Godolphin

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday's Observations features a Godolphin newcomer. 19.00 Kempton, £11,000, Mdn, 2yo, 7f (AWT) Godolphin's €650,000 Arqana May Breeze-Up purchase DEVON ISLAND (Practical Joke), from the family of G1 Middle Park and G1 Dewhurst runner-up Green Perfume (Naevus), encounters 11 rivals in this debut for the Charlie Appleby stable. They...

Ellis Park Racing & Gaming closed its 25-day summer season Sunday on a high note, generating $77 million in all-sources handle, a 6% increase over last year's record. "All of us at Ellis Park are truly grateful to both our local community and the broader horse racing community for their incredible support this summer," said Steve Roof, general manager of Ellis Park Racing & Gaming and Owensboro Racing & Gaming. "This shared enthusiasm drives our momentum forward and reinforces Ellis Park as one of the premier summer tracks in the...

Godolphin and Andre Fabre have a new star on their hands if the evidence of Sunday's G2 Sumbe Prix du Calvados at Deauville is anything to go by. Lining up with confidence behind her, the 11-10 favourite My Highness (Ghaiyyath) who had won a brace of conditions events went through the seven-furlong juvenile staging post with a degree of comfort despite the strong pace set by the Princess Margaret winner Fitzella (Too Darn Hot). Swamping that British challenger at the furlong pole, the homebred drew away under Cristian Demuro to...

Go ahead and crown him. Dual Classic winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) showed no mercy on his four overmatched rivals, romping by 10 lengths in Saturday's GI DraftKings Travers S. at Saratoga. Bracket Buster (Vekoma) and Magnitude (Not This Time) rounded out the top three. "Our horse just proved how good he was when he pulled away in the last eighth of a mile," winning Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. "He's pretty special." The 1-4 favorite jumped well from post four and trailed the bunched-up field as expected pacesetter...

4th-Newmarket, £10,000, Novice, 8-22, 2yo, c/g, 7fT, 1:26.43, g/f. MONOCEROS (GB) (c, 2, Dubawi {Ire}--Shirocco Star {GB} {G1SP-Eng, MG1SP-Ire, GSP-Fr, $485,970}, by Shirocco {Ger}), well-supported into 6-5 favouritism, raced under restraint early with Billy Loughnane keen to conserve energy. Staying on strongly to collar the long-time leader I Can Dance (Bated Breath) in the final 150 yards, the 750,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase asserted to record a half-length success. The winner is the seventh and last foal out of the Oaks and Irish Oaks runner-up Shirocco Star, who produced...

Royal Ascot's G1 Gold Cup hero Trawlerman (Golden Horn) went postward as the odds-on favourite for Thursday's G2 Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup Stakes at York and, towing home fellow Clarehaven representative Sweet William (Sea The Stars), emulated his John and Thady Gosden-trained former stablemate Stradivarius by winning the two-mile York marathon as a seven-year-old. "The three-year-old [Shackleton] made it a test of stamina, Trawlerman was giving him a full stone in weight, and they made a lovely race of it together," said John Gosden. "You go 15 rounds with this boy...

Last Sunday, Christophe Soumillon was doing what he has become famed for: riding a Group 1 winner. In this case it was Diego Velazquez in the Aga Khan Studs Prix Jacques Le Marois for those celebrated racing names of Aidan O'Brien and Sam Sangster. Soumillon's name is of course equally celebrated, but as a young boy in Belgium, growing up riding ponies, the path to becoming a jockey wasn't always clear to him. To try to solve that problem for the budding riders coming up behind him, the ten-time champion...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday's Observations features the son of a dual Classic-placed mare. 2.35 Newmarket, Novice, 2yo, c/g, 7fT MONOCEROS (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the seventh foal out of the Oaks and Irish Oaks runner-up Shirocco Star, who produced this colt's classy G2 Challenge Stakes-winning full-brother Al Suhail, the Dante winner Telecaster...

For a long while in Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International Stakes, it looked as if we would have another pacemaker summer shock but ultimately the class of Godolphin's Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) told once again and common sense prevailed on the Knavesmire. Blessed with the best acceleration of the sextet, the Gosdens' 7-4 favourite was the first to claw back the operation's rabbit Birr Castle (Cloth Of Stars), who was proverbially in another district under Rab Havlin turning for home, and register a 3 1/2-length defeat of...

Jamie Linwood was cheering as the horses rounded the final turn in the GI Sword Dancer Stakes, but it wasn't for the mount he had come to America to ride. It was the other Charlie Appleby trainee, Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), who looked like the stronger pick at the top of the stretch, but then El Cordobes (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) weaved through one gap and slipped through another, surging past his more-accomplished stablemate to snatch a dramatic victory. "I saw Nations Pride was going well and obviously we're the...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE - Shattering a record set a decade ago, a Night Of Thunder filly out of the Ecurie des Monceaux blue hen Prudenzia (Dansili) was sold for €3 million to Amo Racing and was one of six seven-figure transactions on the final day of the Arqana August. There were eight across the sale as a whole. Such a lively last session ensured that the figures were well beyond those of a relatively quiet edition of the sale in 2024. The €266,576 average was not only up by 22% on...

There have been some good recent updates for the family of Paix (Muhaarar) and her Dubawi yearling (lot 181) provided another, albeit in the ring, when selling for €2 million to Anthony Stroud during the final session of the Arqana August Sale. It was the second seven-figure yearling signed for in a matter of minutes by the agent, who was acting on behalf of Godolphin, after the purchase of Haras de Montaigu's Frankel colt for €2.25 million. The Dubawi filly was offered by Ecurie des Monceaux and is a three-parts-sister...