No Speak Alexander

Mountarmstrong Stud's Noel O'Callaghan declared himself "delighted" after Amo Racing stretched to €1 million to secure his Night Of Thunder filly during Tuesday's session of the Goffs Orby Sale, telling the assembled press pack, "If you don't get a kick out of selling a yearling for €1 million, you never will." Lot 298 is the second foal out of No Speak Alexander (Shalaa), Mountarmstrong's homebred winner of the G1 Matron Stakes. No Speak Alexander, in turn, is out of the Listed scorer Rapacity Alexander (Dandy Man), a full-sister to the...

It's a childish game but I've long amused myself by seeing how many song titles can be weaved into headlines and this weekend's results provided an open goal for a Neil Young classic, not once but twice.  Two hurricanes blew across Town Moor on Saturday at the opposite ends of the distance spectrum. Hurricane Ivor (Ire) (Ivawood {GB}) is an admirable sprinter who has bounced back from a blistering debut for Fabrice Chappet and subsequent illness that ruled him out of much of his juvenile season. He has been creeping...

It has been a strange year and the Covid pandemic has meant that we have had to revolutionise the way we try to keep owners informed. We use a very good system now called Racing Manager and we do a lot of videoing of the horses, talking to their lads, talking to the jockeys. Because people haven't been allowed to come racing we interview the jockeys in the parade ring before racing, take photos of the horses in the parade ring and afterwards and then another video with the jockey's...