Derek Veitch

There are few, if any other, 12-week-old babies with races named after them but Victor Veitch will have his name in lights early in life as the namesake for the EBF fillies' maiden which opens the card at Newmarket on Friday evening. In fact, Newmarket's entire meeting is sponsored by Victor's grandparents, Derek and Gay Veitch of Ringfort Stud in Rhode, Co Offaly. The second and third races on the card will be run in the name of two Shadwell Group 1 winners, Minzaal (Ire) and Anmaat (Ire), both of...

Derek Veitch, famous for producing Group 1-winning sprinter Minzaal (Ire) and high-class runners Threat (Ire), Miss Amulet (Ire), Ubettabelieveit (Ire) and Indigo Lady (Ire), has outlined his intention to dramatically scale back his broodmare band to 15 or less at his Ringfort Stud base in County Offaly this year.  The move will come as a surprise to many, given the Rhode-based Veitch has just enjoyed his greatest year as a breeder after Minzaal scorched the Haydock turf when landing the G1 Sprint Cup, not least his wife Gay, who is...

DONCASTER, UK—Against a backdrop that would have been neither envisaged nor desired, the 2020 Flat may have had a hesitant start with a drastically reduced number of participants, but the wheels have at least kept turning, which in turn has allowed some sort of momentum to be continued in the sales ring. We've had Royal Ascot at York, so why not the Orby Sale at Doncaster? While the transfer from Ireland to Britain of the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale, and the Goffs Sportsman's and Orby Sales will have cost Irish...

NEWMARKET, UK-Every cloud has a silver lining, even one as black and pervasive as this accursed pandemic. And the transfer of the Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale from its eponymous base to the headquarters of its parent brand, as part of an emergency revamping of the yearling sales calendar, worked so well on Monday that conceivably it might prove tempting to make the relocation permanent. On the other hand, prospectors will go anywhere for the right animal. Mouse O'Ryan put it well. "You can sell a good horse at a crossroads,"...