Flintshire

Chad Brown sent four horses to the West Coast in search of his sixth victory in the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar Sunday and the New York-based conditioner's quartet ran one-two-three-four with the aptly named Surge Capacity (Flintshire {GB}) getting free late to just edge stablemate Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}) on the wire. Beaute Cachee (Fr) (Literato {Fr}) was third and Whitebeam (GB) (Caravaggio {Ire}) was fourth. It was the first time that a trainer had swept the top four in a Grade I win Del Mar history. "It's...

It's a tall task to beat Chad Brown at Saratoga, especially when he has half the field. SURGE CAPACITY (f, 3, Flintshire {GB}--Strong Incentive, by Warrior's Reward)--one of four entrants from the Brown barn in the GIII Lake George S.--was the least experienced of the field but carried the day, taking Friday's featured race at the Spa after scraping the paint and finishing bravely for the win. A first-out Monmouth maiden winner June 10 at a sixteenth further with an 80 debut Beyer Speed Figure, Surge Capacity gave Brown a...

France was the forerunner of the stallion trail, its La Route des Etalons having been launched in 2010, catching the rising tide of increasingly sought-after stallions in the country following a spell in the doldrums.  This popular weekend feature of late January was, like almost everything else, interrupted for a few years by Covid restrictions, but there is none of that to worry about now as the two days of touring around some of Normandy's most exquisite stud farms gets underway this Saturday morning.  The bright young things of TDN...

Polite but perfunctory. That was pretty much the tone in which people tended to praise Kitten's Joy while he was with us, and I guess it should be no different now that he's gone. Even so, it strikes me that his loss has been inadequately lamented. Not just in his own right, as an avowed turf stallion who freakishly contrived two general sires' championships in North America; but also, virtually unremarked, as a final straw in what has over the past nine months become an outright catastrophe for the enlightened...

Though in most respects I only grow older, and no wiser, I do try nowadays not to get so cross about things. If I think people are breeding to the wrong horses, that's their prerogative. It's a difficult game; a still harder business. The Thoroughbred is reliable only as a vehicle of humility. We're all wrong far more often than we're right. And the beauty is that we have a proving ground out there, with a wooden post at the end. If you really are right, and I'm wrong, that's...

Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}), the globetrotting five-time Group 1 winner, has relocated to Haras de Montaigu in France for 2022 after standing five seasons at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Kentucky. He will stand for €6,500. Racing as a homebred for Juddmonte Farms, Flintshire spent the bulk of his racing career in France with Andre Fabre, for whom he won the G1 Grand Prix de Paris, G1 Hong Kong Vase and GI Sword Dancer S., while also picking up placings in the G1 Coronation Cup (twice), G1 Prix de l'Arc...

This is the second half of the latest instalment in our ongoing survey of covering options for the new breeding season. The first part can be read here. UPSTART (Flatter--Party Silks, by Touch Gold) was cleverly named and I think him a very plausible type, likely to rise pretty quickly through the ranks. Certainly there were more than enough "nouveaux riches" among his first juveniles--only Not This Time exceeded his 19 winners (from 54 starters)--for him to be pegged at $10,000 by Airdrie. His principal earner was Reinvestment Risk, who...

Talacre, a half-sister to this year's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Siskin (First Defence), is the first winner for five-time Grade/Group 1 winner Flintshire (GB), who stands at Hill 'n' Dale in Kentucky. 1st-Gowran, €15,500, Mdn, 9-19, 2yo, f, 8fT, 1:42.50, gd. TALACRE (f, 2, Flintshire {GB}--Bird Flown {GB}, by Oasis Dream {GB}), third last time over seven furlongs in The Curragh's Loder Irish EBF Fillies Race on Aug. 14, raced behind the leaders on the rail throughout the early stages. Angled wide for her challenge at the top of...

1st-BEL, $64K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 1:15 p.m. Gary Barber's Frankel At Ascot (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) is one of several well-bred juveniles set to square off in this turf dash. The Mark Casse pupil was a €535,000 Arqana August yearling purchase by Justin Casse. She is out of stakes-winning juvenile Ascot Family (Ire), making her a half to precocious MGSW and GISP Family One (Fr) (Dubai Destination). The bay has fired a couple of bullets over the local dirt in preparation for this first go. Steal My Sunshine (Distorted Humor)...

Through the first three installments of this series, we've repeatedly complained about ever-more manic investment in unproven stallions and the resulting potential for chronic deterioration in the gene pool. So we won't reprise the theme today, other than to remark that this situation creates a rather more immediate and specific challenge for the next group under review. Because while second- and third-season stallions can still offer breeders the possibility of riding an early vogue, this lot have just been exposed to the judgment of the yearling market--which history reveals to...