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Wesley Ward bids to take another major British racing festival by storm this week and has reported his two York challengers to have shipped over in great shape. Ward fields the G1 Nunthorpe S. favorite Acapulco (Scat Daddy) in Friday’s feature and he feels the Coolmore-owned juvenile, who bossed her opponents in the G2 Queen...
While the action moved down a notch for Monday’s Part II of the Arqana August yearling sale in Deauville, trade remained vibrant, with increases in average, median and aggregate. A total of 131 horses were sold for €10,626,000 Monday, compared to 136 for €9,716,000 on this day last year. The average climbed 13.5% to €81,115...
There were enough notable performances last week to make it difficult to choose just one stallion to write about. In the U.S., the week belonged to Smart Strike, the two-time champion sire who proved such an asset to Lane’s End prior to his demise at the age of 23 in March. Although Smart Strike’s stakes...
Night of Thunder (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}–Forest Storm {GB}, by Galileo {Ire}), winner of last year’s G1 2000 Guineas, has been retired. This season, the Godolphin colorbearer took the G1 Lockinge S. in May before finishing fifth in the G1 Queen Anne S. June 16 and sixth in the G1 Sussex S. July 29. “He was...
Exaggerator lacked running room for the majority of the race, but persevered in the end to capture the GII Saratoga Special S. at the Spa Sunday afternoon. Exaggerator has two previous West Coast starts under his belt before trying stakes company in New York Sunday. In his debut, Exaggerator was parked at the back of...
By Kelsey Riley and Emma Berry A new Arqana August Sale record was set Sunday evening when an Ecurie des Monceaux-consigned Dubawi (Ire) colt (lot 119) was knocked down to John Ferguson for €2.6 million. With the catalogue being composed alphabetically by name of dam, it’s the luck of the draw which day yearlings end...
Having already shown her liking for Deauville when winning last year’s G1 Prix Rothschild and finishing second in Sunday’s G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, Baron Edouard de Rothschild’s Esoterique (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) showed the benefit of a week on the Normandy coastline to register a clear career-best win in Sunday’s G1 Prix Jacques le...
Facing some higher-profile North American-based runners and a five-strong European contingent, local hope The Pizza Man (English Channel) rewarded his connections’ confidence to become the first-ever Illinois-bred to win the GI Arlington Million while stamping his ticket to the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf later in the year. Cross-entered in the GIII American St. Leger earlier...
When Jamie Spencer announced that he was unretiring last August, preferencing race riding to a ‘desk job,’ it was moments like these he had in mind. Carrying the colors of Sheikh Fahad al Thani’s Qatar Racing, the 35-year-old shoved Secret Gesture–a close fifth behind the Chad Brown-trained Dayatthespa (City Zip) in last year’s GI Breeders’...
By Kelsey Riley and Emma Berry Lot 89 boasted all the credentials of a sale-topper and the strapping bay–who is by Shamardal out of a half-sister to last year’s champion first-season sire Lope De Vega (Ire) (Shamardal)–made it worth the wait until late in the opening session of the Arqana August Yearling Sale for vendor...
The European yearling sale session kicks off Saturday evening with the Arqana August Yearling Sale in Deauville, France. A predictably international group of shoppers has descended on the seaside town for the three-day sale, which has 374 catalogued between evening sessions Saturday and Sunday and an afternoon session Monday. Selling begins at 5 p.m. after...
Sentiero Italia unleashed a powerful late rally to secure her first graded stakes victory in Saratoga’s Lake Placid S. Friday afternoon. Supported as the favorite in this competitive five-horse affair, the bay broke well and tracked from a patient fourth just off the heels of the leading trio. Tipped out for a three-wide bid turning...