Wandering Eyes

There are just three graded stakes in North America this pre-Breeders' Cup Saturday (Oct. 27), with the Hagyard Fayette (G2) topping the closing-day card at Keeneland. View the full article

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced Friday that it is seeking applications for the position of Director of NTRA Communications. The Director of NTRA Communications, which will be based in the organization’s Lexington, KY office, will be responsible for the overall public relations efforts of the NTRA while also serving as a clearinghouse and resource for national and industry trade media. For more details on the position, visit www.ntra.com/about/employment/. View the full article

Lexington, Kentucky is one of the most SPECIAL cities in the WORLD, and we need to keep it special. Our Urban Service Boundary and Comprehensive Plan have been instrumental in maintaining that quality of life that so many other cities seek. Lexington’s Mayoral race this year is crucial to our future. Linda Gorton is the right candidate to promote our signature industry and has the experience and desire to keep Lexington special. She is well known and respected as being a consensus builder–something our community and country sorely needs. As the leading farm broker in this area for several decades, I truly recognize the need to keep Lexington special, as well as, the Horse Capital of the World. How many times has our community used our rural landscape and industry to attract businesses, doctors, professors, etc. to our wonderful city? As a Realtor, I recognize we need growth, but smart, planned, and responsible growth. Linda Gorton, when elected, will do that, and not just provide lip service to get our vote. As a Thoroughbred owner and breeder and as a Realtor, Linda has my unequivocal support and if you’re driving the countryside as I do, you will readily see that she has the support of the industry’s landowners as well. View the full article

4th-KEE, $67K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, post time: 2:45 p.m. EDT Stonestreet homebred PHILOSOPHY (Speightstown) is the latest foal from the recently deceased Scarlet Tango (French Deputy), whose eight winners from 10 to race include GISW & ‘TDN Rising Star’ Tara’s Tango (Unbridled’s Song), GISW and South African-based stallion Visionaire (Grand Slam), GSW & MGISP Scarlet Strike (Smart Strike) and Madison’s Luna (Tapit), victorious in this year’s GIII Hutcheson S. Where’s Oliver (More Than Ready), a $90K Keeneland November weanling turned $400K Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling, is out of an unplaced daughter of Santa Teresita (Lemon Drop Kid), winner of the GI Santa Maria H. and $1.75-million graduate of the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November sale. TJCIS PPs 5th-KEE, $67K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, post time: 3:18 p.m. EDT SO ALIVE (Super Saver), a $160K KEESEP grad, is another product from the John Gunther breeding program, as the bay is a half-brother to this year’s GII Wood Memorial S. winner Vino Rosso (Curlin). The siblings’ dam Mythical Bride (Street Cry {Ire}) is a daughter of SW & GSP Flaming Heart (Touch Gold), dam of MGSW & GISP Commissioner (A.P. Indy) and GSW & GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Laugh Track (Distorted Humor). TJCIS PPs 7th-BEL, $75K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, post time: 4:02 p.m. EDT PEFORMER (Speightstown) lands gate 10 as a 4-1 chance on the morning line for this career unveiling. The Phipps homebred is out of 2009 GII Demoiselle S. runner-up Protesting (A.P. Indy), while the colt’s second dam, a close relative to MGSW Parading (Pulpit), whose GSP dam On Parade (Storm Cat) is a full-sister to champion Storm Flag Flying. Third dam My Flag (Easy Goer) counted the 1995 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies amongst her four Grade I victories. Rags for Britches (Union Rags) is kin to three full black-type winners, including MGSW Bridgetown (Speightstown), MSW Clement Rock (Strong Hope) and MSW & GSP Carnacks Choice (Carson City). The colt’s second dam, Empress Aly (Alydar), was an unraced full-sister to 1991 GI Kentucky Derby hero Strike the Gold. TJCIS PPs View the full article

FANCY DRESS PARTY (f, 2, Munnings–The Schvagen, by Matty G)–bet down to half her 10-1 morning-line for this off-the-turf unveiling–sat back off the pace a bit in mid-pack, running in the two-path through an opening quarter in :22.64. Out in the center of the track at the top of the sloppy stretch, the $280,000 KEESEP buy swiftly inhaled her rivals and splashed clear to an effortless three-length score over 3-2 chalk Quiet Company (Temple City). The final time was 1:05.13. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. O-LNJ Foxwoods; B-Douglas Arnold (KY); T-Ben Colebrook. View the full article

Margoth's Gunnevera breezed six furlongs in 1:15 1/5 the morning of Oct. 26 at Gulfstream Park West in preparation for a planned start in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs Nov. 3. View the full article

He was a dreamer from Milwaukee and, after three years trying to be a trainer, still had only a handful of claimers in Chicago. Then one Sunday morning, driving into Hawthorne racetrack, Bobby Trussell noticed ash descending onto the windshield out of the dawn sky. He put his foot down and soon saw the flames in the clubhouse. When he arrived at the backstretch, cinders were sparking through the air and the fire crew were spraying the barn roofs. “What about the horsemen’s office?” he asked. “All our papers are in there.” “Don’t worry sir, we have that under control.” Forty years later, Trussell can laugh at the memory. “Just then the whole thing went up like a Christmas tree,” he says. “The stands, the office, all the papers with it. So I left, came to Lexington, and got a job at Gainesway. And that’s what really changed my life.” In tandem, moreover, the whole racing landscape was also about to change. For while Trussell keeps his own role modestly in perspective, the fact is that when the sport celebrates the 35th edition of its greatest modern innovation, at Churchill Downs in a few days’ time, it should also remember him in its toast to his late boss John Gaines. “We’d started calling it the Breeders’ Cup, internally, and at one point we said: ‘We need to get a name for it,'” he recalls. “But then we said: ‘What’s wrong with Breeders’ Cup?’ So we just stuck with it. To be there at the dawn of that, in my early thirties, it was very exciting.” He wonders how many people still recall the genesis of the idea. At the time, Gainesway’s biggest client was Nelson Bunker Hunt. “And he had his own auction at the Kentucky Horse Center, instead of selling his yearlings at Keeneland,” Trussell explains. “He was accused of doing that to avoid the commission to Keeneland, but told Mr. Gaines: ‘That’s not the case, and I want to show them that.’ So Mr. Gaines said: ‘Let’s take the 5% to invest in a stakes programme for fillies. It’ll help the breeding, it’ll help the racing, it’ll help everything.’ So this money was accumulating. And then Mr. Gaines hired a consultant, who said that if we wanted to make an impact, we should make it one day, instead of a series, and not just for fillies.” Gaines would take his team–Joe Taylor, Jim Philpott, Trussell–to lunch at the Lexington Country Club and thrash things out: “Bobby, how much money could we get for one stud fee for every stallion in Kentucky?” “And we were literally doing this on the back of a napkin, trying to figure out a model,” recalls Trussell. Young as he was, he had already worked for horsemen of no less consequence. In fact his first job, straight out of college, had been with John Nerud. Trussell had a degree in finance, his grandfather was a stockbroker, there was a job waiting. But his father had incautiously told him to follow his dreams. “Sorry gramps,” said Trussell. “I’m going to Belmont Park to walk hots.” He took his first ever plane trip to New York and showed up with his bags on the backstretch, clutching a letter from Nerud. Trouble was, Nerud was still in Florida. They wouldn’t let him in. Eventually Nerud’s assistant came to the gate, and Trussell showed him the letter. “You got a college degree? What are you doing here, boy!?” Next problem: they had mattress springs, but no mattress. Trussell spread his clothes over the springs and slept on those. Though he could not yet know it, fate was giving him a pinch right there. But first came the formative experience of working for the trainer of Dr. Fager, the horse who had hooked him on the game. “I was totally in awe,” Trussell recalls. “Nerud would arrive at 8:00 in a big limousine. He wasn’t allowed to drive, because of when he’d hurt his head. It was Dr. [Charles] Fager, of course, who’d done the brain surgery.” On his last day Trussell told Nerud he wanted to follow in his footsteps. “You want to train horses?” Nerud replied. “I’ll tell you what Ben Jones told me: keep ’em fat, keep ’em happy, and never work ’em over a half-mile.” Trussell found the system did not work quite so well for him. Then he spent a couple of winters working for Woody Stephens’s brother Bill at Aiken, learning how to break yearlings and develop juveniles. “And Woody had the exact opposite approach,” Trussell explains. “Such a lesson. He started working his 2-year-olds on February 1. They’d work every three days and by the first week of March they’re all breaking down, they had ankles and they had shins and I’m thinking: ‘Man, this guy is a butcher!’ Then he’d back off a little, but only the worst ones, and by April they were all fine again. And he sent them to New York and we had six 2-year-old stakes winners out of that group of 24. “Nerud didn’t have 2-year-old stakes winners, and even at three every single one of his horses had bucked shins or cradles round their necks. But then, when Woody’s horses were kind of done, Nerud would have all these stakes winners at four. Just showed there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” If neither approach was going to make a trainer of Trussell, the education had not been wasted on him. Having started out selling seasons, he gradually became right-hand man to Gaines in the quest for new stallions. “I was like a scout for a football team,” he recalls. “That was back in the go-go days, the market was so strong. We’d bought Lyphard just before I got there, but then we bought Riverman, Green Dancer, Sharpen Up; we repatriated Dust Commander from Japan; we got a horse called Sweet Candy from Venezuela. I told Mr. Gaines: ‘I’ve done a little research and on form he’s kinda like an allowance horse here.’ He replied: ‘Bobby! The horse won a million and a half dollars–we can syndicate him.’ And we did, for $6 million or something. He knew the market. “It was the European horses we could really arbitrage. Riverman was worth $7 million there and $14 million here. In essence, we could sell enough to own a quarter of the horse for nothing. But it was a win-win. It allowed the Europeans to monetize, and was the beginning of the melding of the two worlds.” Times have changed. He remembers the controversy when as many as 70 mares were booked to Blushing Groom. But times changed for Trussell himself, too. Over the last four years, unfortunately, he has had to deal with the insidious consequences of Lyme Disease. Long before then, however, he had proved the range of his abilities as an equally high achiever beyond the Turf. True, it was horses that first opened the door to his doing so. Trussell had horses in training in France with Alain Falourd, who introduced him to an equine chiropractor from Sweden–who, in turn, had a friend who claimed to have developed the world’s greatest mattress. Perhaps thinking back to those bedsprings in the Belmont tack-room, Trussell thought he should meet Mikael Magnusson. By the early 1990s, after all, the stallion business had gone into recession. In the event, it turned out that Magnusson had at least as much interest in Trussell’s world as the other way round. “I got to Stockholm and we spent three days talking about horses, and about an hour at the end talking about mattresses,” recalls Trussell. “But I stayed at Mikael’s house and slept on the mattress, and that’s all you had to do. They were just launching at the time, it was perfect timing. They didn’t have anybody in the States, Mikael gave me exclusive U.S. distribution rights and we formed a company named Tempur-Pedic–and the rest is history, the thing took off and went public about 10 years later.” The Swedish partners sold out in 2002 and, while Trussell stayed on as CEO, he stepped down in 2006. Magnusson, for his part, moved to Britain to train a small string of horses with conspicuous success–many owned in partnership with Trussell. But the latter’s return to the stallion business, as one of the buyers of Walmac, proved to be somewhat less happily timed. “We bought two [stallions] in 2008 that a month later were worth about a third of what we paid for them,” he says ruefully. “With the collapse of the economy, and the foal crop halving, it shrunk the pie. Now you’ve three or four players dominating, and not as much room for the peripheral operations.” But if his racing interests are for the time being confined to a couple in training with Patrick Biancone in Florida–he is meanwhile busy with a digital advertising start-up named CleanMedia–there is still much to learn from a man of such seasoned insight. Even a debilitating illness has not been wasted on Trussell’s inquiring outlook. “Lyme Disease is becoming an epidemic,” he warns. “The Center for Disease Control says there are 300,000 new cases in America per year. I’ve met so many people who’ve been hit way worse than me: I’ve remained fairly functional the whole time, but I know people in wheelchairs, people who’ve gone blind, people who’ve been sick for 20 years and not known what to do. “So anyway I’ve learned a lot about health. And I think that many of our advances in agriculture and medicine have come with a cost. A hundred years ago, they began to treat certain illnesses with mercury. About the most poisonous thing you can put in your body, and we have it in our teeth! Then there’s all the pesticide in our food, the preservatives, the fluorides. All of this has a cumulative effect. All these kids with asthma, with autism, things we didn’t used to have. Why? It’s because of what they’re ingesting in their food, in the air they breathe, and now the constant radiation from our phones and computers. It’s all taken its toll.” Trussell extends the logic to Thoroughbreds, and notes parallels in other breeds as well. He laments the loss of local feed suppliers, and suspects that wholesalers are warehousing on such a scale that oats and hay are saturated with pesticides or preservatives. He questions water purity, too. And while he disparages as unscientific the notion that medication might have weakened the breed over a couple of generations, he is alarmed by a pharmaceutical culture. “It’s not the drugs we gave these horses’ ancestors,” he says. “It’s the drugs we’re routinely giving them now–the legal drugs. They all have side-effects. You watch the TV commercials: they spend 20 seconds telling you how good a drug is, and 40 seconds telling you how it can kill you. The mentality is that there’s a drug for everything. If something’s wrong, you get a shot. Antibiotics ruin your gut–and people take them like candy. I’ve been helped way more myself by alternative treatments than any conventional ones.” Trussell has admired at close quarters the skills of Magnusson himself as an amateur equine chiropractor. Without wishing to get into the politics, he suggests that the power of veterinarians on the backstretch sometimes blocks such therapies. “In America we go left, left, left,” he says. “But that causes all sorts of injuries. They walk down the shedrow, they turn left. They go out the paddock, they turn left. I know Kenny McPeek one year suggested to the Gulfstream racing office that we could go the other way, on Tuesdays and Sundays or whatever it was. And he just got laughed off the stage.” Quite apart from any dilution of the breed’s resilience, Trussell believes that vested interests have also contributed to its diminished output. “Average starts have been going down for about 30 years,” he notes. “With this constant awareness of win percentage, the advent of the super trainer has to be a factor. Nerud and Stephens had 40 horses. Those were big operations. Now, there are trainers with 400. And they can’t run 10 horses in the same maiden race, so everyone has to wait their turn. “It used to be that you got left at the gate, or had a bad trip, you’d run next week. Now we have to wait six weeks. That’s really a downer, for an owner, to pay all those bills and run so little. If we ran horses more, it would be a virtuous circle: we’d increase the field size, increase the handle. The trainers are the employees, after all, not the other way round.” Here is a guy with no agenda, just a ton of experience inside and outside the sport; and a brain that can usefully process its lessons. Yes, he has been slowed down a little in recent times–“a big reason for cutting back my horse interests, and why Johnny Jones and I have decided to sell Walmac Farm.” (It will be sold at auction on Nov. 8.) But if circumstances have confined his energies, the same has not applied to his acuity. You have to seek him out; he’s not the type to shout from rooftops. But perhaps one or two of his messages will ultimately prove as important as even the institution of the Breeders’ Cup. That’s up to the industry. For himself, Trussell will make do with the intellectual stimulation of wagering. “As my racing stable has decreased, my interest in handicapping has increased,” he says with a grin. “I can root them home just as easily–and I don’t have the overheads.” View the full article

Southwest-based rider Diego Saenz secured the 2,000th victory of his career Oct. 25 when he guided Lovely Charlie to a clear victory in the eighth race at Delta Downs. View the full article

Phoenix Thoroughbreds' undefeated Dream Tree will miss the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) because an epiglottic entrapment was discovered following her workout Oct. 26 at Santa Anita Park, trainer Bob Baffert said. View the full article

Saturday’s European action sees the flat season issue one of its final flourishes with a host of prestige races across Britain, France and Ireland concentrated mainly on the 2-year-olds. It is a shame that the international race-planners could not avoid a clash between the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy S., the latter of which re-adopts its old title before the Racing Post took up sponsorship in 1989. As ever, Ballydoyle have enough quality middle-distance Classic prospects for 2019 to spread around and have live chances of pulling off a double. Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) is the chosen one for Rosegreen at Doncaster and bids to bring up a ninth renewal for Aidan O’Brien, while Norway (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) leads the way at Saint-Cloud. Things have come up quickly for the former, with his impressive winning debut over seven furlongs at Naas Sept. 30 preceding a narrow reversal at the hands of ‘TDN Rising Star’ Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in Newmarket’s G3 Autumn S. over this mile trip Oct. 13. “Magna Grecia is in good form. Obviously it’s not long since he ran in Newmarket, but he seems to be in good form since,” Aidan O’Brien said. Magna Grecia is met by ‘TDN Rising Star’ Turgenev (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), another industrious fast-learner whose sole defeat also came at the hands of a serious piece of kit in Royal Marine (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) on debut at Doncaster Sept. 14. Ballydoyle have a line on him after he beat their Il Paradiso (Galileo {Ire}) in a mile Newmarket novice stakes Oct. 6, but Princess Haya of Jordan’s bay has a resolute nature which will take him far in this renewal. “He’s a progressive horse. He is only a novice winner and he doesn’t come with any group-race form, but he is a nice horse,” trainer John Gosden commented. “He has pleased us since winning at Newmarket and deserves to take his chance in a race of this nature.” Gosden also saddles Qatar Racing’s authoritative Sept. 27 Newmarket maiden scorer Kick On (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) and he said of him, “He won well at Newmarket and I’m happy to let him run. He had a setback after his first run so he had a nice holiday. He has grown a lot and is a genuine galloping horse. The mile helped last time, as he has got a huge stride and covers a lot of ground.” Norway, who appeared on the same card as Magna Grecia and was successful in his task in the 10-furlong Listed Zetland S., meets another numerically-poor representation of French juveniles during a season in which that has been the norm in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. “Norway is in good form. He won nicely the last day in Newmarket and he’s a horse that we think is progressing,” O’Brien said. Godolphin put up the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Shoot For Gold (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), who scored by seven lengths over a mile at Windsor Oct. 8 and the relative of Grand Couturier (GB) (Grand Lodge) is held in high esteem. “Shoot For Gold is a nice colt, who has improved with every start and won well at Windsor,” his handler commented. “He has shown some class in his work and we would prefer some ease in the ground, although good going will be fine for him. He is ready to go again and the step up to 10 furlongs should suit.” France’s most unexposed contender is the Wertheimers’ Anecdotic (Anodin {Ire}), who beat a subsequent winner on debut over this trip at Compiegne Oct. 4. Even Leopardstown gets in on the act, hosting a significant juvenile contest of its own over nine furlongs and therefore nestled between the mile of the Futurity and the 10 furlongs of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. His Highness The Aga Khan’s Masaff (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) boasts the best form and possibly also the most potential, having chased home two smart peers in Madhmoon (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in the G2 Champions Juvenile S. at a mile here Sept. 15. Jockey Declan McDonogh commented, “I think it’s a nice race for him. This will probably be his last run of the season, he’s a nice colt and I’m looking forward to riding him.” At Newbury, the G3 Horris Hill S. over seven furlongs sees Chairmanoftheboard (Ire) (Slade Power {Ire}) bid to back up the impression he created with an eight-length debut success over a furlong shorter at Goodwood Oct. 14, while Bernard Kantor’s May 9 G3 Chester Vase and Sept. 22 G3 Dubai Duty Free Legacy Cup winner Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) looks to offer further prognostication of what could come from him in 2019 in the G3 St Simon S. “He should give a good account of himself. He has got a penalty, but he should run well,” trainer William Haggas said. “I wanted to go for the Prix Chaudenay on Arc weekend, but the ground was too fast. He needs cut in the ground. He wasn’t right after Epsom for a long time, so we have nursed him back and we don’t want to put him on the back foot again. If I’m allowed to run him, I think next season he is absolutely tailor-made for the Yorkshire Cup.” Godolphin’s Wootton (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) is back in the G3 Prix Perth, making up a trio in the royal blue as he seeks to end his campaign on a high. Considered a Classic winner waiting to happen after his return success in ParisLongchamp’s G3 Prix de Fontainebleau Apr. 15, the Henri-Alex Pantall trainee needs a confidence boost after some reversals in better company. “Wootton is a colt with a lot of quality, but things just haven’t gone his way this year,” Lisa-Jane Graffard commented. “It is hard to be confident, but he should have conditions to suit.” View the full article

Pearling (Storm Cat), the dam of three-time Group 1 winner Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), will be offered at this year’s Tattersalls December Breeding Stock Sale. Tattersalls released the catalogue for the four-day sale, which takes place at Park Paddocks from Dec. 3 to 6, on Friday, and the 12-year-old Pearling-who is carrying a full sibling to Decorated Knight–is one of the expected headliners. Not only is her first foal the aforementioned Tattersalls Gold Cup, Irish Champion S. and Jebel Hatta winner, but she is also a full-sister to Giant’s Causeway and You’resothrilling, the dam of five group winners headed by Classic winners Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Marvellous (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and dual Group 1-winning juvenile Happily (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Pearling will be offered by New England Stud as lot 1918. Pearling is one of two mares in foal to Galileo to be offered at the sale, and there are three in foal to Dubawi (Ire), including group winners The Miniver Rose (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) (lot 1605) and Stellar Path (Fr) (Astronomer Royal) (lot 1847). There are nine mares catalogued in foal to Frankel (GB), including Juddmonte’s Group 1 producer Argumentative (GB) (Observatory) (lot 1526), the listed-winning and Classic-placed Heuristique (Ire) (Shamardal) (lot 1878) and the dam of American stakes winner Rubilinda (Frankel {GB}) (lot 1891). The catalogue includes 116 stakes winners or producers, and mares in foal to all of the current top 20 active British and Irish sires as well as 13 carrying to leading French sire Siyouni (Fr) and the only mare in foal to War Front to be offered in Europe this year. There are 18 mares catalogued in foal to Kingman and 11 in foal to No Nay Never. American representation includes the European dispersal of Bobby Flay’s stock, and the inaugural European consignment of Taylor Made Farm. Flay’s draft includes Auld Alliance (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) in foal to Frankel (lot 1909) and the Group 3-winning, Group 1-placed Banzari (GB) (Motivator {GB}) in foal to Fastnet Rock (Aus) (lot 1910). Other top-class offerings include GI Matriarch S. winner Off Limits (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) (lot 1871); the Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Vue Fantastique (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) (lot 1872); Group 2 winners Raven’s Lady (GB) (Raven’s Pass) (lot 1915) and Heartache (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) (lot 1897); and Group 3 winners Luminate (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) (lot 1919) and Beautiful Morning (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) (lot 1927). “The Tattersalls December Sale has been Europe’s premier breeding stock sale for more than a century, and we have a catalogue of quality fillies and mares with coverings by stallions who are arguably the best in the world at the moment,” said Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony. “The December Sale is always an unmissable event for Thoroughbred breeders from throughout the world and we are looking forward to another truly international renewal.” View the full article

Its Gonna Hurt, who upset the Speakeasy Stakes at 8-1 Oct. 8 to earn an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, will miss the Nov. 2 race at Churchill Downs because of a suspensory issue, trainer Brian Koriner said Oct. 26. View the full article

Friday’s abbreviated final session of the Arqana October Yearling Sale saw 91 additional yearlings go under the hammer in Deauville, with 76 finding new homes for a clearance rate of 83.5%. The average of €12,132 was down 5.3% from the same session last year, while the median remained steady at €10,000. Cumulatively, 571 yearlings were offered throughout the week, with 452 sold. That represented a clearance rate of 79%, which was down from 81% last year. The average and median were also both very slightly off, the average falling 3.7% to €40,345, and the median down to €26,000 from €27,000. The aggregate for four days’ trade was €18,236,000. Topping trade on Friday was lot 545, a first-crop son of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and G2 Champagne S. winner Outstrip (GB) bought by BBA Ireland for €37,000. He is the first foal out of the German stakes-placed Sign Your Name (Ger) (Areion) and comes from the extended family of Group 1 winners like Epaulette (Aus), National Defense (Ire), Ave and this year’s G1 1000 Guineas winner Billesdon Brook. View the full article

With a spit of rain coming down and a cool tinge to the air, Godolphin's bay 4-year-old colt went through his final major paces without issue Friday, working seven furlongs in 1:27. View the full article

Moonee Valley Racecourse hosts the prestigious Group 1 Cox Plate on Saturday, October 27th with an impressive $5 million in prize money up for grabs. The race holds an important place in racing history and is named in honour of W.S. Cox, the racing club’s founder and has been held annually at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne since 1922. With a field of eight runners set to go to post, the Cox Plate contest is run over one mile, two furlongs and forty four yards and the race is open to horses three years and older. The mere mention of the Cox Plate and the name on every racing fans tongue is Winx. The seven-year-old superstar, trained in Australia by Chris Waller, took the 2015, 2016 and 2017 title in the Cox Plate, each time partnered by jockey Hugh Bowman, who will take the ride again this weekend. The daughter of Street Cry, holds the extremely impressive form of twenty eight consecutive stakes race wins to her name, including twenty one Group 1’s. In 2016 Winx became both the world’s top-ranked filly or mare and the world’s top-ranked turf horse. She has retained this ranking in 2017 and so far in 2018. A national treasure in Australia, Winx has earned almost $14 million since her debut in 2014. Can she make it a fourth successive win in this prestigious race? However, the once-in-a-generation Aussie superstar may be the name everyone is expecting to storm into the winners circle, Britain-based trainer Saeed Bin Suroor believes he may have the colt to topple the wonder horse Winx. Saeed Bin Suroor, Godolphin’s longest-serving trainer, aims to end Winx’s 28-race unbeaten run with the electric Benbatl in Saturday’s $5 million Cox Plate challenge. The son of Dubawi is set to be partnered by Irish man Oisin Murphy. It has been noted from past performances the four-year-old goes well at this trip and could be a real threat to the favourite. Darren Weir-trained Humidor is set to be ridden by Damian Lane and will be one for punters to watch in the betting market at each way. The six-year-old was second to Winx in this race last year and is currently the top Australian performer running on distances of between seven furlongs and one mile and two furlongs. Aidan O’Brien-trained Rostropovich is among entries and is set to be ridden by current stable jockey Ryan Moore. The three-year-old won on his last outing at Leopardstown last month and although he may be out of his depth in terms of more experienced horses and Group level, he will be one to keep an eye on. Selection: Winx The post Cox Plate Preview appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

The ITV racing team is bringing viewers action from Newbury, Doncaster and Cheltenham on Saturday. The Group 1 Futurity Stakes is the feature race at Doncaster, there is a brace of Group 3’s for the two-year-olds at Newbury and the jumps season starts in earnest at Cheltenham. There is a three-mile handicap to open proceedings at Cheltenham’s showcase meeting on Saturday. This is the first big handicap of the season and there are some familiar faces to the fore of the market. Cogry won this twelve month’s ago when beating the Tom Geroge trained Singlefarmpayment by a commanding four lengths. Nigel Twiston-Davies runner gets in here off a mark two pounds higher than last season and is an intriguing runner. Another horse that re-appears in the race for the second year running is the ultra-consistent Doing Fine. Neil Mulholland’s charge rarely runs a bad race and finished a credible third last race when staying on well up the hill. Doing Fine was last seen when finishing fourth in the Scottish National and should once again give his running. For Good Measure has been the money horse leading up to the race and has some very good course form to his name including a runner-up finish on this card last year. I do have reservations about him though as he finds it difficult to get his head in front and his mark doesn’t look overly lenient. Selection: Doing Fine The four-year-olds are out to prove they have trained on in the Grade 2 Masterson Holdings Hurdle. Head of the ratings but not the market is Gumball, who finished runner-up at Aintree behind We Have A Dream and didn’t let the form down when taking a novice event at Ludlow two weeks later. This confidence boosting run should stand to Philip Hobbs’ runner and he could have a very good season. Alan King historically does very well with his four-year-olds and this is why Cheveley Park Stud choose to keep Redicean with the master of Barbury Castle. He won his first three starts over timber and went to Cheltenham as a leading contender in the Triumph Hurdle, where he ultimately had to settle for a sixth-place finish in behind Farclas. This was a good run and looks more than strong enough form to win this. Padleyourowncanoe, Irish-raider Pearl Of The West, Eragon De Chanay and Esprit De Somoza make up the remainder of the field but in truth, it would be a shock if they were to get involved. Selection: Redicean ModusThe Randox Health Handicap Chase is one of the most open races of the day on paper and the logical starting point when trying to pick the winner is to look at last years race where Foxtail Hill proved a neck too good for Le Prezien. Nigel Twiston-Davies nine year old was disappointing in five runs prior to this victory but back down off a mark two pounds lower than last year, he must have a big chance. The Paul Nicholls trained Modus is one the classiest runners in the seven-strong field, with the breeding of a Derby winner and having contested Grade 1 contests on his last two starts. The son of Motivator historically runs well fresh and is a course and distance which is a big plus. If he turns up here anywhere near his best then he will take all the beating. The final horse of interest is Lillington who has already won twice this season, which is incredible given he hadn’t won a single race prior to these in fifteen starts. Colin Tizzard’s six-year-old has a lot to find to get involved but may have turned a corner and will have match fitness along with a lovely racing weight. Selection: Modus The Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle is the final race televised at Cheltenham on Saturday and the quality of twenty horses go to post. The betting would suggest it is a one-horse race, with Theclockisticking at least half the price of every other runner. Stuart Edmunds trains this improving six-year-old, who was placed in a Grade 2 behind Claimantakinforgan last season at Ascot and has already got two runs under his belt this season. He runs off a mark of 138 which he should be competitive off but I wouldn’t say he is thrown in either. After nine runs he’s only won twice and because if this I’d be willing to take him on. The horse I like in the field is the top-weight Wait For Me, who’s got some fantastic course handicap form including a fourth-place finish in the County Hurdle at the festival in 2016 and third place finish in the Champion Bumper in 2015. This is far and away the best form on offer and although he has to give weight away all round, he must have a big chance. NotwhatIam has had a lot of trainers down through the years and ran well when winning on debut for the Dan Skelton yard at Uttoxeter earlier in the month but has had lots of chances down through the years and I can’t see him being good enough to win this. Selection: Wait For Me The feature race at Doncaster is the Group 1 Futurity Trophy which is for the two-year-olds over a mile. This race has been won by some quality colts that have gone on to score in some classics the following season, including Motivator (2014), Camelot (2011) and Kingston Hill (2013). Aidan O’Brien has won three of the last seven runnings of this contest and supplies in the favourite for this year’s contest with Magna Grecia. The son of Invincible Spirit won on debut at Naas and then went on to come up just short in a Group 3 at Newmarket earlier this month. If this run doesn’t come too quickly then he may regain the winning bracket. John Gosden runs the thrice raced Turgenev here and he has looked impressive in his last two starts in Newcastle and Newmarket, This well-bred son of Dubawi seems to have a lot of potential and is one to follow. Phoenix Of Spain has the best form in the race having won the Acomb at York and then only found Too Darn Hot a length and three quarters too good in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. Charlie Hill’s charge is an exciting prospect and is the one to beat. Selection: Phoneix Of Spain The post Saturday Preview – The Jump Racing Is Back At Cheltenham appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

I’M delighted to be bringing you my thoughts regularly in my new RaceBets blog and will be aiming to offer you plenty of insight into our runners and what life is like here at Bankhouse. This weekend always feels like a big step up in the jumps season with Cheltenham taking place along with Sunday’s Old Roan Chase meeting at Aintree, and in general I feel our team is in good shape. The jumps programme in the north of England is so bad that I didn’t plan on having them ready before late October anyway. We’re happy with them and happy to get going with them. What we need now is the ground to run them. I always think when a horse has it’s first run of the season it’s about getting it in and getting them going rather than being too specific about where it is. You can pick and choose your races later on. Early doors I’d hope, and expect, them to run well and get placed and then go on from there when there are more options for them with the ground and the races that are around. Dear Sire – 2.35 Cheltenham, Friday He’s done well in novice chases this summer and while we’re stepping up in terms of track, the majority of his rivals are the horses we’ve been taking on over the last few months. Now, Diakali might be a bit different and we’ll have to see what he can do against him. However, Dear Sire’s been running well summer and has big track and big race experience as well so that’s to our advantage. I don’t see why he can’t run well and I’m looking forward to it. Good Tradition – 3.10 Cheltenham, Friday Very sadly the owner died recently. Harry Stock, Chris’s son, rides and the family are Cheltenham people, so it’s great to be having a runner at the course in Chris’s colours. It’s going to be an emotional day for them and it’s the main reason why we’re going. I’m sure he’ll give it his best and afterwards he’ll have a holiday. Noah And The Ark – 5.30 Cheltenham, Friday It’s been a bit of a shock the amount of improvement he’s shown. I’m not sure if we’ve just been beating trees in the north – and that’s a distinct possibility – but while he’s on a sensible mark we thought we’d have a punt at something a bit better with him. Do I think he’s up to winning a race like this? I’m not convinced. But we’re going to give it a try and see how he gets on. It still annoys me that I was fined and jockey Will Kennedy and the horse were banned for his run at Bangor under the ‘schooling in public’ rule. I don’t cheat or hide how good my horses are. My job as a trainer is to find a way to get a horse to run well and that’s what we did at Bangor. People may look at him winning his next two and put two and two together, but all we’ve done with him since is what we did at Bangor because we stumbled across the way to ride him to allow him to show his best. LOFGREN and AP Heskin win at Kelso 28/5/17 Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography 0771 046 1723Lofgren – 3.00 Kelso, Saturday The ground is plenty quick enough at Kelso and that is just what he wants. He’s going up in the handicap as he’s running well, but a small field race like this on nice ground is what he needs to show his best. He’s won at Kelso too, so I’d be optimistic of a good showing from him. Val Mome – 3.35 Kelso, Saturday I’m not sure he’s too well handicapped this horse, but he should be capable of running well of this mark. This is his handicap debut after running in novice hurdles, so it’s a different challenge, but it doesn’t look the strongest of races. I’d expect a solid run and then we can go on from that. Middlebrow – 4.10 Kelso, Saturday He’s not really run that well at Kelso before but it’s a weak enough race to have another go there and see if he can do better. He wasn’t beaten too far when third at Carlisle last week and we’ve just stuck on a pair of cheekpieces to give him a bit of extra help. Handy Hollow – 5.15 Kelso, Saturday He’s been running very respectably recently and has been getting these extended trips well. The ground should help him, and while he’s only a pony and has plenty of weight to carry, he’s tough enough and he’s hardy. It’s not much of a race. CLOUDY DREAM (Brian Hughes) wins the Future Champions Chase at The Coral Scottish Grand National meeting at AYR 22/4/17 Cloudy Dream – 3.00 Aintree, Sunday We’re very happy with him and he’s ready to run. He’s got form in the race already and on paper it doesn’t look as strong a race as it did last year when he was second to Smad Place. He’s a new horse to me and until I start running him and seeing what he does on the course for us I’m not going to be able to learn more about him. He’s a high-class horse for sure, and Brian Hughes knows him well so that’s going to be extremely helpful at Aintree and in terms of making plans for the future too. Whiteoak Fleur – 4.10 Aintree, Sunday She’s run two good races in bumpers so far and the form of those races has stood up well. I think she’ll be suited by Aintree and having another run in a bumper. We want to put her over hurdles soon, but she was quite wild last season so we feel another run before we put her over any obstacles is the right way to go with her. The post Donald McCain RaceBets Blog appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

The days of Peddlers Cross, Overturn, Ballabriggs, Whiteoak and Cinders And Ashes may be in the past, but a new dawn is lighting up Bankhouse Stables. After a period of rebuilding and restocking necessitated by the break-up with owners Paul and Clare Rooney almost exactly three years ago, Donald McCain’s star is once again in the ascendancy. There might not be a horse in the stable the calibre of Peddlers Cross just yet, but McCain has high hopes for a team which includes the very useful chaser Cloudy Dream plus a horse he is conspicuously sweet on, Uppertown Prince, who could take high rank in the novice chase division. McCain is strengthening all the time. Only last week he took charge of the Elite Racing-owned Constancio, an 85-rated middle-distance handicapper on the Flat for Jim Bolger, and juvenile hurdle prospect Liva, his first horse for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. Expect to see him have plenty of runners – and winners – on deep ground at Haydock this winter once again, and keep an eye on two of his juvenile hurdlers, Breakfast and Ormesher, who are likely to continue their progress after making excellent starts to their new careers. The appointment of Brian Hughes as stable jockey has already paid dividends – as McCain says, “he’s been the standout jockey in the north over the last few years, and to have him on-side can only be good for us” – and, while the yard is highly unlikely to get near its best ever tally of 153 winners recorded during the 2011-12 campaign, a first century since 2013-14 would surely signal a complete recovery from the 2015 bombshell in impressively quick time. Stable profile Yard Bankhouse Stables, Cholmondeley, Cheshire Started training June 2006 Horses in yard 110 Members of staff 35 Head lad Derwyn Williams Assistant trainer Adrian Lane Jockeys Brian Hughes, Will Kennedy Conditional Lorcan Murtagh Amateur Theo Gillard Stable sponsor RaceBets Website donaldmccain.co.uk Twitter @donaldmccain WINNERS IN BRITAIN 2017-18 98 2016-17 80 2015-16 53 2014-15 99 PROFIT/LOSS TO £1 STAKE 2017-18 -17.29 2016-17 -126.20 2015-16 -138.27 2014-15 -270.31 TOTAL PRIZE-MONEY IN 2017-18 £838,514 Beach Break Four-year-old gelding Cacique (sire) – Wemyss Bay (dam) Owner: G E Fitzpatrick Form figures: 211134 Racing Post Rating: 127 (hurdles); official rating 126 (hurdles) BEACH BREAK ridden by Brian Hughes (right) wins at Cartmel 23/7/18 Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography 0771 046 1723When I bought him off the Flat he had a bit of a reputation, but he’s done his job and gone out and won three races over hurdles. He’s got an unorthodox head carriage – that’s just the Black key 6g Authorized – Pentatonic Mr D Owens 326-131 RPR 135h OR 130h He was a cheap purchase last month considering he won a handicap hurdle at the big Galway meeting in August. He has his aches and pains, but clearly has an engine. Chti Balko 6g Balko – Ina Scoop D G Carrington 415392- RPR 147h OR 142h He’s a great little horse who never runs a bad race. We’ve toyed with the idea of going chasing, but are going to stay handicapping in two-mile soft-ground hurdles. He’s particularly effective at Haydock on deep ground. Star quality Cloudy Dream 8g Cloudings – Run Away Dream Trevor Hemmings 222235- RPR 162c 140h OR 157c 137h We’re still learning about him. He’s a high-quality chaser who we’ll start off in the Old Roan at Aintree. His work has been great and it’s nice to have him. He finished second to Altior in the Racing Post Arkle at Cheltenham a couple of seasons ago and is obviously a lovely horse to have around the place. Mr Hemmings has always been a big supporter of mine and we’ll make a plan with Mick Meagher as we go along. CLOUDY DREAM (Brian Hughes) wins the Future Champions Chase at The Coral Scottish Grand National meeting at AYR 22/4/17Dear Sire 6g Al Namix – Polismith Green Day Racing 2-01F31 RPR 141c OR 142c He has won nine races in less than two years. I took a chance with him over a longer trip on a couple of occasions at Cartmel in the summer. He won the first and would have won the second as well but for hitting a patch of false ground at the second-last. I think he’ll improve in two-mile handicap chases with the hood left off. Race in focus Danceintothelight loves Catterick, and I’m hoping the handicapper drops him enough so that he can get into a suitable race there this winter. Look out for him over 2m3f round there with my daughter Abbie on board. Federici 9g Overbury – Vado Via M4 Properties Ltd 14553PRPR 137c 128h OR 130c 119h He had a little knock after the Cross Country at Cheltenham in March and it’s taken us time to get him back. He’ll go straight for the Becher or Grand Sefton at Aintree. Hopefully there’s a big day in him. Fin And Game 6g Oscar – Miss Cilla T G Leslie 4/1114-6 RPR 133h OR 129h He didn’t do a lot wrong on his first start novice chasing last Thursday at Carlisle. He jumped really well, and was just a bit fresh after getting lit up in the stables. I still get the impression that he’s playing at the job. The race we ran him in at Ayr in April probably wasn’t suitable. He’s definitely got an engine but maybe he doesn’t know it himself just yet. I hope the penny will drop. FIN AND GAME with W Kennedy wins Novice HurdleDark horse Gaelik Coast 4g Coastal Path – Gaelika T G Leslie 1- RPR 91 He’s not a big horse, which is probably why he didn’t make huge money at the sales, but has grown over the summer. He was very impressive when winning his point-to-point in Ireland, and he’s sharp enough to be started off in a bumper. He’s one for the future. Katachenko 9g Kutub – Karalee Trevor Hemmings U/26F-44 RPR 139c 131h OR 132c 128h He was a bit unlucky last season. At Aintree in December he was spooked when the flagman dropped his flag, and he lost 15 lengths at the start before being beaten a nose by Play The Ace. He was travelling very sweetly when he fell five out at Ayr later on, and will hopefully Knock House 9g Old Vic – Lady’s Gesture T G Leslie P/62-857 RPR 151c 131h OR 130c 129h He’s had plenty of problems with his back. He ran a nice race over hurdles at Carlisle last season when second to My Old Gold. It will be a case of finding the right race on the right day with him – over hurdles or fences. He reappeared at Carlisle last Thursday, and travelled beautifully in a 3m handicap chase for a long way. In the short-term we’ll go back to a flat track and hurdles. Knockrobin 7g Robin Des Pres – Tudor Style Deva Racing Knockrobin Partnership 42312PRPR 129h OR 130h He should have won more races than he has, but he’s been a little immature and just plays at the job a bit. I see him as a 3m staying novice chaser for races in the north. He’s been crying out for a fence. Lastbutnotleast 8m Flemensfirth – Lakil Princess Sarah Leslie and Beryl McCain 11/P135- RPR 141c 135h OR 132c 132h She left her season at Haydock in December. It was the first race of the day on very bad ground and she and Jonniesofa took each other on for two miles; it was brutal up the straight. She went on to nick some black type at Leicester, but wasn’t herself. She’ll go back chasing and can hopefully win a decent staying handicap. LASTBUTNOTLEAST and Will Kennedy win at Hexham 7/12/16 Lofgren 7g Multiplex – Sherry Darling Mrs C P Lees-Jones 232171 RPR 136c 134h OR 137c 122h He’s doing his job really well and stays further than I thought he would. He was very tough at Cartmel and then improved again to win at Bangor. He doesn’t want deep ground. If I could sum up last season in one word: Satisfying Mount Mews 7g Presenting – Kneeland Lass Trevor Hemmings 361230- RPR 150h 145c OR 140h 139c He’s a nice horse who arrived in the summer. He had a ‘nearly’ season last year and appears fairly treated as a result. He’s grand, and will go chasing. I’m very happy with him. If we can get him switched off in staying handicap chases he should do well. Rival to watch Altior. The art of being very good at something is the ability to make it look simple. You just know this horse always has everything covered. Mr McGo 7g Touch Of Land – La Principal Jon Glews /91179/ RPR 135h OR 135h He’s a pretty useful horse. We sent him for a Grade 3 handicap hurdle at Aintree to make him grow up a bit more – we did something similar with The Last Samurai. He missed last season but is cantering away and looks great. He’s every inch a chaser. Mr Monochrome 7g Indian Danehill – Our Ethel Mr and Mrs G Calder and P M Warren 23123/4- RPR 129h 122c OR 127h 122c He’s been off the course quite a while and didn’t jump particularly well in his only race over fences at Perth last September behind Ballyandy. He’s a very attractive horse and his work of late has been quite solid. He should find an opening or two in novice handicap chases up north. MR MONOCHROME Ridden by Brian Hughes wins at Ayr 24/10/17 Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography 0771 046 1723Noah And The Ark 4g Vinnie Roe – Well Water Bart Ryan-Beswick -65511 RPR 117h OR – I was quite upset when I got into trouble over the way he was ridden at Bangor. My job as a trainer is to find a way for a horse to run its best race. We rode him differently that day, and I got fined and the horse banned basically for just doing my job. I think we’ve subsequently proved that’s the way to ride him as he came from well off the pace to win at Stratford and Kelso. They were both bad races, but he was quite impressive and is clearly going the right way. Pogue 5g Stowaway – Night Palm Mr J Turner 21 (point form) RPR 90 He’s slightly different to Gaelik Coast in that he is 17 hands – a tall, lean, striking grey. He won a point-to-point a couple of weeks after he narrowly got beat on his debut. An intriguing horse who looks every inch a staying chaser, he is a nice prospect to have. Young recruits like him and Gaelik Coast are the future. Pougne Bobbi 7g Protektor – Amicus Straightline Bloodstock 57/4517- RPR 144c 139h OR 139c 128h I bought him at the sales with no aspirations of trying to improve one of Nicky Henderson’s, but because I think he can do well on deep-ground in the north. There is good prize-money available for this type of horse at the likes of Newcastle, Ayr and Wetherby. He’s a great big horse with a round action. Raise A Spark 8g Multiplex – Reem Two R Pattison and R Kent 6-41123 RPR 140c 127h OR 134c 127h He’s a fun horse who we bred – a little bit wild, but as tough as nails. He probably wants 2m on slow ground, and we’ll take our time and regroup after he ran a bit flat at Perth last time. He has a bit more ability than some g chase was one of the races to be abandoned owing to the very high temperatures at that time of year. Sonic 5g Vinnie Roe – Bella’s Bury Special Piping Materials Ltd F21214 RPR 126h OR 125h He’s only tiny, but hard as nails. He can be too brave for his own good and has taken a couple of falls, but has won two of his last four starts – minor events at Uttoxeter and Sedgefield. He’ll get 3m and will jump a fence at some stage. Tawseef 10g Monsun – Sahool Donald McCain 123121- RPR 137h OR 137h I bought him in the summer of last year for my daughters Abbie and Ella to ride, and never expected him to achieve the rating he now has. He’s an old horse with a high rating – which probably isn’t justified – so he’ll be hard to place. He’s only a pony, but has given everyone here great fun, and is a pleasure to have around. Testify 7g Witness Box – Tanya Thyne Trevor Hemmings 9/1110PRPR 150c 134h OR 145c 134h I trained his full-brother Wymott, who won a Grade 2 staying hurdle at Haydock, so I know the family and they do have days when they disappoint a bit. Testify is very effective in small fields on bad ground as he showed at Haydock last winter. He was below his best in the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase at Cheltenham after making an early mistake. We’ve had his wind operated on and will be focusing on staying handicap chases at Haydock. He’s undoubtedly a useful horse – his brother finished sixth to Carruthers in the Hennessy – but I’m still trying to work him out. TESTIFY Ridden by Will Kennedy wins at Carlisle 11/12/16 Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography 0771 046 1723Uppertown Prince 6g Strategic Prince – Tarrawarra T G Leslie 12214- RPR 142h OR 140h I’m very fond of this horse, and he’s arguably my best prospect. I bought him because of the way he jumped throughout when winning his point-to-point and I’m really looking forward to sending him chasing this winter. He ran a really nice race when fourth to Santini in the Grade 1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree, and also finished runner-up in a Haydock Grade 2 on heavy ground before winning as he liked at Ayr. He’s one to be excited about. William Of Orange 7g Duke Of Marmalade – Critical Acclaim T W Johnson and G Maxwell P-16155 RPR 135h OR 134h There are two Williams – he has his good days and his bad days. He’s been quite busy over the summer and is best dropped right out in his races before being produced with a late challenge. He also stays better now than we thought he would at one stage. He’s always likely to pop up during the course of the season but you wouldn’t necessarily know when that day will be. The post Donald McCain Stable Tour appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

He was aboard when Hong Kong hero Silent Witness met defeat so Felix Coetzee knows what Hugh Bowman will be going through as he attempts to pilot Winx to a fourth consecutive Cox Plate victory on Saturday. Silent Witness won his first 17 starts before being shocked by Bullish Luck in the Champions Mile of 2005; the Chris Waller-trained Winx has won 28 on the trot, including 21 Group Ones. “I just know what it’s like riding those horses, they give you a lot of confidence,” said... View the full article

Champion trainer John Size’s arsenal of sprint stars has been further bolstered with Group One winner D B Pin and Group Two winner Beat The Clock returning to trial for the first time this season. D B Pin is coming back from a tendon injury he suffered in March, missing Dubai’s Golden Shaheen in the process after Size withdrew him the day before he was due to fly when he noticed something wrong with the gelding. Last season’s Centenary Sprint Cup winner was given a comfortable... View the full article

The Stronach Group continued its efforts to revamp the way pari-mutuel wagering is conducted in Northern California during an Oct. 25 California Horse Racing Board meeting at Santa Anita Park. View the full article

IS Winx better than Phar Lap? View the full article

LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton October Fall Yearlings Sale concluded its four-day run Thursday in Lexington with a strong session which featured the auction’s top two highest-priced offerings. Through four sessions, Fasig-Tipton sold 963 yearlings for a total of $34,260,100–down slightly from last year’s record gross of $35,812,900 for 981 head sold. The average was $35,576–down 2.5% from last year’s record-setting mark of $36,507–while the median rose 25% to $15,000. The cumulative buy-back rate was 22.7%. “It was a very solid four days of sales,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “The numbers are remarkably similar to last year. It’s always encouraging to see the median improve–it improved 25%–and the average and buy-back rate were virtually the same. I thought it was a very fair marketplace from beginning to end. I think it’s pretty remarkable that, after as good a year as the yearling sales have had this year, you still sell 1,000 and basically generate $35 million back into the system is very positive. Thirty five yearlings sold for $200,000 or over in 2017, while 23 reached that mark in 2018. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni purchased the top-priced yearling of the sale, going to $500,000 to secure a colt by Street Sense (hip 1281) from the Eaton Sales consignment. Lanni said the October sale has become a must-attend event. “People kind of dismiss this sale, but I think it’s becoming an important sale,” Lanni said. “There were 1500 horses catalogued and there was a lot of sire power and a lot of good physicals. It’s becoming a better and better sale every year. And you just never know where a good horse will show up.” Reiley McDonald of Eaton Sales agreed the auction continues to exceed expectations as it solidifies its position as the last yearling sale on the calendar. “With all of the October sales, it feels like there can’t be enough people there to pick up 1400 horses, but every year it seems to fill in,” he said. “There were people in every price range. It’s the end-of-the-year sale, so it’s time to fish or cut bait with your horses. So it’s a very real market because of that.” Street Sense Colt Jumps to Top at October Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, acting on behalf of an undisclosed client, made the highest bid of the four-day Fasig-Tipton October sale when going to $500,000 for a son of Street Sense Thursday in Lexington. “I thought he was a beautiful horse–a big, two-turn looking horse,” Lanni said of hip 1281. “Obviously other people felt the same, he wasn’t a secret. But we try to buy those kind and hope we get lucky. Bobby [Baffert] will get him and we’ll hope it works out.” Bred by Forging Oaks and consigned by Eaton Sales, the dark bay colt is out of Shimmer (Pulpit) and is a half-brother to graded stakes placed Sister Moon (Dixie Union). Jim Peyton’s Forging Oaks purchased Shimmer, in foal to Union Rags, for $140,000 at the 2013 Keeneland November sale. The colt she was carrying at that auction sold for $310,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale and for $400,000 at the following year’s Fasig-Tipton Florida sale. Another Union Rags colt out of the mare sold for $285,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale. The 16-year-old mare produced a colt by Into Mischief this year and was bred back to Overanalyze. Of the decision to send the March foal through the ring in October, Eaton’s Reiley McDonald said, “He was so big and we were trying to get him to look as good as he could possibly look. He had a little bit of enthesitis in a knee and we thought he is so good that, if we got him perfect, instead of 90% there, it would pay off. And it did.” McDonald said he had no problem pointing a yearling specifically at the season’s last yearling sale. “For a good horse who is clean, which he was, it’s a very good alternative market,” he said. “It’s actually not an alternative market anymore. It’s a very good year-end sale if you have a late developer.” McPeek Partnership for Tapit Colt Trainer Ken McPeek went to $430,000 to acquire a son of Tapit on behalf of a partnership Thursday at Fasig-Tipton. Zayat Stables was underbidder on the yearling, who sold as hip 1171 and was bred and consigned by Gainesway. McPeek did his bidding upstairs in the pavilion, alongside Three Chimneys Farm’s Goncalo Torrealba and the Kentucky nursery will partner on the colt, along with Paul Fireman’s Fern Circle Stables, Peter Callahan, and Scott Leeds of Walking L Thoroughbreds. “They all went quarters,” McPeek said of the partners, while pointing out that Callahan had previously owned the yearling’s dam Receivership (End Sweep). Receivership is the dam of 2014 GI Forego S. and GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. winner Palace (City Zip), who was bred by Callahan. Of the yearling, McPeek said, “He was a great mover with plenty of body. The mare is proven. You win a Grade I with this colt and he’s going to be standing stud and hopefully one day at Three Chimneys.” Receivership was in foal to City Zip when she was purchased by Gainesway for $400,000 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November sale. That resulting filly sold for $700,000 at the 2017 OBS March Sale. Her Tapit colt sold for $160,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October sale. Receivership produced a filly by Medaglia d’Oro this year and she was bred back to Karakontie (Jpn). “He was a nice horse with a lot of pedigree and we just thought he would stand out here,” Gainesway’s Michael Hernon said of the yearling. “He sold well over his reserve.” Of the colt’s placement in the October sale, Hernon added, “When you have a yearling like him by a top stallion and a half to a very good racehorse and potentially a promising stallion, I think there is money here for that kind of horse.” McPeek admitted he was prepared to go higher for the yearling. “I thought [the price] would be more,” he said. “I actually think it’s value. We were underbidders on a couple this past September and this colt looked like he checked all those boxes.” The Tapit colt was McPeek’s ninth purchase at the October sale. The conditioner also paid $190,000 to acquire a colt by Cairo Prince (hip 969) during Wednesday’s third session of the auction. “I thought the two colts who were standouts were the Cairo Prince we bought yesterday and this colt today,” McPeek said. “I thought they were the standouts of the auction, on physicals and on sire power, they both checked all the boxes.” McPeek ended the sale having purchased 10 yearlings for a total of $897,000, an average of $89,700 and a median of $45,000. “We’ve got extremes,” he said. “We have this [Tapit] colt and then we have some other horses that we’ve bought that have been at the bottom end–I have some clients that like playing with those types, too. We’re just coming in looking for physicals and we sort through them. I actually thought it was relatively easy to buy some of them. There is opportunity here every year. Over the years, I’ve bought a whole list of graded stakes winners at this auction. I always enjoy it.” Engelhart Strikes Late for Carpe Diem Filly Trainer Jeremiah Englehart, shut out on the sale-topping Street Sense colt earlier in the session, struck late Thursday to secure a filly from the first crop of Grade I winner Carpe Diem for $290,000. Englehart was bidding on behalf of clients Johns Martin and Bill Rucker and signed the ticket as Ruckur Racing Stable while standing alongside Webb Carroll Training Center’s Travis Durr out back of the sales pavilion. “I liked her overall presence,” Englehart said after signing the ticket on hip 1488. “She had a nice strong hip to her and a nice shoulder angle. She looked like a nice filly from a nice family. I called my clients on her a couple of days ago and we’ve been kind of waiting for her. So we’re glad we ended up getting her.” The bay filly is out of stakes winner True Kiss (Is It True) and is a half-sister to graded stakes placed One True Kiss (Warrior’s Reward) and Tiz Kissable (Tiz Wonderful). Bred by Charles Muth and Patrick Murphy, the yearling RNA’d for $170,000 at this summer’s Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale. She was consigned Thursday by Paramount Sales. Muth purchased True Kiss as a 4-year-old for $70,000 at the 2006 Keeneland November sale. The mare produced a colt by Runhappy this year and was bred back to Carpe Diem. Englehart said he went bid-to-bid with Donato Lanni on the sale-topping colt Thursday. “I got a little bit of a kick in the gut when Donato bought the Street Sense for $500,000,” he admitted. “I think it was just he and I from $85,000 all the way to $500,000. But it was actually a really good sale. I was really happy with the horses that Travis Durr, myself and Greg and Karen Dodd [of Southern Chase Farm] picked out. I thought we had a really nice sale.” Engelhart said he thought the October sale offered something for every buyer, making it an attractive place to shop. “This sale gets stronger and stronger every year,” he said. “There was a really nice group of really nice horses here that people will go very high on. And there is a good mix for everybody. It’s a good seller’s market and it’s a good buyer’s market. This is one of the sales that you can get any type of horse here. It’s not as long as some other sales, it’s just long enough to find a good mix of horses.” View the full article

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