Le Havre

Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), whose six victories included wins in last year's G1 Prix de Royallieu and G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. and this year's G2 Hardwicke S. and G2 Lillie Langtry S., has been retired after suffering a condylar fracture of a fetlock on Friday morning. Christopher Wright's 4-year-old filly had been an intended runner in Sunday's G2 Prix Foy at ParisLongchamp as a stepping stone toward the Oct. 3 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, trainer David Menuisier's goal since her Royallieu win. "She...

Nurlan Bizakov's breeding operation Sumbe has been expanded further with the purchase of Haras du Mézeray from the de Moussac family.  The acquisition of the 440-acre farm in Normandy follows the 2019 purchase of Haras de Montfort & Préaux, which is just 10 kms from Mézeray and is home to the Sumbe stallions Le Havre (Ire), Recorder (GB) and Golden Horde (Ire). The latter, who has just embarked on his first covering season, had his first mare scanned in foal on Thursday. Bizakov founded his breeding empire at Hesmonds Stud...

Triumph and disaster. In racing, the two are rarely far from each other. For David Menuisier to cast his mind back to last autumn will doubtless bring mixed emotions. At his local course of Goodwood on Sept. 23 he lost the horse who played an enormous part in the growing success of his stable, Thundering Blue (Exchange Rate). The 7-year-old's fatal injury in the listed Foundation S. was a cruel blow which brought the trainer and his partner Kim Johnstone to tears. But when the racing gods take, they so...

The Route des Etalons was established in 2010 in an attempt to stimulate a flagging French stallion scene. A little over a decade on, it could be said that it's 'job done'. That doesn't mean that the annual open weekend of Normandy studs has been shelved. Its popularity has grown year on year for breeders and bloodstock pilgrims alike, and it is only a global pandemic that has stopped it run in 2021. It will, however, be staged online across this weekend, with videos of the 108 stallions involved shown...

It is only a decade since the most expensive stallion at stud in France was Elusive City at €15,000. Yet to have runners at that stage were Le Havre (Ire) and Kendargent (Fr), who entered stud in 2010, followed by Siyouni (Fr) in 2011 and then Wootton Bassett (GB) the next year. Those are the four names who dominated the French sires' championship in 2020 and can take a large part of the credit for an increasingly dynamic stallion scene in France. Siyouni, who now commands a fee of €140,000...

Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), winner of the G1 Prix de Royallieu and the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. this month, will bypass this year's Breeders' Cup with a 4-year-old campaign in mind. "She's not going to the Breeders' Cup--I don't think it would be fair," said trainer David Menuisier. "If the filly was four and it was her last ever race, maybe we would have rolled the dice, but in this instance I think it would be greed. I would be scared to ask too much...

Yann Creff's colt by Le Havre (Ire) (lot 29) has been elevated to the top from Osarus's online breeze-up sale after being sold in a private transaction to Nicolas Bertran de Balanda for €60,000. The colt is the second foal out of the dual French listed-placed Galaxe (Fr) (High Chaparral {Ire}). The online sale, held on Tuesday, saw 32 juveniles sold from 63 offered on the day, but in the following two days five more horses have been sold. The clearance rate now stands at 57.8%.

European racing authorities are doubtless looking on with interest as Germany prepares to stage its first post-lockdown race meeting. That should have been on Monday, but a late intervention owing to a delayed government decision regarding the resumption of sporting fixtures, meant that on Saturday Dortmund was forced to call off its first race meeting. All eyes are now on Hannover, which has a 12-race card scheduled on Thursday with 189 entries. The easing of lockdown restrictions began in Germany on Apr. 20 and, in common with the phased approach...

Nine-year-old gelding Suedois (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) has been retired from racing, Racing Post reports, after a career in which he ran 50 times, winning 10 races, placing in 23 more and earning over £1.5-million. "For a horse like him to have amassed the prizemoney he has is quite phenomenal really," trainer David O'Meara told Racing Post. "There are plenty of top-class Group 1 horses that don't accumulate what he has in his career in terms of prizemoney and he'll definitely be missed around the yard." "He wouldn't have had...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today's Observations features a half-brother to champion 3-year-old Almanzor. 2.25 Chantilly, Debutantes, €25,000, 3yo, c/g, 9 1/2f (AWT) ANOTHER SKY (FR) (Le Havre {Ire}) is an intriguing newcomer on the card which sees the Dubai World Cup trials as a half-brother to the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and...