Peter Brant

Already a winner of the G1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in June, Gezora (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}) unleashed a devastating late kick to down stretch leader She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) in the dying strides and claim the $2-million GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf by half-length. The final time for the 1 3/8 miles was 2:12.54. The bay gave her trainer Francis-Henri Graffard his first Breeders' Cup victory. He is champion trainer elect in France this year. Bred by Haras d'Etreham where her sire used to...

DEL MAR, USA -- From the shock win of Arcangues in the 1993 Classic through the great Goldikova and Six Perfections to Talismanic, French-trained horses have left their mark on the Breeders' Cup roll of honour and it will be no surprise to see that list extended this year. Only one French trainer is here in Del Mar but he is the one who is making his own indelible mark on his country's racing scene. Francis Graffard will be champion trainer in his home country this year for the first...

Leopardstown's Saturday card belonged to Aidan O'Brien and Jack Cleary and their winning sequence included a bright prospect for the 2025 Classics in Christmas Day (Camelot) in the nine-furlong G3 Mongey Communications Eyrefield Stakes. Coming off a maiden win at Gowran Park last month, the 13-2 shot was delivered from the pack to deny A Boy Named Susie (Starspangledbanner) on the line and prevail by a short head. "He's progressed from run to run and he took great confidence from the win the last day," Ballydoyle's representative Chris Armstrong explained....

It didn't take long for Ballydoyle to register a winner on Qipco British Champions Day as Mission Central (No Nay Never) came good in the second act of the afternoon at Ascot. Following an eight-length Curragh maiden win with success in the Round Tower, he was sent to the Flying Childers at Doncaster but failed to get into the five-furlong contest dominated by Revival Power. This was much more in his comfort zone and he was always travelling notably strongly tracking the pace before being launched by Christophe Soumillon inside...

5th-BAQ, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 3:21 p.m. ET. Bred by Summer Wind, PALADIN (Gun Runner) easily was knighted as a top-twelve price during the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale when the chestnut was hammered down for $1.9-million. The ownership group of Mrs. John Magnier, Peter Brant, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Brook Smith and Jane Lyon, who stayed in for a piece, sent the colt to trainer Chad Brown. Out of unraced Secret Sigh (Tapit), the first-time starter is a half-brother to a colt by Into Mischief--taken home by Case...

Sierra Leone (Gun Runner--Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon), last year's champion 3-year-old colt, will join the roster at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky next year, the operation announced Wednesday. Racing for Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook Smith and trained by Chad Brown, Sierra Leone is expected to make his final career start in the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, a race he won in 2024. Sierra Leone, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale when selling for $2.3 million, was tabbed a 'TDN...

With a big kick down the lane, Asbury Park (GB) (Frankel (GB)--Limonar (Ire), by Street Cry {Ire}) rolled home to take the GII Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes at the Big A on Saturday. Named a 'TDN Rising Star', presented by Hagyard, after the colt won at second asking in what was his 3-year-old debut over the grass going two turns upstate June 6, Asbury Park was well-beaten against optional claimers at course and distance July 18. The Chad Brown trainee was last seen running third in the Saranac Stakes...

5th-BAQ, 85k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 3:05 p.m. ET Peter Brant homebred Blackfin (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), the first foal out of GI Breeders' Cup Mile heroine and champion turf female Uni (GB) (More Than Ready), debuts for Chad Brown. Brant's White Birch Farm went to $4.1 million to purchase Uni at the 2020 FTKNOV Sale. Listed at 7-2 on the morning-line, the 3-year-old filly will be ridden by Flavien Prat. Blackfin is bred on the same Kingman x More Than Ready cross as G1SW-Aus King Colorado (Aus). TJCIS PPS

LEXINGTON, KY -- The Keeneland September Yearling Sale marched into Book 3 Saturday with no signs of slackening of its torrid pace as the auction's fifth session continued to produce double-digit gains over last year's figures. During the opening Book 3 session, 278 yearlings sold for $61,799,000. The session average was $222,299--up 26.69% from last year's corresponding figure--and the median of $300,000 was up 20%. The buy-back rate ticked down to 26.43% from 28.62% a year ago. "Today marks the fifth consecutive session in which we've set a record, an...

Christophe Soumillon was forced into switching mounts, taking up piloting duties aboard Killarney maiden winner Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) after TDN Rising Star Montreal (Sea The Stars) was scratched, in Saturday's G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes--formerly known as the Golden Fleece Stakes--and the rider continued on a winning roll as the son of Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega) stepped forward to claim a career high in the one-mile contest. His tally earned him a spot in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar at the beginning of November. "He's a...

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis and Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale continued to churn out double-digit year-on-year gains as its second Book 2 session concluded Thursday night with yet another son of Gun Runner leading the way. Through four sessions of the 12-day auction, 671 yearlings have grossed $307,639,000. At this same point a year ago, 640 head had sold for $252,528,000. Asked about the gross surpassing the $300-million mark after day four, Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach laughed and said, "It's...

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis and Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY - Led by a $3.3-million son of Gun Runner, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale powered through a record-setting opening session Monday in Lexington. When the dust had settled after the first of two elite Book 1 sessions, 106 yearlings had sold for $69,240,000. The average was $653,208--the highest ever at a single September session--and the median was $537,500. With just 28 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 20.90%. Those figures are ahead of last year's opening session, when...