Estrange

Chief executive William Derby is thrilled with the quality of the entries for the Group 1 races staged at York's Ebor Festival in August, with defending champion Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) and 2024 runner-up Calandagan (Gleneagles) featuring among 30 horses in contention for the £1.5 million Juddmonte International. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, Ombudsman was last seen winning the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot for the second consecutive year, while Calandagan is set to return to action in Sunday's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, having floundered...

If you were concerned about the O'Brien domination of the Irish Derby, led by Aidan and backed up by sons Joseph and Donnacha, then prepare yourself for more consternation in this Saturday's Coral-Eclipse Stakes. At Monday's confirmation stage only eight remained and one was added, leaving four from Ballydoyle - two of those, Hawk Mountain and Causeway, having also been supplemented for Sunday's Deutsches Derby - and one each from the younger O'Briens.  Only three potential Eclipse runners are trained in Britain: the four-year-olds Saddadd and Gethin, and five-year-old King's...

Cheveley Park Stud's Estrange will remain in training and on the hunt for a Group 1 victory, according to managing director Chris Richardson. The consistent grey daughter of Night Of Thunder finished second to Kalpana (Study Of Man) in Saturday's G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes. Prior to that effort, she won the G3 Lester Piggott Stakes and then the G2 Lancashire Oaks this year. She ran second to Minnie Hauk (Frankel) in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks in August and Ascot was her first run back for trainer...

QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday is set to feature four of the top ten horses in the world, with Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), Field Of Gold (Kingman), Delacroix (Dubawi) and Calandagan (Gleneagles) headlining the confirmations for the five Group 1 races made on Monday. The £1.3m QIPCO Champion Stakes looks like being one of the races of the year, with the world's top-rated horse, Ombudsman, leading 15 confirmations for the 10-furlong contest. The Godolphin-owned four-year-old's ongoing rivalry with Coolmore's Delacroix will be settled at Ascot on Saturday...

A late setback has scuppered the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe chances of Estrange (Night Of Thunder), who will now miss the race, leaving a field of 17. Due to start widest of all in gate 18, she delivered a dirty scope in the lead up to the race. Owned by Cheveley Park Stud and trained by David O'Meara, the grey filly has won multiple group races and was second to one of the favourites in Minnie Hauk (Frankel) in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks last out. O'Meara told...

Cheveley Park Stud's Estrange will take her place in the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe lineup, according to trainer David O'Meara. The grey daughter of Night Of Thunder thrives under soft conditions and the change of rain has increased leading up to Arc Weekend. "She's going to take her chance in the Arc," said O'Meara. "The weather forecast looks favourable and in the last couple of days quite a bit of rain has appeared in the forecast. We're very much looking forward to it. "To win an Arc...

Aidan O'Brien looks set to saddle Los Angeles (Camelot) and Minnie Hauk (Frankel) in Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, with the latter expected to be supplemented later this week to join the current cast of 17 contenders for Europe's richest race. Minnie Hauk has enjoyed a faultless campaign so far and will make her first trip to France following three consecutive Group 1 wins in the Oaks at Epsom, Irish Oaks at the Curragh and Yorkshire Oaks at York. Coral make her the 4/1 joint-favourite...

There's no jumping off the merry-go-round now that the yearling sales are in full swing, and this week's action will take the travelling show to Newmarket and Baden-Baden for Tattersalls Somerville and Germany's premier yearling sale at BBAG. The latter should expect a stampede, as the word around the grounds is that Wednesday's Ryanair flight from Stansted to Karlsruhe will be chock-a-block with new visitors to BBAG's sale alongside the racecourse at Iffezheim.  This year I've been jocked off the Baden-Baden trip by Brian Sheerin, and the current sulk at...

York's Knavesmire is the battleground for Europe's elite over the next four days, with the Ebor Festival playing out on the flat expanse as renowned for its uncomplicated nature as the folk who emanate from the county. Fair and upfront in true Yorkshire spirit, the track which sealed the reputation of City Of Troy 12 months ago will make or break the leading protagonists of the four Group 1 races staged over the piece, including the newly-upgraded City Of York on Saturday, Britain's first seven-furlong event in this category. That...

One of two British-trained horses in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks after declarations on Friday, Estrange (Night Of Thunder) and her team are hopeful that some rain will increase her chances in the August 21 showpiece. A homebred for Cheveley Park Stud and trained by David O'Meara, the grey has won four of her five starts, with a victory in the G2 Lancashire Oaks last out at Haydock in July on her resume. "It depends which forecast you look at, and I am probably guilty of looking at the one I...

Night Of Thunder currently sits at the top of the sire rankings for Britain and Ireland and, in a year in which he has already been represented by a first Classic winner in Desert Flower, his position could well be strengthened after Saturday with two other star performers lining up at Sandown and Haydock. Coral's sponsorship of the Eclipse Stakes reaches its 50th anniversary this year and the Group 1 contest, which has a roll of honour including such great names as Mill Reef, Sadler's Wells, Giant's Causeway and Enable,...

Nine years after Almanzor dropped a massive hint that Wootton Bassett might just be a decent sire by winning the Prix du Jockey Club comes the next wave for the stallion whose fee has gone from as low as €4,000 to this year's high of €300,000.  As has been well documented, Wootton Bassett's current crop of three-year-olds are the result of his first season standing at Coolmore in Ireland after one of the biggest transfer deals of recent years saw him leave Haras d'Etreham, where he had made his name...