Camelot

If you've had reason to chat to Stephen Hillen at the sales you will know that he's an agent who is measured to the point of coming across as though he has ice running through his veins. Had he and his wife Becky been at Epsom on Saturday to watch the horse they bred win the Derby they may have felt pretty icy, too, but sensibly they were watching from afar in the warmer climes of Mallorca.  To the suggestion that he doesn't let himself get carried away by too...

2.50 Doncaster, Nov, 3yo/up, 7f 6yT Roger Varian trainee MOREEDD (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) is out of G1 Prix de l'Opera and GI Flower Bowl Invitational victrix Nahrain (GB) (Selkirk) and thus kin to G1 1000 Guineas heroine Elmalka (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and multiple Group 1-winning sire Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). The Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum-owned newcomer is opposed by five on debut.   1.57 Saint-Cloud, Mdn, 3yo, c/g, 12fT LNJ Foxwoods' DEFINING (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), a full-brother to G1 Futurity Trophy hero Ancient Wisdom (Fr), comes back off...

3.07 Leopardstown, Listed, 4yo/up, 8fT THE LION IN WINTER (IRE) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) is the star turn in this Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Heritage Stakes as Aidan O'Brien looks to provide him with an early confidence boost following a three-year-old campaign that remarkably yielded no wins. Favourite for the Derby at this stage last year, he ended up showing his best at seven furlongs and a mile with four placings at the highest level including a close third in the Breeders' Cup Mile. 1.22 Leopardstown, Mdn, 3yo, f,...

3.12 Yarmouth, Novice, 3yo/up, f/m, 10f 23yT MALDIVES (IRE) (Camelot {GB}) debuts for Amo Racing in an intriguing affair and is an important one for the operation, being their 2.9-million gns purchase at the Tattersalls October Book 1. Kevin Philippart De Foy introduces the first foal out of the Group-placed Sense Of Style (Zoffany), a half-sister to Camelot's high-class multiple Group 1 winner Luxembourg, and she is in deep against some promising types. They include Cayton Park Stud's similarly-unraced I'm The One (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), the first foal...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Observations features a likely Derby prospect. 4.50 The Curragh, Mdn, 3yo, 10fT GEORGE STUBBS (IRE) (Camelot {GB}) is the pick of Ryan Moore of the duo from Ballydoyle and as a half-brother to Galileo's Criterium International hero and Melbourne Cup runner-up Johannes Vermeer and dual Group 1-placed Wembley...

Aidan O'Brien has talked up the credentials of ante-post Derby favourite Pierre Bonnard (Camelot) but put forward 20-1 chance Montreal (Sea The Stars) as being a potential sleeper in the market for the Epsom Classic.  O'Brien has won the past three editions of the Derby - with Lambourn, City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin - and will be bidding to land a record-extending 12th success in the race this year.  Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Pierre Bonnard was reported to be on track to run in the key Derby...

The air may be full of Cheltenham Festival chatter but, in Rathasker Stud at least, there is only one race on everyone's lips these days: the Derby.  It's not hard to understand why. Pierre Bonnard, the ante-post favourite for the Epsom Classic at odds of 6-1, was bred by Maurice Burns, who jokes that he would love to "level the score" with his brother Seamus, breeder of 2008 Derby hero New Approach. Rathasker Stud is home to the speed influence stallion Bungle Inthejungle along with Coulsty and more recently Aclaim,...

Young pinhooker and manager of Stanley Lodge Stud Nick Cope reflects on one of the best sales results of 2025, Ethical Diamond's Breeders' Cup triumph and more What is it about this great game of ours that it can turn the hardiest of fellas into mush? In Nick Cope's defence, profiting the price of a small house in one fell swoop would bring a tear to the most seasoned pinhooker's eye, not least this young whipper-snapper making his way in the game.  The part-time pinhooker and full-time manager of William...

Galileo and Dubawi, two titans of the sport whose fates have been so entwined for the past two decades that the marrying of their superior bloodlines to one day give us a champion sire was perhaps as inevitable as it is satisfying for us bloodstock nuts. On 12 occasions, in 2008 and then every year between 2010 and 2020, Galileo topped the end-of-year sires' table in Britain and Ireland. On four of those occasions Dubawi filled the runner-up spot, before the Darley stalwart finally enjoyed his day in the sun...

For this first of four parts of our annual Value Sires series in Europe, we will be dealing with the elite tier of stallions standing for a fee in excess of £50,000, which is approximately €57,000. The names in this bracket don't change that much, except for when a grandee retires or a young upstart bounces his way in. In 2025, we lost an increasingly prolific member of this cohort when Wootton Bassett died in Australia from pneumonia at the age of 17. The consequences of his passing will doubtless...

Los Angeles, a Group 1 winner in each of his three seasons to race, will stand on the National Hunt roster at Castlehyde Stud for the 2026 breeding season, according to Coolmore.com. The son of Camelot, who was bred by Lynch Bages Ltd and Longfield Stud and trained by Aidan O'Brien, was unbeaten in his two juvenile starts, which included the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. Running throughout his career in the colours of Westerberg, who owned him in partnership with Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, Los Angeles won...

No Nay Never heads the Coolmore roster for the 2026 breeding season at €100,000, while the G1 Coral-Eclipse and G1 Irish Champion Stakes winner Delacroix, a son of Dubawi and the outstanding racemare Tepin, has been introduced at €40,000. Only the late Wootton Bassett has sired more individual Group-winning juveniles in Europe this year than No Nay Never, whose standout two-year-olds have included the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine True Love and the G2 Norfolk Stakes winner Charles Darwin. The G1 City Of York Stakes scorer Never So Brave has...