Wandering Eyes

Half sisters Midnight Disguise, Holiday Disguise score on Big Apple Showcase Day. Analyze the Odds wins the Mike Lee Stakes at 20-1. View the full article

Ruis Racing’s Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) turned in his first work since finishing 12th in the GI Kentucky Derby, going five furlongs in company in :57.00 (1/2) at Keeneland Monday. The colt is expected to make his next start in the GI Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park June 9. “I thought it was a really nice work,” said trainer and co-owner Mick Ruis said. “It was faster than I thought he was going to go, but he did it so easy. He’s doing really well.” After Bolt d’Oro, second behind Justify (Scat Daddy) in the Apr. 7 GI Santa Anita Derby, faded in the stretch of the Derby, Ruis opted to skip the May 19 GI Preakness S. and focus on the Met Mile, a Win and You’re In event for the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. “The time off between the Derby and the Preakness is really helping him out,” Ruis said. “He was only supposed to work a half, but they gave him five-eighths. I was really happy the way he did it and happy with the way he cooled out, like it was no big deal. He recovered nice right away after the work.” View the full article

Lady Sheila Stable's Holiday Disguise outlasted Highway Star in the $200,000 Critical Eye Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares May 28 at Belmont Park. View the full article

Group 1 winner Heroic Valour (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}–Myrrh {NZ}, by Nassiapour) has been secured by Raheen Stud for stallion duty, where he will stand in 2018, the Queensland stud announced on Monday. Bred by Katom and knocked down to Te Akau Racing for NZ$400,000 at the New Zealand Premier Yearling Sale in 2015, the bay won all three of his juvenile starts for trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, culminating with a win in the G1 Sistema Diamond S. at Ellerslie in March of 2016. Classic placed as a sophomore in the 2017 G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas, the half-brother to Group 1 winner Triple Honour (NZ) (Honours List {Ire})’s best finish at four was a runner-up effort in the G3 Darley Stallions Plate. He retires with a record of 19-4-7-3 and earnings of $264,539. Out of a winning daughter of Group 2 winner San Pauli Girl (NZ) (Western Symphony), Heroic Valour will stand for A$7,700. “All of us at Raheen Stud are really excited at the prospect of standing Heroic Valour,” said Raheen Stud’s manager Basil Nolan, Jr. “We believe he is very competitively priced at A$7,700, particularly as he is a Group 1-winning, unbeated 2-year-old who trained on at three, along with being a well-related son of Fastnet Rock…Some lifetime breeding rights will be made available in the horse.” View the full article

Lady Sheila Stable's Holiday Disguise outlasts Highway Star in the $200,000 Critical Eye Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares May 28 at Belmont Park. View the full article

Belmont Park cards June 7-9 to feature 18 stakes worth $9.4 million. View the full article

James Doyle will team up with Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) in the G1 Investec Derby after being freed of his commitment with the Godolphin operation to ride Dee Ex Bee (GB) (Farhh {GB}) in the premier Classic. Champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa has been booked by trainer Mark Johnston for the Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum-owned Dee Ex Bee, leaving Doyle to retain his association with Young Rascal at Epsom on Saturday. Doyle was aboard the William Haggas-trained colt when he defeated Dee Ex Bee in the G3 Chester Vase by a half-length. Johnston’s son and assistant, Charlie, said, “I think it suits everyone involved. Obviously, James has ridden Dee Ex Bee but I’m quite sure he was keen to ride William’s horse, having been to ride him at Breakfast with the Stars. Silvestre won on Dee Ex Bee first time out and he has a great record at Epsom. I think all parties are happy with how it’s turned out and we’re all set for Saturday.” Johnston is hoping the forecast of rain materialises during the week to aid Dee Ex Bee’s chances and he said, “There’s a chance of some rain through the week which wouldn’t harm his chance at all. He won at Epsom as a 2-year-old in very heavy ground. That would inconvenience others more than it would inconvenience him. “ View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Tuesday’s Insights features a half-sister to GI Beverly D. S. heroine Gorella (Fr) (Grape Tree Road {GB}). 2.10 Lingfield, Cond, £5,800, 2yo, f, 6f (AWT) ROYAL INTERVENTION (IRE) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) is a half-sister to the 2006 GI Beverly D S. winner Gorella (Fr) (Grape Tree Road {GB}) who races for a partnership between Lord Lloyd Webber and Will Farish. Ed Walker introduces the homebred, whose opponents include the similarly unraced Octave (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum’s daughter of the G3 May Hill S. winner and G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches third Calando (Storm Cat) who represents the Mark Johnston stable. 7.45 Gowran Park, Mdn, €12,000, 3yo, 12fT PARK BLOOM (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) is set to be pure broodmare gold later on for her breeder Lodge Park Stud and owner Patricia Burns, as a full-sister to the G1 Epsom Oaks heroine Was (Ire), fellow Ballydoyle pattern-race performer Douglas Macarthur (Ire) and MGSP Al Naamah (Ire) who was a 5-million gns TATOCT purchase. Jim Bolger has charge of her racing career and introduces her in a race which contains another notable in His Highness The Aga Khan’s Romiyna (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}), a Dermot Weld-trained half-sister to the MGSW sire Rajsaman (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}). View the full article

Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson has been named the 2018 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award. The award, presented annually on Woodbine Oaks day, honors the Cuban-born rider who died from complications after a three-horse spill in the 1980 Canadian Oaks and recognizes a Canadian-born or raised or regular rider in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to the sport. Wilson, an Ontario native, won the 2007 Queen’s Plate and earned the Sovereign Award for top apprentice in 2005 and 2006, earning the Eclipse Award in the same category in 2005. A fixture at Woodbine since 2004, Wilson has topped the 100-win plateau on seven occasions and has amassed $70,155,656 in purse earnings. “I’ve been trying to get words written down and thinking just how grateful I am,” Wilson said. “I’ve worked hard and been dedicated to this sport, so to be recognized in this way is truly special. I want to make sure I don’t forget anybody. Without the opportunities I was given, I may not have had a chance to shine. I want to make sure I cover as much as I can. When Tom Cosgrove [chair of both the Nomination and Election Committees for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame] phoned me, even now…I choke up a little bit. I can’t believe it.” Of Gomez, Wilson added, “I never met him, but he’s a legend. And his legacy lives on. His career, although it was cut short, was unbelievable. There’s a picture of Avelino in the jocks’ room. He has dirt all over his face, but there’s a look of confidence and bravado. I only wish I could have a little bit of that in this game. He’s left his mark on Woodbine and horse racing with his character and his success.” View the full article

Albaugh Family Stables’ Free Drop Billy (Union Rags) tuned up for a possible start in the June 9 GI Belmont S. with a five-furlong drill in :59.60 (2/25) Monday at Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols caught the colt working through fractions of :12.60, :23.80, :35.60 and :47 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:12, seven furlongs in 1:25.20 and one mile in 1:39.80. “Right now we’re leaning towards running [in the Belmont],” trainer Dale Romans said. “We’ll see how he comes out of the work Tuesday and talk with the owners. We’ll make a final call in the next couple days.” Free Drop Billy, winner of last year’s GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, was 16th in the GI Kentucky Derby. He is a half-brother to Hawkbill (Kitten’s Joy), who most recently won the 12-furlong G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in the Godolphin colors. The exploits of that multiple Group 1 winner give Romans confidence in Free Drop Billy’s ability to get the distance at Belmont. “[Hawkbill] won at 1 1/2 miles, so I think Free Drop Billy could run all day,” Romans said. “Horses in the Belmont will probably only run 1 1/2 miles this one time, so it’s unique for everyone involved. Free Drop Billy certainly has the pedigree to run that distance.” View the full article

In the wider world, 1968 has a very different resonance: the murders of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Vietnam protests, the tumultuous Democratic convention in Chicago, Nixon picking up the pieces. On the Turf, however, we can look back 50 years in a spirit of undiluted celebration. For Sir Ivor, the first Epsom Derby winner bought at an American auction, was a horse that brought nations together. It could be argued, in fact, that his success at Epsom launched the era of international commerce that continues to sustain the bloodstock industry to this day. Later that summer his trainer, Vincent O’Brien, gave $84,000 for a yearling by Northern Dancer. Two years later, as Nijinsky, this colt won the Triple Crown in Britain. From that point a transfusion of North American blood not only revived the European gene pool but also caused such manic inflation in the market, following the entry of the Maktoums, that the business model of O’Brien and his partners was stretched to breaking point by its own success. It was salvaged by the homebred Sadler’s Wells and his trainer’s namesake and successor at Ballydoyle, Aidan O’Brien. Now John Magnier–the common link to both horses–is hoping that Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), odds-on favourite for the next running of the Derby on Saturday, can become the first Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky. As the son of a Japanese sire, of course, Saxon Warrior already reflects the same questing spirit that brought Sir Ivor and Nijinsky to Europe–and would, as such, bring a pleasing element of circularity to the anniversary of Sir Ivor’s Derby. But if Sir Ivor helped to trigger seismic change in the global industry, he also represented a new beginning on a far more intimate scale. And really that industry–being so prone to rushes of blood, to fits of avarice and despair and vainglory–would do well to borrow the temperate and seasoned judgement that remains the hallmark of the farm that first announced itself with a son of Sir Gaylord, sold for $42,000 at the Keeneland July Sale of 1966. Not that Alice Chandler was especially seasoned when she sent an 11-year-old mare named Attica to Sir Gaylord at Claiborne in 1964. Attica was one of just four mares given to Alice by her father, Hal Price Headley, who had died two years previously–along with the 286 acres just down the road from Keeneland, which he had co-founded, that became the nucleus of Mill Ridge Farm. She owed much, in those early days, to the counsel of Bull Hancock of Claiborne. “He was ever so helpful to Mom when she went out on her own,” remembers Alice’s son Headley Bell, who took over the running of Mill Ridge in 2008. “He sent her overflow mares, that he didn’t have room for, and was just very helpful in growing her business. Obviously Sir Gaylord was a Claiborne horse, so he’d have worked with her on that, too.” Hal Price Headley and Bull Hancock’s father, Arthur B. Hancock Sr., were both among the dozen Pillars of the Turf nominated last week for induction to the Hall of Fame this summer. And both had an important role in the sowing of the American breed with European Classic blood. Hancock Sr. had been central to the syndicates that imported Blenheim in 1936 and Sir Gallahad ten years earlier. Hal Price Headley, for his part, exported Pharamond from England to Kentucky in 1929: a siphon for some of Europe’s most precious Classic blood as cultivated by the 17th Earl of Derby. Pharamond was by Phalaris, ultimately the most influential sire of the century, out of Selene. That made him a half-brother to Hyperion and full brother to Sickle, while his deeper family tree drew together several of the most iconic names of the Victorian Turf. The year Pharamond started in Kentucky, Headley raced the champion juvenile filly in Alcibiades–herself a blend of indigenous and Classic European blood. At three, she proceeded to win the Kentucky Oaks and, with a fortnight’s interval between races in those days, also ran tenth in the Kentucky Derby. In 1934, Headley mated Alcibiades with Pharamond. The result was Menow, the champion juvenile who became sire of Tom Fool (and grandsire of the very important Buckpasser). Two years later, the mare was sent to War Admiral and produced Salaminia, who proved a high-class stayer on the track, winning the Ladies’ H. among other races of historic stature at the time. When herself mated with Pharamond, Salaminia produced another Ladies’ H. winner in Athenia. And Athenia became the dam of Attica, whose Sir Gaylord colt was one of the first bred at Mill Ridge by Alice Chandler. So the idea of Sir Ivor as a pioneer needs placing in context. He was not so much the first link in a chain, as an extension of a perennial process of transatlantic regeneration. Nonetheless his acquisition at Keeneland represented a turning point for the modern breed. It served as a new post on which to hang the chain. More cross-pollination: Sir Gaylord’s sire Turn-To had himself been sent over the ocean to the U.S. as a foal. And Turn-To’s sire Royal Charger was by Nearco out of Sun Princess-a half-sister to Nasrullah. It was Bull Hancock who imported Nasrullah from Europe to become one of the all-time patriarchs of the American Thoroughbred. And it was also Hancock who purchased Alice Chandler’s son of Attica and Sir Gaylord on behalf of Raymond Guest, the American ambassador to Ireland. Vincent O’Brien had seen the potency of American blood through Larkspur, his first Derby winner and a son of the Kentucky-bred Never Say Die. But Sir Ivor’s arrival from a public auction was a game-changer. It set a template for the commercial transfer of virtues associated with dirt racing in America to the ultimate European racing environment, an undulating mile and a half on turf; a template, arguably, for the whole Northern Dancer revolution in Europe. “It’s monumental, to some degree, from a few different standpoints,” said Headley Bell. “It obviously got the attention of John Magnier and team, leading them to regard our American-bred horse as an opportunity. That’s the bottom line. Really, it was the beginning of the commercial market.” As a youngest sibling, then only 13, Bell has limited memories of the stunning breakthrough for his mother’s nascent farm on 29 May 1968. “My oldest brother Mike attended the Derby, he would have been just out of high school,” he recalled. “He went over with Mom and Mom’s mother, so that was very, very special. The story goes that Mike was standing on a chair and it broke under him, so he grabbed the rafter or something of that nature, and I believe was hanging off it when the horse made that move.” The way Sir Ivor reeled in Connaught, who had gone clear while he was caught on the rail, proved a defining moment in Lester Piggott’s career. Unfortunately, Guest himself was unable to be at Epsom. He watched the race on television as he planted a tree to open the Kennedy Arboretum in County Wexford, commemorating the late President’s birthday. (Poignant to reflect that RFK would be killed just eight days later.) Aptly, Sir Ivor ended his career shipping back across the ocean to win the Washington International–only the second Derby winner to run in the U.S., Papyrus having lost a $100,000 match against Kentucky Derby winner Zev at Belmont in 1923. Granted all the great things that have happened at Mill Ridge since–the Diesis and Gone West years, the graduation of Giacomo and Point Given and Havre De Grace and all the rest–how do we account for an opening salvo as unerring as Sir Ivor? Luck can only take you so far, whether that of the beginner or the type earned by years of graft and experience. “You know, I’m not going to talk about destiny,” Bell said. “But there’s just continuous threads here that overlap. My grandfather was a sophomore at Princeton when his father had a stroke and he had to come back and take over. He took a horse called Ornament [beaten a neck in the 1897 Kentucky Derby] to the St Louis [World’s] Fair and he won all these prizes, showing this horse. That was the start of it, and then he found a money man to help him on stallions. “This was all self-made. That’s what’s hard to fathom: you had land, that didn’t mean you had money. Then he had his heart attack at Keeneland after training horses in the morning. And he left my mother those four mares, and Attica among them. Descended from Alcibiades, his foundation race filly who ended up trickling throughout the breed. And then the colt is sold at Keeneland, which keeps that thread running through.” Moreover Mill Ridge would consolidate its role in the commercial integration between America and Europe when Bell’s mother Alice remarried. “Here you have to throw John Chandler into the mix,” Bell confirmed. “Because he was a conduit for this marriage between America and Europe. He had all these relationships when he came over and that’s how our client base grew, mostly on the European side. At one time we had mares for two of the Maktoums on the farm, and also for Prince Khalid. [Dr Chandler] ended up playing a significant role as the commercial side started to grow. And all the time that comfort level with Keeneland, which provided a badge of integrity. But Sir Ivor was really the start, it all grew from there. “It’s great because in Horse Country to keep history alive is so very important. I’m thankful for our family, after five generations, but these cycles contribute to us all, make us all richer. It’s fascinating to think my grandfather went over there for Pharamond and then came back on the boat. Can you imagine navigating all that kind of business back then, to seek out a stallion to make your broodmare band better? Because you weren’t thinking about the commercial side, you were thinking about your mares.” In which connection, a final point about Sir Ivor. How is it that he, his sire and his sire’s great half-brother Secretariat were all such profound influences as broodmare sires? Two hugely important stallions out of Sir Ivor mares were El Prado and Green Desert, while Shareef Dancer in turn achieved fame as a broodmare sire by producing the dam of Dubai Millennium. “With Secretariat, my personal opinion was always that it was about the quality of the mares that he got,” speculated Bell. “Just the richness of those mares made him more prolific as a broodmare sire. I could be wrong. But with Sir Ivor, maybe it is that blend, the Sir Gaylord; or maybe it was the richness of his own dam side. He wasn’t a sire of sires, but he was a filly sire as we know. It happens.” Pedigrees are so often lazily interpreted in just two dimensions-sire-line, and broodmare sire-line-when the genetic contribution to every horse is divided equally between sire and dam. And the common link between Secretariat, Sir Gaylord and Sir Ivor, as distaff influences, is Somethingroyal. She was a daughter of that copper-bottomed fount of toughness and class, Princequillo. And Princequillo was himself famously exported from war-torn Europe. (The wisdom of which move became manifest when his Belgian-trained sire was killed by gunfire.) Sadly Princequillo’s own sire-line appears to be on the point of extinction. But his name surfaces routinely at the core of many of the most influential families in the modern breed. Hal Price Headley’s imprint on O’Brien’s revolutionary work with North American blood was not confined to Sir Ivor. For when O’Brien bought the colt who became Nijinsky, the catalogue page showed his dam to be out of a daughter of Menow, the son of Pharamond and Alcibiades. It would be nice to think, then, that the anniversary of Sir Ivor will renew a sense of adventure in some who have become too inflexible in their view of pedigrees. Certainly there are too many Europeans, half a century on, who remain blind to the immense value, on turf, of the classic dirt hallmarks: that ability to carry speed, that toughness. After all, both the colts on the Triple Crown trail this year–either side of the Atlantic-are by sires who have transcended narrow prescription. Someday, no doubt, European breeders will be keen to use Justify (Scat Daddy) because they have seen the versatility of his sire. Equally, perhaps, Sunday Silence’s grandson Saxon Warrior should not be painted as a pure turf horse. And just look who gave us Deep Impact’s dam: Alzao, son of a Sir Ivor mare. “We’re always just a cycle away from this richness,” Bell agreed. “And you just hope it makes them better with each generation. It’s so cool to see Deep Impact coming through over there. And it’s making the world closer as a result.” View the full article

As we near the end of May, it’s quite something to think that Cheveley Park’s Pivotal (GB) (Polar Falcon) can already boast three Group 1 winners–Cracksman (GB), Rhododendron (Ire) and Olmedo (Fr), plus probable future Group 1 winner Defoe (Ire)–as a broodmare sire. Currently, he heads the great Galileo (Ire) by about £700,000 on the European broodmare sire table and will no doubt be thoroughly tested this year by the great Coolmore sire, who has Saxon Warrior (Jpn) among others running for him in 2018. But make no mistake, it has been a fantastic career for Pivotal. It’s not often that we witness an out-and-out sprinter thrive in a stallion world usually dominated by top milers and middle-distance horses. Yet, Pivotal has carved out his own niche and if the performance so far of his daughters at stud is anything to go by then we can expect much more from the Cheveley Park stalwart. A top-class sprinter by the Nureyev stallion Polar Falcon, Pivotal was at his best when winning the G1 Nunthorpe at York and Royal Ascot’s King’s Stand, back in the days when it had been demoted to a Group 2 race. Nowadays, these races are the two prime targets for five-furlong specialists, but Pivotal’s victories in both earned him a Timeform rating of only 124, more than 10 pounds behind the best specialist sprinters of 2017. It was easy to understand why he started out at a fee of £6,000, but the racecourse success of his offspring eventually pushed that fee to the lofty heights of £85,000 by 2007. The best by a sire that produced an excellent ratio of 9.5% black-type winners to runners but struggled to get championship horses, Pivotal had to prove his mettle the hard way. Poorer speedy mares dominated his early books, but such were his results, that he caught the imagination of breeders with both better and stouter mares. Those early crops contained top-class speedsters like fellow Nunthorpe winner and stud companion Kyllachy (GB) (Time Form 129), but crucially his early runners also contained the likes of Golden Apples (Ire), Chorist (GB), Megahertz (GB) and Silvester Lady (GB), all Group 1 winners at 10 furlongs and above. And Pivotal took advantage of his well-earned better-bred mares going on to sire his best-ever progeny, the G1 Champion S. winner Farhh (GB) (Time Form 131), in the second half of his career. He also sired other middle-distance Group 1 winners in African Story (GB), Izzi Top (GB), Halfway To Heaven (Ire), Queen’s Jewel (GB) and Buzzword (GB). The access to better and stouter mares did indeed provide Pivotal with a greater breath of opportunities, but it is debatable whether they made him a more effective sire. His first four crops of runners, whose average winning distance was 7.4 furlongs, included an outstanding 18.9% black-type winners to runners. Not even the great Galileo could manage that. What made this level of success all the more remarkable is the fact that his mares managed only 3.7% when covered by other sires. From his fifth crop onwards that siblings’ benchmark has stood at 9.7%, which clearly demonstrates the hike in mare quality that Pivotal received after his early success. But here’s a strange thing. Pivotal’s ratio of black-type winners since then has been 9.7%, almost 10 points lower than he achieved with his first four crops. Overall, his ratio is a world-class 11.4% from mares that typically produce 8.9% with other sires–a glittering career indeed. It’s rare to find such a highly prized broodmare sire like Pivotal that is still producing young stock and racehorses as good as Addeybb (Ire) and Brando (GB) this year. Pivotal’s second career is thriving. There are huge dividends to be had if your mare compliments the great sire of the day. And there is no doubt that daughters of Pivotal have stuck up a very fruitful partnership with the mighty Galileo and his sons. There are currently 23 runners by Galileo out of Pivotal mares and they feature no fewer than eight black-type winners (35%) and seven group winners (30%). Two mares, Halfway To Heaven and Beauty Is Truth (Ire), are responsible for five of these black-type winners. Halfway To Heaven is the dam of recent G1 Lockinge S. scorer Rhododendron and Group 1 juvenile Magical (Ire), while Beauty Is Truth had Hydrangea (Ire), a Group 1 winner on British Champions day, representing her last year. Another Pivotal mare, the listed winner Rhadegunda (GB), produced the 136-rated runaway G1 Champion S. and G1 Prix Ganay hero Cracksman, by Galileo’s son Frankel (GB). Results like these will no doubt offer huge encouragement to breeders to try this cross in future. Of course, Galileo isn’t the only option for a Pivotal mare. In fact, all sires that have had two or more black-type winners from Pivotal mares have posted stakes-winner ratios far higher than their own career marks. The Banstead pair of Oasis Dream (GB) and Dansili (GB) have really impressive numbers. Moreover, as they represent two significant sire lines of Green Desert and Danehill, it makes it very easy to find a mate for a daughter of Pivotal. Oasis Dream and Dansili each have five black-type winners, from 20 and 19 runners respectively, producing excellent strike rates of 25% and 26%. Stud companion Dutch Art (GB) also has five stakes winners out of Pivotal mares, while the 29% stakes winners by Tamayuz (GB) is also very striking. In all, Pivotal’s daughters have produced 72 black-type winners so far, at a rate of 6.2%, which given his humble beginnings compares very favourably with the better broodmare sires of the day. View the full article

We’re mid-bounce between Classic meetings and there was much to lift the spirits last weekend at the Curragh with a first Guineas success apiece for trainers Ken Condon and Jessica Harrington. For Coolmore it was a case of even when you lose you win, as each of the victors, Romanised (Ire) and Alpha Centauri (Ire), was by a ‘home’ sire in Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) and Mastercraftsman (Ire). Both stallions, it has to be said, remain under-rated despite plenty of evidence gathered in recent years to testify to their respective abilities. This isn’t merely a case of siding with a fellow female but it’s hard not to have the utmost respect for Harrington. A brilliant Olympic event rider in her younger days and of course a fully accomplished National Hunt trainer with the likes of Sizing John (GB) and Moscow Flyer (Ire) to her credit, she is simply a brilliant horsewoman who seems to have great fun in everything she does. The statuesque Niarchos homebred Alpha Centauri now appears to be heading for a second appearance at Royal Ascot, where she could be joined by her young stablemates Servalan (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Chicas Amigas (Ire) (Dragon Pulse {Ire}) who filled the quinella in the listed sprint at Naas the previous weekend. Chicas Amigas, a first northern hemisphere venture for the It’s All About The Girls syndicate which has enjoyed such success in Australia with dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour (Aus), looks to have been a shrewd selection by Patrick Cooper for €25,000. Despite an exciting Flat season in store, Harrington did let slip where her true priorities lie when saying after Alpha Centauri’s victory that winning a Classic was “almost as good” as winning a Gold Cup. By that, we presume she means the Cheltenham variety, rather than Ascot, though she has a decent candidate for the latter in Torcedor (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). While the Harrington team was celebrating at the Curragh, it was also a notable weekend for the horse who was one of the stable’s breakthrough winners on the Flat, Pathfork, winner of Group 1 and Group 2 contests as a juvenile before being sold back to America. The son of Distorted Humor now stands alongside Canford Cliffs (Ire) at Highlands Stud in South Africa, where he notched his first Group 1 winner on Saturday with 2-year-old Mighty High (SAF) in the Allan Robertson Fillies’ Championship. Chance Of A Unique Treble The victory of Wagnerian (JPN) in Sunday’s GI Tokyo Yushun sets up the potential for an international Derby double for his sire Deep Impact (JPN), who has the favourite for Saturday’s Investec Derby in 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (JPN). While unusual, it would not be unique. King’s Best achieved the same rare feat in 2010 courtesy of his sons Workforce (GB) and Eishin Flash (JPN). Victory in the Japanese Derby for the latter eventually saw his sire move to Darley Japan in 2013, having started his career in Ireland at Kildangan Stud before moving to Normandy’s Haras du Logis. And if we believe that the Prix du Jockey Club can still be regarded as the French Derby since its shortening in distance, then Deep Impact has the chance of attaining what will almost certainly be a unique treble, with the Niarchos family’s Study Of Man (Ire) being aimed at Sunday’s French Classic instead of a trip to Epsom. Also Making An Impact There’s plenty of focus on the success of Deep Impact in Europe but it would in fact be disappointing if his offspring which reach these shores did not succeed as they are out of some of the best mares in the world. His great rival in the Japanese sires’ contest, King Kamehameha (JPN), is the broodmare sire of Wagnerian and he also featured as the grandsire of an impressive maiden winner at Longchamp on Sunday via the Francis Graffard-trained Hush Writer (JPN), the first runner and winner in France for his sire Rulership (JPN). The colt represents an ambitious international plan, having been selected as a foal for ¥23 million (€181,000) by Gai Waterhouse and Satomi Oka Bloodstock, one of five foals bought by the duo at the JRHA Sale of 2015. “We set off with a group of owners to see with our own eyes what it is that Japan is doing better than the rest of the world,” said Waterhouse in her TDN column at the time and her quest for ‘Cups’ horses from the east looks to be on the right track, with Hush Writer, who runs in the colours of Western Australia’s Mount Hallowell Stud owner Craig Thompson, now being aimed at the listed Prix Melisande at ParisLongchamp on June 10. Depending on his progress, he is likely to find himself ending up racing in Australia eventually. “Hush Writer and another filly came to me when Criquette Head retired,” said Graffard, who added with a grin, “I told Gai yesterday that I am pre-training a very nice horse for her.” The trainer added that he has pencilled in a run in the G2 Prix Hocquart at Chantilly on Prix de Diane day when Waterhouse is in France. Australia’s leading lady trainer is not averse to combing the world for horses to run in her country’s major races. For Mount Hallowell Stud she has already trained successful imports Pornichet (Fr) (Vespone {Ire}), the subsequent G1 Doomben Cup winner bought at the inaugural Goffs London Sale for £425,000, and Thompson was also a shareholder in G1 Sydney Cup winner The Offer (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), a 200,000gns Tattersalls purchase with Johnny McKeever. There was also an Australian connection to Thursday’s Goodwood maiden winner Heart Of Grace (JPN), a daughter of Heart’s Cry (JPN) who was bought as a yearling from the following year’s JRHA sale by Justin Bahen for Perth-based father and son Paul and Anthony Silvestro. Dubawi’s Expanding Legacy As a broodmare sire, Dubawi (Ire) has posted three Group wins so far this year, in Dubai, Japan and Italy, the latest being the French-trained Royal Julius (Ire), who is on course for Royal Ascot. With his top-class daughter Bateel (Ire) notching another Group win at the age of five for Francis Graffard last week in the G2 Prix Corrida, Dubawi has also enjoyed a good week via his stallion sons, a selection of whom also look likely to have decent representation at Ascot. Having been responsible for the previous weekend’s G2 Derby Italiano winner Summer Festival (GB), Poet’s Voice (GB), who died in March, was represented by Poet’s Word (GB) on his first run of the British turf season in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. He went one better than his runner-up finish to Hawkbill (Kitten’s Joy) in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic and has the option of the G1 Prince Of Wales’s S. or G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot. Whether the royal course is the next destination for Makfi’s son Magic Circle (Ire) remains to be seen but he certainly has his owner Marwan Koukash dreaming ahead to Melbourne after he followed up his Chester Cup win with a six-length romp in the G3 Henry II S. at Sandown. The in-form 6-year-old, now the winner of eight of his 21 starts, would need to be supplemented for the Gold Cup but wherever he ends up he looks to have an exciting season in store. Bought by his trainer Ian Williams for 70,000gns at last year’s Horses-in-Training Sale at Tattersalls, Magic Circle has already earned more than £130,000 in two starts for his new connections. One of the youngest sons of Dubawi with runners is Oakgrove Stud’s homebred Al Kazeem (GB), who has suffered from a stop-start stud career but has been back at his birthplace for the last three seasons after returning to training in 2015 following a debut season blighted by fertility issues at the Royal Studs. Appropriately, Roger Charlton—who trained Al Kazeem so deftly in parts one and two of his racing career—sent out the first stakes winner by the stallion in Friday’s Cocked Hat S. winner Apestar (Fr). HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani’s homebred is now unbeaten in two starts and is another who could be Ascot-bound with an entry in the G2 King Edward VII S. Bansha Bandwagon Rolls On There’s been much gnashing of teeth through this season’s breeze-up sales, which conclude on Friday at Baden-Baden. Plenty of vendors have been left with horses and will doubtless be coming to arrangements with trainers to race these individuals with a view to securing private sales. Con Marnane has a headstart in this regard as he already has a successful arrangement with French trainer Matthieu Palussiere, who has already won this season with the unsold On A Session (Noble Mission {GB}), No More Regrets (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), Reel Bizzy (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Rolling King (More Than Ready). Lest one think that the Marnanes don’t ever sell a good horse, it’s worth reflecting that in the last few weeks alone, their Bansha House Stud grdautes have included the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Teppal (Ire) (Camacho {GB}), Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis), who has won two Group races this season, and Itsinthepost (Fr) (American Post {GB}), winner of Saturday’s GII Charles Whittingham S. at Santa Anita. The last two named were bought collectively for just €25,000 as yearlings at the Osarus September Sale. Pride Of Scotland Gordon Thom may have significantly reduced his breeding operation since the sale of his New Hall Stud, but Scotland’s leading breeder still keeps a few mares on land he retained adjacent to the Ayrshire farm and on Saturday was celebrating the victory of Sophie P (GB) (Bushranger {Ire}), who gained the verdict in a tight finish to the GI Gamely S. at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old is the second top-level winner bred by Thom after Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), who would go on to achieve even greater notoriety at stud as the dam of Japanese superstar Gentildonna (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}). Sophie P was sold privately as a youngster to Thom’s local trainer Mike Smith, for whom she won four times and was Listed-placed before being bought by Gordian Troeller for 160,000gns at Tattersalls last year. Her dam, the Gainsborough-bred Fountains Abbey (Giant’s Causeway), failed to go back in foal the following year and is now retired. “I didn’t put her in a yearling sale as it was at the time when Bushranger had gone off the boil and I didn’t want to just give her away,” recalled Thom of Sophie P. “I’d watch her in the field and the way she moved and carried herself, she just had something about her, so Mike started training her for some local lads who had a lot of fun with her.” Donna Blini—whose half-brother Magical (GB) (Aggressor {GB}) won the GIII Will Rogers H. in America back in 1998—had cost just 20,000gns as a yearling but went on to be bought for 500,000gns by Katsumi Yoshida following her G1 Cheveley Park S. win. Thom said, “I tried to keep her sister to breed from but the Japanese kept coming back to me to buy her and I gave in eventually.” He added, “I’ve kept a mare or two here on land that’s been in my family for 150 years, and I have a couple of horses in training. I turn 70 in July but I hope I’ll always have an interest.” View the full article

With unbeaten Justify maintaining his flesh and energy during his routine gallop at Churchill Downs, Bob Baffert indicated he could breeze the son of Scat Daddy May 29 in preparation for the June 9 Belmont Stakes (G1). View the full article

With unbeaten Justify maintaining his flesh and energy during his routine gallop at Churchill Downs, Bob Baffert indicated he could breeze the son of Scat Daddy May 29 in preparation for the June 9 Belmont Stakes (G1). View the full article

Ruis Racing's Bolt d'Oro was all business in the early hours of Memorial Day, as he hit the Keeneland track for the first of two final works before shipping north for the June 9 $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park. View the full article

Fourteen horses have been confirmed for the G1 Investec Epsom Derby on Saturday, including the hot favourite Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). The unbeaten colt is one of seven 3-year-olds left in the race from Ballydoyle as Aidan O’Brien chases a seventh win in the race. The Frankel (GB) sired trio of Rostropovich (Ire), Zabriskie (Ire) and Nelson (Ire) and three sons of Galileo (Ire) in Kew Gardens (Ire), Delano Roosevelt (Ire) and The Pentagon (Ire) are all possibles. The favourite’s main market rival Roaring Lion (GB) (Kitten’s Joy), who was so impressive in the G2 Dante S., is also confirmed along with the fellow John Gosden trained Sevenna Star (Ire) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) while another stylish trial winner, G3 Chester Vase victor Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) is on course to represent William Haggas and race sponsor Bernard Kantor. Dermot Weld won the race two years ago with Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and he will field a relation of that horse in Hazapour (Ire) (Shamardal), owned and bred, like the 2016 winner, by the Aga Khan. Charlie Appleby and Godolphin will rely on G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas third Masar (Ire) whose sire New Approach (Ire) won the race ten years ago while Knight To Behold (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will be a first Derby runner for trainer Harry Dunlop, whose father John trained the winner on two occasions. Mark Johnston has confirmed Dee Ex Bee (GB) (Farhh {GB}) for owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum. View the full article

Mark Johnston and his team are still none the wiser over the lackluster performance of Elarqam (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the well beaten favourite in Saturday’s G1 Irish 2000 Guineas. Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s colt finished sixth behind Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) but it was the manner in which he was beaten rather than his ultimate finishing position that has Johnston scratching his head for an explanation. “He was scoped post-race and scoped this morning [Monday] and there was a little bit of mucus there, but not enough for us to feel it could explain the running because he seemed all at sea during the race and quite distressed afterwards,” Johnston said. Unlike at Newmarket in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas when he traveled powerfully for much of the race Elarqam was one of the first off the bridle on Saturday and his trainer is keen to get to the root of the issue. “I know he’s a horse with not a lot of form, but if he’d finished third or fourth we could have said maybe that’s his running. But in relation to the horse he beat in the Guineas [third placed Gustav Klimt] and the whole manner of his run he was clearly in trouble at halfway. We can put a line through it but we’ve got to try to investigate why it happened,” he added. View the full article

3rd-Saint-Cloud, €27,000, Mdn, 5-28, unraced 2yo, f, 6fT, 1:16.79, g/s. SPIRIT OF BRITTANY (FR), f, 2, by Invincible Spirit (Ire) 1st Dam: Ysandre (GB), by Zamindar 2nd Dam: Loxandra (GB), by Last Tycoon (Ire) 3rd Dam: Northshiel (GB), by Northfields Spirit of Brittany was entrusted with the weight of favouritism in this debutantes’ heat and fully justified that faith with a dominant display to earn ‘TDN Rising Star’ status at first asking. Sharply into stride to seize immediate control, the 14-5 chalk was in cruise mode throughout and required negligible urging inside the final quarter-mile to easily account for Kiwi Kiss (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) by an impressive 2 1/2 lengths. She is the third foal and first scorer produced by Ysandre (GB) (Zamindar), an unraced half-sister to five black-type winners including G1 Lockinge S.-winning sire Keltos (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}), MG1SP G2 Prix du Muguet victor Krataios (Fr) (Sabrehill) and G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud third and GSW sire Loxias (Fr) (Saumarez {GB}). Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, €13,500. 1ST-TIME STARTER. O/B-Al Shaqab Racing (FR); T-Jean-Claude Rouget. Click for the Racing Post resultx. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. View the full article

Trainer Mick Channon is planning an autumn campaign for Dan’s Dream (GB) (Cityscape {GB}) after an unsatisfactory scope ruled her out of the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh on Sunday. “She has just got a bit of mucus in her and she scoped bad, otherwise we would have gone to Ireland with her,” the trainer said. Channon was expecting the filly to bounce back from an underwhelming effort in the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket having previously taken the G3 Dubai Duty Free S. at Newbury in April. That victory came when there was plenty of give in the ground and with the benefit of hindsight Channon reckons missing The Curragh may not have been the worst thing to have happened. “It’s probably a blessing with how the ground was. What we will probably do now is miss Ascot and the Coronation Stakes and prepare for the autumn when we get some soft ground again. We hope we can have a nice fresh filly for the back-end of the season. She will stay a mile. It didn’t go right in the Guineas but some times things like that happen,” he added. Channon still had a weekend to remember at The Curragh when his Opal Tiara (Ire) (Thousand Words {GB}) signed off her racing career with a win in the G2 Lanwades Stud S. The mare was co-bred by Channon in partnership with Gill Hedley and as Opal Tiara is currently in foal to Churchill (Ire) Saturday is likely to have been her final race. “We have a half-sister by Kodiac at the stud and it just goes to show how a bit of patience and determination can lead to fun further down the line,” Channon said. Opal Tiara had previously won at Group 2 level when winning the G2 Balanchine S. at Meydan last year and her trainer added, “Everything she’s done since hosing up as a two-year-old at Wolverhampton had her down as a talent who would take us places and she’s picked up black type all the way through her career and Saturday was the icing on the cake.” View the full article

Shimmer And Shine highlighted his potential with a victory down the Sha Tin straight last start, but he might be even better on the all-weather track and he gets the chance to test that theory on Wednesday night. After his debut run was affected by injury, the Tony Millard-trained three-year-old caught the eye in his second start before landing his maiden win last time, despite being in the wrong part of the track. The handicapper didn’t hit him hard for that victory, only going up five... View the full article

After a slow start to his Hong Kong career, Enjoyable Success looks ready to make his mark after an eye-catching run on Sunday. The Michael Chang Chun-wai-trained four-year-old started at triple-figure odds in his first six starts at Sha Tin, never finishing within five lengths of the winner. But he has continued to improve with time and he showed a glimpse of what he is capable of in the Class Four Mighty High Handicap (1,600m). Enjoyable Success does not have any early speed, forcing Olivier... View the full article

Leading Queensland trainer Ben Currie’s training business faces an uncertain future after the trainer was charged with 31 breaches of racing’s rules. Currie is unable to make any entries for his string while he faces the charges which include administering raceday treatments without permission to five horses he ran at Doomben and Gatton in March while he also faces similar charges surrounding the same offence with different horses on other raceday occasions. After the hearing on Monday which took place in Brisbane at the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission offices, Currie confirmed his plea of not guilty and that he would contest the charges, “My lawyers will apply for an urgent stay of the suspension before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday,” he informed Racing And Sports. Four people have already been disqualified or suspended as a result of an inquiry opened by QRIC stewards after allegations were made by integrity officers about activities at Currie’s stables in April. Among them are Currie’s father and foreman Mark Currie who has been disqualified for two years on 16 charges while the trainer’s employees Greg Britnall, Cameron Schwenke and Silde Canda have all been suspended for periods ranging from three to eighteen months as result of the inquiry. View the full article

Shotgun Kowboy seemed to be up against it May 27 at Lone Star Park against grade 1 winner Mubtaahij, but he fired his best and earned his second grade 3 score in the $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap (G3). View the full article

The result of the $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes (G3) was known by the time Marley's Freedom hit the quarter pole at Santa Anita Park on May 27. View the full article