In the last of a three-part series, Tom Frary looks back at the standout French- and German-trained juveniles of last season and considers who will be most prominent during their key Classic season. With just three 2-year-olds rated above 110 in the recently-released European Classifications, France should be worried, right? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly in [...]

Newmarket, UK–Among the hats now worn by Ted Durcan is that of a bloodstock agent, and the former jockey entered the big league in his new vocation by picking up the top lot of the Tattersalls February Sale on Friday. On what was a far busier second of two sessions, Durcan was required to step [...]

Newmarket, UK–Newmarket can be an unforgiving place in the depths of winter and potential buyers remained on the cold side as a new year of British auctions opened in subdued fashion at the Tattersalls February Sale on Thursday. Some vendors might well have forecast the apathetic market as a number of the more interesting horses [...]

Newmarket, UK–It seems unlikely that there will be a repeat of last year's excitement at the Tattersalls February Sale when Willie John (GB) (Dansili {GB}) smashed the European record for a colt in training sold at auction. The winter gathering in Newmarket, which lay under a light carpet of snow on the eve of the [...]

There could be no splitting the Thoroughbred stars from either side of the equator as the 2018 Longines World's Best Racehorse award was shared between Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) and Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}). The former has appeared in the classifications drawn from a gathering of international handicappers since 2015 and has been the [...]

There is tough competition on the Flat in Yorkshire these days, with at least half a dozen trainers from the region jostling for attention against the powerhouses from Newmarket. County Durham, meanwhile, is not recognised as one of the modern hotbeds of the sport yet it can claim a man who has enjoyed as much [...]

For a jockey who has been widely praised for her determination, Nicola Currie has not been immune to periods of self-doubt. A comparatively late-bloomer at 25, she struggled without any tangible reward for some years and even briefly dropped out of race-riding altogether as she contemplated her future. Thrown a lifeline by trainer Richard Hughes, [...]

From managing to tie with Joseph O'Brien and Gary Carroll for the Irish apprentice title without a major backer to conducting exhaustive tours of the stables of Britain in search of his latest opportunity, Ben Curtis always seems to be a man in a hurry. Even this interview is carried out from the golf course, [...]

When Chris Dwyer saddled the final runner of his career last Thursday it was not exactly accompanied by hysteria or emotional outpouring. That would hardly have been his style anyway, even if he was never the most fashionable of trainers or jockeys and was bowing out with an unplaced 10-1 chance in a low-key handicap [...]

NEWMARKET, UK–Frequent rain around Park Paddocks on Thursday tested the resolution of all those remaining for the final session of the 2018 Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale, but it would certainly be incorrect to describe the event itself as a damp squib. At the close of four days' trade, there were 1,181 lots offered, [...]

NEWMARKET, UK–Newsells Park Stud made a solitary but spectacular foray into the market at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale on Wednesday evening by breaking the event record with a 1-million gns swoop for top-notch broodmare prospect Aljazzi (GB) (Shamardal) (lot 1140). The winner of this year's G2 Duke Of Cambridge S. at Royal [...]

Middle-Eastern interest proved telling again at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale as prices rose beyond the 400,000gns mark for the first time in two days of trade. Monday's 335,000gns top lot Archetype (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire} had been bought on behalf of Saudi Arabian connections and that price was exceeded in substantial fashion [...]