A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu… The stallion business in the antipodes changed forever once the practice of shuttling stallions from the Northern Hemisphere was established. Previously, it was an either/or situation regarding which hemisphere a horse could stand in, which meant that Australasia's imported stallions tended to be ones which had been deemed to [...]

Widden's Triumph… Widden Stud has been home to some of the best stallions in Australian history. Two of its greatest residents were Golden Slipper heroes: Vain (Aus) (Wilkes {Fr}) and Marscay (Aus) (Biscay {Aus}), successful in Australasia's juvenile championship in 1969 and 1982, respectively. That formula has continued to hold good in the 21st century [...]

As Europe's autumn sales' season continues its relentless march, amid the plethora of high prices and fascinating tales it is easy to overlook just how great an era is ending with the dispersal of the Wildensteins' bloodstock. The Goffs November Sale in Ireland last week was a huge event with 1,753 lots in the catalogue, [...]

Many preconceptions about the Melbourne Cup have been changed in the international era since the great race has been contested by a different set of horses and a different set of horsemen. For many years the vast majority of the horses running in it had it as the final race of their spring campaign. It [...]

More Than Useful… The VRC Carnival at Flemington has served up more reminders of just what a massive contribution to Australian breeding has been made by the 19-year-old shuttle-stallion More Than Ready (Southern Halo). During a lengthy career of yearly return trips between Kentucky and New South Wales, More Than Ready has churned out numerous [...]

Prized Icon – An Admirable Australian Ambassador It has been evident for many years that, while Australian breeders collectively churn out world-class sprinters by the dozen, the country has been gravely under-performing in the production of good stayers. The fact that so many Australian dollars were spent as guineas at Tattersalls in the UK last [...]

Winx Even Better Than We Realised… Going into the G1 William Hill Cox Plate, we thought we knew pretty much all that there is to know about Winx (Aus) (Street Cry). She was, after all, the reigning champion and was on a winning streak of 12. However, we're always told that we never stop learning, [...]

A Handicap is a Handicap… When previewing a Group 1 race, it is all too easy merely to try to find the best horse in the race. That's obviously fair enough; but when it is a Group 1 handicap, the situation is no different from any other handicap, i.e. that the key is generally to [...]

Plenty of New South Welshmen scoffed when it became apparent that only two Victorian-trained horses were going to line up against the Chris Waller-trained Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) on her first run of the season outside Sydney in Saturday's G1 Caulfield S. However, the virtuoso display of galloping which she gave when brushing aside [...]

The first time that Fastnet Rock (Aus) (Danehill) came to the British Isles was a damp squib. He arrived in Abington Place Stables in Newmarket's Bury Road in May 2005 with a big reputation, a champion Australian sprinter seemingly set to dominate Royal Ascot just as his compatriot and erstwhile stablemate Choisir (Aus) (Danehill Dancer [...]

The Sadler's Wells (Northern Dancer) over Danehill (Danzig) cross has enjoyed extensive success in Europe in recent years, yielding a host of stars headed by the mighty Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). Galileo is, of course, the most obvious Sadler's Wells-line horse to nick with mares by Danehill or one of his sons, but he is [...]

Notwithstanding the first-season Royal Ascot hat-tricks of New Approach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), it is hard to name a horse in recent years who has made as impressive a start to his stud career as Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). He was, of course, an outstanding champion on the track, but that [...]