Wandering Eyes

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today’s Observations features a colt out of a Breeders’ Cup winner. 2.00 ParisLongchamp, Mdn, €30,000, 3yo, c/g, 8fT Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani’s once-raced FERID (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) is a son of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Flotilla (Fr) (Mizzen Mast) and comes back for the Mikel Dalzanles stable after running second over nine furlongs at Dieppe last month. Herald Bloodstock’s Indian Pacific (Fr) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) once again lines up in opposition, having finished third in that newcomers’ event, and he is a gelded half-brother to G1 Prix Jean Romanet and G1 Premio Lydia Tesio victress Odeliz (Ire) (Falco) and stakes-winning ‘TDN Rising Star’ Pamplemousse (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}). 6.15 Windsor, Cond, £7,400, 2yo, 5f 21yT Ed Walker trainee DARK SILVER (IRE) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is out of a GSP half-sister to G1 Haydock Sprint Cup victress Pipalong (Ire) (Pips Pride {GB}). The €240,000 Goffs Orby yearling’s year-older full-brother Came From The Dark (Ire), himself a 480,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling, graduated at Haydock on Saturday and the bay is confronted by eight in this debut. His rivals include Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum’s once-raced Eton College (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who is a half-brother to last month’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Castle Lady (Ire) (Shamardal) returning off a seventh over six furlongs at this track last week. The post Observations: June 10, 2019 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

With the kickoff of the American yearling sale season just around the corner, prospective buyers will soon be scrutinizing the progeny of the latest first-season sires. This year’s field is an admittedly tough one; champion 2-year-old and GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo) led by weanling sale average last year ($208,333), and he was closely pursued by his Darley barnmate Frosted, the brilliant GI Met Mile winner by Tapit. Champion sprinter Runhappy (Super Saver) sat third, followed by global superstar California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) and GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator (Curlin). Following these is Air Force Blue (War Front), a name that will be particularly familiar to Europeans but whose racetrack accomplishments were such that they resonated on a global scale and earned him a spot at stud back in the state of his birth. Bred by Arthur Hancock’s Stone Farm, Air Force Blue is out of the listed-placed Chatham (Maria’s Mon), and his third dam, Starlet Storm, produced the American champion 2-year-old filly Flanders (Seeking the Gold), who in turn left the champion 3-year-old filly Surfside (Seattle Slew). MV Magnier snapped up Air Force Blue for $490,000 at Keeneland September in 2014, where he was the fourth-most expensive of 16 sold by his sire. All four of those top-priced colts headed to Europe-three to Ballydoyle and one to France-and indeed War Front was still riding the high of Declaration of War’s wins in the G1 Juddmonte International and G1 Queen Anne S. the year prior, and War Command’s G1 Dewhurst S., G2 Coventry S. and G2 Futurity S. victories. At that time War Front, the dirt sprinter who never ran on the grass, had been boxed into a corner by some as a turf sire that excelled mostly in Europe, but it is interesting to note that the year Air Force Blue was sold as a yearling, all of War Front’s six graded winners came in the U.S., and were headed by dirt Grade I winner Peace and War. Today, War Front has fully justified his proprietors at Claiborne Farm who believed all along he was equally effective on both surfaces; his two Grade I winners thus far in 2019 are of course the American dirt 3-year-olds War of Will and Omaha Beach, and he has exciting 2- and 3-year-olds like Happen, Munitions and Etoile in Ireland and France. War Front has sired 12 Grade I winners in the U.S. and seven Group 1 winners in Europe in all. Air Force Blue is War Front’s third-highest earner and his most accomplished 2-year-old. A May 1 foal, Air Force Blue was a first-out winner at The Curragh on May 24, 2015, and was second to just the seasoned Buratino (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the G2 Coventry S. three weeks later. Air Force Blue wouldn’t be beaten again at two, taking the G1 Phoenix S., G1 National S. and G1 Dewhurst S. It was the first time since 2001 that that triple had been completed, and Air Force Blue wrapped up his juvenile campaign with a Timeform rating of 128p-better than the 126 achieved at two by both Frankel (GB) and Too Darn Hot (GB). “From the very beginning, Aidan O’Brien was very, very, very high on the horse,” recalled Coolmore’s Adrian Wallace. “He was a three-time Group 1 winner at two and the highest-rated 2-year-old that Aidan O’Brien has ever trained, which puts him in pretty rarefied air when you consider how many good 2-year-olds Aidan O’Brien has trained.” “He’s a horse that really ticks a lot of boxes and offers breeders a War Front with a lot of speed, a lot of precocity, and he’s a very, very good-looking horse.” Wallace describes Air Force Blue as “a War Front with a lot of leg,” and he said he is passing his strong body and athleticism onto his progeny. Indeed, Air Force Blue’s first-crop foals, bred on a $25,000 stud fee, averaged over $85,000 at last year’s foal sales. “It was very gratifying to see how well they were received as foals,” Wallace said. “The market took to them very well. Only 20 of them went through the sales as foals. Sixteen out of 20 sold for an average of just over $85,000. And six of them brought over $100,000, so I think the market judged them well. I think we’ll see a good sample again in September and in the next couple of months.” Coolmore and Ballydoyle have been War Front’s biggest supporters at stud, and Wallace said that support has extended to Air Force Blue, and that the blue chip operation has supported the horse with its own mares. “He’s a horse we’ve latched onto ourselves,” Wallace said. “We’ve supported him heavily from the very beginning. We will continue to support him, and we’ll be looking at all his stock in the coming sales.” The post A New Force Among The Stallion Ranks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

In the aftermath of a fine run in third in Saturday’s GI Met Mile at Belmont Park, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said that dual G1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) would be aimed for a return to New York for the GI Whitney H. on Aug. 3 at Saratoga. “Thunder Snow race a huge race and I am happy with him,” bin Suroor said. “He was up against some of the best American milers and will improve for the race. “We will bring him back to England and prepare him to race in America again, with his target being the Grade I Whitney [H.] at Saratoga.” In his first start since successfully defending his Dubai World Cup title on Mar. 30, the 5-year-old Thunder Snow stalked the pace in fourth under Christophe Soumillon on Saturday. Moving down to the rail in the stretch, he hit the line a length behind Mitole (Eskendereya) with McKinzie (Street Sense) rallying late to nip him for second in the final strides. Thunder Snow, a four-time Group 1 winner, has yet to break through in the U.S. but in three other visits Stateside he has also been placed in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. The post American Target For Thunder Snow 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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Ocean Park gelding Kolding has emerged as the latest New Zealand-bred star for Queensland owner Neville Morgan, extending his winning sequence to four with a brilliant win in Saturday’s Gr.2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm. Carrying the same colours as multiple Group One-winning New Zealand-breds Kermadec and Rangirangdoo, Kolding produced an irresistible surge from fourth-last to beat Baccarat Baby by half a length. Adding to the New Zealand flavour of the result, he was trained and ... View the full article

A brilliantly fine day and a huge on-course crowd combined to provide the appropriate farewell to thoroughbred racing at Waimate on Sunday where the Waimate Racing Club ran their last meeting at their home venue. The club has not been issued a licence to hold its annual race meeting during the next season, following the release of the Messara report and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's subsequent venue plan. Rather than using the meeting to politicise the issue, the club took the opportunity to... View the full article

Talented jumper Bad Boy Brown booked a place in next month’s Wellington Hurdle (3400m) at Trentham when he outstayed his open-class rivals in Saturday’s feature hurdle contest at the venue. The seven-year-old gelding bided his time at the rear of the field for rider Isaac Lupton before looming into contention approaching the home corner. In a slogging finish on the Heavy11 surface, Lupton brought his mount with a powerful staying run to snatch victory from race favourite Gallante with Guy Fo... View the full article

Cambridge-based trainer Brendon Hawtin achieved one of his career goals when lightly raced four-year-old Simply Optimistic scored a decisive victory over 1200m at Royal Randwick on Saturday. After spending a good part of his youth in Sydney where his father Keith played an integral role in fellow New Zealander Graeme Rogerson’s multi-state training operation, the younger Hawtin had always cherished the thought of returning one day with a horse good enough to compete in the competitive Sydney m... View the full article

Sir Winston delivered a powerful stretch run to win the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park. View the full article

Since returning from a lengthy layoff, Marconi has successfully stretched out and taken three consecutive stakes races. The Tapit colt made the grade for the first time June 8 in the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (G2). View the full article

Since returning from a lengthy layoff, Marconi has successfully stretched out and taken three consecutive stakes races. The Tapit colt made the grade for the first time June 8 in the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (G2). View the full article

A blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day card, highlighted by Sir Winston's victory in the 151st running of the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (G1), generated all-sources handle of $102,163,280, a NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year June 8 at Belmont Park. View the full article

Sam-Son Farm's lightly raced homebred Desert Ride, who hails from Canadian champions, kept the family's success rolling when she closed fast to take the US$377,504 Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser June 8. View the full article

Saturday’s GI Belmont S. card generated all-sources handle of $102,163,280, a NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year. The 2019 all-sources handle figure is an increase of 9.1% over 2017, the most recent year without a Triple Crown on the line, and an increase of 2.8% over the previous record for a non-Triple Crown year set in 2016. On-track handle for the 13-race Belmont Stakes Day card was $11,852,506. All-sources handle on the 151st Belmont S. was $53,237,527 All-sources handle for the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which featured 18 stakes and 33 races in total from Thursday through Saturday, was $131,858,886. For the second time, the 2019 Belmont S. offered separate pool wagering in Japan. The total for this non-commingled pool, which is not included in the all-sources number, was $4,362,972. Paid attendance on Belmont Day was 56,217. The post Belmont Day Handle a Record for Non-Triple Crown Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Well, this one isn’t going to go down as one of those memorable Triple Crowns we will still be talking about 30 years from now, will it? No surprise there. From the start, this was the Triple Crown series that just never gelled, that will be remembered more for chaos and odd circumstances than the three horses that won the three races. There was some excitement, but it came in small doses. Is this how soccer fans feel after the final score is nil-nil? Take nothing away from Sir Winston (Awesome Again), who captured the final jewel of the Triple Crown, Saturday’s GI Belmont S., and was, by the way, the only horse in the field who had run a triple-digit Beyer figure. Benefitting from a very good ride by Joel Rosario, he was good enough to win the race and etch his name in the history books. He’s well-bred and improving and don’t be surprised if there is another big win or two left to come on his resume. But he was trainer Mark Casse’s “other” horse. While GI Preakness S. winner War of Will (War Front), who ran so well in the middle leg of the series to prove himself after all the trouble he encountered in the GI Kentucky Derby, received all the attention, hardly anyone noticed that Casse had a second horse in the race. Even the trainer looked a bit bewildered when being interviewed after the race. Certainly, he was happy to have won a Belmont, but his excitement seemed muted. He’s too smart to have said so, but you can be pretty darn certain he didn’t see this one coming, Sir Winston beating War of Will or War of Will finishing ninth. Adding to the omnipresent oddness that hovered over the last five weeks, Sir Winston actually fouled War of Will. It really didn’t matter as War of Will just didn’t have it, and the interference probably cost him no more than a length. Obviously, War of Will’s jockey Tyler Gaffalione was not about to claim foul against a stablemate. It seems like 38 weeks ago and not that 38 days ago that Kentucky Derby favorite Omaha Beach (War Front) was withdrawn from the Derby with an entrapped epiglottis. Maybe we should have figured out that this was some sort of bad omen, but the cast of 3-year-olds eyeing the Triple Crown races still looked like a bunch capable of putting on a good show. Bob Baffert had his usual embarrassment of riches in GI Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster (Quality Road), 2-year-old champion Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Grade I winner Improbable (City Zip). After winning last year’s Triple Crown, Baffert didn’t so much as hit the board in any of this year’s three races. Tacitus (Tapit), the winner of the GII Wood Memorial and GII Fountain of Youth winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), were both trained by Hall of Famers and also looked like they had the talent to go far. So who wins the Kentucky Derby? It was Country House (Lookin at Lucky), who was 65-1 and the second-longest priced winner in the history of the race. Yet, owners Gary and Mary West still think they own the real Kentucky Derby winner in Maximum Security (New Year’s Day). A horse whose connections either had so little regard for or totally misread his ability, he broke his maiden for $16,000, but turned out to be a very good horse and won the GI Florida Derby for trainer Jason Servis. You know the rest of the story…crosses the wire first in the Derby, the bumping, the disqualification, the lawsuit, West offering a $5-million side bet to any of the owners involved in the Derby controversy if they would accept a race within a race wager that their horse couldn’t beat Maximum Security. Maximum Security needed time afer the Derby and we may not see him again until the GI Haskell Invitational July 20 at Monmouth Park. Country House wasn’t able to make Round Two either as he came down with a virus. Not one of the first four horses that crossed the wire in the Derby returned for the Preakness. That was fine by Casse and owner Gary Barber, whose War of Will showed his toughness to win and showed that he might just have won the Derby if he hadn’t gotten mugged. Yet, the biggest headlines went to Bodexpress (Bodemeister) because he threw John Velazquez at the start and then ran merrily around the track without a jockey on his back. Fast forward to the Belmont. As so often happens, the crop of Triple Crown campaigners was down to bare bones. War of Will, the only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races, and Tacitus looked like the two best horses on paper. Some thought Todd Pletcher could pull a rabbit out of his hat with either Spinoff (Hard Spun) or Intrepid Heart (Tapit) and Sir Winston had sandwiched some good races into between poor ones. It was hard to be inspired by anyone else in the field. The star of the show was as much jockey Joel Rosario as it was Sir Winston. The same jockey who had Game Winner so wide on the far turn in the Kentucky Derby that he knocked over a mint julep resting on the lap of a patron in the first row, he rode a superb race. He saved every inch of ground on both turns before slipping into the three path after the field turned into the stretch. Meanwhile, Gaffalione had War of Will at least three or four paths wide for much of the trip before tipping out into the five path nearing the end of the far turn. On Tacitus, Jose Ortiz took the same overland route. Sir Winston won by a length. Had Ortiz saved any ground, he easily could have won the race. So, who is the sport’s best 3-year-old male? The answer is probably Maximum Security, but who can really say, at least until we get through the Haskell, the GI Travers S. and the GI Pennsylvania Derby? Hopefully, someone will step forward and clean up this mess. The post A Strange Triple Crown Ends with Another Odd Twist appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

It's girl power as Clark lands first Kranji win on What's New in Silver Bowl View the full article

King’s Speech delivers at first 1800m test View the full article

Rocket Star right on target in second Leg View the full article

Leading not his forte but Vulcan still scores View the full article

Track conditions and course scratchings June 9 View the full article

Horses' body weights June 9 View the full article

Carl Moore and Brad Grady's 6-year-old mare Mom's On Strike grabbed the lead with a sixteenth of a mile to run and held off late runs from Smart Shot and Limari to win the $125,000 Old Forester Mint Julep Stakes (G3T) by a neck. View the full article

Hog Creek Hustle picked a good time for his initial stakes win, rallying for a narrow victory in the $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park. View the full article

SIR WINSTON (c, 3, Awesome Again–-La Gran Balladora, by Afleet Alex) came running late to register a 10-1 upset over favored Tacitus (Tapit) in the GI Belmont S., providing his trainer Mark Casse with his second straight Classic win following War of Will (War Front)’s victory in the GI Preakness S. He saved ground near the back as 21-1 shot Joevia (Shanghai Bobby) ticked off opening splits of :23.92, :48.79 and 1:13.54 with Tax (Arch) keeping him honest in second. Biding his time into the backstretch, the chestnut inched up the fence to be third entering the far turn, tipped out two wide in the final furlong and surged clear to score. Tacitus made his way through traffic late to be second and Joevia held for third in a final time of 2:28.30. Third in the GIII Grey S. and winner of the Display S. at Woodbine last term, Sir Winston was off the board in both the GIII Withers S., GII Tampa Bay Derby and GII Toyota Blue Grass S. earlier this term. He ran a much-improved second last time in this venue’s GII Peter Pan S. Lifetime Record: 10-3-1-1. O/B-Tracy Farmer (KY); T-Mark Casse. The post Awesome Again’s Sir Winston Pulls Off Belmont Upset appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Sir Winston delivered a powerful stretch run to win the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park. View the full article