Federico Barberini

Dalham Hall Stud resident Perfect Power (Ardad) became the latest freshman sire off the mark when his Alessandro Botti-trained son Rouhi made a winning debut in Sunday's Prix d'Orgemont at Chantilly. The 11-1 chance was awkwardly into stride and occupied a position in rear through halfway. Shaken up with 350 metres remaining, he went third entering the final furlong and swooped late to deny Calyx Express (Calyx) by a short-neck in the shadow of the post. Rouhi is the first of three foals out of a full-sister to the dual...

KILDARE, IRELAND - Classic winners Jim Bolger and Joe Joyce shared the spoils for top lot status on the final day of a red-hot Book 2 session of the Goffs Orby Sale on Thursday when their respective fillies by Teofilo and Mehmas sold for €135,000 apiece.  Bolger's fingerprints were all over Joyce's Mehmas filly, who the breeder consigned himself under his own Cahermorris Stables banner. It was Tally-Ho Stud who landed the filly whose dam, Smart Flies, won and reached a rating of 86 when in training with Bolger.  As...

Opportunities to source next year's two-year-old talent are running thin on the ground and leading buyers like syndicate manager Nick Bradley, bloodstock agent Federico Barberini and breeze-up handler Johnny Collins revealed that they are hoping to stock up at the October Yearling Sale at Arqana this week. This year's French 2,000 Guineas winner Metropolitan (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) was sourced at this sale in 2022 and, after a number of buyers reported that they found the competition tough at Tattersalls over the past two weeks, a strong cohort of British and...

Haras d'Etreham resident City Light (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) became Europe's latest first-crop sire to get off the mark when his Rod Millman-trained daughter Denruth Diamond (Fr) graduated over 6 1/2 furlongs in Wednesday's Prix de la Rablais at Saint-Cloud. 2nd-Saint-Cloud, €30,000, Mdn, 6-14, 2yo, f, 6 1/2fT, 1:24.44, sf. DENRUTH DIAMOND (FR) (f, 2, City Light {Fr}--Jeune Et Jolie {Ire}, by Verglas {Ire}), who claimed minor prizes in outings at Windsor in April and May, was well away from the outside stall to race in an early second and assumed...

In racing, as in life, it's always good to have a dream, and for owner Ahmad Al Shaikh, it's a simple one. "It has always been my dream to win the Derby," says the Dubaian businessman.  To that end, he is not doing too badly, especially not for an owner with a relatively small string of horses. Al Shaikh has been represented in the last two Derbys, with the 2020 runner-up Khalifa Sat (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}), and last year by the G3 Chester Vase winner Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot...

By Chris McGrath NEWMARKET, UK--Well, maybe these guys just don't have radios or newspapers. Maybe they haven't heard about the challenges at least affecting the domestic environment: chronic deficiencies in prizemoney, new volatility in the economic landscape. Or perhaps the international investors who might be relatively immune to such concerns have forced even the local market to new highs by putting such a squeeze into Books 1 and 2. Who knows? Just conceivably, this show of faith in our industry could yet prove the foundation for a sustainable bull run....