Wild Desert

Rebel's Romance (Dubawi) and Notable Speech (Dubawi) look set to spearhead a top-class team for Charlie Appleby at next month's Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, a meeting at which the Godolphin trainer has excelled since saddling his first winner in 2013. Appleby took his tally of Breeders' Cup winners to 11 at Del Mar last year when Rebel's Romance won the Turf for a second time, having also been successful at Keeneland in 2022. More recently, the seven-year-old gained the ninth top-level victory of his career when heading back Stateside...

In a desperate run to the finish, 6-1 shot Argos (Nyquist) just outlasted a furious late charge from European invader and 'TDN Rising Star' Wild Desert (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) to steal the bet365 Summer Stakes at Woodbine, a Win and You're In race for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. A debut winner sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs at Ellis Park for trainer Kevin Attard, who earned his first Summer win since he legged up Gary Stevens aboard El Soprano (El Prado {Ire}) in 2001, Argos...

Charlie Appleby and William Buick have teamed to take the GI Rogers Woodbine Mile--a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile--two out of the last three years, and in the form of Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) they appear well positioned to add to that total Saturday afternoon in suburban Toronto. When Team Godolphin raid from Europe, you can rest assured that it isn't just for the Tim Horton's. They mean business and their record bears that out. Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi...

Charlie Appleby says it's not easy to come over to North America and win major stakes, even though he makes it look that way. On Saturday at Woodbine, Appleby will send out three horses, all of them in Grade I competition, and each one looks to have an excellent chance. He usually does well when he ships to anywhere in North America, but has been particularly tough at Woodbine, where he is 9-for-17 (53%). All nine of his Canadian winners have come in Grade I stakes. "We have sent the...

Godolphin ran one-two in the seven-furlong Newmarket opener just not with the horse the market expected, as Pacific Avenue (Dubawi) stole a march on his Charlie Appleby stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Wild Desert (Too Darn Hot) to earn a 'Rising Star' badge of his own. Godolphin's Ancient Truth (Dubawi) won the 2024 edition of this race prior to taking the G2 Superlative Stakes and running third in the G1 Dewhurst Stakes. The son of G1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine and fellow 'Rising Star' Lumiere (Shamardal) settled in a tugging...

Poor old Kingman, eh? It was his bad luck to pitch up at Banstead Manor Stud in the year that all the fuss was about Frankel's first yearlings. Much of the interest in the intervening decade has been about Frankel, too, but that hasn't stopped Kingman laying down his own markers in achievement at stud, highlighted this past weekend with a one-two in the Irish 2,000 Guineas via Field Of Gold and Cosmic Year.  They are not by any means his first star performers - Persian King first held that...