Dubai Mile (Ire)

Having left his post as manager of Childwickbury Stud, John Hernon will take up the mantel as Chief Executive Officer at Martyn Meade's Manton Park Stud in Wiltshire with the long-term goal of elevating the operation to one of the top commercial stallion farms. Hernon said: "The Manton Park Estate has a rich racing history, and it is a privilege to take on the running of the stud here alongside Mr Meade. I am fully committed to ensuring the stud reflects the heritage of the Manton Estate and to develop...

Led by three-time Group 1 winner Advertise (GB), the 2024 roster and fees for Manton Park Stud were announced on Wednesday. The son of Showcasing (GB) will command £10,000. He sits fourth amongst first-crop sires in Great Britain and Ireland with 15 individual winners from 49 runners in 2023 and covered 41 mares this year. His best runner so far is the stakes-placed Task Force (GB). G1 Prix de la Foret hero Aclaim (Ire), a son of Acclamation (GB), will stand for £8,000. The sire of 2022 G1 1000 Guineas...

Group 1 winner Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) sustained an injury to his near-hind fetlock in a piece of work at Martyn and Freddie Meade's on Monday, and has been ruled out for the remainder of the season. "We were preparing him to run in the [G2] Sky Bet York S. when he suffered a conjugal fracture on his near-hind fetlock, so it is an absolute tragedy," Martyn Meade told the Press Association. "We were giving him his last bit of work yesterday on our watered peat moss gallop, which...

   For once in these days of volatile climate, the sun is shining on the Surrey Downs and all the righteous colts assembled for the latest G1 Betfred Derby. Lester Piggott, who is commemorated by one of the card's handicaps carrying his name, was always refererred to patronisingly as the "housewife's choice" in the Blue Riband thanks largely to his association with Ballydoyle. Rosegreen's sacred establishment continues to support this mile-and-a-half Classic like a pillar of iron and 2023's chosen one is Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), whose attempt...

Saturday's G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas asks the usual set of questions, with the Classic generation due to be examined for the first time with their raw material and any flaws about to be exposed on Newmarket's Rowley Mile which was the scene of thundery conditions on Friday afternoon. Aside from the ever-present quandary of pace positioning and ground conditions, with the latter scenario complicated by the sight of looming dense clouds on Guineas eve, there is the annual unknown of just how dominant last year's leading 2-year-olds still are. Will...

   Heading into a weekend when celebration is the keyword in Britain, Newmarket's three-day QIPCO Guineas Festival begins on Friday with some action designed to build the intensity towards the main events. Fittingly, the fixture's opener is the Listed Newmarket S., the race once used by the Derby-winning icons Shirley Heights (GB) and Slip Anchor (GB) and this year hosting one of The King and Queen Consort's outside squeaks at a blue riband runner in Circle Of Fire (GB) (Almanzor {Fr}). Just a Salisbury novice winner at present, the colt...

Aidan O'Brien will rely on G1 Futurity Trophy hero Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and G1 Phoenix S. victor Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) in Saturday's G1 Qipco 2000 Guineas, with both featuring among a confirmed field of 14 for Britain's first Classic of the year. The trainer's G3 Killavullan S. winner Cairo (Ire) (Quality Road) was the only absentee when final declarations were made Thursday morning. Auguste Rodin, who is set to be partnered by Ryan Moore, has been drawn on the wing in stall 12...

Despite losing Frankie Dettori once the gates flew in the G3 Greenham S. on Saturday, Juddmonte's Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) remains part of the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas field. After Tuesday's latest scratching stage, 20 colts are still entered in the first Classic of the British season on Saturday, May 6. A winner of four of his six starts, the G1 Dewhurst S. hero is one of two in the one-mile race for Andrew Balding. Second in the Dewhurst, G2 Richmond S. scorer Royal Scotsman (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) will attempt...

Group 1 winner Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) galloped over the Rowley Mile in Newmarket on Wednesday. The Ahmad Al Shaikh silksbearer is being primed for a possible start in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas over this course on May 6. Trained by Charlie Johnston, the 3-year-old was originally pencilled in for the G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dante S. at York in mid-May, but connections are weighing the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero's chances in the run-up to the G1 Betfred Derby on June 3. "We've been having a debate...

Fresh off of his victory in the G3 Ballysax S. on Sunday, White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) leads 19 other colts as second entries for the G1 Derby at Epsom on Saturday, June 3. Owned by Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez and trained by John Murphy, the colt scored a half-length upset in the Ballysax at 22-1. Several Derby second entries were also made by Charlie Appleby on behalf of Godolphin. Leading the sextet is GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf second Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), while listed winner Naval Power...

Ahmad Al Shaikh's Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion--Beach Bunny {Ire}, by High Chaparral {Ire}) backed up victories at Windsor and Kempton in August with a half-length second in last month's G2 Royal Lodge S. at Newmarket and stepped forward to register a determined success in Saturday's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, becoming the first Group 1 winner from the lone crop of his sire (by Kitten's Joy). The 49-10 chance was swiftly into stride and led through the early fractions of this 10-furlong test. Headed on the turn for home, he...

Just minutes after the fellow Listed Chesham S. flop Crypto Force (GB) (Time Test {GB}) had caused an upset in the G2 Beresford S., King Power's The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) did the same in Newmarket's G2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge S. , a "Win And You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland in November. Only ninth in that June 18 Royal Ascot contest, the Andrew Balding-trained 440,000gns Book 1 graduate had come back to break his maiden in a Goodwood maiden also over seven furlongs July...