It was only a couple of weeks ago that I reminded everyone that marked success for a stallion is likely to breed more success four or five years down the line. On that basis, it looks to be a pretty safe bet that 2019 is going to be another big year for the 3-year-olds by [...]

History, of a minor sort, was made at Lingfield on Feb. 23 when Wissahickon landed the G3 Winter Derby to become the first European group winner by America's two-time champion sire Tapit. The same 4-year-old colt had already become his sire's first black-type winner in any of the major European racing powers when he won [...]

The weekend's 3-year-old action at America's leading tracks underlined the truth of the adage that success breeds success. In racing, the second wave of success can be expected four or five years after the first and this is what happened in the trials for the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks. Take a look [...]

When the votes were cast for the 2013 Eclipse Awards, we had the unusual situation where the winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile did not land the 2-year-old male award, even though he was to top the Experimental Free Handicap. The Juvenile winner, New Year's Day, garnered 99 points, compared to Shared Belief's 115. [...]

Every time I see a winner from Frankel's first crop, I can't help thinking back to late-November 2014, when four foals from this crop were scheduled to sell at Tattersalls. Such was the interest in the equine superstar that the BBC sent a camera crew to report on all the excitement. The reality was that, [...]

As we are all being encouraged to recycle as much as possible nowadays, perhaps you will forgive me for re-using a promotional piece I was asked to write for Lane's End Farm in late-2014, after Frankel's younger brother Noble Mission had been added to the stud's illustrious stallion team. “When Will Farish announced that Noble [...]

Trying to write a brief résumé of Redoute's Choice's stellar career isn't easy, in view of the scale and depth of the impact this son of Danehill has had on the Australian industry. The Arrowfield Stud patriarch made a spectacular start to his stallion career, with the G1 Golden Slipper S. winners Stratum and Miss [...]

In view of breeders' seemingly unquenchable thirst for fast and precocious stallions, I half-expected Godolphin to add not only Harry Angel (Dark Angel {Ire}) but also Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) to its Darley stallion roster for 2019. However, Charlie Appleby, the trainer of Blue Point, clearly thought that Blue Point, winner last year of the [...]

The UAE 2000 Guineas, to my mind, has always been one of the most confusing races staged during the Dubai Racing Carnival. While this Group 3 contest is confined to 3-year-olds, it is open to horses from both Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the conditions requiring that the older 3-year-olds from the Southern Hemisphere carry [...]

Even though Medaglia d'Oro's fee has been reduced to $200,000 from last year's $250,000, this son of El Prado still justifiably ranks among America's highest-priced stallions. After all, he had eight yearlings sell for $1 million or more at last year's sales and, in 2017, he notched up the remarkable total of seven individual Grade [...]

After an early childhood when the radio was the prime source of entertainment, I have plenty of vintage songs imprinted on my memory, including Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters urging me to ac-cent-u-ate the positive, e-lim-in-ate the negative and latch on to the affirmative. I wish I could do so following the inaugural running [...]

Comparisons, it's said, are odious, and the medieval originators of this phrase certainly had a point. It all depends on the quality–or lack of it–of the thing to which comparisons are being made. So, when the object of a comparison is Danzig, one of the most brilliant stallions of the modern era, the subject is [...]