Speak of the Devil (Fr)
Peter Brant's €$1.95-million investment at last year's Arqana December sale to acquire Speak of the Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) looks like it might be paying off as the even-money favorite in Saturday's GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S. showed off an uncommon turn-of-foot to blow away fellow Brant/Chad Brown representative and 'TDN Rising Star' In Italian. The victory came almost exactly 24 hours after Brant and Brown celebrated another victory with a fast-finishing female in still-unbeaten GIII Modesty S. heroine Bleecker Street (Quality Road). Brown saddled the exacta in...
Group 1 winner Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) and G1 French 1000 Guineas runner-up Speak of the Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) are two of the stars in the upcoming Arqana December Sale catalogue, which was released on Wednesday. Consigned by Haras de Castillon as lot 192, G1 Prix Jean Romanet heroine Grand Glory was also third in the G1 Prix de Diane and is due to run in the upcoming G1 Japan Cup on Nov. 28. Third in the G1 Prix Rothschild, Speak of the Devil (lot 172),...
It is racing's greatest dichotomy. Labelled by the official ParisLongchamp website as "la meilleure course au monde", the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will have few who brook any argument with that claim. Yet it is the time of year within which it is framed that delivers the ultimate snag, with autumn's entry prompting an often drastic change in terrain and a late turnpike for the kings and queens of summer just past. Half of the previous 10 renewals of France's great monument have been run on testing...
Sunday's G1 Prix d'Ispahan at ParisLongchamp sees two of France's big names Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) and The Revenant (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) go head-to-head over the unique intermediate trip of nine furlongs 55 yards. While Skalleti has yet to strike at this exalted level despite holding the enviable tally of seven group-race wins, his compatriot has won one of the most prestigious of them all in Ascot's G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. in October. Disappointing so far this term, Al Asayl France's The Revenant could have been forgiven for...