It has been a modern trend in many different walks of life that the big operations have been getting bigger while many of their smaller counterparts, if not exactly dying, have been fading away. This trend can apply in the bloodstock world as much as anywhere else. The major bloodstock sales conform to this generalisation [...]

Arqana's August Yearling Sale in Deauville is eagerly anticipated by the bloodstock community, and not merely because it tends to be fun and invariably contains some extremely high-class prospects. Its position so early in the autumn sales season means that it can provide a useful barometer, not only of the market in general, but also [...]

During the final weeks of the 2016/17 season in Australia, the sustained struggles for the riders' premierships in both Melbourne and Sydney remained a focus of attention for many Australian racegoers. Equally engrossing was the duel for numerical supremacy in Australia's first-season sires' standings, with Your Song (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and All Too Hard [...]

Aidan O'Brien has trained many very special horses, champions whose toughness and determination have shone out as brightly as their class. The current globe-trotter Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) follows in the footsteps of not only his own sire but also the likes of Giant's Causeway, Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) and High Chaparral (Ire), as [...]

The stallion business in New Zealand has changed in recent years. The greatest patriarchs of the modern era have either died or reached old age, so the competition to fill their shoes is obviously ongoing. However, the goal-posts have moved slightly. While the country still treasures its reputation as the Southern-Hemisphere home of the high-class [...]

Although the Dubai World Cup rightly stole most of the headlines at Meydan on Saturday, it was merely one of five Group 1 races on a race-day which never disappoints. Among the heroes whom Dubai World Cup Night threw up was The Right Man (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). His thrilling victory in the G1 [...]

Competition is fierce at the head of this season's Australian General Sires' Table. With many valuable races set to be run in both Melbourne and Sydney over the next couple of months, we are likely to see the lead change a few more times between now and the end of July. At present, though, Snitzel [...]

It would be wrong to say that Street Cry (Ire) (Machiavellian) was a rags-to-riches hero, bearing in mind that he started his stud career not in obscurity but on the Darley roster at a fee of $30,000. However, he far exceeded the expectations which could justifiably have been held about him, to the extent that [...]

It is likely that Danehill (Danzig) will always be considered the King of the Shuttlers. He retired to stud at the right time (1990), just as shuttling was starting to become a relatively mainstream practice. His outstanding success then cemented the position of the shuttle-sire in the bloodstock world. Firstly, he proved himself a champion [...]

A Star Exhibition of Patience Rewarded… The G2 Perth Cup has come down a long way in the world since its glory days when it ranked alongside the Cups of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide as one of Australia's major two-milers. It lost its Group 1 status in 1993, and the reduction in its distance [...]

The Thoroughbred is a hybrid breed of horse created, if that is the right word, in England, albeit partly from various breeds whose roots lie around the eastern and south-eastern edges of the Mediterranean. For much of racing history, therefore, the 'new-world' countries have drawn from the British Isles for their stock. However, that changed [...]

Rupert Bears a Winning Record… We have become accustomed to high-class sprinters emerging from relative obscurity in Australia. The latest potential superstar appears to be the unbeaten 3-year-old colt Winning Rupert (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}), who extended his string of victories to four by taking the Gold Edition Plate at Doomben on Saturday. He had [...]