Europe

THUNDER REIGNS AT SAINT-CLOUD Returning off a fourth in Newmarket's G1 Dewhurst S. earlier this month, Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) provided a timely boost for Saeed bin Suroor's branch of the Godolphin operation with a dominant victory in Sunday's G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. Breaking sharply to sit in second as Capchop (Fr) (Captain Chop {Fr}) unseated French champion jockey-elect Pierre-Charles Boudot leaving the gates, the 14-5 second choice fanned wide into the straight and was unrelenting once taking control with a quarter mile remaining to easily defeat South...

The final day of the Irish flat turf season at Leopardstown on Saturday saw some familiar names being crowned champions in their relevant spheres. Pat Smullen's new personal record of 115 winners was enough to secure the world class jockey with his ninth championship. Smullen amassed over €3.5 million in prize-money, helped in no small part by the success of the recently retired Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1  Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby. For the second successive year, Smullen beat Colin Keane, who rode 77 winners,...

2nd-LEO, €16,500, Mdn, 10-29, 2yo, c/g, 7fT, 1:27.85, yl. CLIFFS OF MOHER (IRE), c, 2, by Galileo (Ire) 1st Dam: Wave (Ire), by Dansili (GB) 2nd Dam: Queen Cleopatra (Ire), by Kingmambo 3rd Dam: Sequoyah (Ire), by Sadler's Wells Cliffs of Moher, a staying-on fifth at Cork in his only prior start Oct. 15, was rushed up to gain the lead after the first furlong here. Turning the screw on the home turn, the 7-2 shot, who is a full brother to a yearling filly and a colt foal, had...

Passed over for the G1 Racing Post Trophy in favour of Yucatan (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Capri (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) bids to regain the limelight for Ballydoyle in a strongly-contested renewal of the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud on Sunday. Whether he would have proved any more of a match for Rivet (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) than his stablemate was at Doncaster is open to question, but this 10-furlong trip on soft ground seems more likely to play to his strengths. Successful in the Listed Coolmore Canford Cliffs S. over 7 1/2...

In a year when the fillies have reigned supreme at Ballydoyle, Promise To Be True (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is chosen to represent the all-powerful stable in Sunday's G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. Having captured the G3 Silver Flash S. over this trip at Leopardstown July 21, Susan Magnier's sister to the G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Maybe (Ire) was only fifth as the even-money favourite behind Intricately (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and her subsequent G1 Fillies Mile-winning stablemate Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in that same Curragh feature Sept. 11 before...

1.20 Newmarket, Mdn, £7,000, 2yo, f, 7fT MECCABAH (FR) (Makfi {GB}) is a half-sister to globetrotting three-time Group 1 winner Manighar (Fr) Linamix {Fr}) and opens up in the silks of John Haseler here. The Andrew Balding trainee faces a cast of one dozen, which includes Lael Stable's homebred Isabel's On It (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who is out of 2010 GI Garden City S. victress Check the Label (Stormin Fever), from the in-form William Haggas barn. 1.30 Leopardstown, Mdn, €16,500, 2yo, f, 7fT PAVLENKO (JPN) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the sole...

Frankel (GB) has two chances to notch his first Group 1 winner in Saturday's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, with Frankuus (Ire) and Cunco (Ire) both set to make the cross-channel raid. The Mark Johnston-trained Frankuus traveled successfully to France Oct. 8 to win the G3 Prix de Conde, his second straight stakes win, and Johnston's son and assistant Charlie Johnston said he thinks the 1 1/4-mile trip will suit the grey. "We left him in the Racing Post Trophy at the five-day stage and we were going to have a...

The Tattersalls December Yearling catalogue, which includes siblings to 85 group and listed performers and progeny of both Galileo (Ire) and his son Frankel (GB), is online. The single-day sale Nov. 21 features 200 yearlings, including a Frankel half-brother to Tuesday's G1 Melbourne Cup favourite Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) (lot 166). The two others catalogued by flying first-season sire Frankel are a half-brother to multiple Group 3 winner Ladies Are Forever (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}) (lot 146) and a colt out of a half-sister to G1 Irish Derby winner Cape...

Seventeen supplementary entries have been added to next week's Goffs Autumn Sale. Eleven of those will be offered in the special point-to-point/bumper section Nov. 1, while others supplemented include lot 200A, a winning 3-year-old son of Dutch Art (GB) named Dutch Gallery (GB); lot 270A, Dourado (Ire), a winning 2-year-old Dark Angel (Ire) colt; lot 270B, Stormy Clouds (Ire) a three-time winner and stakes-placed daughter of Sir Prancealot (Ire); and lot 275A, Reinvent (GB), a Juddmonte bred and owned unraced son of Oasis Dream (GB).

Showcasing (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), the sire of this year's leading 3-year-old sprinter Quiet Reflection (GB), will stand for £35,000 at Whitsbury Manor Stud next year, that farm's director Ed Harper announced on Thursday. Whitsbury Manor will also introduce new sire Adaay (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) for £7,000. The 3-year-old, campaigned by Sheikh Hamdan, won last year's G2 Sandy Lane S. and G2 Hungerford S., a total of three black-type events.

1.30 Newmarket, Mdn, £7,000, 2yo, c/g, 7fT Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's ELYAASAAT (Frankel {GB}) is out of 2007 GI Flower Bowl Invitational and GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Lahudood (GB) (Sinspiel {Ire}), and is a half-brother to 2012 Listed Prix de Liancourt winner Aghareed (Kingmambo). Opposition to the William Haggas trainee includes George Strawbridge's Blue On Blue (More Than Ready), who is a once-raced full-brother to GI Frizette S. and G1 Coronation S. runner-up Nemoralia. 2.00 Newmarket, Mdn, £7,000, 2yo, c/g, 7fT LOUJAIN (IRE) (Dubawi...

Win or lose, veteran trainer Henry Candy will record a milestone when he saddles Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile Nov. 5, as the 4-year-old gelding will be his first-ever runner in America. "I've never been [to America] before, other than holidays," Candy said. "It will be a very good, exciting outing." The good ground-loving Limato recorded a first Group 1 win in the G1 Darley July Cup this summer, and he stretched successfully out to seven furlongs to take the G1 Qatar Prix de la...