Newmarket

The Henry Cecil Open Weekend, slated for Sept. 18-19 this year, will welcome visitors back to Newmarket for the first time since 2019. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event, which normally features racing and equine enthusiasts visiting training yards, into a virtual format for the first time. A total of £48,000 was raised for its three chosen beneficiaries-Racing Welfare (80%), the British Racing School (10%) and the Racing Centre (10%). This year, Racing Welfare, the newly formed Newmarket Pony Academy and a soon to be announced community project...

Within the same week that Thady Gosden joined his father John on the joint-training licence at Clarehaven, across town a metaphorical baton was passed from father to son at one of Newmarket's most historic stables, Park Lodge.  This has been both home and place of business to James and Gay Eustace for a little over 30 years and the time has come for their eldest son Harry to convert his extensive and diverse apprenticeship into becoming a trainer in his own right. James has thus stood aside for Harry to...

The first day of the new season of racing at Newmarket will feature a race named in honour of the multiple Irish champion jockey Pat Smullen, who died last September at the age of 43. The Pat Smullen Memorial H. is a Class 2 contest for 4-year-olds and up on the opening day of the Craven meeting on Apr. 13. It is to be run over the Rowley Mile, where Smullen recorded his first British Classic victory aboard Moyglare Stud's Refuse To Bend (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) in 2003. The race...

In straitened times for British racing's finances, there has already been one trainer leave Newmarket for Kentucky, but the balance has been restored somewhat by the return to the town of Sean Woods, some 20 years after relinquishing his licence in the UK. The trainer bought the historic La Grange Stables at the age of just 26 and, 10 years later in 2002, left British racing's headquarters to train in Hong Kong where, among his rival trainers, was his cousin Caspar Fownes. There he remained until 2016, but in the...

Following a BHA inquiry into a saddling error that occurred prior to the running of the G1 Fillies' Mile, trainer Aidan O'Brien has been fined £4,000. His two fillies, Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), apparently ran eighth and third in the event, but O'Brien quickly alerted the British Horseracing Authority that in fact the horses had swapped saddle towels and jockeys. The BHA amended the result with Mother Earth and Snowfall correctly placed third and eighth, respectively. O'Brien was not present at Newmarket the...

It was a record-breaking year for video production at the TDN, and for video views, with over 3.8 million TDN videos and advertisers' commercials shown on our platforms. We took a look to see what you were watching the most. Here are our top 10 videos of the year, as watched on the TDN's YouTube Channel and the TDN site combined. Click on the red links below to watch. Zenyatta and Her Candy Ride Filly at Lane's End. 108,960 views. She may be the fan-favorite of all time. Meet the...

A new direction in the extraordinary odyssey of the Japanese mare Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}-Reizend {Jpn, by Special Week {Jpn}) began on Monday when the 6-year-old left her adopted home of Newmarket to begin her stud career in Ireland. Her first mating is planned to be with Coolmore's champion sire Galileo (Ire). Bred by Northern Farm and raced by Toji Morita, Deirdre's first three seasons of racing were restricted largely to Japan, where she won five races, including the G1 Shuka Sho. She also took third in the G1 Dubai...

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. Saturday's Insights features Hopefully Darling (GB), a sister to MG1SW Cracksman (GB). 11.50 Newmarket, Nov, £8,000, 2yo, f, 7fT Anthony Oppenheimer's hitherto unraced HOPEFULLY DARLING (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is a Hascombe & Valiant homebred full-sister to MG1SW sire Cracksman (GB) and represents the John Gosden-Rab Havlin axis responsible for...

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 Insights features a half-sister to Pride of Dubai (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}). 12.35 Newmarket, Novice, £8,000, 2yo, c/g, 7fT ALANMAR (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) cost 800,000gns at the Tattersalls October Sale Book 1 and debuts for Shadwell and the William Haggas stable. The half-brother to the smart group winners...

Friends and former colleagues of David Hawes, who died on Friday, 16 October, will have the chance to pay their respects from outside Tattersalls on Wednesday as his funeral cortege passes by the sales house. A longstanding and popular member of the Newmarket racing community and the sales circuit, Hawes, who was 59, was diagnosed with cancer in March. Born in Yorkshire, he started his career with Peter Cundell in Berkshire after graduating from the Goodwood racing school. Following a stint as a jump jockey, he joined his brother Kevin...

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. Wednesday's Insights features a son of Classic heroine Ghanaati (Giant's Causeway). 1.35 Newmarket, Novice, £6,900, 2yo, c/g, 7fT MUTASAABEQ (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) is the latest progeny out of Shadwell's G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. heroine Ghanaati (Giant's Causeway) who debuts for the Charlie Hills stable. The...

On most mornings there are more than 2,000 horses being exercised on Newmarket Heath, Britain's epicentre of the Thoroughbred industry.  Plenty of them will end up as minor winners and a decent number of stakes winners will progress from the blustery East Anglian acres of turf to sun-drenched winner's enclosures across England and beyond. Every now and then a champion will emerge.  It is perhaps a term used too liberally. Each year there's a champion 2-year-old, champion 3-year-old, champion stayer, champion sprinter. To call Enable (GB) a champion doesn't really...