Frankel

Little Big Bear (Ire) has been named Europe's champion juvenile for 2022 and becomes the 12th European champion 2-year-old to have been trained by Aidan O'Brien. The son of No Nay Never, who was bred by Camas Park Stud and Summerhill, achieved his top rating of 124 for his seven-length rout in the G1 Keeenland Phoenix S. at the Curragh. The victory was the culmination of four straight wins in five starts, including the Listed Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot and the G3 Anglesey S. "We always thought from...

Value is relative. A homebred yearling by a lowly stallion who goes on to reap rich rewards on the track, or one by a more fashionably expensive name who brings a bonanza return in the sale ring could each be considered to have offered 'value' for their breeders. In a slight departure from the norm for this annual series, we will be looking at the profitability of stallions in four key price brackets according to their yearling sales returns of 2022 set against their fees at the time of covering,...

A large part of the fun that comes with following racing and the bloodstock game is predicting the future. Who will win the Derby? Who might top the Orby Sale? What freshman sires are here to stay and which ones will drift into the abyss? Well, we've looked deep into the TDN Europe crystal ball for 2023 to see if we can come up with the answers to the burning questions for the year ahead. Enjoy! January If you think he had a good Christmas, wait until you see how...

First job in the Thoroughbred industry? Cheap labour on my parents' stud farm; breaking in horses with my brother Louis. Biggest influence on your career? Serving in the commando paratroopers for building my determination. On the horse front it was inspecting Derby sale horses with George Mernagh in Ireland and yearlings with Rogers Beasley in Kentucky. Favourite racehorse of all time, and why? Has to be Frankel, not only for his performances but for the great story that it brings to the sport. For Juddmonte's skills of breeding the best...

Having provided the winners of this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane, Prix Jacques le Marois, Grand Prix de Paris and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Frankel (GB), unsurprisingly, has been named the champion sire of France in 2022. He ceded his position as champion in Britain and Ireland to Dubawi (Ire), whom he finished in front of when it comes to overall European earnings. Of the winners of the above named Group 1 races--Alpinista (GB), Nashwa (GB), Inspiral (GB) and Onesto (Ire)--all bar Alpinista remain in training...

The recent football World Cup featured a few surprises, with several high-profile teams losing out to supposed lesser lights. That situation is not a mirror of what happened in the General Sires' Table of Great Britain and Ireland in 2022, when the established stars held their position so well that the first five in the 2021 table are the first five in the 2022 table, albeit in a different order. The most notable change in the order is one which many observers will applaud: Dubawi (Ire) has gained his deserved...

Welcome to our annual assessment of Bluegrass sire prospects for the approaching covering season. As last year, we're going to confine our focus largely to a "Value Podium" for each intake--rather than attempt, as in the past, an exhaustive (not to say exhausting) assessment of every stallion in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Believe me, it wasn't always easy to find something adequately civil to say about every last one! But the fact is that this is only ever one person's opinion and, as such, a hopelessly subjective exercise. By restricting...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin NEWMARKET, UK--It wasn't too hard to imagine that a Kingman (GB) half-sister to this season's leading juvenile Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) would steal the show at Tattersalls, and with shades of two years ago it was Juddmonte that swooped for the weanling from Whitsbury Manor Stud's increasingly influential broodmare Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) at an even million gns. This time though Juddmonte's general manager Simon Mockridge was forced to stake almost double the amount it took to buy Chaldean, and that is largely...

Philipp Stauffenberg broke new ground at the November Foal Sale at Goffs on Wednesday by signing for a Kingman (GB) half-brother to Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy) for a sales-topping €550,000 on a day where the Juddmonte-based stallion shined brightest. The Airlie Stud-consigned colt is not just a half-brother to that 2018 champion 2-year-old filly in Ireland but also the promising Charlie Appleby-trained Victory Dance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and the €550,000 it took to buy him represented a new record for Stauffenberg. The fact that lot 727 boasted a stallion's pedigree...

The reigning champion sire Frankel (GB) has had his fee increased to £275,000 for the 2023 breeding season. In another stellar year, the Juddmonte stallion has been responsible for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista (GB) along with the Classic winners Westover (GB), Nashwa (GB) and Homeless Songs (Ire), and the Dewhurst S. winner Chaldean (GB). A statement released by Juddmonte on Wednesday read, "Following on from an exceptional 2021 season, we have seen Frankel further strengthen his reputation as a world-class sire with nine individual Group 1...

G1 Investec Derby hero Ruler of The World (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}-Love Me True, by Kingmambo) and Morpheus (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}--Kind {Ire}), by Danehill), a half-brother to champion and leading sire Frankel (GB), will stand the 2023 season at Scuderia Melissa Cipriani - San Piero in Barca, Castelnuovo Berardenga (Siena). Previously, the former stood at Haras de Bouquetot for €5,000 while the latter stood at Haras de Toury at a fee of €2,800. The sire of Group 1 winners Iridessa (Ire) and La Petite Coco (Ire), Ruler of The World--who...

Shadwell will announce details relating to Baaeed (GB)'s stud career later this week, according to the owner-breeder's racing manager Angus Gold, who also revealed that Group 1-winning sprinter Minzaal (Ire) will be joining their roster ahead of the next year's breeding season. However, Baaeed's brother Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), whose career hung in the balance after he suffered an injury when winning the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom, returned to training with Owen Burrows on Monday and is expected to make a return to the track in 2023....