COVID-19

The 784-strong Arqana-Osarus October Yearling Sale catalogue is now online. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the sale has been completely restructured combining the Arqana October Yearling Sale and the Osarus September Yearling Sale, running from Oct. 19-Oct. 23. Alumni of the October sale include Group 3 winner and dual Classic bridesmaid The Summit (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), G1 Prix Jean Romanet scorer Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), MGISW Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), G1 French 1000 Guineas runner-up Speak of the Devil (Fr) (Wootton Basset {GB}), and GSWs Policy of...

Crowds of up to 500 people will be possible at Irish racecourses, after the Irish government announced the latest COVID-19 rules on Tuesday. Ireland is at stage 2 in the government's coronavirus alert, which allows for 200 more people at racecourses than previously. If Ireland reaches stage 1, 500 people would allowed, up from 200. If the pandemic worsens and reaches stage 3 or stage 4 in the new grading system, racing would once again go behind closed doors. At stage 5, racing, along with other sports, would cease. "It's...

A 1,000-spectator pilot event at Newmarket on Sept. 24-26 remains greenlit following discussions with local public authorities and the course's safety advisory group. The Department of Culture, Media & Sport approved the racing-with-fans trial, but exacting health and safety measure will be in place. Warwick Racecourse is holding its spectator pilot event on Sept. 21. Earlier this summer, a pilot event at the Qatar Goodwood Festival was called off at the 11th hour, and only the Wednesday, Sept. 9 of the St. Leger Festival at Doncaster allowed fans. The Cambridgeshire...

With the yearling sales now in full swing, TDN quizzes industry figures on past purchases, life during lockdown and their perspective on the sales for the next few weeks. Today, Oliver St Lawrence answers our questions. TDN: What was your best yearling purchase over the last few years? And your favourite? OSL: Buying Daahyeh (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}) for £75,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Sale in 2018 has proven fortuitous. She has earned over £330,000 from her six runs to date, winning half of them, including the G2 Rockfel...

The process for how trainers declare staff to attend the racecourse using Racing Admin will change on Sept. 18, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Monday. There will be a new Declare Staff section on Racing admin which will include the staffmember's: Health status (green / amber / red) Questionnaire status for that fixture (sent / completed / not sent) Questionnaire Last Completed date (to help calculate a 7-day validity) Also, the new area will give the ability to declare staff immediately after making a declaration to run, up until...

Irish jockey Danny Sheehy is now the third rider to test positive for COVID-19. His brother Mikey tested positive this past weekend. Mikey is a housemate of Shane Crosse, who was positive for the virus on Friday. "Following precautionary tests taken over the weekend, jockey Danny Sheehy has returned a positive test for COVID-19," Horse Racing Ireland said in a statement. "He was asymptomatic prior to the test and is now self-isolating. Contact tracing continues. "All other tests taken over the weekend, including contact tracing and those at the yard...

Now that the GI Kentucky Derby has been run on the first Saturday in September and we found out the world didn't tilt off its axis because of the pandemic's blow to tradition, it's time to start leveraging the scheduling chaos caused by COVID-19 so it serves as a way to propel the sport forward instead of back to the perceived comforts of normalcy. This year's June 20 GI Belmont S., although shortened to nine furlongs as a nod to pandemic practicality, served its purpose as a fine "welcome back...

Topping proceedings at the Goffs UK Yorton Sale was a yearling colt by Blue Bresil (Fr) as lot 38. The bay is out of SP hurdler Hora (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) and brought £60,000 from Highflyer/NJ Henderson. Of the 36 horses offered, 28 sold (78%) for a gross of £602,000. The average of £21,500 dropped -12% and the median was £21,000 (+5%). "Holding any sale during the COVID era has presented us with additional challenges, and none more than this unique sale which is very different to any other," said Goffs...

Jockeys and Jeans announced the cancellation of the fundraiser for Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund scheduled for Nov. 14 at Churchill Downs. "It's sad because the needs of former jockeys who suffered career ending injuries go on, but given the need to battle this deadly disease, it is necessary," said Jockeys and Jeans President, Barry Pearl. Added Churchill's Executive Director of Racing Mike Ziegler, "Due to the nature of Jockey and Jeans and the way it brings people together from all over the country, we want to ensure that it can...

OwnerView's seventh Thoroughbred Owner Conference, presented by Breeders' Cup, Bessemer Trust, and Dean Dorton, will be conducted in a virtual format in Lexington, Kentucky, Nov. 3-4. The conference originally planned for July 19-22, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. "We are committed to offering the owner conference in a safe format for attendees, so we made the decision to move our event online given the COVID-19 pandemic," said Gary Falter, project manager for OwnerView. "Registrants will be able to watch nine panels on a range of topics relevant to Thoroughbred ownership and...

Sam Hoskins, an owner, breeder, syndicate manager and ROA board member, gives us his view of how the reduced prize-money will impact racing in Britain From where we were back in the spring, to get racing back on was an incredible achievement and obviously everyone understood then that prize-money was going to be hit. Horsemen accepted that up to the point when it became clear that, despite media rights flowing, there was going to be largely no executive contribution from the majority of racecourses. The call for transparency over media...

Newsells Park Stud, which will be consigning yearlings to the upcoming Tattersalls October Yearling Sales, has launched a new website at www.newsells-park.com. A total of 25 yearlings from Newsells Park are slated to sell during the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1, with visitors to the new website able to access pedigree links, photos and videos of the individual yearlings. One of the highlights of the draft is lot 436, a daughter of Galileo (Ire) out of Shastye (Ire) (Danehill), making her a full-sister to European highweight Japan (GB), who...