Sons And Lovers

Fairy Glen (Farhh) demonstrated remarkable versatility and no small amount of class when stepping up fully seven furlongs in trip to win Saturday's $1-million G2 Dubai Gold Cup Sponsored By Al Tayer Motors for Simon and Ed Crisford. The winner of last month's G2 Balanchine over 1,800 metres of the Meydan turf, the five-year-old Fairy Glen remained an unknown quantity in this 3,200-metre contest, taking on heavyweight stayers such as Al Riffa (Wootton Bassett) and Caballo De Mar (Phoenix Of Spain), the winners of last year's G1 Irish St. Leger...

This column is not really supposed to start until the Flat turf season gets underway but we saw the sunshine in Newmarket on Monday morning for pretty much the first time this year so we're jumping the gun a little. After all, there was plenty of top-class Flat action on offer over the weekend in the Middle East and beyond, and following some frenetic race reporting on the spot in Riyadh, here are a few thoughts and breeding angles with the benefit of some time for reflection. Deep influence  With...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Members of the Heffernan family and their extended clan make it all look so easy. Turn up to a major race day somewhere in the world and leave with a big trophy and a bag of swag. OK, so it doesn't always go that smoothly but after last year's audacious Breeders' Cup Turf win for Ethical Diamond, the HOS Syndicate has done it again in the G2 Red Sea Turf Handicap, worth a cool $2.5m. Joseph O'Brien had two runners in the race but it was...

Thursday, Leopardstown, post time: 18:23, BAHRAIN TURF CLUB DESMOND STAKES-G3, €36,000, 3yo/up, 8fT Field: Chicago Critic (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), Johan (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}), Lord Massusus (Ire) (Markaz {Ire}), Mutasarref (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Dance Night Andday (Ire) (Buratino {Ire}), Jancis (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Alakazi (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}). TDN Verdict: Course specialist Mutasarref should be a tough nut to crack, having won arguably a better renewal of this 12 months ago. Chicago Critic is capable when in the mood, as he proved when taking the course-and-distance Listed Amethyst Stakes...

Thursday, Leopardstown, post time: 18:23, BAHRAIN TURF CLUB DESMOND STAKES-G3, €36,000, 3yo/up, 8fT Field: Chicago Critic (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), Johan (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}), Lord Massusus (Ire) (Markaz {Ire}), Mutasarref (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Dance Night Andday (Ire) (Buratino {Ire}), Jancis (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Alakazi (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}). TDN Verdict: Course specialist Mutasarref should be a tough nut to crack, having won arguably a better renewal of this 12 months ago. Chicago Critic is capable when in the mood, as he proved when taking the course-and-distance Listed Amethyst Stakes...

Banstead Manor Stud is famed around the world as the HQ of Juddmonte, not least for housing the mighty Frankel. However, its incarnation as the home of the Juddmonte sires does not represent its debut as a source of racing success. During 2025 it will celebrate its centenary as a leading stud because it was first thrust into the spotlight in 1925 when Henry Morriss bought the property specifically to stand that year's Derby winner Manna. Previously Banstead Manor had been part of the massive Cheveley Estate, which at the...

The G1 July Cup winner Mill Stream (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) will bid to maintain his unblemished Deauville record when he returns to the Normandy seaside for a crack at the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest on August 4. "He loves travelling so there are no worries there," says his trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam, who has once again demonstrated her skills in guiding the four-year-old through the grades to the very top. He is currently the co-highest-rated sprinter in Europe with a Timeform mark of 122, and it was at this time...

There is something about the seasons in racing, the cyclical nature of the business and the sport. From the covering season, to foaling, yearling and breeding stock sales, and the races themselves, we set both our business and social clocks by these certainties, while perhaps measuring our own mortality by their annual passing. The last 20 years of my life have been spent in Newmarket, where this is felt particularly so. We count the days from the final November meeting on the Rowley Mile, blasted by the winds of the...

Study Of Man (Ire) is making a growing impression with his first crop of runners, not least through his son Deepone (Ire), winner of the G2 Beresford S. for Vimal Khosla and Paddy Twomey. His latest winner, however, is perhaps the most special to Kirsten Rausing, the owner of Lanwades Stud where the son of Deep Impact (Jpn) stands. On Saturday at Newmarket, the newcomer Sons And Lovers (GB) got up on the line to win the seven-furlong juvenile maiden. Rausing, who bred the colt from the Smart Strike mare...