Shamardal

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 daughter of the undefeated Arc heroine Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar). 2.24 Compiegne, Debutantes, €22,000, 2yo, c/g, 7fT VISSANI (FR) (Dariyan {Fr}) debuts for The Aga Khan and Alain de Royer-Dupre and is a half-brother to the triple Group 1-winning stayer Vazirabad (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}) whose dam...

Andre Fabre's unbeaten Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal) is eyeing a return in the July 12 G1 Prix Jean Prat, after a minor sprain kept him on the bench instead of contesting the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau last month. The Godolphin runner will have a gallop at Saint-Cloud next week. Having won all five races at two, including two Group 1s, Earthlight was prominent through the winter in the betting for the G1 English 2000 Guineas. "He's doing ok, he's back in work," said Fabre. "He's going to go to Saint-Cloud next...

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. Monday's Insights features the first foal of MG1SW Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). 12.15 Haydock, Novice, £6,400, 2yo, 6fT MESHAKEL (IRE) (Shamardal) is another off the Mark Johnston production line which has been working highly efficiently since Monday, with Salem Rashid bin Ghadayer's March-foaled chestnut another Royal Ascot aspirant having...

Victor Ludorum. With such a name should we ever have doubted him? Fifteen years after his late sire Shamardal blazed to glory in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains for the first half of his own Classic double, Victor Ludorum (Ire) set up a double of a different kind at Deauville on Monday, passing the Godolphin baton to his fellow colour-bearer and last year's champion juvenile Pinatubo (Ire) to attempt to complete a posthumous Classic double for Shamardal within a week. Should the much lauded Pinatubo resurface in the manner which...

After all the worry and uncertainty of the past few weeks, the first of the European Classics to be staged in the time of COVID-19 provided a reassuring outcome as Godolphin's TDN Rising Star Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal) made class tell over the straight mile at Deauville. As it was before the huge disruption wrought by the virus, so it remains at least in this sphere with the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner confirming the form of the Arc card's juvenile highlight to regain the winning thread in Monday's G1...

Constant, blazing sunshine will welcome back Europe's Group 1 Classics at Deauville on Monday while Berlin-Hoppegarten join in with the first of their own domestic Classics on a day that will be relished by all the racing community. While the G1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Pouliches are an all-French affair in 2020 and the former is missing the country's leading juvenile of 2019 in Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal), there are two Group 1 winners engaged to add gravitas to a renewal forever to be marked with an asterisk. Both...

The G1 2000 Guineas card at Newmarket on June 6 and Japan's G1 Yasuda Kinen on June 7 will be simulcast for betting beginning in the late evening of Saturday, June 6, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced on Sunday. Newmarket's seven races are headed by the 2000 Guineas, where European Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) is expected to take part. Meanwhile in Japan the next day, the 1600-metre G1 Yasuda Kinen features Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and the race will be...

French listed winner Helter Skelter (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}-Winna Chope {Fr}, by Soave {Ger}) sustained a fatal injury on the gallops on Wednesday morning, owner Masaaki Matsushima confirmed to Jour de Galop. The colt, an €30,000 yearling at the Osarus September Yearling Sale in 2018 who was purchased by Matsushima after his 3 1/2-length victory in the Listed Criterium du Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage, had held an entry in the June 1 G1 G1 Poule d'Essai de Poulains. He was a last out sixth in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau...

   In one of ParisLongchamp's season-opener's unexpected reversals, White Birch Farm's G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) could only manage fourth as the Wertheimers' Shaman (Ire) (Shamardal) made all for an upset in the G2 Prix d'Harcourt. Campaigned mainly at a mile last term and runner-up in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois, Shaman had stamina to prove upped to this 10-furlong distance for the first time but Maxime Guyon was able to dictate steady fractions on the homebred. After...

If there is one adjective that embodies everything about Shamardal, it would have to be 'class.' That magic yet highly elusive ingredient that separates a great Thoroughbred from the field has permeated every aspect of his being from the time his blue chip mating was planned, through to his own quartet of Group 1 successes on the racecourse and on to his sons and daughters, who made an immediate impact on the track with Classic winners in Europe and Australia in his first crop and whose dominance was emphasized last...

Dual French Classic winner and leading sire Shamardal (Giant's Causeway--Helsinki {GB}, by Machiavellian) has been euthanised at the age of 18 after dealing with "a range of health issues." Announcing the news on Thursday, Joe Osborne, managing director of Godolphin Ireland, paid tribute to Kildangan Stud's flagship stallion. "Shamardal embodied mental and physical toughness—as a racehorse and as a stallion," he said. "As the racing world has seen over the past 15 years, he passed those qualities on to his progeny. "He contended with a range of health issues over...

Champion Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), G1 Investec Derby hero Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and MG1SW Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) have all had their first mares scanned in foal, Darley announced on Wednesday. A winner of the G1 Dewhurst S., Too Darn Hot stands alongside French G1SP Masar at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud near Newmarket, while 2019 Cartier Champion Sprinter Blue Point, who won four Group 1 races and two at Royal Ascot last term, is at Darley's Irish base, Kildangan Stud. They command fees of £50,000, £15,000...