Obligate

One of the concerns of the most recent breeding season was the relative dearth of stallions retired to stud, particularly in Britain, for 2025. That should not be a concern for the forthcoming year, with a number of retirements already announced and more likely to follow. Leading the charge, appropriately, is Juddmonte's Lead Artist, who arrived at Banstead Manor Stud last week and is available for breeders to view during the October Sales. In a year in which Night Of Thunder has surged ahead of his own sire to head...

Group 1 winner Lead Artist has been retired and will stand at Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud next year. The homebred son of Dubawi won the G1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury in May. From the same family as Dansili, the John and Thady Gosden trainee broke his maiden over a mile at York at three, with additional victories in the G3 Thoroughbred Stakes and the G3 Darley Stakes that year. His Lockinge victory was the highlight of his four starts this term and his record stands at 11-4-3-1 and $713,878 in...

Deauville's month-long festival begins in earnest on Sunday with the G1 Prix Rothschild the first of five such events at the Normandy venue. Last year's G1 Prix Saint-Alary and G1 Prix de Diane heroine Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) returns to France for the fourth time and to this venue for the second, having been runner-up in the 2017 G3 Prix du Calvados prior to her blossoming into the top-class filly we now know so well. Having taken part in the two mile championship races for older horses, the G1 Lockinge...