Thursday's opening fillies' maiden at Leopardstown has a notable recent winner's list and Blonde Over Blue (Lope De Vega) added her name to it in convincing style in the John Oxley silks. Sent off at 6-1 for the seven-furlong contest won in 2024 by Bedtime Story, in 2019 by Cayenne Pepper and in 2017 by [...]

Fit for a King and Queen. Epsom's Derby Festival had been at low tide for a while, but there are a good few now who are seeking to bring back the old buzz via the masses to experience at first hand all of its glory. They are working hard against the gravitational pull of sports [...]

In the aftermath of the Prix du Jockey Club, the Pantall family were enjoying their own red-letter day as their homebred Naomis (City Light) captured the G2 Prix de Sandringham. Coming off a win in Toulouse's Listed Prix Aymeri de Mauleon over this mile trip in April, the 20-1 shot travelled strongly under Tony Piccone [...]

Aidan O'Brien left Chantilly on Sunday having created a legacy performance of training as he did here in the Arc several years ago after Constitution River led home Hawk Mountain and Montreal for a Team Ballydoyle G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club one-two-three. MV Magnier was on hand to pay tribute to the combined expertise [...]

Staged a week earlier than its customary slot, Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club is threatening a serious case of oneupmanship over the Derby this year due to the presence of a true A-lister in the line-up. It is rare that the Chantilly Classic draws the very best from outside it's own country's frontier, [...]

Rathbarry Stud have not had too long to wait for the first winner for their first-season sire State Of Rest as Anad scored on debut at Wolverhampton on Friday. Sent off the 2-1 favourite for the extended seven-furlong fillies' novice, the Karl Burke-trained €150,000 Goffs Orby Book 2 topper raced in rear throughout the early [...]

Coming back from a break under a penalty, Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) would have been forgiven an honourable defeat in Thursday's G3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes but duly showed his class to land the spoils ahead of his big test at Royal Ascot. Runner-up in this to Almaqam 12 months ago, the John and Thady Gosden-trained [...]

If it weren't for messrs Bow Echo and Gstaad, Talk Of New York may have been the talk of Royal Ascot if the way the son of Wootton Bassett went through Sandown's Listed Heron Stakes is a guide. So impressive was Godolphin's much-vaunted son of the high-class Usherette (Shamardal) on Thursday evening, he may even be able [...]

George Strawbridge's Water To Wine (Kingman) had impressed on debut at Newbury last month and came back from a minor setback to continue his march towards Royal Ascot on Wednesday. Sent off the 1-12 favourite for the 11-furlong novice on Kempton's Polytrack, the John and Thady Gosden-trained blueblood sauntered along on the front end under [...]

Fresh after a small break, Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor's Title Role (Too Darn Hot) showed he could handle the heat to take Monday's G2 Coolmore City Of Troy German 2000 Guineas at Cologne. Having beaten Godolphin's subsequent Irish 2000 Guineas third Pacific Avenue and exciting prospect Talk Of New York in Meydan's [...]

At the culmination of the battle of the Ballydoyle starlets in Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas, there was a dramatic if not entirely unexpected turnaround of this month's Newmarket Classic form as Precise (Starspangledbanner) held sway in some style at The Curragh. As last year's Fillies' Mile and Moyglare winner swooped on True Love [...]

Ed Walker has long sung the praises of Almaqam (Lope De Vega) and although the elusive Group 1 win took its time coming, it all fell into place for the stable star on Sunday as he bossed The Curragh's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Making his seasonal return in the 10 1/2-furlong prize, Sheikh Ahmed Al [...]