Magna Grecia

Arena Racing Company (ARC), Doncaster Racecourse and Qatar Racing have partnered this year to sponsor the G1 Kameko Futurity Trophy, the organisations announced in a joint statement on Friday. The one-mile event, worth £200,000, is the final Group 1 of the British Flat season and is set to be contested on Saturday, Oct. 28. A total of 66 entries remain, including Aidan O'Brien's unbeaten G1 National S. winner Henry Longfellow (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). "We are delighted to be able to support the 2023 Kameko Futurity Trophy, a race that consistently...

Saturday may be April Fools' Day but there will be no fool's errand for the 17 juveniles charged with getting their racing careers off to a bright start in Britain's traditional turf season opener, the Pertemps Network EBF Brocklesby S. Love it or loathe it, the Brocklesby carries with it that great sigh of relief from Flat fans that winter is at last over and 'proper racing' can now commence. For the men and women behind the stallions with their first runners this season, it is also an important marker,...

A World Cup meeting needs world-class runners plus a global spread of results. This much and more was delivered by the 27th Dubai World Cup and supporting races at Meydan on Saturday. With 26 runners on the night, it was always a given that Japan would feature prominently and, in an exhibition of excellence that we are now becoming accustomed to, they led all comers, just as they had in Riyadh last month. The performance of Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) alone was pretty dramatic, coming from tailed off to...

It's early-February and already the Flat enthusiasts are getting excited about what stallion will end the season as champion first-season sire. A futile exercise, one would have thought? Not a bit of it. Even the greatest handlers of young stock, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O'Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, men who know better than most the folly that comes with predicting 2-year-old talent, are keen to have their say on which up-and-coming stallion can make the biggest splash this season.  O'Brien is sticking loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire)...

The insatiable demand for foals was evident in the figures recorded at Goffs last week with turnover rising 16% to €29,561,000 and the average climbing 16% to €40,110. At the top end of the market, Kingman (GB) dominated with three foals by the Juddmonte-based stallion selling for a combined €1,540,000 and one of Europe's leading pinhookers Philipp Stauffenberg signing for the €550,000 top lot by the sire.  Tally-Ho Stud may be best known for being sellers but they pipped Stauffenberg for the biggest spenders title by signing for 19 foals...

News that Johnny Hassett was diagnosed with cancer last year was met with widespread support and generosity in the bloodstock and racing world and now the man behind The Bloodstock Connection and more recently the Get In The Game Syndicate is hell-bent on giving back to those who supported him when he needed it most. So, how is he going to do it? By doing what he does best; sourcing good horses. This season, every yearling that Hassett sources for next year's breeze-ups will be offered up for sale in...

This is the week where the first serious claims are staked for future bragging rights in the stallion ranks and the season's hopes and waffle that goes with first-season sires are cast aside as the market provides some shape and substance.  There seems to be a strong whiff of No Nay Never in the air after the devastatingly-good performance of Little Big Bear in Saturday's G1 Phoenix S. at the Curragh. This, of course, is great news for Coolmore as Ten Sovereigns (Ire), one of No Nay Never's best sons,...

In the latest edition of our Value Sires Series, we arrive at stallions with their first yearlings in 2022. The Darley duo of Too Darn Hot (GB) and Blue Point (Ire) retired as the two breakout horses of this group on fees, and that is how they wound up their first sales season. Too Darn Hot, the beautifully bred son of Dubawi who was a champion at two and three, retired at £50,000 at Dalham Hall Stud, and his 11 foals sold last year averaged €131,148/£111,964-the best foal sale average...

We kicked off our annual Value Sires series earlier this week with a look at the new class of sires entering stud in 2021, and today we move on to the group with their first foals set to hit the ground in the coming months. While it is not always a straightforward task to pinpoint value in unproven sires, the ripple effects of the global pandemic make the exercise a little more interesting this year. While it has become the norm for some young sires to get fee cuts in...

G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy and G1 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}-Cabaret {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) and Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}-Helleborine {GB}, by Observatory), winner of the G2 Coventry S. at two and the G3 Pavilion S. at three, will shuttle to Coolmore Australia later this year. Both are currently standing their first seasons at Coolmore's Irish headquarters for €22,500. "We are delighted to welcome two very exciting new sires in Calyx and Magna Grecia to Coolmore Australia," said Coolmore Australia's Nominations and Sales Manager Colm Santry....

Every year there is huge excitement as the new wave of first-season sires is announced. After those announcements come the visits to the various studs that house new recruits in eager attempts to see racehorses that caught the eye on the track and potentially mate up that mare that had been penciled in. Coolmore Stud in Fethard, Co. Tipperary, is always high on the list for breeders not only for the bloodlines it is home to, but also for a peek at the impressive facilities and the empire that has...