Epsom 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,...

The Jockey Club has announced that total prize-money at its 15 racecourses will rise to £61.47 million this year, up from a budgeted £58.1 million in 2025.  The increase can be attributed mainly to the fact that overall prize-money at the Betfred Derby Festival is to be boosted by £1.375 million in 2026.  In addition, a total of 322 fixtures will be staged across The Jockey Club over the next 12 months - up from a scheduled 319 last year. The third contributor is an increase in prize-money for Class...

Sponsored by Pedigrees 360 Into Mischief and a Bernardini mare: on the face of it, "the Sovereign remedy" for a sophomore round Churchill Downs in 2025. It produced the GI Kentucky Derby winner, and has now given us a filly moving rapidly through the ranks in Shred the Gnar, winner of the GIII Chilukki Stakes after a six-month layoff. If anything, however, it feels overdue for the dominant stallion of our times to come up with one or two stars from daughters of such an outstanding broodmare sire. Interestingly, the...

As the entries for the Betfred Derby were announced on Tuesday, Aidan O'Brien has admitted that it would be no surprise to see another of his colts take a major step forward this spring to rival current favourite The Lion In Winter (Ire), a son of the 2009 Derby winner Sea The Stars (Ire).  "Being realistic, The Lion In Winter won his maiden very nicely and then went and won a Group 3 at York [Acomb Stakes]. They were two very good runs but obviously he was meant to go...

When he came to Europe, and rode them all to sleep, everyone said that Steve Cauthen had a clock in his head. If a Swiss watchmaker wanted to check his work, he could just ask Cauthen to go five-eighths in a minute flat. But all that precision seemingly ran askew when it came to counting his years, each of which might have compressed a decade. As Laz Barrera said, when the press asked him about keeping "The Kid" on his Derby horse: "Stevie Cauthen doesn't come from this planet. He's...

MV Magnier has described the Japan Cup as "the main aim" for Auguste Rodin (Ire) where the six-time Group 1-winning son of Deep Impact (Jpn) will bid to bridge a gap of almost two decades to the last European-trained winner of the race.  Speaking at the JRHA Select Sale in Japan last week, Magnier firmed up plans for Auguste Rodin, who is the culmination of over 10 years of Coolmore breeding mares to Japanese-based stallions.  He also confirmed that Coolmore has supported Kitasan Black (Jpn), the sire of Equinox (Jpn),...

Derby winner North Light (Ire) (Danehill) was euthanized on Mar. 20 due to complications from laminitis, The Stronach Group announced on Thursday. The 23-year-old stallion had been pensioned since 2020 and will be laid to rest at Adena South in Ocala Florida. Bred and raced by Ballymacoll Stud and trained by Sir Michael Stoute, the son of G1 Prix du Cadran heroine Sought Out (Ire) (Rainbow Quest) won one of two starts at two, and added the G2 Dante S. and G1 Derby in succession during the spring of 2004....

American jockey Steve Cauthen and the outstanding turf mare Pebbles (GB) (Sharpen Up {GB}) will be inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame, the official Hall of Fame for Flat racing in Britain. The newest inductees will be recognized on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Oct. 21, with Cauthen making a rare trip over from the US. Cauthen becomes just the fifth rider to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Pebbles becomes the first of her gender to be inducted alongside the likes...

Derby and King George winner Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) has been retired from racing with his trainer Charlie Appleby saying the Godolphin-owned five-year-old was "a pleasure to train". Adayar provided Appleby with a second G1 Derby success at Epsom in 2021 when ridden by Adam Kirby before going on to beat his elders in the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot the following month under William Buick. He was subsequently beaten in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the G1 Champion S. and only...

John Murphy has reported White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) to have come out of his third-placed Derby effort in good order and says that he is looking forward to the rematch with Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh insisting "there's no hiding now". Despite breaking slowly at Epsom on Saturday, White Birch made tremendous late ground to finish a good third under Colin Keane, leaving connections optimistic about what the future may hold for the grey. "It was a relief. We were absolutely...

At a time when so many people seem to be allowing a duty of vigilance to crumble into morbid defeatism, it seems a little unfair that our sport should be going through such a hard time even as we approach the 50th anniversary of the most luminous tour de force in the story of the modern breed. Of course, as some powerful evocations of the time have lately reminded us, Secretariat arrived as a sunbeam into a wider world darkened by Vietnam and civic unrest. And nor should we deceive...

He may be one of the biggest supercar collectors in the world, but Sprewell's owner Mohamed Khalid Abdulrahim admits that it is the inability to predict what is underneath the bonnet of a racehorse that is the main lure for him to the sport.  The 35-year-old is looking forward to his first Derby runner at Epsom on Saturday with the Jessica Harrington-trained Sprewell (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}). Bred by his father Khalid Abdul Rahaim, who also raced the dam Lahaleeb (Ire) (Redback {GB}), Sprewell has been described by the Bahraini-based owner...