Wandering Eyes

Derek Leung Ka-chun was slapped with a six-meeting suspension for improper riding on a day when the stewards shared the spotlight with Karis Teetan after sustaining two objections. The Mauritian landed a five-timer, but all the talk after the meeting surrounded the action in the stipes’ room – headlined by Leung’s ride on Endearing in the seventh race. The 30-year-old was out in front but had High Five (Teetan) coming quickly on his outside and the jockey appeared to veer into... View the full article

Much of the talk before Sunday’s G1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp centred around the home-trained Anodor (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}), but the Freddy Head sensation had to give best behind a Godolphin-Ballydoyle tussle won by Royal Marine (Ire) (Raven’s Pass). Having let the side down on debut, the bay beat the subsequent dual winner and TDN Rising Star Turgenev (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in a seven-furlong Doncaster maiden next time Sept. 14, clocking a faster time than the same card’s Listed Flying Scotsman S. winner Sangarius (GB) (Kingman {GB}) carrying five pounds more. Sent off at nearly 6-1, he raced keenly initially before settling in the able hands of Oisin Murphy tracking Aidan O’Brien’s representative Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) who was placed on the front end by Ryan Moore to counter his customary lethargy. Gaining the edge with 300 metres remaining, the Godolphin homebred asserted to score by a neck, with the 4-5 favourite Anodor, who had been described by Freddy Head before the race as the best 2-year-old he had trained, staying on too late to be 3/4-of-a-length away in third. For Saeed bin Suroor, the win represented a watershed moment coming out of a relatively quiet spell. “Last year, I didn’t really have the horses, but this year Sheikh Mohammed has sent me some nice horses and they are doing well,” he said. “He’s a big strong horse who could be anything and it is exciting for the future. I’ll speak to Sheikh Mohammed and we’ll make a plan.” Murphy added, “He’s a very good horse, low on experience but with plenty of ability. They went slow and we got racing early. I was wary not to get to Ryan too soon, as Royal Marine has a lot of pace but I got away with it.” Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France QATAR PRIX JEAN-LUC LAGARDERE – GRAND CRITERIUM (SPONSORISE PAR MANATEQ)-G1, €400,000, ParisLongchamp, 10-7, 2yo, c/f, 8fT, 1:39.10, gd. 1–ROYAL MARINE (IRE), 126, c, 2, by Raven’s Pass 1st Dam: Inner Secret, by Singspiel (Ire) 2nd Dam: Mysterial, by Alleged 3rd Dam: Mysteries, by Seattle Slew 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN; 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Saeed bin Suroor; J-Oisin Murphy. €228,560. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, €239,498. *1/2 to Crystal River (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), SW-Fr; and Secret Ambition (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), GSP-UAE, $224,564. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 2–Broome (Ire), 126, c, 2, Australia (GB)–Sweepstake (Ire), by Acclamation (GB). (€120,000 RNA Ylg ’17 GOFOR; 150,000gns Ylg ’17 TATDEY). O-Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Susan Magnier; B-Epona Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Aidan O’Brien. €91,440. 3–Anodor (Fr), 126, c, 2, Anodin (Ire)–Decize (Fr), by Kentucky Dynamite. (€32,000 RNA Ylg ’17 ARAUG). O-Ecurie Jean-Louis Bouchard & Mme Frederic Head; B-I D Fair (FR); T-Freddy Head. €45,720. Margins: NK, 3/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 5.80, 5.90, 0.80. Also Ran: Boitron (Fr), Shaman (Ire), Dark Jedi (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. View the full article

Allowed off at an almost unconsidered 27-1, Martin Schwartz’s Lily’s Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) upstaged her seven rivals and swooped late for Sunday’s G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac to kick off ParisLongchamp’s Arc Sunday with a bang. The grey yielded an instant dividend on the €390,000 Schwartz had paid the night before at Arqana’s Arc Sale. Having opened up with a June 15 debut sixth tackling seven furlongs at Saint-Cloud, she graduated upped to one mile at Marseille-Borely next time July 12 before doubling up in the Aug. 4 Listed Prix des Jouvenceaux et des Jouvencelles reverting to seven at Vichy and she was a last-out fourth over that distance here in the Sept. 2 G3 Prix La Rochette. Settled at the tail of the field for the most part, she was under pressure when gifted an opportunity for a wide run with 300 metres remaining and kept on relentlessly for continued rousting in the closing stages to deny Matematica (Ger) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) by a short neck nearing the line. Star Terms (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) endured traffic in the straight and proved best of the rest, the same margin adrift in third. LILY’S CANDLE (FR), f, 2, by Style Vendome (Fr) 1st Dam: Golden Lily (Fr), by Dolphin Street (Fr) 2nd Dam: Miller’s Lily (Fr), by Miller’s Mate (GB) 3rd Dam: Lymara (Fr), by Lyphard (€15,000 Ylg ’17 AROCT; €390,000 HRA ’18 ARQARC). O-Martin S Schwartz Racing; B-Mme P Lepeudry (FR); T-Fabrice Vermeulen; J-Pierre-Charles Boudot. Lifetime Record: 5-3-0-0, €275,560. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. View the full article

Karis Teetan sealed his best day in Hong Kong with a cry of “yeah baby” as he crossed the line in the last race to cap a dominant five-win performance. Teetan topped his previous best of four winners in 2016 with Sunday’s quintet at Sha Tin, including a rare victory in the stewards room, having a second place overturned for a win after stewards found the winning horse obstructed his run. The haul takes the Mauritian Magician to 11 winners for the season, placing him three... View the full article

A relieved Callan Murray was ready to celebrate on Sunday night after ending a barren run with victory on Top Ace in the Class Five Birch Handicap (1,800m) at Sha Tin. It was the first victory of the season for the young South African, who has had to deal with suspension and a broken nose during a tough start to his six-month contract. “I’ll probably knock a few beers back,” he said. “I just wanted a winner, it didn’t matter where it came from and I’m just... View the full article

Klaravich Stables' Complexity made the leap from maiden winner to grade 1 hero Oct. 6 when he secured the $500,000 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park over a mile. View the full article

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Bethlehem Stables' A Raving Beauty (GER) was back to her winning ways Oct. 6, running gate-to-wire to take the $400,000 First Lady (G1T) Oct. 6 at Keeneland. View the full article

Juglall, Powell, Kellady, Mertens suspended View the full article

Brilliant return to form for Constant Justice View the full article

Placais pots own ride but will take double 'merci beaucoup' View the full article

Prince and Man share same joy of success View the full article

Mertens hits target at special Singapore mission with first winner View the full article

My Big Boss shows who runs the place View the full article

Horses' body weights October 7 View the full article

Track conditions and course scratchings October 7 View the full article

Tiz Breathtaking, rallying from last place in the field of seven, got the bob on the outside under jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva to capture the 1 1/16-mile Mazarine Stakes (G3) by a head Oct. 6 at Woodbine. View the full article

It would be remiss to allow all these “turfistes” to fly into Paris for the weekend, from all round the world, and then leave them nowhere to spend their money besides the Rue de Rivoli. Arqana obligingly fills that void with its Arc Sale—a pioneering auction in its time, and one that lit the path for other sales houses and jurisdictions to emulate France-Galop by, for instance, permitting 11th hour re-registration even of horses running the next day. If the concept is opportunist, so is the market. These horses are literally moving targets, sometimes exposing both vendors and prospectors to wild fluctuations in value. This time, in fact, we not only saw horses sold on the eve of Group 1 appointments at Longchamp, just across the Bois de Boulogne, but also one that had actually won there barely three hours previously. Year-on-year comparisons at sales of this type are virtually pointless: a small catalogue of horses offered as a roll of the dice, with one or two knockout sales liable to skew all numbers, tells you zilch about the broader state of the market. Anecdotally, there was some scepticism about the relative strength of this catalogue, and that was reflected—for the little it may be worth—in reduced indices from last year. But the clearance actually improved, 24 sold of 37 offered (64.9%) compared with 25 of 44 (56.8%) at Chantilly last year. Total business of €4,318,000 dipped from €5,978,500 for an average of €179,917 (from €239,140) and median of €122,500 (from €180,000). One of the best advertisements for this sale is Elusive Wave (Ire) (Elusive City), who was acquired for Martin Schwartz here in 2008 for €660,000 on the eve of her second place in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac—and who proceeded to Classic success the following spring in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. Michael Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock was responsible for that transaction and applied the same principles in spending a total of €790,000 on two fillies with Group 1 entries on today’s card. First was lot 4, Lily’s Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}), a listed winner at Vichy in the summer for Fabrice Vermeulen and since beaten only a length when fourth in group company at Longchamp. She will carry Schwartz’s colours in the Boussac today after changing hands for €390,000—a fairly spectacular dividend on the €15,000 docket signed by Bertrand Bourez at the same house’s October Yearling Sale in Deauville last year. Zerolo also paid €400,000 on behalf of Schwartz for Night Of England (GB) (Lord Of England {Ger}) [lot 18], who has already been Classic-placed and holds an entry in the G1 Prix de l’Opera today. She, too, has transformed her value since being picked out as a foal by Sepp Hellmich and Wolfgang Lau for just 12,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale of 2016. Credit, in this instance, goes to Henk Grewe, her young trainer, who saddled her to finish second in the G1 Henkel-Preis der Diana (German Oaks). “Does Martin Schwartz like this sale?” repeated Zerolo. “Martin Schwartz likes action, that’s what he likes. It’s the same formula: it’s worked most of the time. Lily’s Candle is a nice filly, with good form, and though she’ll obviously be an outsider tomorrow we’ll take our chances.” He was not yet able to confirm that Night Of England would line up today, leaving Grewe on tenterhooks. “I hope she runs, of course, but whatever happens I think she will keep improving,” he said. “The whole family has got better with maturity. She is also a beautiful mare, physically. She wasn’t perfect in front when she was young, which is why the owner was able to get her so cheaply.” Whatever fresh excitements await Schwartz today, the top price of the session was paid for a team who already have ample to stimulate them at Longchamp. Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), perceived as the biggest danger to the favourite in the Arc itself, runs in the colours of the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holdings—made famous by that filly’s sire in the 2009 running. And it is a syndicate of the Tsuis’ friends in Hong Kong who will be racing Insandi (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}) after Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International paid €470,000 for lot 6. Insandi broke his maiden at Deauville in the summer before outrunning his odds when second in the G3 Prix des Chenes at Longchamp last month. “The winner is favourite for the G1 Prix Lagardere tomorrow, and the third is also running, so we’ll see what the form looks like after that. But whatever happens he looks, physically, like he’s going to be a 3-year-old: he stands beautifully, has a great attitude, and physically a lot of class. He’s been bought for a group of Mrs. Tsui’s friends so is likely to end up in Hong Kong, but initially he’ll stay in Europe.” Christopher Tsui, still every bit as fresh-faced as when Sea The Stars was racing, was keeping an anxious eye on the overnight forecast. “We’re very excited, of course, though we know it will be a difficult race,” he said. “We just hope the sky holds up and that we don’t get the rain they’re talking about. If not, we’d be very hopeful.” Also on hand was Insandi’s breeder Jan Krauze, who had failed to find a buyer for him at €42,000 at the Arqana August Sale last year before the colt’s eventual transfer to M’hammed Karimine. “It feels a little bit sad, if he is to leave France, because it’s obviously nice to be able to watch him,” Krauze said. “But at the same time I feel very proud: his mother [Insala Mala (Ire) (Bahhare)] only produces nice horses, she doesn’t know how to do anything else.” The most striking spectacle of the evening was the arrival, in a condition that reflects splendidly on trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias and his staff, of lot 26: Alignement (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who had barely had time to be hosed down after winning the G2 Prix Dollar. Obviously his options remain fairly limited as a 5-year-old gelding, but the homebred’s hard-working and accomplished career for the Wertheimer brothers was not lost on a regular shopper here, Jassim Mohammed Gazhali, who duly gave €310,000 to export him back to Qatar. “He was on my list already, a really nice horse, but when he ran like that today he went to the top of it,” said the perennial champion trainer of Qatar. “I come here every year, the sale has brought us a lot of luck, and I hope he will be another suited by racing in my country. The Emir’s Sword will be his target I hope.” Laurels are also due to Amy Murphy, who found Happy Odyssey (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) for just £14,000 as a private sale at the Doncaster breeze-ups and here sold the recent Maisons-Laffitte listed winner, as lot 35, for €300,000 to Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland on behalf of Zhang Yuesheng’s Yulong Invesments. “She’s a nice individual, with progressive form, and she’s also got a decent pedigree to back her up,” explained Donohoe. “Mr. Zhang has a big broodmare operation in Australia, so that is something to have in mind for down the line. I don’t know yet where she’ll be trained, Amy’s done a good job with her so far and she has her in a Group 3 in a couple of weeks, so we’ll see. Arqana were good enough to sponsor at Mr. Zhang’s private racecourse in China, so I guess this kind of reciprocates that–but he did particularly like this filly.” The same price was paid to dissolve the partnership fortunate enough to have raced dual listed runner-up filly Tresorerie (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) with Christophe Ferland. “We really wanted to keep her,” Antoine Krainc explained, after the 3-year-old filly was sold back to part-owner L’Ecurie Vivaldi as lot 29. “We saw the horse as a baby, we’ve believed in her all the way, and there’s a whole team behind her. You can’t help but become emotionally attached.” View the full article

Confidently ridden by Paco Lopez, champion sprinter Roy H won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1) for a second year in a row Oct. 6 at the Arcadia, Calif., track. View the full article

Champion ROY H (g, 6, More Than Ready–Elusive Diva, by Elusive Quality) parlayed a win in last year’s GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship into a victory in the GI Breeders’s Cup Sprint and will head to the World Championships again this year after capturing Saturday’s renewal of that event. Tracking from a two-wide third through an opening quarter in :22.45, the even-money favorite ranged up alongside the leaders three wide as the half went up in :45.45. He sailed clear in the lane to win by three lengths in 1:09.09. Distintive B (With Distinction) was second and 3-2 shot Ransom the Moon (Malibu Moon) was third. Winner of the GII Palos Verdes S. in February, Roy H completed an American exacta in Meydan’s G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen Mar. 31 and was second to Ransom the Moon last time in Del Mar’s July 28 GI Bing Crosby S. Lifetime Record: 21-8-5-2. O-Rockingham Ranch & David Bernsen; B-Ramona Bass LLC (KY); T-Peter Miller. View the full article

NEXT SHARES (g, 5, Archarcharch–Two Dot Slew, by Evansville Slew) pulled off a double-digit upset to register his first top-level success in Keeneland’s GI Shadwell Turf Mile Saturday. Dismissed at 23-1, the dark bay saved ground in fifth as speedy Grade I winners Heart to Heart (English Channel) and Voodoo Song (English Channel) duked it out through opening splits of :23.37 and :47.14. Taking closer order on the backstretch as the pacesetters began to fold, Next Shares slipped through on the fence and stormed clear under Tyler Gaffalione for a decisive victory in 1:36.97. Great Wide Open (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), an 81-1 shot, got up for second. A three-time winner under the care of Bill Mott for previous owners Brous Stable, Gary Barber and Wachtel Stable, Next Shares was purchased by bloodstock agent David Meah for $190,000 at the Keeneland November Sale last term and was sent to the Richard Baltas barn. Runner-up in the GI Frank Kilroe Mile in March, he was off the board behind Heart to Heart in this venue’s GI Maker’s 46 Mile a month later. Third in the GI Shoemaker Mile May 28, the gelding failed to fire in both the GII Eddie Read S. July 22 and the GII Del Mar Mile H. Aug. 19, but finally returned to the winner’s circle when given a class break last time in the restricted Old Friends S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 6. Lifetime Record: 20-4-4-2. O-Jules & Michael Iavarone, Jerry McClanahan, Christopher Dunn, William Marasa, Ritchie Roberhsaw and Mark Taylor; B-Buck Pond Farm (KY); T-Richard Baltas. View the full article

The best-laid plans have a way of mocking those who dare to make them. In the case of Golden Mischief, however, they have come together in the exact fashion Juddmonte Farms manager Garrett O'Rourke hashed out nearly a year ago. View the full article

Finding room in the stretch inside under Tyler Gaffalione, Next Shares surged to his first grade 1 win Oct. 6 at Keeneland with a clear victory in the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes. View the full article

Ironhorse Racing Stable's Bucchero, winner of last year's Woodford Presented by Keeneland Select (G2T), echoed that score Oct. 6 at Keeneland with a half-length score over Will Call in the 5 1/2-furlong race. View the full article

Confidently ridden by Paco Lopez, champion sprinter Roy H won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1) for a second year in a row Oct. 6 at the Arcadia, Calif. track. View the full article

Klaravich Stables' Complexity made the leap from maiden winner to grade 1 in hero Oct. 6 when he secured the $500,000 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park over a mile. View the full article