Wandering Eyes

Dixieland Rocks up on turf ahead of main gig View the full article

The Breeders' Cup announced June 25 that three North American races have been added to the 2018 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, with the winners receiving automatic starting positions into the new $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. View the full article

Trainer Richard Fahey is eyeing a crack at the top sprinters in the Darley July Cup (G1) with the 3-year-old, who was beaten just half a length in the Commonwealth Cup (G1) last Friday. View the full article

Three “Win and You’re In” qualifying races have been added to the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, all toward the new Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. The new qualifiers are: The Futurity S. Belmont Park Oct. 6, a Santa Anita turf sprint the same day whose details will be announced later, and the Indian Summer S. Oct. 7 at Keeneland. Breeze Easy LLC’s Shang Shang Shang (Shanghai Bobby) became the first horse to qualify for the Juvenile Turf Sprint with her win in Thursday’s G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot. “We look forward to establishing a late fall stakes program of automatic qualifiers with three major racetrack partners to provide ‘Win & You’re In’ opportunities for the new Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders’ Cup Senior Vice President of Racing and Nominations. “We thank the Keeneland Association, the New York Racing Association and the Stronach Group at Santa Anita for their support of this turf division and expanded participation in the Challenge series.” View the full article

Undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify remains the top Thoroughbred racehorse in the United States by a wide margin, according the results of this week's NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll of racing media. View the full article

As Aidan O'Brien's Saxon Warrior (JPN) is being readied to battle for Epsom compensation on Saturday, Mick Halford is preparing for a Curragh battle royale with his progressive colt Platinum Warrior (IRE). View the full article

So the Royal meeting has come to an end and oh what a week we were treated to. There were International runners galore, a 50th Royal Ascot winner for Ryan Moore and Sir Michael Stoute coming to the fore. It was an incredible week for Sir Michael Stoute, as he became the most successful trainer in the history of Royal Ascot when Poet’s Word won the featured Prince of Wales’s Stakes where we also had one of the disappointments of the week with a lacklustre performance from Cracksman. In a week to remember, Crystal Ocean gave Stoute his fourth winner of the week in the Hardwicke Stakes. He wasn’t the only record breaker of the week as the equine highlight of the week was Alpha Centauri’s scintillating victory in the Coronation Stakes. Jessica Harrington’s Irish 1000 Guineas winner was prominent throughout and sprinted clear of her rivals for an impressive six-length victory in a new track record. It wasn’t only equine brilliance that was displayed last week, we saw two weighing room greats notch up memorable victories. Ryan Moore recorded a landmark 50th winner at Royal Ascot when partnering Hunting Horn in the Group 3 Hampton Court, while Frankie Dettori landed his 60th Royal Ascot win when Stradivarius crossed the line in front in the Ascot Gold Cup. One of the standout performances of the week came from the very lightly raced Without Parole, after two runaway novice victories and a snug listed victory John Gosden’s Frankel colt was a smooth winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes. The sky seems the limit for this colt and he could just be this season’s superstar. Wesley Ward was once again on the scoresheet at Royal Ascot when his Shang Shang Shang clung on for victory in the Norfolk Stakes. Ward who was recording his second win in the race and 10th at the Royal meeting. The American really does have the Midas touch when it comes to landing these two-year-old races. PallasatorPossibly one of the most heart-warming performances came in the finale when the enigmatic Pallasator won the Queen Alexandra Stakes. Pallasator has been rejuvenated since joining Gordon Elliott who himself was having his second Royal winner following Commissioned previous victory. The imposing son of Motivator showed his usual wayward tendencies by hanging once hitting the front but under a cool Jamie Spencer, he prevailed by over a length. Obviously, it wasn’t just highs all week, there were some disappointments, Cracksman looked very lethargic when finishing second behind Poet’s Word in the Price Of Wales’s Stakes. Afterwards, Frankie said: “Usually when he turns for home the turbo kicks in, but today he was very one-paced”. Cracksman needs to focus his attention on racing if he is to reach anywhere near the heights of last season with John Gosden commenting: “He’s a clever horse, and before the race, he was welcoming all the fillies from the Duke of Cambridge as they were walking back to the stables. I think we just need to concentrate his mind”. The other notable equine disappointment was Harry Angel’s performance in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes which meant the fifth defeat for Clive Cox’s colt at Ascot. After getting worked up in the stalls the Kodiac colt trailed in a second last behind Merchant Navy. It transpired afterwards that Harry Angel hurt his foot while coming out of the stalls and the stewards reported him to be lame post-race. Everybody will agree that it was also disappointing that there was now royal winner during the week. There was a mini gamble on “The Queens” Seniority in the Royal Hunt Cup but unfortunately, the William Haggas gelding could only finish eight. Five To Follow Without Parole There were many sceptics about Without Parole’s prohibitive starting price in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes myself included. He was three from three prior to the Group 1 contest but he had only won a listed race which was well short on the form front, with the major reason for his short starting price being his potential. John Gosden’s son of Frankel fully delivered on this potential to silence the critic’s in resounding fashion with a half-length victory over Gustav Klimt. This supremely bred colt seems to have the world at his feet and is simply a must-see for every racing enthusiast. 2. Settle For Bay David Marnane’s son of Rio De La Plata was arguably the most impressive handicap winner of the week when quickening clear to land the Royal Hunt Cup. Having been the subject of a small ante-post gamble, Settle For Bay was an on-course drifter following the Queen’s Seniority sneaking into the race. Billy Lee settled his mount in the rear and made steady progress to the 2f marker, where in reality he already looked the winner. Lee hit the front at the furlong marker and quickened away from what looked like a competitive handicap. This was Settle For Bay’s fifth win from his last six runs and I highly doubt he has finished improving. I believe he may go for one more handicap and then you’ll see him competing at Group level. Dreamfield This regally bred son of Oasis Dream went off the shortest-priced handicap favourite of the week when leaving the stalls as the 2/1 fav in the Wokingham. To be fair the price was probably justifiable even though he came up short on the day. Coming into the race Dreamfield had been unbeaten in all three racecourse forays including a course and distance victory in early May. In the Wokingham itself, James Doyle made most of the running on red-hot favourite but entering the final furlong he began to hang left and Bacchus came to chin him, much to the delight of the bookies who faced multimillion pay-outs. This was still an excellent run form such an experienced horse against hardened group performers and I fully expect Dreamfield to win at Group level before the season has finished. Land Force The Aidan O’Brien trained Land Force was one of the most experienced two-year-old runners last week but that being said that he is definitely one to follow. He’s only emerged triumphant on two of his four career starts but he ran a huge race in the Norfolk behind the American raider Shang Shang Shang. Land Force was caught on the wrong side as he led his group until the 2f marker and then drifted to the right inside the final furlong. This son of No Nay Never burnt a lot of energy to get across to the leading and I would consider him to be an unlucky loser. Aidan always gets the best from his two-year-olds and I see this colt thriving on racing similar to his stablemate and last season’s Champion two year old U S Navy Flag. Expert Eye The son of Acclamation was one the talking horse of last season, following a maiden victory in debut at Newbury. He was then a runaway winner of the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood but since then he had been very disappointing. Sir Michael Stoute’s charge seemed to appreciate the drop in class when winning the Group 3 Jersey Stakes in impressive fashion and with that win under his belt I’d expect this once 2000 Guineas favourite to progress back up to Group 1 level this season. The post The Royal Review appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

A homebred by Fed Biz out of the Elusive Quality mare Proficient for Robert Manfuso took home the Chanceland Farm Challenge Trophy for grand champion at the 84t h annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association’s Maryland-bred yearling show Sunday at the Timonium Fairgrounds. “I love the horse,” said Manfuso. “When I watch horses mature, they go a certain way and he’s just happened to put the pieces together to go that way. He’s got a great stride, he’s got the balance, he’s not too big or too small, great shoulders on him.” A total of 96 yearlings in four classes were judged by Grade I-winning trainer Rick Violette. “There were a bunch of nice horses here,” said Violette. “I kept going back and forth, especially between the top two. You’re really [splitting] hairs at the end, and I could have switched them around and not lost any sleep. I’d take any one of those four home. They’re nice horses.” All yearlings who entered the show ring are now eligible for the $40,000 premium award, which will be split evenly between the exhibitors of the contestants who earn the most money as 2-year-olds in 2019 and the exhibitors of the highest-earning ones as 3-year-olds in 2020. View the full article

G1 French Oaks heroine Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) will sidestep next month’s G1 Irish Oaks at The Curragh and instead head straight for the G1 Yorkshire Oaks on Aug. 23.Having rounded off her juvenile campaign with a Group 1 triumph in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket, Karl Burke’s star filly has continued in the same vein this season, finishing second in the G1 1000 Guineas before landing the G1 Prix Saint-Alary and the G1 Prix de Diane. “She has come out the race really well and there have been no issues,” said the North Yorkshire handler. “She will have a nice easy two or three weeks. We are not going to go for the Irish Oaks. We will miss that and hopefully go for the Yorkshire Oaks. We certainly hope we will go back to France for the Arc. The Yorkshire Oaks will tell us a lot more when we step up in trip again.” Burke continued, “If there is any reason she doesn’t stay the mile and a half [of the Yorkshire Oaks], we have got the G1 Prix de l’Opera to consider. We’ve also been very kindly given an invite to a very valuable filly and mares race in Japan in November and of course there is also the Breeders’ Cup, so there’s plenty to think about. The main thing is she’s healthy and well and as tough as she is, she is good as well. She has lots of ability. Everyone says she keeps having hard races. I think she is only doing what she has to do and I think that is why she keeps backing up in these races. Long may it continue.” View the full article

Godolphin’s MG1SW Hawkbill (Kitten’s Joy) came out of his third-place effort in the G1 Prince Of Wales’s S. in good order and is headed abroad according to trainer Charlie Appleby. A brilliant winner of the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan earlier in the year, the flashy chestnut disappointed on his return to Britain in the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom at the beginning of June. Hawkbill looks set for a second tilt at the GI Northern Dancer S. in Canada in September–he lost by a head in 2017–following his fine effort in defeat at Royal Ascot. “He ran a solid race [at Ascot],” said Appleby. “I was pleased with his performance and that is the sort of level we are with him. Campaigning him around the world, I’m sure he will pinch another race for us. We will do a bit of travelling with him. We will probably look towards the Northern Dancer in Canada.” View the full article

Three-time Group 1 winner Redkirk Warrior (GB) (Notnowcato {GB}) will remain in the Northern Hemisphere and point to the July 14 1200-metre G1 July Cup co-trainer David Hayes told Racing.com on Monday morning. The chestnut, who is also trained by Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig, ran an uncharacteristic poor race to be 10th behind Merchant Navy (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) when contesting the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot on Saturday. “We were really disappointed with the run,” Hayes told Racing.com. “History tells us that he’s let us down very few times, but every time he’s traveled, he’s never run to his best, so there was always that nagging doubt in the back of our minds. Looking forward, Newmarket is where he’s trained, he doesn’t have to travel and he worked very well on the course proper there, so we think that we’re here, we might give him one more chance [in the July Cup].” View the full article

Seven wildcards have been added to the Arqana Summer Sale scheduled for Deauville on July 2-4. The septet will go under the hammer on the final day at 11 a.m. local time and are led by Fifth Element (Fr) (Most Improved {Ire}) (lot 250), a winning filly out of Miryale (Fr) (Anabaa), consigned by trainer Jean-Claude Rouget. She is out of a half to SW & G1SP Afandem (Fr) (Zoffany {Ire}) and is from the same family as G1 Bayerisches Zuchtrennen victress Elliptique (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and MSW & MGSP Cicerole (Fr) (Barathea {Ire}). Stephane Wattel consigns lot 370, the SP sprinter Mon Ami L’Ecossais (Fr) (Orpen). The seven-lot Yves Borotra Dispersal have also been added to the Summer Sale as lots 289A-289G. Go to www.arqana.com for the complete catalogue. View the full article

Propelled by a closing-day Pick 6 pool of over $6 million Sunday, all-sources handle at the 102-day Santa Anita winter/spring meet totaled $1,018,268,136, an increase of over $75 million and 8% over last year’s number. On-track attendance rose 1%. “We want to sincerely thank all of our fans, those here on-track and around the country for supporting our racing in such a substantial way from late December through today,” said Tim Ritvo, Chief Operating Officer for The Stronach Group. “We also want to thank the owners and trainers and all of our staff for their support and cooperation. We have many stakeholders and together, we feel we can accomplish great things and build upon what we’ve been able to establish these past six months. Looking forward, our goals are to provide safe surfaces and larger, more attractive fields to bet on. We’ve very optimistic for the future and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for our Autumn Meet in late September.” View the full article

Nominations for the Trophees du Personnel des Courses et de l’Elevage, the French version of the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards, opened on Monday. For the third year in a row, France Galop has joined with sponsors Godolphin to celebrate those working in the racing industry, with racing and breeding professionals called upon to nominate their candidates. Winners from seven categories-the Leadership Award (stud or stable), the Dedication to Racing award, the Rider/Groom Award, the Stud Staff Award, the Administration Award, the Newcomer Award (stud and stable employees) and the Employee of the Year Award–will be revealed at ParisLongchamp on Nov. 24. To nominate a candidate, go to www.tropheesdupersonnel.fr. View the full article

It was no surprise to see the name of the 2015 Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner American Pharoah on top of the TDN list of the 2017 sires of leading weanlings. The only sire to sell a million-dollar weanling last year, he sent two such offerings through the ring. How has his progeny developed into weanlings? Lucas Marquardt went out to visit Coolmore’s American nominations manager, Adrian Wallace, to talk about the upcoming sales season. LM: The reception of American Pharoah’s weanlings last year; we expected a lot of money, you expected them to sell well, but you know, easily top $400,000 on average and to have two seven-figure yearlings: was that at all a surprise to you or having seen those weanlings is that something that was expected? AW: There’s always a certain amount of trepidation when you come to any sales market, whether it’d be your first foals by a certain sire or the first yearlings. But given what he achieved himself, given his look, given the quality and the amount of mares he covered, I think we were all reasonably confident that they were going to be a highly sought after in the marketplace. He covered some of the best mares, he covered the strongest book of mares we’ve ever had here. You looked down through the list and every single time you look at it, you’re like, `oh, wow.’ He covered 48 Group 1 winners or producers. I mean it’s mind boggling. And among the others, there were no slouches either. They were the sisters of Grade I winners, the daughters of Grade I winners, Group 2, Group 3 winners. So the strength and depth in his book is something that certainly at this farm we’ve never seen before. And you know, given the reception he had, given what he achieved as a two year old and then obviously went on and won the Grand Slam as a three year old, I think our expectations were very high coming into the November sales at both Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland. And then again with this, this year’s January sale, at Keeneland, that they were going to sell very well. And you know, you saw that with the Untouched Talent filly selling for a million dollars, and then the Caravaggio’s brothers selling for a million dollars in January. They’re highly credentialed horses and they were received by the marketplace the way they should have been. LM: What kind of progression have you seen from them physically from their weanling years to the yearling years? And what kind of buzz are you hearing from breeders about his yearlings? AW: The buzz is good. We’ve been touring the farms, and we’ve seen a lot of them. We’ve seen a lot of them from foal days to now as yearlings starting their prep. We’ve got a lot of them here ourselves, so we’re in constant contact with the breeders who bred to him. He’s a good-size horse himself. He’s 16.2. He’s very correct. Very good mover. He’s as good-moving a dirt horse as you’re going to find, and he’s passing that on. They’re generally very good size. They’ve got plenty of scope and strength to them. They’re generally very correct. Good movers, fairly uncomplicated horses. As Tom VanMeter said, after Pharoah won the Triple Crown, “If you want a big brown horse that can run fast, you’re looking to American Pharoah,” and I think that’s what we’re seeing in his first crop. {"id":3,"instanceName":"Articles No Playlist","videos":[{"videoType":"HTML5","title":"Adrian Wallace Talks American Pharoah's First Yearlings","description":"","info":"","thumbImg":"","mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/276492245.hd.mp4?s=efe34360552da73fe80a5dd68bb9cfcc3931f884&profile_id=174","enable_mp4_download":"no","prerollAD":"yes","prerollGotoLink":"prerollGotoLink","preroll_mp4_title":"preroll_mp4_title","preroll_mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/275703285.hd.mp4?s=734e28d8cf7f5fcdd48bd384cf740a058805bd3b&profile_id=174","prerollSkipTimer":"5","midrollAD":"no","midrollAD_displayTime":"midrollAD_displayTime","midrollGotoLink":"midrollGotoLink","midroll_mp4":"midroll_mp4","midrollSkipTimer":"midrollSkipTimer","postrollAD":"no","postrollGotoLink":"postrollGotoLink","postroll_mp4":"postroll_mp4","postrollSkipTimer":"postrollSkipTimer","popupAdShow":"no","popupImg":"popupImg","popupAdStartTime":"popupAdStartTime","popupAdEndTime":"popupAdEndTime","popupAdGoToLink":"popupAdGoToLink"}],"instanceTheme":"light","playerLayout":"fitToContainer","videoPlayerWidth":720,"videoPlayerHeight":405,"videoRatio":1.7777777777778,"videoRatioStretch":true,"videoPlayerShadow":"effect1","colorAccent":"#000000","posterImg":"","posterImgOnVideoFinish":"","logoShow":"No","logoPath":"","logoPosition":"bottom-right","logoClickable":"No","logoGoToLink":"","allowSkipAd":true,"advertisementTitle":"Ad","skipAdvertisementText":"Skip Ad","skipAdText":"You can skip this ad in","playBtnTooltipTxt":"Play","pauseBtnTooltipTxt":"Pause","rewindBtnTooltipTxt":"Rewind","downloadVideoBtnTooltipTxt":"Download video","qualityBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Close settings","qualityBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Settings","muteBtnTooltipTxt":"Mute","unmuteBtnTooltipTxt":"Unmute","fullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Fullscreen","exitFullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Exit fullscreen","infoBtnTooltipTxt":"Show info","embedBtnTooltipTxt":"Embed","shareBtnTooltipTxt":"Share","volumeTooltipTxt":"Volume","playlistBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Show playlist","playlistBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Hide playlist","facebookBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Facebook","twitterBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Twitter","googlePlusBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Google+","lastBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to last video","firstBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to first video","nextBtnTooltipTxt":"Play next video","previousBtnTooltipTxt":"Play previous video","shuffleBtnOnTooltipTxt":"Shuffle on","shuffleBtnOffTooltipTxt":"Shuffle off","nowPlayingTooltipTxt":"NOW PLAYING","embedWindowTitle1":"SHARE THIS PLAYER:","embedWindowTitle2":"EMBED THIS VIDEO IN YOUR SITE:","embedWindowTitle3":"SHARE LINK TO THIS PLAYER:","lightBox":false,"lightBoxAutoplay":false,"lightBoxThumbnail":"","lightBoxThumbnailWidth":400,"lightBoxThumbnailHeight":220,"lightBoxCloseOnOutsideClick":true,"onFinish":"Play next video","autoplay":false,"loadRandomVideoOnStart":"No","shuffle":"No","playlist":"Off","playlistBehaviourOnPageload":"opened (default)","playlistScrollType":"light","preloadSelfHosted":"none","hideVideoSource":true,"showAllControls":true,"rightClickMenu":true,"autohideControls":2,"hideControlsOnMouseOut":"No","nowPlayingText":"Yes","infoShow":"No","shareShow":"No","facebookShow":"No","twitterShow":"No","mailShow":"No","facebookShareName":"","facebookShareLink":"","facebookShareDescription":"","facebookSharePicture":"","twitterText":"","twitterLink":"","twitterHashtags":"","twitterVia":"","googlePlus":"","embedShow":"No","embedCodeSrc":"","embedCodeW":720,"embedCodeH":405,"embedShareLink":"","youtubeControls":"custom controls","youtubeSkin":"dark","youtubeColor":"red","youtubeQuality":"default","youtubeShowRelatedVideos":"Yes","vimeoColor":"00adef","showGlobalPrerollAds":false,"globalPrerollAds":"url1;url2;url3;url4;url5","globalPrerollAdsSkipTimer":5,"globalPrerollAdsGotoLink":"","videoType":"HTML5 (self-hosted)","submit":"Save Changes","rootFolder":"http:\/\/wp.tdn.pmadv.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/Elite-video-player\/"} LM: You talked a little bit about his size. He’s a big-framed horse. He’s just a perfect classic-look horse, but he’s got some speed influences in his pedigree being out of a Yankee Gentleman mare. What kind of mares were breeders sending to him? You’ve bred quite a few, so I’m assuming you’ve seen some variety. AW: It really was a cross-section of mares. We bred 35 mares to him in his first crop, including Maybe, who’s the dam of our own Saxon Warrior, who won the 2000 Guineas in England this year. He then bred the likes of the dam of Songbird, Ivanavinalot. He bred the dam of Acapulco, who was a champion sprinter. He bred the dam of Caravaggio, a champion two-year-old. So he got a whole cross section of mares, turf mares who were classic producers and also top two-year-old producers. LM: He has been shuttling to Australia, so the expectation that maybe he’ll get some grass runners, particularly maybe firm ground runners. But like you’ve mentioned, he’s a terrific mover, something that the Europeans typically gravitate to. So is the expectation that his yearlings from this first crop will be popular with European buyers? AW: You would imagine. Obviously, he never ran on the turf himself. Bob Baffert always said he was a horse, that, had he run him on the turf, he had no doubt in his mind that he would have been a superior turf runner as well. To me, he doesn’t necessarily look like your typical dart horse. He’s a very free, easy-moving horse. On the mares he’s been getting, there’s certainly quite a lot of turf influences in them. It remains to be seen how he does with his first foals down in Australia, but you’d imagine that he should be successful on dirt on turf as well. LM: Certain sires tend to very much stamp their youngsters, while others get very different types, but they all seem to run. Any indication at this point whether American Pharoah is really stamping them or is he getting kind of a wide variety of physical? AW: Generally they tend to be bay; there’s not too much chrome or too much flash. He’s only got a white star himself. So they’re generally big bay, correct, good size, good scope to them, very easy movers. He’s a pretty uncomplicated horse to breed to. He’ll put size and quality into a mare that needs it, but he’s also not overly big where you’re going to be worried that you’re going to get something that’s uncommercial or probably going to take a long time to mature. We think they’ll be quite precocious horses. He was champion two-year-old himself, let’s not forgot. Sometimes we think of him as just being a Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont and Breeders’ Cup classic winner. But he also was a dual Grade I winner at two. So he was an early horse and we think he’ll pass that onto his progeny as well. LM: What do you think that the impact of having two Triple Crown winners in American Pharoah and Justify so close together has been for the sport? AW: It’s a rising-tide-raises-all-boats kind of thing. With Justify doing what he’s done so far, I think it has put the spotlight back on this business and this industry again. You know, Pharoah obviously broke the 38-year gap since, since the Affirmed did it in 1978, and I think having it happen again, it doesn’t really take away from Pharoah’s legacy. I think it enhances it. I think it enhances our business. I think it puts a spotlight on our business again, and certainly it bodes well for the yearling sale season coming up, which gets going with Fasig-Tipton July in a short two weeks. I think it’s a helpful fact as well that both of these Triple Crown winners in Justify and American Pharoah are graduates of the public auction sphere. We know that American Pharoah was a high-priced buyback, but both of them were available to the public to be bought. And I think that should give buyers and agents an awful lot of confidence that these horses are being sold by their breeders. These horses are available for everybody. They’re not being kept by the likes of a Claiborne Farm or a Darley-Godolphin or Coolmore. I think that is something that should put a lot of confidence in buyers’ minds. View the full article

The 22.5-hour ITV Racing Team broadcast, plus the five-hour The Opening Show, which utilised 270 personnel, resulted in viewing figures on average of 721k (9.6%) on the ITV main channel over four days compared to 867k (11.6%) last year. In 2018, Royal Ascot was competing with the FIFA World Cup during the same time slot. Thursday’s coverage was shown only on ITV4, as there were two World Cup matches displayed on the main ITV channel. On Tuesday, an average of 741k (11.7%) viewers was above the 719k (10.7%) set in 2017, while Wednesday’s average was 727k (9%) versus 2017’s 830k (11.5%). During Thursday’s ITV4 coverage, the average viewership was 366k (4.9%), with 968k (13%) set a year ago. The numbers were closer to par on Friday with 803k (10%) versus 927k (12%) in 2017, with the final day setting an average of 613k (7.6%) compared to 892k (10.2%) last term. The highest peak rating was set on Wednesday’s card with 1006k, just under 2017’s 1,156k. View the full article

Madaket Stables of Sol Kumin has purchased a minority interest in Grade I winner Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), it was announced Monday. The GI Santa Anita Oaks winner will race under the ownership of Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing LLC when she runs in the GII Mother Goose S. for trainer Steve Asmussen Saturday. Never off the board in six career starts, Midnight Bisou captured the Jan. 7 GII Santa Ynez S. and Mar. 3 GIII Santa Ysabel S. en route to her win in the Apr. 7 Santa Anita Oaks for trainer Bill Spawr. She shipped east to finish third behind Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) in the GI Kentucky Oaks May 4. Plans call for the filly to remain on the East Coast with Asmussen and target a start in the GI Alabama S. at Saratoga in August. “We are thrilled to partner up with Sol on this amazing filly,” said Bloom Racing’s Jeff Bloom, who picked out Midnight Bisou for $80,000 as an OBS April 2-year-old in training. “We have had great luck together in the past and look forward to enjoying this exciting ride with Sol and his team.” Through Madaket and a number of his other stables, Kumin has won 36 stakes races–including 12 Grade Is–in the first half of 2018. View the full article

The 2018 educational programme schedule, hosted by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Assocation (ITBA) with financial support and commitment from the Department of Agriculture, under its Equine Technical Support & Breeding Scheme Project, was revealed on Monday. From July 2-13, the Summer Educational Series, designed for breeders of both flat and national hunt disciplines, will take place at ITBA headquarters. Topics covered in week one–with Quality & Qualifications Ireland accreditation where possible–include: Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment, Accident Investigation, Chemical Safety Awareness, Fire Safety Awareness, Safety Statements Production, First Aid Awareness, Height Safety Awareness, Manual Handling, and a three-day First Aid Responders course. QQI Level 5 accreditation will be awarded to those who complete all modules and successfully required assessment. In week two, courses include managing staff, GDPR requirements, financial planning and stud farm office administration. On July 25, there will be an ITBA Next Generation Seminar & Race Day at ITBA HQ & Naas Racecourse. The ITBA heavily subsidizes the costs for those who attend. Places on all of the courses are limited and on a first come first served basis. For the complete schedule and to sign up, go to www.itba.info. View the full article

Team Valor International’s globetrotting Capla Temptress (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), who shipped to North America to capture the GI Natalma S. at Woodbine last September, will return for the GI Belmont Derby July 7, Team Valor confirmed Monday. Conditioned by Marco Botti, the filly finished a close fourth, beaten just a half-length, in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) in her lone start of 2018 May 13. She was among the final field for last Friday’s G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot, but was scratched on Thursday after Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin lined up a flight to New York this weekend. Capla Temptress will be ridden by Javier Castellano in the Belmont Derby. She captured her first two starts in England for Botti last summer before running third in the G3 German-Thoroughbred.com Sweet Solera S. as a precursor to her Natalma success. She was a troubled seventh in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf S. for trainer Bill Mott before returning to Botti’s care in Europe. View the full article

There was something of a family affair about the most successful stallions at Royal Ascot last week, with the six stallions responsible for two or more winners featuring Galileo, Galileo’s son Frankel and Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars. Of course this trio features two of the most extraordinary racehorses ever to have graced the turf, with Frankel and Sea The Stars’s combined efforts amounting to 22 wins from 23 starts, the only defeat coming on Sea The Stars’s debut. Between them they landed 16 Group 1s and took high rank on Timeform’s list of all-time greats, with Frankel improving his rating from 143 at three to 147 at four, while Sea The Stars achieved a figure of 140 at three. Sea The Stars’s physique suggested that he too might have pushed his rating even higher had he stayed in training at four. Both these superstars are imposing physical specimens, both were group winners at two, both won the G1 2000 Guineas and the G1 Juddmonte International and both linked to Galileo, who had already claimed the first of his nine sires’ championships before Sea The Stars commenced his stallion career in 2010. Galileo was a four-time champion sire by the time Frankel made his debut at Banstead Manor in 2013. Consequently, the path to stardom as a stallion might have been expected to be as smooth and straight as it could possibly be, but even these exceptional Classic winners have had to go through a few trials and tribulations along the way. There was never going to be any difficulty in their first season, when Sea The Stars was priced at €85,000 and Frankel at £125,000 and they respectively covered 136 and 131 mares. The problem is that there isn’t an endless supply of breeders prepared to invest heavily in untried but high-priced stallions and events showed that not even Sea The Stars and Frankel were immune to the fluctuating demand that affects so many young stallions in their first four seasons. It now seems hard to believe that Sea The Stars’s totals in those first four years were 136, 83, 138 and 82 mares. Frankel’s figures were 131, 128, 104 and 105. Perhaps Frankel’s arrival as a stallion in 2013 was partly to blame for Sea The Stars’s book falling to 82 mares, but their main problem was that these unproven horses were competing against stallions whose ability to sire top performers had been proven time after time. In Sea The Stars’s first four years, his half-brother Galileo covered books of 175, 215, 196 and 191 mares, whereas Frankel’s first four years clashed with the rise of Dubawi, whose book stood at 136, 157, 157 and 157. Needless to say, Frankel and Sea The Stars have both quickly proved that they belong among the small club of elite stallions, with Sea The Stars’s fee now standing at €135,000, as opposed to the original €85,000, and Frankel’s at £175,000 from the initial £125,000. Breeders who used them at these increased fees this year will have been reassured by their respective performances at Royal Ascot. Frankel had 18 individual representatives in the 30 races, all from his first two crops, and they clocked up three wins (from Without Parole, Monarch’s Glen and Baghdad), two seconds and five thirds. Compare this to Galileo’s tally of two winners, two seconds and two thirds from a total of 24 runners. Sea The Stars had fewer representatives but his comparatively small fourth crop, which numbers 74 foals, provided two of the meeting’s star performers. Firstly, Stradivarius bravely took the G1 Gold Cup and then Crystal Ocean won the G2 Hardwicke S. in the style of a future Group 1 winner. Crystal Ocean and Stradivarius had finished second and third, separated by only a short head, behind the Irish Derby winner Capri in a hot edition of the St Leger. Sea The Stars now has eight Group 1 winners, six Group 2 winners and 11 Group 3 winners to his credit from his first four crops. That’s 25 group winners from a total of 382 foals in those first four crops, which equates to an impressive 6.5%. And those Group 1 winners have garnered a Derby, an Irish Derby, a Deutsches Derby, an Oaks, a King George, a Prix Ganay, a Prix d’Ispahan, a Goodwood Cup and now a Gold Cup, which amounts to a highly prestigious collection. Good things are worth waiting for, and this applies to Sea The Stars and his progeny. Although he won two of his three juvenile starts, including the G2 Beresford S., Sea The Stars improved considerably from two to three–by no less than 31lb according to his Timeform ratings. So far only two of his 25 group winners have succeeded in winning at that level at the age of two, these being the G3 Prix des Chenes winner Cloth of Stars, who developed into a Group 2 winner at three and a Group 1 winner at four, and the G3 Park S. winner My Titania. This suggests that there are group winners still to come from Sea The Stars’s current 3-year-olds from his 93-strong fifth crop, conceived after Sea The Stars had finished seventh among the first-crop sires of 2013 (beaten by Mastercraftsman, but also by Intense Focus, Captain Gerrard, Dandy Man, Bushranger and Champs Elysees). The best of his 3-year-olds so far are the listed winners Sea of Class and Knight To Behold, and there is also Stream of Stars, who disappointed when favourite for the G2 Queen’s Vase–a race won last year by Stradivarius. It will be interesting to monitor the progress of Sea The Stars’s 2018 juveniles, which come from his first crop sired at a fee of €125,000. This crop is his largest of his first six crops, at 135 foals. Around a dozen of them are out of mares by Sadler’s Wells, who number Taghrooda and the Classic-placed Storm The Stars among their four black-type winners from 59 foals. This is comfortably the most numerous cross for Sea The Stars. Sea The Stars’s progeny have an average winning distance of 11 furlongs, which is very close to Galileo’s figure of 11.2 furlongs. Although Sea The Stars has excelled with daughters of such as Monsun, Bering, Silver Hawk and Sadler’s Wells, perhaps it would be worth employing a similar policy to the one taken with Galileo in recent years, whereby a strong emphasis has been placed on giving him mares with speed. Sea The Stars’s Group 1 winners include Harzand and Vazira, who are out of mares by the champion juveniles Xaar and Zafonic. Then there’s Cloth of Stars and Zelzal, who are among the four black-type winners sired by Sea The Stars from 12 foals out of mares by the top miler Kingmambo. Crystal Ocean’s broodmare sire, the 2000 Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Mark of Esteem, is another top-class miler with a fine record with Sea The Stars. There are only five foals of racing age bred this way but four have raced and all four have won, another being Across The Stars, winner of the G2 King Edward VII S. in 2016. Interestingly, Galileo also has a fine record with daughters of Mark of Esteem, siring the likes of the Irish Derby winner Treasure Beach and the Group 2 winners Kite Wood and Mikhail Glinka from only 13 foals. Crystal Ocean’s dam Crystal Star was unbeaten at two, winning twice over seven furlongs, and was group-placed over that distance at three. She has developed into a wonderful producer, with three group winners and a listed winner. Although all four are by different sires, two of them are by father and son, with that fine mare Crystal Capella being by Sea The Stars’s sire Cape Cross. All four of her stakes winners stayed at least a mile and quarter, another being Hillstar, a Danehill Dancer colt who won the G2 King Edward VII S. and the GI Canadian International. Crystal Ocean’s third dam Krisalya produced the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Rose Gypsy and was a half-sister to the G1 Prix d’Ispahan winner Sasuru. Fourth dam Sassalya produced 16 named foals, most of them above average. In addition to Sasuru, there was Sally Rous, winner of two group races over seven furlongs, including the Jersey S. at Royal Ascot. Another of Sassalya’s daughters, The Faraway Tree, produced the American Grade I winner Tuscan Evening. View the full article

Happy Valley has been a not-so-happy hunting ground for Joao Moreira this season but the Brazilian heads to the city track with a great book of rides and a golden opportunity to make ground on Zac Purton in the jockeys’ championship. Moreira (121 wins) trails Purton (126) by five with six meetings remaining, a gap that could close quickly if the Magic Man gets on a hot streak. That could happen at the Valley with Moreira looking like he has an advantage over Purton. Still, Purton... View the full article

Happy Valley has been a not-so-happy hunting ground for Joao Moreira this season but the Brazilian heads to the city track with a great book of rides and a golden opportunity to make ground on Zac Purton in the jockeys’ championship. Moreira (121 wins) trails Purton (126) by five with six meetings remaining, a gap that could close quickly if the Magic Man gets on a hot streak. That could happen at the Valley with Moreira looking like he has an advantage over Purton. Still, Purton is... View the full article

After struggling through the first four runs of his career, Striking Mr C is ready to show his best after an improved effort at Sha Tin on Sunday. The Benno Yung Tin-pang-trained youngster notched results of seventh, sixth, seventh and 10th to open his career but it now looks like he has turned the corner. It started with a good barrier trial earlier this month, when the trainer applied blinkers and the gelding ran on nicely to take out a 1,000m hit-out on the Sha Tin turf. That suggested a... View the full article

After struggling through the first four runs of his career, Striking Mr C is ready to show his best after an improved effort at Sha Tin on Sunday. The Benno Yung Tin-pang-trained youngster notched results of seventh, sixth, seventh and 10th to open his career but it now looks like he has turned the corner. It started with a good barrier trial earlier this month, when the trainer applied blinkers and the gelding ran on nicely to take out a 1,000m hit-out on the Sha Tin turf. That suggested a... View the full article

Kreesie took home the first of two $100,000 New York Stallion Stakes June 24 on the Belmont Park, followed an hour later by Therapist, who achieved his second stakes win of the season. View the full article