ) (Proisir) in the Listed The O’Learys Fillies Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui on Saturday. The daughter of Proisir won on debut on the synthetic at Cambridge in September, and while she is untested on the grass on raceday, James believes she will be better suited on that surface. “I don’t think the turf will be of any concern as long as it is in good order,” James said. “I think she will be better on the turf than on the poly. “She is a light-framed filly who we have purposefully given good time to given that we hope there are a lot of options ahead of her this season. “She had a quiet trial the other day and I thought for a one-win horse the trial was very good. “It is not the easiest field, there are three or four there with good credentials and she is going to have to live up to what we think of her to win it. She is back to three-year-old fillies company and we do like her.” The stable will also be chasing age group success at Ellerslie on Saturday with three-year-old Per Incanto gelding To The Max (NZ) (Per Incanto) in the Listed Trevor & Corallie Eagle Memorial 3YO (1500m). To The Max is another last-start winner, having been victorious over 1230m at Arawa Park earlier this month, and James believes he will lap up the extra distance this weekend. “He was very impressive last start, albeit he covered no ground,” James said. “He did sprint quickly when he was asked. “This race has come up quick enough, but we are happy to be there. I think the 1500m will really suit him. He was a bit outpaced early the other day and I think the greater distance will really play into his hands.” View the full article

Massive Sovereign will skip Sunday’s Class Two Chevalier Cup (1,600m) and head straight to next month’s Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) with Hugh Bowman in the frame to take the ride. Trainer David Eustace’s preference to space Massive Sovereign’s runs prompted the move to bypass Sunday’s feature at Sha Tin, with the 2024 Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) winner set for a huge challenge against Romantic Warrior on December 14. The Irish import has produced three solid runs since transferring from Dennis...View the full article