Victor Ludorum

By way of some twists and turns of fate, Monday's two mile French Classics will return to Deauville's straight track and Friday's declaration stage saw a total of 21 protagonists engaged across the G1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Pouliches. Of the nine set to line up in the Poulains, Andre Fabre has Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal), Corinna Baronin Von Ullmann's Alson (Ger) (Areion {Ger}) and Coolmore's Arapaho (Fr) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), with the former the expected outright favourite at this juncture. Only third...

Eleven runners remain in the potential line-up for the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and 16 for the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, both of which are to be run on Monday at Deauville. With French racing remaining restricted to domestic runners until mid-June, all foreign-trained horses have been removed from the initial list of entries. A notable domestic defector among the colts is the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. winner Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal), who was scratched from his intended comeback run in the G3 Prix de...

When Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal) steps out for Monday's keenly anticipated G3 Prix de Fontainebleau at ParisLongchamp, he will do so with the kind of notability that comes as standard for winners of the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. France's pre-eminent track's juvenile showcase, previously known as the Grand Criterium, has long proved magnetic to the elite and acts as a significant early exposé of prominent future sires. Back in 1933, Edouard de Rothschild, the grandfather of the current France Galop President of the same name, was represented by his beloved...

French racing will return behind closed doors on Monday after being off since Mar. 16 due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, and the initial three cards at ParisLongchamp, Toulouse and Compiegne have drawn a whopping 1,069 entries. ParisLongchamp, which received clearance on Monday to stage its meeting in the nation's capital, has drawn a total of 257 entries across 10 races. The card's feature races are the G2 Prix d'Harcourt and Group 3 Prix la Grotte, Prix de Fontainebleau and G3 Prix de Saint-Georges. Last year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club...

European racing authorities are doubtless looking on with interest as Germany prepares to stage its first post-lockdown race meeting. That should have been on Monday, but a late intervention owing to a delayed government decision regarding the resumption of sporting fixtures, meant that on Saturday Dortmund was forced to call off its first race meeting. All eyes are now on Hannover, which has a 12-race card scheduled on Thursday with 189 entries. The easing of lockdown restrictions began in Germany on Apr. 20 and, in common with the phased approach...

LONDON, UK—Godolphin's homebred Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) was officially named Europe's champion juvenile of 2019 on Wednesday when given the highest rating for a 2-year-old in 25 years. In fact, it was a clean sweep for Godolphin and Kildangan Stud-based sire Shamardal, who were also responsible for the joint runners-up in the category, Victor Ludorum (Ire) and Earthlight (Ire). The magic number for Pintaubo—also awarded to Enable (GB), Crystal Ocean (GB) and Waldgeist (GB) when topping the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings—was 128. One has to look back as far as...