Coolmore

In a continued flurry of high-priced activity in the ring at Arqana, the third seven-figure yearling of the morning session was knocked down at €1.2 million to MV Magnier and White Birch Farm. The colt by Camelot (lot 191) is out of the winning Lope De Vega mare Peinture Secret and was consigned by Haras de la Perelle as lot 191. His dam is a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Pensee Du Jour, who is also by Camelot, and to Group 3 winner Canvassed. The third dam Peinture Bleue...

The leading owners battled it out for the progeny of Wootton Bassett on a day when the Coolmore stallion was responsible for the €2.3 million top lot DEAUVILLE, FRANCE -- What more can you say that hasn't already been said about Wootton Bassett? If Aidan O'Brien was asked to sum up the stallion, you can be sure the words, different, special and unusual would be the first ones to be ticked off that bingo card.  Even the most cynical of people will have to start agreeing with the master of...

"Come on now, attention at the back!" But let's make a plea for indulgence, should any of the law lecturers at University College, Dublin, happen to find one student uncharacteristically distracted on resuming his course in September. Because whatever broad principles of contract may yet require elucidation, there are extremely good reasons why Freddie Duignan could find his thoughts straying to the value of a signature even then being scrawled on a document, 4,000 miles away in Kentucky. "My first day back in class is the first day of the...

Providing instant justification and reward for the investment by Sam Sangster Bloodstock, Ballydoyle's Diego Velazquez (Frankel) edged a thriller from Notable Speech (Dubawi) in Sunday's G1 The Aga Khan Studs Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville. Always happy playing a prominent role away from the fence under Christophe Soumillon, the 12-1 shot stayed on to wrest the lead from Dancing Gemini (Camelot) with 100 metres remaining and found the line a head in front of the fast-closing Godolphin runner, who was 3/4 of a length behind in third. "He's always...

5th-Dundalk, €18,000, Mdn, 8-15, 2yo, 8f (AWT), 1:38.02, st. PIERRE BONNARD (IRE) (c, 2, Camelot {GB}--Sultanina {GB} {G1SW-Eng, $303,395}, by New Approach {Ire}), one place behind the yard's subsequent TDN Rising Star Montreal when fourth on debut at Leopardstown last month, raced in front of the main pack behind the clear early leader. In front approaching the final furlong, the 6-5 favourite stayed on strongly to score by 2 1/4 lengths from Shaihaan (Night Of Thunder). "He's a lovely horse," Ballydoyle's representative Chris Armstrong said of the son of the...

Former Irish Champion Flat Jockey and two-time Classic-winning rider Tommy Murphy died at a hospital in Cashel on Wednesday. A rider and later an assistant trainer to the late Vincent O'Brien, he was 88. Murphy rode his first winner in 1954 in Ireland and spent six years riding in England before beginning a 10-year stint with Clem Magnier in Co Meath. Successful twice in the Galway Hurdle and also at the Cheltenham Festival, he joined O'Brien's stable in 1974. His brace of Classic scorers were in 1977--Lady Capulet (Sir Ivor)...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE - Pound for pound, Camas Park Stud has produced the goods like no other consignment at the Arqana August Sale in recent years.  Queen Mary third Balantina (Ten Sovereigns), Saratoga Oaks runner-up Evershed (Churchill) and genuine Derby hope Isaac Newton (Camelot) are just some of the August Sale graduates that have been strutting their stuff on the track this year alone for an outfit that sold the 2022 European Champion Two-Year-Old Little Big Bear on this sale ground.  Put simply, few people run a tighter ship than Tim...

Fergus Galvin, their consignor, called it "one of the greatest pinhooks of all time." To Blaise Benjamin and Charles Hynes, it was just another example of the way every new day at Ashford Stud brings a fresh lesson, a fresh opportunity. That might just involve quietly clocking the way one of the old hands reassures a nervous horse, or it might mean catching the $1,000 Tiz the Law weanling who fell through the cracks at the New York Mixed Sale at Saratoga last fall. Back in the same ring last...

Dual Group 1 winner Camille Pissarro has been retired after he suffered an injury at Sandown last month when finishing fourth in the G1 Coral-Eclipse. "Camille Pissarro pulled a shoe at Sandown and was quite sore afterwards," said trainer Aidan O'Brien in a press release issued by Coolmore. "We had him X-rayed and a fissure fracture was found in his fetlock. The decision was then made to retire him. "Camille Pissarro was an extremely classy colt; he had speed and class. He won the Lagardere on Arc weekend last year...

Legendary BBA Ireland bloodstock agent Adrian Nicoll relives some of his greatest days in the business They say that stories lived are better than stories told. And by God, Adrian Nicoll has lived through his share of good times. The former BBA Ireland bloodstock agent has purchased his share of Group 1 winners, too. Think Dark Angel, Kooyonga, Alexander Goldrun, Serenade Rose and more. He also played a part in the shuttling of the stallions to Australia which was the brainchild of his close friend John Magnier. More recently, he...

Now that the summer is high, St Mark's Basilica's stud career is readying for take-off and Saturday saw Coolmore's freshman have his first TDN Rising Star in Ballydoyle's exciting Diamond Necklace. Partnered by Wayne Lordan in The Curragh's Grand Hotel Malahide Irish EBF Fillies Juvenile Race, the half-sister to Magic Wand (Galileo) and Chicquita (Montjeu) who was the €1.7million Arqana Deauville August topper swooped on Ryan Moore's pick Minerva (Frankel) inside the final furlong for a smooth 1 1/2-length success. "She'd been working lovely and is very exciting for next...

One of the early flagbearers for his first-crop sire St Mark's Basilica, Thesecretadversary became the landmark first black-type winner for Ballydoyle's former brilliant runner on Friday when breaking his maiden in the Listed Coolmore Stud Churchill Stakes. Expected to shed that tag when long odds-on at Ayr last month, Cayton Park Stud and Susan Magnier's Chesham runner-up put that blip firmly behind him with a length verdict over Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Brussels (Wootton Bassett) in the Tipperary feature. "I'm glad I got another chance after getting beaten at Ayr...