Richard Brown
As debut performances go, they don't come much better than what Alex Elliott achieved in clearing over 2 million gns across 10 horses and supplying the two most expensive lots through the ring so far at this year's Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale through Imperium Sales. This was the sporting equivalent of scoring a hat-trick in the Champions League final on your full professional debut, landing any of the majors as an amateur golfer to winning Wimbledon at the first attempt. Quite understandably, Elliott, best known for sourcing top-notch equine talent--with...
Many hands make light work. Or in this case, it was many feet and steps that allowed Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock to find and then secure the Sea The Stars (Ire) colt who topped the final session of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale on Wednesday at 425,000gns. It was Juddmonte's Sam Guyette, shortlisting for the top bloodstock agent this week, who first lauded the Norelands Stud-drafted colt as a potential nap. Brown revealed that, after taking this nugget with a heavy pinch of salt initially, he...
Progressive filly Heredia (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is a likely supplement for the G1 Virgin Bet Sun Chariot S. at Newmarket's Rowley Mile on Oct. 7, according to Richard Brown, who is the racing manager for owners St Albans Bloodstock. The Richard Hannon-trained 4-year-old won her first stakes, the Listed Dick Hern S., at Haydock in August. Favoured in the G3 Atalanta S. at Sandown, she ran to her odds and delivered a three-quarter length victory earlier this month. If entered, she would face Group/Grade 1 winners Inspiral (GB) (Frankel...
Wathnan Racing's Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), who won the G2 Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot, is headed for some time off, with connections opting for a 4-year-old staying campaign, according to racing advisor Richard Brown. The John and Thady Gosden trainee won his first three starts, before running third in the G2 Great Voltigeur S. and fifth in the G1 St Leger, both times to Heart's Cry (Jpn) colt Continuous (Jpn). "I think he's going to be better on top of the ground and he still ran an admirable...
Gold Cup hero Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) will round out the 2023 season in the G1 Prix du Cadran on Arc weekend, confirmed Wathnan Racing's Richard Brown. Sixth in the G1 Goodwood Cup on Aug. 1, the 4-year-old found only Coltrane (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) too good last time out in York's G2 Lonsdale Cup on Aug. 25. "I thought he probably ran right up to form, as John [Gosden] said afterwards carrying the three pound penalty [for his Gold Cup win] is tough over that trip," said Brown....
Wathnan Racing's Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), victorious in the G2 Queen's Vase S. at Royal Ascot in June, will attempt to return to his winning ways in the Sept. 16 G1 Betfred St Leger. Undefeated heading into the Royal meeting, the 3-year-old finished third as the favorite in York's G2 Great Voltigeur S. Aug. 23. Wathnan Racing advisor Richard Brown said, "We said after Ascot that his main target would be the Leger and that [the Great Voltigeur] was the obvious race to take en route. We'd love to...
ASCOT, UK--Even before the action was underway on Gold Cup day, there appeared to be entertainment aplenty for the King and Queen. Sir Mark Prescott had managed to book the royal version of speedy boarding and was positioned in the first carriage with their majesties for the royal procession. This may well have been a strategic move from them in the middle of a week which requires plenty of stamina, with two processions still to come. It's a long ride by horse-drawn carriage from Windsor Great Park to Ascot Racecourse...
Top bloodstock agent Richard Brown has done his bit to alleviate any stresses vendors may have been feeling on the eve of the Doncaster Breeze Up Sale by explaining that he will be using a raft of metrics other than just times in an effort to find the next Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) at this year's sale. Monday's breeze took place on testing ground, with some two-year-olds handling it better than most, which will all be taken into account by the buying bench, according to Blandford Bloodstock's ace scout. ...
He has been branded a pessimist by Sir Michael Stoute for admitting as much, but Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock, who bought Cazoo Derby hero Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), believes Saturday's achievement will never be topped. Brown, a renowned bloodstock agent with over 20 years of experience in the game, went to 280,000gns to secure Desert Crown on behalf of Saeed Suhail at Book 2 at Tattersalls in 2020 and counts himself as extremely lucky to have sourced what he believes is a once-in-a-lifetime colt. "I ended up at...
DONCASTER, UK—There may be "wars, and rumours of wars", but somehow for the bloodstock market it seems as though these things really will just pass. Having emerged from the economic shock of the pandemic with record business last year, the Goffs UK Doncaster Breeze-Up once again raised the bar as investors seemingly remain impervious to dramatic new volatility in the geopolitical environment. The juvenile sector had been first to take the Covid broadside in 2020, and no meaningful comparisons can duly be made with the auction salvaged—in conjunction with one...
DONCASTER, UK—Having seen their rivals open up with two booming aces—graduates of the Tattersalls Craven Sale won both the big Classic trials at Newmarket last week—the Goffs UK Doncaster Breeze-Up returned serve at the weekend with an equally timely advertisement for the auction staged here on Thursday. First and foremost, of course, the G3 Greenham S. success of Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) was another win for the whole breeze-up sector, reiterating consignors' ability not just to showcase precocity and professionalism, but to lay a foundation for continued development. At...
NEWMARKET, UK--So which way would the breeze blow this time? Just like the spring, teetering between the frost that coated the sales grounds on Friday morning and the imminent return of the swifts, the Tattersalls Guineas Sale caught the juvenile market at a pivot of the weathervane. After a traumatic experience last year, the sector had opened a new cycle with a solid start at the Craven Sale here, followed by a quite astounding rally at Doncaster where records tumbled across the board. This catalogue, which doesn't always benefit from...