Epictetus

In a year of years for Newmarket, Sir Michael Stoute has enjoyed a fair chunk of the town's success and heads to Saturday's feature G1 Darley Dewhurst S. with as exciting a 2-year-old as he has possessed in some time. Juddmonte's 'TDN Rising Star' Nostrum (GB) (Kingman {GB}) enjoyed the perfect Rowley Mile warm-up when taking the G3 Tattersalls S. over this seven-furlong trip Sept. 22 and the descendant of the 1980 Champion S. heroine Cairn Rouge (Ire) surely has significant days ahead of him. Described as "immature and babyish"...

It was a weekend in which the Scat Daddy sire-line shone through, at Newmarket and in Deauville, with Group 1 victories for his grand-daughters Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Tenebrism (Caravaggio). No Nay Never now has five crops of racing age and has twice supplied the winner of the July Cup: first Ten Sovereigns, who is now his stud-mate at Coolmore, and now Jeff Smith's Alcohol Free, whose transformation from miler to sprinter has added an interesting element to what is unfurling into an extraordinarily good season. The...