Vauban

As always, Ireland and France have been quicker off the mark when it comes to the Flat turf season, and Britain joins them this Saturday with the opening meeting at Doncaster, which always provides plenty of interest, not least through the Brocklesby Stakes. This year, fittingly, the first two-year-old race in Britain is run in memory of Bill Turner, whose name was a standing dish in the Brocklesby entries and who died last August at the age of 78. With six victories between 1996 and 2013, Turner holds the record...

Parchment Party (Constitution) is poised to become the first American-trained runner in the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, November 4, with Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez again booked to ride after partnering the 'TDN Rising Star' to a wide-margin victory in June's GII Belmont Gold Cup Stakes. The Bill Mott-trained Parchment Party was one of 120 nominations for the Melbourne Cup published on Tuesday, with his emphatic win at Saratoga earning him an automatic spot in 'the race that stops a nation'. Leigh Jordon, executive general...

Gone is the mud, the horses' coats are on the turn, and the blossom is abundant. What's more, there's good racing on the telly - and lots of it. If you're reading this in a European time zone, here's hoping that your Saturday morning begins good and early in order to be conscious, if not out of bed, in time for Australia's G1 Tancred Stakes at 5.35 (or a more leisurely 6.35 for those on the continent). You'll find lots of familiar names among the 14 runners, not least Dubai...

High-class dual-purpose performer Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), who landed the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022 for trainer Willie Mullins, is close to making his debut for Australian trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.  Vauban has been well-held in his two attempts at winning the Melbourne Cup for Mullins and owner Rich Ricci. The seven-year-old was snapped up by the Waterhouse and Bott combination for a reported $2 million after he finished 11th--beaten just over five lengths--behind Knight's Choice (Aus) (Extreme Choice {Aus}) in the Melbourne Cup in...

Eighty of the 123 horses nominated for this year's G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup were bred in Europe. Only 18 of that group are still in training in either Britain, Ireland or France. Aidan O'Brien, who has not had a runner in the race since 2020, when Tiger Moth (Ire) finished runner-up to Twilight Payment (Ire), trained by his son Joseph, has six entered, led by the G2 Queen's Vase winner Illinois (Ire). Meanwhile his fellow Irishman Willie Mullins is planning to send back last year's favourite, the recent G2 Lonsdale...

Flemington beckons for Rich Ricci's Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) after the classy stayer made light of the switch to 12 furlongs in Monday's G3 Ballyroan S. at Naas. A winner of the Listed Prix Frederic de Lagrange before turning into a high-class hurdler, the five-year-old had marked his return to the Flat with an authoritative success from the front in Royal Ascot's Copper Horse H. and took the move to Pattern company in his stride here. Always comfortable tracking this faster early tempo in third, the 4-6 favourite was sent...

CHELTENHAM, UK--Emotions ran high at Cheltenham on Friday as Rachael Blackmore, the most successful female National Hunt jockey of all time, continued to rewrite the history books, this time by becoming the first woman to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Her willing and sublimely talented partner was A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}), who was runner-up to his stable-mate Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) last year but turned the tables in emphatic fashion this time around. Tackling the defending champion for the lead over the final fence, the 8-year-old...