Frankel

Ireland's Flat action may have already started and France's has been rumbling on for several days, but for many the real beginning to the season on the level is Doncaster's Lincoln H. on a Saturday which wrests the attention from the national hunt in no uncertain terms. Whether there is a horse of the calibre of Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) lurking in the prestigious mile handicap remains to be seen, but there is a strong vibe surrounding another member of the William Haggas tribe in 'TDN Rising Star' Al Mubhir...

Following news that last season's Irish 1000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs (Ire) is working up to an early seasonal debut, her owner-breeder Moyglare Stud has released the farm's mating plans for 2023, with her dam Joailliere (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) set for a return visit to Frankel (GB), the sire of her illustrious daughter. The 10-year-mare, herself a listed winner, produced a filly foal from the first crop of St Mark's Basilica (Fr) on Feb. 17. She is not the only one of the Moyglare matriarchs to be heading to Juddmonte's...

Baroda Stud finished as strong as it started at the Goffs February Sale by sending out the top three lots on Thursday, headed by Galileo (Ire) mare Red Azalea (Ire) (lot 482A), knocked down to Mick Donohoe of BBA Ireland for €340,000. Red Azalea was a supplementary entry to the sale. A winner in her own right when trained by Donnacha O'Brien, she is a daughter of the classy Music Box (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who scored at Group 3 level. Donohoe also signed for the unraced Frankel (GB) filly,...

With the doors to the breeding sheds set to open any day, the TDN has been talking to owners and breeders about what matings they have planned for their top mares in 2023. Up today: Peter Brant, whose mares in America are profiled in today's TDN American edition, and his European mares below. Click here to read about his American mares. ROSA BONHEUR (15, Mr. Greeley-Rolly Polly {Ire}, by Mukaddamah) to be bred to Churchill (Ire) Rosa Bonheur is the dam of Raging Bull and the dam of a nice...

Little Big Bear (Ire) has been named Europe's champion juvenile for 2022 and becomes the 12th European champion 2-year-old to have been trained by Aidan O'Brien. The son of No Nay Never, who was bred by Camas Park Stud and Summerhill, achieved his top rating of 124 for his seven-length rout in the G1 Keeenland Phoenix S. at the Curragh. The victory was the culmination of four straight wins in five starts, including the Listed Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot and the G3 Anglesey S. "We always thought from...

Value is relative. A homebred yearling by a lowly stallion who goes on to reap rich rewards on the track, or one by a more fashionably expensive name who brings a bonanza return in the sale ring could each be considered to have offered 'value' for their breeders. In a slight departure from the norm for this annual series, we will be looking at the profitability of stallions in four key price brackets according to their yearling sales returns of 2022 set against their fees at the time of covering,...

A large part of the fun that comes with following racing and the bloodstock game is predicting the future. Who will win the Derby? Who might top the Orby Sale? What freshman sires are here to stay and which ones will drift into the abyss? Well, we've looked deep into the TDN Europe crystal ball for 2023 to see if we can come up with the answers to the burning questions for the year ahead. Enjoy! January If you think he had a good Christmas, wait until you see how...

First job in the Thoroughbred industry? Cheap labour on my parents' stud farm; breaking in horses with my brother Louis. Biggest influence on your career? Serving in the commando paratroopers for building my determination. On the horse front it was inspecting Derby sale horses with George Mernagh in Ireland and yearlings with Rogers Beasley in Kentucky. Favourite racehorse of all time, and why? Has to be Frankel, not only for his performances but for the great story that it brings to the sport. For Juddmonte's skills of breeding the best...

Having provided the winners of this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane, Prix Jacques le Marois, Grand Prix de Paris and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Frankel (GB), unsurprisingly, has been named the champion sire of France in 2022. He ceded his position as champion in Britain and Ireland to Dubawi (Ire), whom he finished in front of when it comes to overall European earnings. Of the winners of the above named Group 1 races--Alpinista (GB), Nashwa (GB), Inspiral (GB) and Onesto (Ire)--all bar Alpinista remain in training...

The recent football World Cup featured a few surprises, with several high-profile teams losing out to supposed lesser lights. That situation is not a mirror of what happened in the General Sires' Table of Great Britain and Ireland in 2022, when the established stars held their position so well that the first five in the 2021 table are the first five in the 2022 table, albeit in a different order. The most notable change in the order is one which many observers will applaud: Dubawi (Ire) has gained his deserved...

Welcome to our annual assessment of Bluegrass sire prospects for the approaching covering season. As last year, we're going to confine our focus largely to a "Value Podium" for each intake--rather than attempt, as in the past, an exhaustive (not to say exhausting) assessment of every stallion in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Believe me, it wasn't always easy to find something adequately civil to say about every last one! But the fact is that this is only ever one person's opinion and, as such, a hopelessly subjective exercise. By restricting...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin NEWMARKET, UK--It wasn't too hard to imagine that a Kingman (GB) half-sister to this season's leading juvenile Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) would steal the show at Tattersalls, and with shades of two years ago it was Juddmonte that swooped for the weanling from Whitsbury Manor Stud's increasingly influential broodmare Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) at an even million gns. This time though Juddmonte's general manager Simon Mockridge was forced to stake almost double the amount it took to buy Chaldean, and that is largely...