Niarchos Family

Classic-placed Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) has died after suffering a heart attack while cantering last Monday. Alan Cooper, the Niarchos family's racing manager, confirmed the news to TDN Europe on Thursday. The G3 Ballysax S. winner and G1 Irish Derby runner-up was five. "Very sadly he had a heart attack last Monday doing a regular canter under Gavin Ryan who landed safely on his feet," Cooper said. "No previous indications that this would be likely to happen. He was a lovely individual who everyone liked." A Flaxman Stables homebred, the...

Coolmore Stud spent €19m and equalled its own record set for the highest price paid at public auction in Ireland 10 years ago for Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) by flexing its buying power to secure half-sisters Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) and Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) for €6m apiece from the Niarchos draft at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale on Friday. Alpine Star, the brilliant G1 Coronation S. winner, and multiple Group 1 and Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Alpha Centauri, carried the Niarchos family's colours with...

Hailing from the Norelands consignment, That Which Is Not (Elusive Quality--Shiva {Jpn}, by Hector Protector) became the third mare to clear the €3-million mark from the Niarchos family's bloodstock restructuring, with MV Magnier shelling out €3.3 million at Goffs late in the session. Lot 1260, in foal to Juddmonte's Frankel (GB), has already produced G3 Ballysax S. hero Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}), who was runner-up in the G1 Irish Derby and third in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Her dam did win the Tattersalls Gold Cup, and this is...

One of the reasons that the Racing League has struggled to catch on is that the organisers have underestimated the attachment that regular racegoers and viewers have to certain sets of silks. We all have our favourites, often depending on when we were born and who the leading lights were at the time.  Some have now faded from everyday use, and for this fan the Ballymacoll Stud colours are much missed. Certain silks have such resonance that one almost doesn't need to have a race card handy to have an...

The "restructuring" of how the Niarchos family's breeding empire will operate means Classic winner Alpha Centauri and Group 1 scorer Alpine Star will go under the hammer at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale. Albigna, Fiesolana, Tapestry and a raft of other top-class mares in foal to stallions such as Frankel, Dubawi, Wootton Bassett, No Nay Never and more will feature among the draft. The offering will number 44 mares all told and Alan Cooper, the operation's racing manager, was keen to stress that the draft was not a dispersal...

Antony Beck (Gainesway Farm), Alan Cooper (Niarchos Family/Flaxman Holdings Ltd.) and Bret Jones (Airdrie Stud) were each re-elected to serve a four-year term on the Breeders' Cup Board, the organization said in a release Wednesday afternoon. "We congratulate Antony, Alan and Bret upon their re-election to the Board," said Barbara Banke, Chairman of Breeders' Cup Limited. "We look forward to their continued advice and counsel to the Company in many important initiatives, including critical areas of equine safety and welfare and further enhancing the growth and international impact of the...

The Niarchos Family has had no shortage of Classic success over the years, including at Epsom, where they won a memorably emotional Oaks with the Sir Henry Cecil-trained Light Shift (Kingmambo), but there is to date one omission from their roll call of big-race wins. "We've always dreamt of winning the Derby. We haven't yet, but let's hope that Saturday can go the right way," Alan Cooper, the operation's racing manager, told TDN on Wednesday.  That dream could become reality if Passenger continues to show the level of improvement that...

Historic French stud farm Haras de Fresnay-le Buffard, which has been home to the winners of 45 European Classics, has been put on the market for an undisclosed price by the Niarchos Family. Located in the heart of Normandy, the 205-hectare farm (506 acres) has been under Niarchos ownership since being purchased in 1979 by the late Stavros Niarchos from prominent French owner-breeder Marcel Boussac. Alan Cooper, Racing Manager to the Niarchos Family, said, "It is emotional for the family to say goodbye to Fresnay, but as our racing and...

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)...

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. Tuesday's Insights features debuting Tabarin (Ire) (Frankel ({GB}) and 'Rising Star' Eldar Eldarov (Dubawi {Ire}). 2.25 Saint-Cloud, Debuntates, €27,000, 3yo, c/g, 12fT TABARIN (IRE) (Frankel {GB}) debuts for the Niarchos Family and Francis-Henri Graffard and is a son of the G3 Prix Vanteaux winner and G1 Prix Saint-Alary runner-up...

Connections of leading G1 Cazoo Derby hope Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses) have been provided with a massive boost ahead of Epsom after legendary rider Frankie Dettori committed to ride the Donnacha O'Brien-trained colt in the Classic on June 4. Dettori made his Derby breakthrough in 2007 aboard Authorized (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) for Peter Chapple-Hyam as well as partnering John Gosden's Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) to victory in the race back in 2015 and he will bid to win the iconic race for a third time aboard the impressive...

Group 1 winner Discoveries (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) is set for the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot in June, trainer Jessica Harrington revealed. The bay's full-sister Alpha Centauri (Ire) and half-sister Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) both won the contest in 2018 and 2020, respectively. She will attempt to become the third filly out of Alpha Lupi (Ire) (Rahy) to complete the hat trick in the Niarchos family's Flaxman colours. Harrington said, "The plan is to go to Ascot to get the three fillies to win the Coronation...