For someone who has never raced a large nor expensive string of horses, Catherine Corbett ranks as one of Britain's most successful racehorse owners of the modern era. A long-standing patron of Lambourn trainer Barry Hills, she has raced a succession of grey horses, many of whom have punched well above their weight and several [...]

There is nothing new about a stallion enjoying widespread success in both hemispheres. Even in the 19th century there was scope for a stallion such as Carbine (NZ) (Musket {GB}) to thrive both in Australia and England. In Australia, Carbine sired the VRC and/or AJC Derby winners Wallace (Aus), Amberite (Aus) and Charge (Aus), while [...]

Newmarket is known as 'HQ' for the obvious reason that it is pretty much Britain's centre of everything: training, racing, breeding, etc. One of its lesser-known specialities is the provision of quarantine facilities. These come into their own when European horses are set for races in Australia. Newmarket's quarantine station at Side Hill Stud is [...]

The world is a much smaller place than it used to be. One American stud at the forefront of its contraction is one of Kentucky's most historic properties, Spendthrift, which is maintaining its proud tradition of pioneering links to the antipodes. Three members of Spendthrift's Kentucky roster have been covering at the stud's Australian arm [...]

Midwinter is not usually the place to look for the stars of the following European summer. This time of year is definitely off-season–and officially so, in Great Britain anyway–because winners ridden, even in stakes races, do not count towards the jockeys' championship. However, there are exceptions which prove every rule, and we are becoming ever [...]

At the end of a year, it's good to look both back and forward simultaneously. One way we can do both is by pondering the annual question as to which of England's two most historically prestigious 2-year-old races – the G1 Middle Park S. and the G1 Dewhurst S., both run at Newmarket – will [...]

For those outside Europe, it goes without saying that Flat racing is much bigger business than jumping. For Europeans, though, this is less obvious. In Britain and Ireland, the leading jumps jockeys would ride as many winners as the leading riders on the Flat, and there is scope both in the British Isles and in [...]

It is a special occasion any time that full-siblings win black-type races on the same card. When one of those siblings scores in Group 1 company–as Perfect Reflection (Aus) (More Than Ready) did at Ascot (WA) on Saturday–then the achievement is very notable indeed. Perfect Reflection deserves particular credit because her victory made her the [...]

Over the past fortnight, many of the major European studs have released their fees for the 2016 breeding season. One eye-catching aspect of the rosters is the proliferation of reverse-shuttling stallions. Shuttling sires from the Northern Hemisphere to the south has been commonplace now for nearly 30 years, but it took longer for the reverse [...]