Elarqam

Can you see her still, in your mind's eye, that dark bay filly with a gait so ungainly as to almost belie her brilliance? Almost. But make no mistake, Attraction was brilliant, with a steeliness to match. The Irn Bru of racehorses: made in Scotland from girders. "People label horses as tough and talk about horses like Double Trigger being tough. Well, he wasn't particularly tough. I've encountered three horses in my career, I would say, that were exceptionally tough and they were all mares." So says Mark Johnston, the...

The first mare covered by Elarqam (GB) at Haras de Saint-Arnoult has been tested in foal. Calima Mon Amour (Fr) (Shirocco {Ger}), already the dam of the Group 3-placed and listed winner Mascha (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), has been scanned in foal on a single cover after delivering a foal by another young Saint-Arnoult stallion, Seabhac. She also has a yearling colt by Almanzor (Fr). Elarqam, a Group 2-winning son of two Guineas winners in Frankel (GB) and Attraction (GB) (Efisio {GB}), joined Haras de Saint-Arnoult in Normandy at the...

The Route des Etalons was established in 2010 in an attempt to stimulate a flagging French stallion scene. A little over a decade on, it could be said that it's 'job done'. That doesn't mean that the annual open weekend of Normandy studs has been shelved. Its popularity has grown year on year for breeders and bloodstock pilgrims alike, and it is only a global pandemic that has stopped it run in 2021. It will, however, be staged online across this weekend, with videos of the 108 stallions involved shown...

Mark Johnston, Britain's winningmost trainer, gives up an update on some of his stable stars and shares his thoughts on the BHA's Review of the Buying and Selling Practices of Bloodstock and Racehorses.