Europe

John Magnier couldn't believe it, either, the day Geoff Turnbull told him how he first fell in love with horses during his Co Durham boyhood. "My father was a horse-keeper down the mines," Turnbull explained. "They had 3,000 pit-ponies in five collieries, and eventually he became head horse-keeper in the North-East, with a couple of hundred men under him. He loved those horses, and used to look after them when they got injured--they didn't use vets in those days. And the stables were immaculate. He would take me along on...

Goffs UK Autumn HIT & Yearling Sale at Doncaster got off to a low key start on Monday when 87 of the 133 offered yearlings changed hands for an aggregate of £434,400. An average of £4,993 further emphasized the non-straightforward nature of trading horses in the lower tiers. Topping the day's trade was a colt by Frozen Power (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}), lot 97 from Battlefield Stud that was knocked down to David Easterby for £26,000. The colt is a half-brother to stakes winner Micks Yer Man (GB) (Bahamian Bounty...

12.40 Redcar, Mdn, £5,000, 2yo, 7fT Emory Hamilton's homebred Peaceful Passage (War Front), a John Goden trainee, is a half-sister to GI First Lady S. and dual GI Just A Game S. placegetter Hungry Island (More Than Ready). Her 15 rivals include Godolphin's Game Starter (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who is out of a half-sister to 2010 GI Arlington Million victor Debussy (Ire) (Diesis {GB}), making his debut for Saeed bin Suroor. 1.10 Redcar, Mdn, £5,000, 2yo, 7fT Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor's Style And Grace (Ire) (So You Think {NZ}), another...

To describe Monsun as the Sadler's Wells or Galileo of the German bloodstock industry may be overstating it a little, but this son of Konigsstuhl dominated the German Thoroughbred to a highly impressive extent. He was champion sire on four occasions and sired three winners of the G1 Deutsches Derby. One of his sons, Samum, sired another and Monsun's daughters also got into the act, producing three consecutive Deutsches Derby winners in Pastorius, Lucky Speed and Sea The Moon. Monsun's overall statistics are the kind for which stallion owners would...

Tuesday's G3 Prix Miesque at Maisons-Laffitte has attracted a field of eight for France's final group race of the campaign for juveniles. It provides Newmarket-based conditioner Charlie Fellowes with an opportunity to register a career high and he sends forth Sept. 27 Listed Blenheim S. victress Moonlit Show (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), his first black-type scorer, who attempts to become Britain's first winner of a contest inaugurated in 2001. Supplemented at a cost of €5,760, she has raced exclusively at six furlongs in all four starts to date and steps up...

Europe's penultimate Group 1 contest of the year is an Anglo-German affair with nine set to go postward for Tuesday's G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern at Munich. Domestic hopes are headed by Stall Ullmann's G2 Grand Prix de Deauville hero and G1 Deutsches Derby runner-up Savoir Vivre (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}), who was a never-nearer eighth, and a shade over eight lengths adrift of 'TDN Rising Star' Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), in Chantilly's G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at the beginning of last month. Christophe Soumillon, who came close to...

The Queen's Dartmouth (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) could sign off his 2016 international campaign in Hong Kong with the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase Dec. 11 on the agenda for the colt. Dartmouth will also remain in training in 2017 with Sir Michael Stoute; the 4-year-old having established himself as a genuine international top-level campaigner. Most recently he acquitted himself well when second to Erupt (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI Pattison Canadian International. The Queen's bloodstock and racing advisor John Warren commented, "Hong Kong is on the radar, but the...

Darley announced their 2017 European stallion fees for a roster that features nine new stallions across three countries. Heading the roster is the brilliant Dubawi (Ire) (Dubai Millennium {GB}), sire of Postponed (GB) among many others, who will stand for a fee of £250,000 at Dalham Hall next year. His Irish counterpart, Shamardal (Giant's Causeway), will stand for a private fee again this year. Among the newest offerings, the most expensive to retire for 2017 is former champion 2-year-old Belardo (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) who will stand at Kildangan...

No dice in France on Sunday, then, and it looks as though Aidan O'Brien may need a fairly extraordinary week even by his standards to have a chance of nailing that Group 1 record this year. But at least Ryan Moore will arrive in Australia on a roll after his lucrative detour to Japan, and there is certainly an air of unfinished business about their candidate for the G1 Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. Now Ballydoyle has, of course, for many years bought heartily into the Breeders' Cup as the ultimate...

Dual Group 1-winning juvenile Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) will stand for €27,500 in his first season at stud at Haras de Bouquetot next year, and is the most expensive on that farm's roster. Shalaa, the winner of the 2015 G1 Darley Prix Morny, G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S., G2 Arqana July S. and G2 Qatar Richmond S. in the Al Shaqab silks, made just two starts this year for trainer John Gosden after an injury enforced layoff, winning the G3 Bengough S. Oct. 1. "We are delighted to have...

In less than a decade with a training licence, Christophe Ferland has made a determined bid for a seat at the top table of the French training ranks, earning his right to a place alongside the likes of Alain de Royer Dupre, Jean-Claude Rouget et al with his eye-catching strike-rate. His success is made all the more notable by the fact that he isn't based in the fashionable French Thoroughbred headquarters of Chantilly, or even in the Rouget-dominated southern training centre of Pau, preferring instead to season his young horses...

BORN TO BE WALD Having earned 'TDN Rising Star' status with an impressive debut score at Chantilly last month, Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) ran third to Frankuus (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Prinz Hlodowig (Fr) (Rajsaman {Fr}) in the Oct. 8 G3 Prix de Conde back there Oct. 8, and was resolute in his application to claim glory in Sunday's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. The chestnut, who was complicit in providing Pierre-Charles Boudot with a measure of redemption after the rider parted ways with Capchop (Fr) (Captain Chop {Ire}) in the...