Wayne Lordan

5th-Galway, €20,000, Mdn, 8-2, 2yo, 8f 73yT, 1:48.69, g/y. ACTION (IRE) (c, 2, Frankel {GB}--Gossamer Wings {MGSP-Eng, SP-Ire}, by Scat Daddy), a half-brother to Australia's Derby and Irish Derby hero Lambourn, had been third behind stablemates New Zealand and Isaac Newton at The Curragh last month and was sent off the 4-9 favourite to double up after the latter had done the business for the yard at Goodwood in the preceding minutes. Latching straight onto the front from the break, the homebred showed a more generous cruise than his half-sibling...

In a renewal of the G1 Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup marred by a fatal injury sustained by the veteran stayer Trueshan (Planteur), Ballydoyle finished on top with the one-two led home by the three-year-old Scandinavia (Justify). While the race heralded the arrival of a new staying star, it was the loss of the 2021 winner of this prize, Trueshan, who suffered a fractured pastern six out that echoes out of this sad renewal. In terms of the end result, the illustrious homebred Scandinavia who had burst onto the scene with...

Aidan O'Brien trainee Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel), a G1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes entry and son of dual Grade I winner Newspaperofrecord, went into every notebook when encountering the TDN Rising Star display of Dorset (Wootton Bassett) at the Curragh last month and duly delivered a breakthrough success in Monday's Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Killarney. "He was very babyish at the Curragh, and again today where he jumped out and led, and Wayne [Lordan] said he was looking at the cars on the inside," said Ballydoyle's Chris Armstrong. "It...

Directly after the Eclipse, Aidan O'Brien was enjoying another notable success in his native Ireland as the 2-year-old colt Daytona (Wootton Bassett) captured the inaugural Listed Irish EBF Pat Smullen Stakes at Naas. Sent off the 4-5 favourite for the mile contest, the Gowran Park debut winner moved to market-rival North Coast (Starman) approaching the final furlong and soon had the race wrapped up. At the line, the Wayne Lordan-ridden 500,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 graduate had 3 1/4-lengths to spare over that Joseph O'Brien trainee as Ballydoyle collected another...

EPSOM DOWNS, UK -- Forty years ago, back in those heady days of the 1980s, Slip Anchor slipped the field under Steve Cauthen to land the Derby by seven lengths and all felt right with the world. A Derby winner by a Derby winner by a Derby winner.  And here we are again. Lambourn, by Australia, by Galileo (and let's not forget Australia's dam, the mighty Ouija Board): an all-the-way Derby winner by almost four lengths. "He'll stay a while," said a smiling Wayne Lordan, so deservedly now a Derby-winning...

After all the pontificating leading up to Saturday's G1 Betfred Derby, all that was required was respect for the Chester Vase form as Australia's Lambourn led home Protectionist's Lazy Griff as he had in that Group 3 trial. Cajoled to the front from the break by Wayne Lordan, the 13-2 shot who has become progressively less tardy with racing was soon comfortable in the clear and after freewheeling down the hill stayed on powerfully to provide Aidan O'Brien with his 11th Blue Riband. Beginning from the race's winningmost stall in 10,...

Leopardstown's opener on Friday is always a maiden marked out by the big yards and there was again the hint of the beginning of something as Ballydoyle's Italy gained TDN Rising Star status. All the rage at 4-9 for the extended seven-furlong contest, Wootton Bassett's half-brother to the deeply promising Bowmark who had won at York minutes earlier was settled behind the leading duo by Wayne Lordan throughout the initial stages. Sent after Thesecretadversary passing two out, the relative of the Derby hero Serpentine collared that son of St Mark's...

Just minutes after stablemate Henri Matisse (Wootton Bassett) secured G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains glory in France, Aidan O'Brien nominee and TDN Rising Star Delacroix (Dubawi) laid his Classic credentials on the line in Leopardstown's G3 Cashel Palace Hotel Derby Trial Stakes and passed with flying colours, registering a 2 3/4-length triumph in the 10-furlong test. Last seen annexing March's G3 Ballysax Stakes over the Foxrock venue's same mile-and-a-quarter strip, the 1-3 favourite accepted a tow from stablemate Rock Of Cashel (Wootton Bassett) and raced second after breaking on the...

Coolmore and Westerberg's hitherto unraced Albert Einstein (Wootton Bassett) had received favourable reports in recent dispatches from Ballydoyle and justified his lofty reputation with a TDN Rising Star performance going just shy of six furlongs in Saturday's Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Naas. The January-foaled bay's potential was reflected in the betting market and he headed postward as a rock-solid 1-2 favourite for this Royal Ascot stepping stone. Shadowing the pace set by 9-4 market rival Evening Blues (Blue Point) after a professional exit, he quickened smartly to challenge...

Amo Racing and Giselle De Aguiar's 2023 G2 Norfolk Stakes hero and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Valiant Force (Malibu Moon--Vigui's Heart, by Quality Road) broke a seven-race winless streak--which included a two-test Stateside stint with Jorge Delgado--when snagging a five-furlong heat at Dundalk in early October and the 4-year-old opened his 2025 campaign with a Friday-evening victory upped to six furlongs back at the Co. Louth track. The Adrian Murray trainee, a last-out fourth tackling five furlongs here in the Oct. 25 G3 Mercury Stakes, broke swiftly...

All eyes were on Ballydoyle's 10-11 favourite Giselle (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) ahead of Tuesday's G3 Staffordstown Stud Stakes, but it was the stablemate Whirl (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Salsa {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) who came up with the goods to edge The Curragh's mile feature. Sent straight to the front by Wayne Lordan from the outset, the relative of Galileo's star mares Hydrangea (Ire) and Hermosa (Ire) kept digging in as And So To Bed (Ire) (Kodiac {GB} threatened and briefly headed her in the final furlong to re-assert close home...

The 2-year-old fillies have been a step or two ahead of the colts all season and further evidence that we are dealing either with a substandard crop of colts or above-average crop of fillies was seen at Leopardstown on Saturday when the battle-hardened Exactly (Ire) (Frankel {GB}--Heartache {GB}, by Kyllachy {GB}) dominated the G3 Killavullan Stakes. Sent off the 11-10 favourite for the seven-furlong contest, Ballydoyle's G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and G1 Prix Marcel Boussac third was sent straight to the front by Wayne Lordan and powered clear in the...