Fiona Carmichael

ASCOT, UK -- From a maiden on May 9 to a Group 2 winner at Royal Ascot less than 40 days later is some going but, as ever with bloodstock, the story reaches back much further than these few glorious weeks.  In the case of the Queen's Vase winner Carmers (Wootton Bassett), his owner-breeder Fiona Carmichael bought his dam Signe (Sea The Stars) as a yearling more than a decade ago and, as a half-sister to Group 1 winner Lord Shanakill, she carried the pretty hefty price tag of €1.1...

Providing owner-breeder Fiona Carmichael with the ultimate thrill on Wednesday, Carmers put another feather in Wootton Bassett's cap by breaking the 14-furlong track record in Royal Ascot's G2 Queen's Vase. Becoming the first to dip under three minutes here, the unbeaten Paddy Twomey-trained Listed Yeats Stakes winner recorded a 3/4-of-a-length success from Furthur (Waldgeist), with a head back to Rahiebb (Frankel) in third. "I knew he would stay and I knew turning in that Billy looked comfortable," Twomey said after greeting his breakthrough first Royal Ascot winner. "When the bell...

Middleham trainer Ed Bethell on a career-best season in 2024, plans for stable star Regional and some exciting new recruits to the team at Thorngill Stables Everywhere from Doncaster to Dubai, Ed Bethell is preparing to unleash a handful of his stable stars in the next fortnight, fresh from a "tremendous" 2024 which saw the Middleham trainer scale new heights in his fourth full season as the licence holder at Thorngill Stables. "I couldn't have asked for it to go any better," Bethell says of the latest campaign, which yielded...

When Moyfinn Stud's Paul Giles sold a Galileo Gold (GB) colt [lot 318] for £68,000 during the second day of the Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale, it was said to be the most money he'd ever received for a horse in his life. So, what was Giles thinking just a short time later when his three-parts brother to last week's G2 Gimcrack Stakes winner Cool Hoof Luke (GB) sold to Amanda Skiffington for £350,000, the third highest price in the sale's history? "That sort of money was what I dreamed of,...

When stablemates Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway) and Robert Bruce (Chi) (Fast Company {Ire}) first met in the June 8 GI Manhattan S. at Belmont, division-leading Bricks and Mortar got the jump while Robert Bruce was stuck in some midstretch traffic, and kicked away to a 1 1/2-length conquest. Saturday, the two will reconvene at Arlington Park for the 37th running of the GI Arlington Million, where Robert Bruce will be defending his title after taking home last year's Million trophy. Klaravich Stables and Bill Lawrence's Bricks and Mortar, four-for-four...