National stakes

Connections of Al Riffa (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the brilliant G1 National S. winner, are confident that they have a Guineas horse on their hands and are predicting Joseph O'Brien's exciting colt to be even better next year. Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alattiyah, a familiar face on Irish racecourses and on the sales circuit, was at the Curragh on Sunday to see Al Riffa, owned by his cousin Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah, tower over his rivals. Not only did Al Riffa provide crack youngster Dylan Browne McMonagle with his first...

Godolphin's 2018 G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. winner Quorto (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), not seen on a racecourse since that triumph, suffered a fatal injury on the gallops in Newmarket on Thursday. Bred by Godolphin, Quorto was trained by Charlie Appleby and won his three starts at two. He broke his maiden at Newmarket before taking the G2 Superlative S. during this same week two years ago prior to his Group 1 success. Quorto was ruled out of the G1 2000 Guineas last March after suffering a training setback in...