Mascalls Stud

There was to be no fourth Gold Cup for Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) on Thursday, as the King of Royal Ascot had to surrender his crown to the ultra-impressive Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) in a renewal set to enter into the meeting's folklore. While Mark Johnston's relentless galloper was a worthy winner and can justifiably be viewed as one of the race's best, the outcome was marred by the trouble-in-running that the three-times winner encountered as the fortune of the Gosden icon met an abrupt turn. Stuck in...

He was missing throughout all of last season, but Paul Dean's Sir Ron Priestley (GB) (Australia {GB}) made certain he is front and centre this year after dominating Saturday's G2 Betfair Exchange Jockey Club S. at Newmarket. Returning for the first time since finishing second in the 2019 G1 St Leger when winning Nottingham's Listed Further Flight S. over 14 furlongs Apr. 7, the 15-8 joint-favourite was always in his element out in the clear much as this race's last winner Communique (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}) had been in 2019. A...

When we wrapped up last Flat season, the lofty assumption was that by the start of this new one we would be back to some semblance of normality. How wrong could we have been? After a brutal winter, the pandemic is only now easing to the point where a limited number of owners were permitted to attend racecourses in England and Scotland from yesterday (Monday).  There are not too many areas within racing in which Britain is ahead of Ireland or France—witness the Irish domination of the Cheltenham Festival and...