Europe

Won by some of the turf's finest down the years, with the likes of Allez France, Miesque, Indian Skimmer, Manduro (Ger) and Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa) on its cherished list, the G1 Prix d'Ispahan is at Chantilly on Tuesday and should make for a fascinating spectacle, with five Group 1 winners lining up in a particularly strong renewal of the race customarily staged at the Longchamp track currently under renovation. Heading them is France's leading older horse New Bay (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Khalid Abdullah's G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero who...

One of the ironies of the modern racing world is that the ongoing slump which German racing has been enduring in the current century has been accompanied by a boom for German bloodstock. The extent to which the sport's financial woes have created problems for German racing is shown by a glance at the jockeys' premiership tables. When Peter Schiergen topped the jockeys' table in Germany in 1995, his total of 271 winners broke the previous European seasonal record of 269, set in Great Britain by Sir Gordon Richards in...

Sunday's G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) could just live up to her name later this year, with trainer Adrian Keatley revealing he has a pair of Grade I races in North America mind for his stable star. Keatley noted that Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation S. is next on the agenda for Jet Setting, and he also nominated the GI Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont Oct. 8 and Woodbine's GI EP Taylor S. Oct. 16 as targets for the 3-year-old. "Ascot is the next option...

Hometown? Chantilly, France. How did you end up where you are now? My father was a race horse trainer. What have you found to be the major difference between racing/breeding in America and your home country? Surprisingly, not that many differences, as the main goal is to just cross the wire first! Name one home comfort that you miss? As I've spent more time in the U.S. then France, I actually now consider the U.S. to be my home as well. I'm fortunate to be able to go back to...

It was as though masterpieces by Rembrandt and Warhol were hung up side by side. As the shock of the new, on Sunday, there was Adrian Keatley's astounding breakthrough with Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire})--especially shocking, you fancy, to the filly's previous owners, who discarded a future Classic winner for 12,000 guineas last autumn. But it was over that same great canvas, The Curragh of Kildare, that Kevin Prendergast had the previous day reminded everyone how there is nothing quite like an old master. Half a century divides the...

5.30 Leicester, Mdn, £7,000, 3yo, 8f 60yT AL NEKSH (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}) was a 475,000gns TATOCT purchase for Al Shaqab Racing who debuts for William Haggas. The bay colt, from the family of Crystal Music (Nureyev), meets another newcomer of note in Saif Ali's Shargiah (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), a Roger Varian-trained half-brother to the MGSW Ransom Note (GB) (Red Ransom).

Just months after retiring from stud duties, a cardiac condition has claimed the life of Derrinstown Stud stallion Intikhab (Red Ransom--Crafty Example, by Crafty Prospector) at the age of 22. Bred by JI Racing Inc and Marvin Little Jr, Intikhab was trained initially by David Morley for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, winning twice as a juvenile before adding a pair of listed successes to his tally at three. Switched to Godolphin and Saeed Bin Suroor as a 4-year-old, he notched his first group victory by an impressive five lengths in...

Inglis has announced that it will auction five nominations for the 2016 breeding season to Written Tycoon (Aus) (Iglesia {Aus}) over the coming five weeks, starting on May 23. The Woodside Park Stud stallion's book closed just days after his 2016 fee was announced at A$49,500 off the back of a season which has included 'TDN Rising Star' and G1 Golden Slipper hero Capitalist (Aus) and G1 Manawatu Sires' Produce S. winner Luna Rossa (NZ) among Written Tycoon's eight stakes winners. "We have been overwhelmed with applications from many of...

Fans of The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) will have to wait until Royal Ascot for the return of the popular multiple Group 1 winner after heavy rain at The Curragh scuppered plans for his seasonal resumption in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. He and stable-mate Ashadihan (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}), the recent G3 Chartwell Fillies' S. winner, who was withdrawn from the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas, will both now head to the Royal Meeting instead. "We've taken both horses out," said trainer Kevin Ryan. "The ground is very soft, neither...

The early signs are that Saturday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas winner Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) will not take up his engagement in the G1 Investec Derby on June 4, with connections favouring a rematch with runner-up and G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) at Royal Ascot instead. Angus Gold, racing manager to the colt's owner/breeder Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, said, "It was a fantastic result and I'm so happy for Kevin [Prendergast], for all his team and Chris Hayes. Kevin has been training...

Avenging a comprehensive defeat by Found in the G3 Mooresbridge S. over 10 furlongs here May 2, last year's G1 Champion S. winner Fascinating Rock hammered home his superiority in these soft-ground conditions to adjust the score over the filly to two-one. Looking like a valid Classic colt when winning the 2014 G3 Ballysax S. staged at Navan and being promoted from second to first in Leopardstown's G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, the bay was only eighth in the G1 Epsom Derby and last of five in the Irish equivalent...

Taking Aidan O'Brien's number of Gallinule winners to 14 and just one short of Dr Vincent O'Brien's record, Beacon Rock put himself in line for a Royal Ascot visit with a game all-the-way win under Ryan Moore. Third in the G2 Beresford S. over a mile here in September and second in the G3 Autumn S. at that distance at Newmarket the following month, the bay finished a well-beaten third in the G3 Ballysax S. over this trip at Leopardstown on his return Apr. 10 prior to filling fourth spot...