Isaac Shelby
A bay colt out of Rio's Cliffs (Canford Cliffs), the dam of the G3 Premio Ambrosiano third Rex Of Thunder (Night Of Thunder), is among the first reported foals on the ground for Newsells Park Stud's Isaac Shelby. "We've been out of the breeding game for a while, so it was a very special moment to have this lovely foal born by Isaac Shelby," read a statement attributed to the colt's breeders, Mark and Pippa Hackett of Moat House Farm, Ireland. "He's a great size, with plenty of scope and...
Newsells Park Stud has announced 'No Risk Terms' in 2026 for two of its young stallions, A'Ali and Isaac Shelby, with breeders only paying the nomination fee for each sire when their resulting foal is sold at public auction. In the event that the sale price achieved is less than twice the nomination fee, the proceeds will be shared 50/50 between the breeder and Newsells Park Stud, meaning the fee payable may be less than the full nomination fee. Should the sale proceeds exceed twice the nomination fee, the mare...
The four-strong 2026 roster of Newsells Park Stud stallions is led by Nathaniel at £17,500. The Classic sire stood for £20,000 in 2025. On the back of his son Zavateri's exploits, Without Parole will stand for an increased fee of £10,000, up from £8,000 this year. Zavateri won the G2 July Stakes, G2 Vintage Stakes and the G1 National Stakes this term. Rounding out the roster are A'Ali at £5,000 and Isaac Shelby at £7,000, who both stand at unchanged fees. All fees are October 1st, special live foal terms....
Isaac Shelby, who became the first Governor of Kentucky in 1791, is believed to have inspired the Kentucky state motto: 'United we stand, divided we fall'. He sounds like he would have been a good man to run British racing, but the best we can hope for now is that his equine namesake makes as much of a success of his stallion career as the real Shelby did in his career in the military and politics. It quickly became clear that Night Of Thunder (Ire) was a pretty special stallion...
Stallion viewings have continued apace this week throughout Europe, with many breeders descending on Newmarket farms following the Irish Stallion Trail, while the Route des Etalons is currently underway in Normandy. There remains no official stallion trail in Britain despite there having been a number of calls over the years for an emulation of the popular incentive which began in France and was swiftly picked up by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. There was apparently no appetite to get behind this in England, though many stallion studs in Newmarket open their doors...
There can have been no ignoring the explosive entrance of the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing to the European racing scene in particular over the last 18 months. The 2023 Royal Ascot winners Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) gave advance warning as to what was to unfold in the ensuing period, with their victories respectively in the G1 Gold Cup and G2 Queen's Vase coming on their first starts in the Wathnan silks after being bought privately from their owner-breeders, Anthony Oppenheimer and...
The Ascot Gold Cup is the main priority for defending champion Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and St Leger third Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), according to Richard Brown, racing advisor for owners Wathnan Racing. The John and Thady Gosden-trained duo gave the Qatar-based operation the perfect start to their ownership enterprise last season. Both horses hold entries for the Boodles Yorkshire Cup on May 17, while Sandown's Henry II S. a week later is another possible option for the duo to tune up for their main summer assignment....
Leading French 2,000 Guineas fancy Isaac Shelby (GB) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) has been sold to the Qatari-based Wathnan Racing in a deal that was brokered by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock. Isaac Shelby won the G3 Greenham S. in the colours of Manton Thoroughbreds on his reappearance at Newbury last month, after which, his trainer Brian Meehan revealed that he would sidestep Newmarket in favour of the French Classic at ParisLongchamp. The colt remains firmly on course for Sunday's race and will represent an exciting first European runner for...
At Newmarket last Tuesday, a fellow racegoer suggested that the racecourse really should up its game in encouraging more people to attend the Craven meeting. I disagreed politely. For a start, there was a decent enough crowd there, enough for atmosphere but not so many that it was tricky to manoeuvre between pre-parade ring, parade ring and racecourse. And secondly, marketing a midweek meeting accompanied by Arctic temperatures just as many people have returned to work and school after the Easter holidays is not the easiest task. I know we...
In a year of years for Newmarket, Sir Michael Stoute has enjoyed a fair chunk of the town's success and heads to Saturday's feature G1 Darley Dewhurst S. with as exciting a 2-year-old as he has possessed in some time. Juddmonte's 'TDN Rising Star' Nostrum (GB) (Kingman {GB}) enjoyed the perfect Rowley Mile warm-up when taking the G3 Tattersalls S. over this seven-furlong trip Sept. 22 and the descendant of the 1980 Champion S. heroine Cairn Rouge (Ire) surely has significant days ahead of him. Described as "immature and babyish"...
One of the most cheering aspects of an excellent three days of racing for Newmarket's July Meeting was seeing the famous Sangster silks returning to the winner's enclosure aboard a group winner. For racing fans of a certain vintage it is impossible to see those colours originally registered to the late Robert Sangster and not conjure up memories of some of the famous horses to have raced in them, not least the great Sadler's Wells. How far into the league of great horses Isaac Shelby (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire})...