Ralph Beckett

Spend a morning on the gallops with Ralph Beckett and you could end up with more than just the natural shot in the arm that comes with observing racehorses at close quarters in the English springtime. Barns full of bluebloods. Well, that's a given now, particularly on the back of a pretty spectacular 2024. Sunshine is not always a given, but on this fine morning it has been turned to full beam, lighting up the rolling turf which envelopes this haven on the edge of Salisbury Plain. Bluestocking, last year's...

Grade I winner Starlust has booked a spot at stud in the Hunter Valley at Riverstone Lodge. The GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint hero will stand for A$27,500 (inc GST) after a Royal Ascot campaign. Out of G3 Prix de Saint-Georges heroine Beyond Desire (Invincible Spirit), the son of Zoustar was bred by Branton Court Stud in Great Britain. Sold for 55,000gns out of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2 to Dermot Farrington on behalf of Jim and Fitri Hay, Starlust is currently trained by Ralph Beckett and is...

It is nearly 20 years since Speciosa (Ire) became the first Classic winner to emanate from the breeze-up sales. The man who sold her, Willie Browne, had been plying his trade in that sector since 1978, and, as the breeze-ups close in on their 50th anniversary, it is good to see that the Mocklershill maestro is still very much at the top of his game.  In fact, last week's Craven Sale at Tattersalls was a good one for the founding fathers of the breeze-up game. There was Browne turning €70,000...

It was perhaps fitting last week that the inaugural edition of Winter Watch going to print should coincide with the arrival of snow across many parts of Britain, albeit we now find ourselves with one less meeting to report on after the cold snap brought terminal consequences for a certain all-weather track in Nottinghamshire. Consider yourself lucky if you spent that particular Monday evening in the warmth of home, cup of tea in hand ready to find out what this Winter Watch was all about. Meanwhile, all of those involved...

Breeders' Cup winner Starlust (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}) and Grade I runner-up The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) have both been supplemented to the Longines Hong Kong International Races, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) announced on Tuesday. The former won the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in the colours of Fitri Hay and trainer Ralph Beckett. A winner of the G3 Sirenia Stakes in September of 2023, the colt wound up third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita two starts later. This term, Starlust managed a...

The best is yet to come from You Got To Me (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), according to her trainer Ralph Beckett, who drew parallels between the Irish Oaks heroine and his brilliant Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) ahead of the December Mares Sale at Tattersalls, which takes place from December 2 to 5.  You Got To Me, who will go through the ring on Tuesday, December 3, is one of the star attractions at the upcoming Sceptre Sessions and Beckett admitted that he is quietly hopeful...

Alex Cole, racing manager for owners Jim and Fitri Hay, has paid tribute to their "superstar" Starlust (GB), who has reportedly attracted plenty of interest from Australia with a view to a stallion career following his victory in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar. Trained by Ralph Beckett, Starlust is now the winner of six of his 18 career starts, having thrived on his racing in 2024, notably winning at the Breeders' Cup on his tenth run of a three-year-old campaign which began at Meydan back in...

Some of us may be attempting to look the other way but with the Breeders' Cup behind us and the November Handicap now just a matter of days away we are going to have to admit that it is well and truly jumps season. There is some Flat excitement still in store on the international calendar with the potential appearance of Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) and Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) in the Japan Cup at the end of this month but...

DEL MAR, USA -- From the 2,000 Guineas to the Breeders' Cup Classic, he is the horse who has kept us captivated, wondering and engaged, through to season's end. And that, really, is why we are all fans of horse racing. That longing to know what can't be known for sure until those gates spring open, the skirmishes are had, and the winning post looms.  In the end, for City Of Troy (Justify), unbeaten and burgeoning with promise at two, redeemed in the Derby and then some at Sandown and...

DEL MAR, CA - Mrs. Fitri Hay's Starlust (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), a longshot third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita last year, added to a dream run for trainer Ralph Beckett and jockey Rossa Ryan with a 33-1 upset in an eventful renewal of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar. With the rail-drawn, 4-year-old filly Believing (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) a late scratch after flipping in the gate and delaying the start by a good 10 minutes, 4-5 favorite and world-record setter Cogburn...

The two-year-old Square D'Alboni (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), an impressive winner of the Listed Prix Isonomy at Chantilly on Saturday, has been given a wildcard entry to the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. Consigned by Imperium Sales, he will be offered as lot 1129G on Wednesday, October 30, with the full catalogue for the five-day sale available to view here. The Ralph Beckett trainee is unbeaten in three starts since finishing ninth on his debut at Doncaster in July, having been gelded before his first run. He opened his account...

William Haggas was still reeling on Tuesday from the defeat of Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) in Saturday's G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot, with the trainer confessing that he "couldn't see him being beaten" as his stable star went in search of a fifth success from as many starts in 2024. Economics, who went into the race having gained his first Group 1 win in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on his previous outing, was reported to have bled from the nose after finishing only sixth of...