Newmarket

In the modern era, only Aidan O'Brien has trained more Derby winners than Sir Michael Stoute. The latter became almost instantly synonymous with the great race, and indeed woven into Derby folklore, when he first won it back in 1981. Few will need reminding that that was with Shergar (Ire), the horse whose infamy threatens to overshadow his brilliance, especially as the years wear on and the number of people who were there to witness Shergar's superiority first hand decreases. Forty-one years later, and with the not insignificant names of...

Aidan O'Brien has nominated Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the ante-post favourite for the 2000 Guineas and the Derby, as being the horse who is most capable of emulating Nijinsky by winning the Triple Crown this season.  If successful, Auguste Rodin would bridge a 53-year gap, and complete a long-held ambition for the master of Ballydoyle, who came agonisingly close to achieving the feat with Camelot (GB) in 2013. Auguste Rodin is understood to have come out of an exercise gallop at the Curragh racecourse on Saturday in good...

Twelve years have passed since Roger Varian became a licensed trainer as the health of his much-loved former boss and mentor, Michael Jarvis, declined. One softly-spoken but calmly assured man took over from another after Varian had served a decade as Jarvis's assistant. By that stage he had clearly proved himself a worthy successor, and the rise of the Varian stable in the intervening years has only served to underline Jarvis's judgement in this regard. Last year was Varian's best to date. There haven't been many seasons during his term...

This year's QIPCO Guineas meeting at Newmarket will include the Ellen Chaloner Stakes, named in honour of the the first woman in the UK to be issued with a training licence in 1886. Ellen Chaloner, a daughter of the trainer Johnny Osborne Sr, was granted a training licence following the death of her husband, Tom, who was a Derby-winning jockey before turning to training. It was another 80 years before the High Court gave legal recognition to female trainers. Chaloner, who died in 1944 at the age of 98, was...

The Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale is flying high with two Classic winners to its credit in 2022 and the catalogue for this year's season-opener for juvenile sales in Europe has just been released, featuring 202 horses. Both Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) had strutted their stuff alongside the Rowley Mile when being offered for sale in 2021. The former, bought by Godolphin for 210,000gns, returned there to win the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. en route to being crowned European champion 2-year-old, and found only...

It's early-February and already the Flat enthusiasts are getting excited about what stallion will end the season as champion first-season sire. A futile exercise, one would have thought? Not a bit of it. Even the greatest handlers of young stock, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O'Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, men who know better than most the folly that comes with predicting 2-year-old talent, are keen to have their say on which up-and-coming stallion can make the biggest splash this season.  O'Brien is sticking loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire)...

First job in the Thoroughbred industry? I started riding for Stephane Cerulis during the summer holidays back in Belgium when I was aged 14. Biggest influence on your career? Criquette Head. She is like a second mum, the best advisor and most importantly she made me fall in love with training. Favourite racehorse of all time, and why? Treve. I was lucky enough to ride her while she was in training which was a fantastic experience. Who will be champion first-season sire in 2023? Blue Point. Greatest race in the...

One of the most respected racing and bloodstock journalists in Britain and Ireland for over 20 years, Ryan McElligott bid adieu to the press room at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale as he embarked on his new role as Chief Executive of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association. Admitting there was some emotion surrounding the move, McElligott looks back on over 20 years reporting on the sport he loves and looks ahead to the challenges he faces in his new position as the IRTA chief.  The 41-year-old wears many hats....

A new bloodstock conference for bloodstock industry participants will take place on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) announced on Thursday. Hosted by racing broadcaster Lydia Hislop, the one-day conference will feature interactive panel sessions, talks and presentations with leading industry experts on a number of topics including; business operations, race programming, sales, innovation and technology, accessible ownership and equine health. Tickets are free for TBA members and TBA Access subscribers. Non-members can sign up for TBA Access for £40 from today to Dec. 30. Information on...

Big freeze permitting, at 7.30 on Thursday evening Spit Spot (GB) will jump from the stalls at Chelmsford as the final runner for Chris Wall. Of Newmarket's many trainers, which number almost 80, Wall is not the most well known, but he is certainly well versed in all manner of racing's nitty gritty, from the development of the Pattern to good old-fashioned horse husbandry. His absence from the town's training ranks next year should and will be lamented, for British racing really should not be losing a professional of Wall's...

For the second straight year, Newmarket-based trainer Charlie Appleby was honored with the Derby Award as 2022's champion flat trainer by the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA). The 47-year-old Appleby so far this year has been represented by 150 winners and 225 seconds from 478 starters-a 31 percent win rate-and his runners have earned £6,225,397. Among those victories were 18 European Group winners-three Group 1s-including a one-two finish in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas with Coroebus (Dubawi [Ire]) and Native Trail (Oasis Dream {GB}), a first victory for the...

Offered as lot 1622 at the midway stage of the first of two Sceptre Sessions during the Tattersalls December Mare Sale in Newmarket, the Archangel Gabriel (Arch--Princess Kris {GB}, by Kris {GB}) fetched a final bid of 800,000gns from Hunscote Stud to dissolve the partnership between that operation and Chris Humber. The 9-year-old, a full-sister to US Grade I winner Prince Arch and a half-sister to G1 National S. winner Kingsfort (War Chant) and to the dam of Group 3 winners Pincheck (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Valeria Messalina (Ire)...