Moira

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. The team behind Moira (Ghostzapper) is back with another very promising filly. Belle (f, 3, Uncle Mo--Lunar Evening, by Malibu Moon) was a too-good-to-lose second--beaten just a head by 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' La Rascasse (Authentic)--first time out for trainer Kevin Attard in a live maiden special weight going seven furlongs at Keeneland Apr. 11. Overlooked at 12-1 in a deep field of 12, Belle...

Canadian Horse of the Year and U.S. champion turf female Moira (Ghostzapper--Devine Aida, by Unbridled's Song) has been retired from racing, according to a statement from Chris Waller, who had trained the mare in Australia after she was purchased by Yulong Investments in 2024. "Moira is obviously a world-class mare and, while she hasn't yet quite reached those same heights here in Australia, her performance earlier in the prep gave us a glimpse of her class," Waller's statement read. "We simply feel that she is not racing at her absolute...

Banishing (Ghostzapper) spoiled a bid by Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) to win the GII Charles Town Classic for the third year in a row when he successfully shipped in for West Virginia's biggest night at the races on Friday. The veteran who is co-owned by trainer David Jacobson scored his biggest triumph in the GIII Oaklawn Mile in Hot Springs Mar. 29 when he dueled and then defeated GISW Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming). Banishing was bested by First Mission (Street Sense) in the GII Oaklawn Handicap the next month, but he did...

Kevin Attard never doubted that he had what it took to train a racehorse. What he wasn't sure of, at least back then, was whether that confidence would be enough. The lifelong horseman was from a family of Canadian trainers and jockeys and he had practically grown up on the backside at Woodbine, but in 2005, his barn was down to five horses. He wrapped up the year with just four wins. "It was the first time in my life that I wrote a resume," Attard recalled. "I had a...

On a night that saw Patches O'Houlihan (Reload) take home both Canadian Horse of the Year and Male Sprinter honors, Kevin Attard finally ended the 13-year consecutive streak of dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse when he won Outstanding Trainer by a single vote at the 50th Sovereign Awards presented by The Jockey Club of Canada which was held outside the city of Toronto, the organization said in a press release late Thursday. Besting Casse 135 to 134 in the tally, Attard pushed the outside of the envelope in what...

The 2024 champion turf mare GISW Moira (Ghostzapper) is set to make her debut for her new connections in her adopted home of Australia in the Apr. 5 G1 Doncaster Mile, according to racing.com. Purchased by Yulong for $4.3-million at FTKNOV after her sterling victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf last season, the Australian site reports that Moira has been in quarantine at Canterbury and has reportedly been turning heads with her works. Yulong's general manager Vin Cox told the publication that the Doncaster is her...

Canada's Sovereign Award finalists were announced by The Jockey Club of Canada Wednesday, in addition to dual Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield who will receive the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit at the 50th Annual Sovereign Awards ceremony which will be held Apr. 24 at the Paramount Eventspace in Woodbridge, Ontario. Additionally, Emma-Jayne Wilson and Moira (Ghostzapper), winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf before selling for $4.3 million at Fasig-Tipton in November, will both receive Special Sovereign Awards. Wilson surpassed Julie Krone's purse earnings record...

Only a courageous runner-up effort behind 'TDN Rising Star' and 3-year-old male Eclipse finalist Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes this past August stood between Brookdale Racing Inc, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and a perfect season in 2024. But the enormously talented dark bay filly was utterly dominant against her own sex in 2024 and became the first female since Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) in 2011 to take home the coveted Horse of the Year statuette...

Canadian-based Moira (Ghostzapper) was given an A-plus steer by Flavien Prat and outlasted Godolphin's fast-finishing Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal) to scoop the statuette as the nation's leading Turf Distaffer for 2024. Kept in training after being purchased or $3 million at Fasig-Tipton November in 2023, Moira was also victorious in the GII Beverly D. S. and was a cracking second first off the layoff in the GI Diana Stakes at Saratoga. Ghostzapper is the sire of nine champions (Moira is a previous Canadian Horse of the Year). In between her...

It's an interesting year when it comes to the Eclipse Awards, which will be announced next week. As always, there are the categories that are no-brainers where the winners should be unanimous. But there are several divisions this year that aren't so clear-cut, which will make for an interesting ceremony come Jan. 23. Here's a look at my ballot: Two-Year-Old Male: Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) Became the obvious pick after winning the 2024 GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Scary thing is that he might be no better than the third...

After the Australian farm Yulong Stud paid $4.3 million to acquire GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare winner Moira (Ghostzapper) at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, it was widely assumed that she would be immediately retired and join the farm's broodmare band. But while that remains a possibility, so does a return to racing, perhaps in North America. The story was first reported in the Canadian Thoroughbred. Yulong Stud's General Manager Vin Cox told the TDN that the farm has yet to decide what's next for Moira. "We haven't made any...

It was quite a few days for Canadian-based trainer Kevin Attard. On Saturday, he won his first Breeders' Cup race with Moira (Ghostzapper) in the GI Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf and some 48 hours later she went through the ring for $4.3 million. Knowing he'd have plenty to say, we invited Attard to join us on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He admitted that saying goodbye to the best horse he has ever trained was difficult. "Well, right now it's extremely difficult, no doubt...