Blackbeard

Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never--Muirin {Ire}, by Born To Sea {Ire}), a dual Group 1 winner this season for Aidan O'Brien, will miss the Breeders' Cup with a knee injury and has been retired to Coolmore Stud. "Blackbeard was a little off after exercise this morning in preparation for the Breeders' Cup," O'Brien said. "Unfortunately, when we had him X-rayed the radiographs showed a small chip in his right knee and a decision has been made to retire him. He's a typical No Nay Never; strong, early- maturing and very...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin KILDARE, Ireland--The victory of Blackbeard (Ire) in Saturday's G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S. was really just gilding the lily of his sensational juvenile season which has also given a tremendous boost to his yearling sister, who topped the opening day of the Goffs Orby Sale at €2.6 million. From a start to proceedings at Kildare Paddocks that could be described as relentlessly solid, the auditorium suddenly filled with people around lunchtime on Tuesday as the dark brown daughter of No Nay Never entered the...

Glenvale Stud's full-sister to dual Group 1-winning juvenile Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never) brought the first seven-figure transaction of the day at the Goffs Orby Sale when knocked down at €2.6 million to Richard Knight. The agent did not divulge the name of his client but confirmed that the filly will be trained in the UK. Consigned as lot 93, she was bred by Newstead Breeding and is the second foal of the Born To Sea (Ire) mare Muirin (Ire), herself a winner at two and fourth in the G1...

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry KILDARE, Ireland--Blackbeard (Ire) has blazed a trail on the track this season and, less than a week after doubling his Group 1 tally when running out an impressive winner of the Middle Park S. at Newmarket, his little sister will go under the hammer at the Orby Sale on Tuesday, which gets underway at 9.30am. The No Nay Never filly will be sold by Flash Conroy of Glenvale Stud and is one of the most important lots of the entire sale given the exploits...

With the leaves on the turn and rugs back on the horses after the hottest summer in many a year, it may feel as though we are coming to the end of the season but by juvenile Group 1 contests in Europe we are really only halfway through. So far, No Nay Never's sons Little Big Bear (Ire) and Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never), both trained by Aidan O'Brien, have claimed three between them - the Phoenix S., Prix Morny and Middle Park S., while the Joseph O'Brien-trained Al Riffa...

Newmarket's three-day Cambridgeshire meeting's titular event, the annual nine-furlong cavalry charge boasting a purse of £200,000, is overshadowed by two Group 1 championships on a bumper Saturday of juvenile action at Headquarters and beyond. First of the elite-level heats is the six-furlong G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S., with ante-post markets pointing to an effective match between Coolmore and Westerberg's Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Rockcliffe Stud's homebred Trillium (GB) (No Nay Never). In reality, it is an open edition which also features G2 Lowther S. victrix Swingalong (GB) (Showcasing...

We've all seen that video; it was in the month of March when Aidan O'Brien opened the gates at Ballydoyle to the Irish press and, tasked with naming his best 2-year-old by Brendan O'Rourke, the champion trainer did not hold back in his praise for Little Big Bear (Ire). After nominating Little Big Bear as being top of the class, O'Brien also advised O'Rourke, a renowned Irish racing commentator, to double his stake from a fiver to a tenner on the colt winning his maiden on debut at the Curragh...

Sir Mark Prescott will happily recount the story of the time he bashed his former pupil assistant William Haggas over the head with a frying pan for oversleeping. He will also reflect with pleasure on the great pride he felt when Haggas won the Derby in 1996 with Shaamit (Ire). When it comes to being a benevolent dictator, the Prescott pendulum has, by his own admission, swung more from dictatorship towards benevolence in recent years and, more than anyone involved in British racing, the master of Heath House cares deeply...

Following the frantic Saturday, a sense of serenity returns to the European racing scene on Sunday with Deauville hosting the leading action including the G1 Darley Prix Morny and G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet. In the latter contest, France says bienvenue to the Australian wonder Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) who makes her eagerly anticipated Northern Hemisphere debut under Frankie Dettori for the Francis-Henri Graffard stable. Her astounding 11 Group 1 wins in her former country make her a figure of worldwide renown, but a 12th in Europe would truly...

Goodwood's trio of Group 1 races all went the way of owner-breeders, results that are both pleasing to see for the people who invest so much thought and money into the sport over generations, and which also highlight how hard it can be for prospective owners to get into horses at the top level. This season, ten European Classics have been won by homebreds, with two of those, Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and Mangoustine (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}), having been offered for sale by their breeders but bought back. Only...

It's getting hotter by the hour in Europe and Sunday's pattern-race tests at Chantilly and The Curragh will call for that extra element from the protagonists who brave the heat. One who has shown abundant courage despite being just a greenhorn is Ballydoyle's Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never), who tackles the six-furlong G2 Darley Prix Robert Papin which will be his sixth juvenile start and third since his impressive success in The Curragh's G3 Marble Hill S. over this trip May 21. Aidan O'Brien is not known for taking in...