Fozzy Stack

Glen Hill Farm's Craig Bernick had just enough left in the bankroll to try for one more weanling when he bid on Nola Soul (Justify) at the 2024 Keeneland November Sale. With a $2 million budget, Bernick purchased five colts at the 2024 breeding stock sales in the hopes of coming out with a stallion prospect. Nola Soul was the last to be bought and at $220,000, was the bargain of the bunch. This year, he was the first to make the races, becoming a TDN Rising Star, and he...

Fozzy Stack trainee Thesecretadversary (St Mark's Basilica) was able to contain his enthusiasm when annexing last month's G3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot and dominated throughout Sunday's G1 Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Prix Jean Prat at Deauville to lower the colours of Classic winners True Love (No Nay Never) and Rayif (Sea The Moon). "We thought he'd run well, but he came here taking on two Guineas winners, especially one who doesn't live too far away from us," said Stack after registering a first success at the highest level in Europe....

Making a mockery of the belief that there was a stands'-rail bias at Royal Ascot this week, Thesecretadversary (St Mark's Basilica) won a renewal of Saturday's G3 Jersey Stakes that played out completely on the far side. Sent off at a large 20-1 after two below-par efforts in the Newmarket and Curragh Guineas, Cayton Park Stud and Susan Magnier's homebred put his best foot forward dropped back to seven furlongs to deny compatriot Take Charge Star (Starspangledbanner) by a neck in a pulsating finish. Third was Morris Dancer (Palace Pier),...

It all began with a pretty innocuous suggestion. Little did Craig Bernick know at the time but his mother Carol's plan to go and try to buy some colts instead of concentrating solely on fillies at the breeding stock sales would bear fruit at Royal Ascot less than two years down the line.  But in Nola Soul, one of five colt foals that Bernick purchased in the winter of 2024, the family now has a potential stallion prospect on their hands after the son of Justify backed up his impressive...

Justify had the favourite for Thursday's Listed Chesham Stakes Aix La Chapelle withdrawn at the start, but remarkably still filled the first two places with his sons Nola Soul and On Just Terms. Bred by John Gunther, the Fozzy Stack-trained TDN Rising Star Nola Soul was always prominent under Seamie Heffernan and stayed on to gain the advantage approaching the furlong pole en route to a half-length verdict over the Joseph O'Brien-trained newcomer On Just Terms. Aperoll (Ghaiyyath) was a head back in third. "From day one, he had the...

Craig Bernick's $220,000 Keeneland November graduate Nola Soul (Justify) is quite some way from being the finished article, but overcame greenness to secure an ultimately impressive debut success and a TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard, rosette in Friday evening's Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Leopardstown. The seven-furlong heat's recent winners include Italy (Wootton Bassett), Scorthy Champ (Mehmas), Deepone (Study Of Man) and Alfred Munnings (Dubawi), and he becomes the 13th Rising Star for his sire. "He was just about ready to start there today, he's a nice horse...

Bow Echo (Night Of Thunder) will face 14 rivals as he carries the silks of the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid in Saturday's G1 Betfred 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Unbeaten at two, the George Boughey-trained G2 Royal Lodge Stakes winner is the current favourite under Billy Loughnane who is looking for a first Classic victory, with that position at the head of the market not guaranteed now that Ballydoyle and Godolphin's plans are confirmed. Bow Echo was drawn on the wing in 15 nearest the stand's rail, the position of last...

Emerging on top in an eventful renewal of Leopardstown's G3 Ballylinch Stud Red Rocks Stakes on Sunday, Cayton Park Stud and Susan Magnier's Thesecretadversary (St Mark's Basilica) got the Fozzy Stack stable off to a flyer in 2026. "He had been working well this spring and the form was in the book," his trainer said. "We always thought he'd get a mile and although he was a bit keen there, I'm hoping it was just exuberance. He's in all the European Classics bar the Italian and I also entered him...

Rigsdale Stud knocked it out of the park last year and Barry Kennedy, who runs the operation alongside his partner Anna Murphy, speaks about his ambitions for the farm Few breeders navigated their way through last year's yearling sale season with such sniper-like precision as Barry Kennedy and Anna Murphy of Rigsdale Stud. A homebred Sioux Nation colt kick-started a memorable autumn for the couple when selling to Billy Jackson-Stops on behalf of George Scott for £100,000 at the Premier Yearling Sale at Doncaster.  Better still was to come for...

One of the early flagbearers for his first-crop sire St Mark's Basilica, Thesecretadversary became the landmark first black-type winner for Ballydoyle's former brilliant runner on Friday when breaking his maiden in the Listed Coolmore Stud Churchill Stakes. Expected to shed that tag when long odds-on at Ayr last month, Cayton Park Stud and Susan Magnier's Chesham runner-up put that blip firmly behind him with a length verdict over Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Brussels (Wootton Bassett) in the Tipperary feature. "I'm glad I got another chance after getting beaten at Ayr...

Everyone recognizes that with the glut of entertainment options today, it's harder and harder to provide experiences that really wow people. In the old days, a trainer would accept a horse from an owner, and hope to never hear from him again, or, to quote an old Charlie Whittingham adage, "Treat owners like mushrooms. Keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em horse manure." Those days are gone, and racing syndicates are now taking the game one step beyond mere communication—not only providing a constant stream of videos, trainer messages,...

Paddy Twomey's squad has been bolstered by the return of one-time leading Derby prospect Deepone (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}), with the trainer hinting at having assembled his strongest-ever team of horses for the year ahead.  Talented sprinter King Cuan (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) is another older horse who is reported to be back training well while Donagh O'Connor has joined the stable as second jockey behind Billy Lee. However, Twomey admitted to becoming increasingly frustrated by what he describes as 'disgraceful' levels of prize-money in Irish racing, and backed up...