Balantina

Donnacha O'Brien can't recall the exact details of his earliest Breeders' Cup memories, but he does have a vague recollection of parading around the racecourse sporting a cowboy hat. That presumably would have been during the 2004 World Championship meet held at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, when O'Brien was just six years old. That year, his father Aidan saddled Mile runner-up Antonius Pius (Danzig) and Turf third-placed Powerscourt (Sadler's Wells). "We've been going to the Breeders' Cup since we were literally kids," O'Brien recalled. "The whole family....

The leading Irish trainer also revealed plans for Breeders' Cup winner Balantina, 2,000 Guineas contender A Boy Named Susie and more The temperatures are rising and so too are Donnacha O'Brien's hopes of bagging yet another top-flight success this season, with the gifted young handler revealing that A Boy Named Susie (Starspangledbanner) is on course to run in the 2,000 Guineas - however, Breeders' Cup heroine Balantina (Ten Sovereigns) will not be seen until Royal Ascot at the earliest.  But first, O'Brien is plotting an audacious tilt at the lucrative Chairman's...

In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the Breeders' Cup meeting. Ethical Diamond Hands Mullins The Turf Training maestro Willie Mullins landed the biggest Flat victory of his career with Ethical Diamond (Awtaad) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf on Saturday (video). A winner of a brace of valuable handicaps across the pond, the five-year-old gelding has also run seven of his lifetime starts over hurdles. Bred by W. Kennedy, Ethical Diamond is owned...

'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) parceled up a championship freshman campaign with a stalk-and-pounce victory in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, a win that is better than it might appear on paper in the eyes of his trainer Todd Pletcher. "I thought he ran terrific," said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, striking at the Breeders' Cup for the 16th time. "The race unfolded kind of just as we had anticipated it would with [TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard] Brant (Gun...

DEL MAR, USA -- As Balantina was led back to the winner's circle after her victory in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, one man was smiling more broadly than any other, and it wasn't her trainer or any of her owners. For Aidan O'Brien, watching his son Donnacha win his first Breeders' Cup race would probably have been enough to make his day - and it was a day that had started with the disappointment of having to scratch his own red-hot favourite for that same race, Precise.  But O'Brien Sr...

Wednesday, Naas, Ireland, post time: 17:37, ARQANA IRISH EBF MARWELL STAKES-Listed, €30,000, 2yo, f, 5f 0y Field: Cardiff By The Sea (Ire) (St Mark's Basilica {Fr}), Duskaura (Ire) (Twilight Son {GB}), Havana Anna (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), Ipanema Queen (Ire) (Sands Of Mali {Fr}), Lam Yai (Ire) (Lucky Vega {Ire}), Magny Cours (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}), Solana Rose (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), Wateen (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}). TDN Verdict: Fozzy Stack trainee Cardiff By The Sea gets a third opportunity of shedding maiden status in this open edition. She encountered Charles Darwin when...