Lady Chryss O'Reilly

DEAUVILLE, France--First went the Irish, then the French. For some, it was a woeful weekend in the sporting world outside horseracing as the Rugby World Cup quarter finals left only England standing among the European nations to go forward to the next round at the Stade de France.  Plenty of sales folk huddled around the screen at Deauville racecourse on Sunday evening to see the home team's dreams shattered, but by Monday morning the focus was fully back on the horses and the next week of yearling action ahead.  Before...

It's the time of year which most trainers must dread as they juggle spending time in their yards and at the races with attending yearling sales here, there and everywhere. One who will doubtless be patrolling the sales grounds of Doncaster and Baden-Baden this week with an extra pep in his step is Ralph Beckett. Marc Chan, one of Beckett's principal owners, had four runners in the past week and all four won. Even more remarkably, three of those victories came in stakes contests on the same day at three...