Europe

Following consistent trade throughout the two days of the Goffs UK Premier Sale, figures took a tumble during the single-session Silver Sale, at which 72% of the 159 yearlings offered changed hands for a total of £1,256,500. The aggregate represented a decline of 7% on last year, while the average was down 19% to £11,022 and the median by 30% to £7,000. Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby was philosophical in his appraisal of a sector of the market which is likely to struggle as the season progresses and catalogue...

Listowel Race Company opened its new €1.3-million dining and hospitality facility in a ceremony Aug. 24. The new building is a modern and contemporary design that includes the new Old Weir Food Hall on the ground floor and The Riverside Bar on the upper level, overlooking the parade ring. "Listowel Race Company sees this new development as a huge asset for racegoers, making their whole raceday experience more enjoyable by increasing the overall standard of facilities at Listowel Racecourse," said Chairman of Listowel Race Company, David Fitzmaurice. "It is part...

A new uphill gallop is set to be constructed in Newmarket off Hamilton Road, on Racecourse Side. The 4 1/2-furlong uphill gallop will begin below ground level, and will be part elevated by a bridge before finishing on a man-made mound. The gallop will have a 30-metre incline. One of the major reasons for building the gallop off Hamilton Road is to give trainers more incentive to use that side of the town. Occupancy rates are just 60% on Racecourse Side, compared to 90% on the Bury Side of town,...

G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) is set for a class drop, with the G2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang S. at Leopardstown Sept. 10 next on his agenda. Awtaad had made it a fourth straight win when besting G1 2000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) in the Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh May 21, and while the Sheikh Hamdan colourbearer was not disgraced when third behind that rival in the G1 St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot, he could finish only eighth,...

G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who made it three straight wins when taking the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano at Deauville Aug. 15, remains on course for the G1 Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown Sept. 10, according to Sylvain Vidal, racing manager for the colt's joint-owner Gerard Augustin-Normand. "Everything has gone very well after Deauville--he's perfect, in fact," said Vidal. "We hope to keep him very well and send him to Ireland next time. That is the plan and it is very exciting." The Irish...

Tom Goff and Richard Brown's Blandford Bloodstock has launched a new website to coincide with the company's 15-year anniversary. "It genuinely seems like yesterday when we launched the business and our late, great friend Joss Collins got us off to an absolute flyer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, a venue that was one of his favourite haunts," said Goff. "We were looking for a way to commemorate this anniversary and decided that the website needed a proper overhaul. I hope that people will enjoy reading it and that they will...

Breeders wishing to register foals of 2016 to the Plus 10 Bonus Scheme must do so by Aug. 31. The scheme has thus far this year paid out £2.25-million in bonuses to owners and breeders, with almost half going to breeders. Breeders receive bonuses of up to £2,000/€2,500 each time their horse wins a Plus 10 race, and last year Plus 10-registered foals sold for a median sales price that was €7,500 higher at Goffs and £6,000 higher at Tattersalls than non-registered foals.

Third in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh May 22 and fourth in the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot June 17, Qatar Racing Limited's Now Or Never (Ire) (Bushranger {Ire}) drops in class for a winnable opportunity in Thursday's G3 Coolmore Stud Fairy Bridge S. at Tipperary. Trainer Michael O'Callaghan is using this as a prep for the G1 Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron S. at Leopardstown Sept. 10 and said, "Now Or Never is in great form. She had a decent break after the Coronation at Ascot...

Selling at Goffs UK for the first time, Lordship Stud equalled the Premier Sale record of £280,000 with a homebred colt by the ubiquitous Dark Angel (Ire) out of Swiss Dream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who was sold through the Highclere Stud draft and led two days of "cracking trade" in Doncaster. Lot 448, the strong grey son of the stallion who has made Doncaster his own this week, is the first foal of the Harris family's treble Listed winner, whose Group 3-winning half-brother Swiss Spirit (GB) (Invincible Spirit {GB})...

G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) will skip Thursday's G3 Fairy Bridge S. and head straight to the G1 Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron S. on Irish Champions Weekend Sept. 10. Trainer Adrian Keatley said he has decided to play it safe after a handful of horses in his yard have shown signs of a virus, but noted Jet Setting has a clean bill of health. "We're going to go straight to the Matron with her," Keatley said. "There's no problem with her, but the last...

Champion jockey Ryan Moore, who has been out of competitive action since the end of July with an unspecified injury, will return to race riding on Friday when he partners the Sir Michael Stoute-trained 2-year-old filly Spatial (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in Newmarket's opening race. Moore wrote on his Betfair blog, "I'm pleased to say that I will be back riding at Newmarket on Friday. I am on Spatial in the opening race." "I have been riding out for a couple of weeks, but it made sense to give the...

Ronnie Arculli's Red Verdon (Lemon Drop Kid) is one of 25 that remain eligible for the Sept. 10 G1 Ladbrokes St Leger, the final British Classic of the season, after Wednesday's declaration stage. Red Verdon was boldly supplemented to the G1 Investec Derby after a pair of handicap victories this spring, and he finished sixth at Epsom before filling fourth in the G1 Irish Derby. He picked up a Group 1 placing last out in Saint-Cloud's G1 Grand Prix de Paris July 14. "Red Verdon has had a good break...