Oliver St Lawrence

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 Observations features No Retreat, last year's Arqana May Breeze Up topper. 19.00 Newcastle, Novice, £11,400, 3yo/up, 8f 5y (AWT) NO RETREAT (IRE) (Siyouni {Fr}) is a key debutante on a quiet day, having topped the charts at last year's Arqana May Breeze Up Sale when selling to Oliver...

Already a 2 1/2-length winner in her unveiling over this Meydan strip going 1400 metres on Dec. 22, Manama Gold (Star Guitar--Charged Cotton, by Dehere) doubled her tally with an imperious 9 1/4-length victory in the Cocoa Beach S. Presented By Jebel Ali Port over a mile there on Friday and became the latest 'TDN Rising Star'. The Victorious runner, trained by Fawzi Nass, raced in between rivals on the front end from the chute and dropped back for a breather rounding the bend as fellow front-runner Lahfaty (Mitole) asserted...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin NEWMARKET, UK--From a muted opening, Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale picked up the pace on Wednesday with a further four seven-figure lots gracing the ring. These sparked some solid bidding wars between established superpowers such as Coolmore, Godolphin and Juddmonte, with a decent representation of newer players from Bahrain and other Gulf nations, and strong participation from American-based Mike Ryan and Chad Brown. The ripples of Frankel (GB) combined with Hascombe & Valiant Stud were felt on the turf of Longchamp...

Lot 145, a son of Siyouni (Fr) and the Lope De Vega (Ire) mare Isabel De Urbina (Ire), became the most expensive yearling of Saturday's Arqana Breeze-Up session to that point, when selling for €1.2 million to Oliver St Lawrence on behalf of Bahraini buyers. Consigned by Brendan Holland's Grove Stud, the bay colt's dam won twice at listed level, and is a full-sister to dual group winner Manuela De Vega (Ire), who was also second in the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern. Grove Stud picked up the Merriebelle Irish...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training opened Tuesday with a session that produced figures nearly identical to the auction's 2022 opening session. "It was a good start to the sale," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "A lot of horses sold very well. And I'd like to think the strength will continue through the next three days. I feel pretty good about that. There are a lot of good horses left to sell." During Tuesday's...

The demand for high-end horses remained strong on Day 1 of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale as a Munnings colt (lot 47) consigned by Longways Stables led proceedings when selling to Oliver St Lawrence for 360,000gns. Bought by Ted Durcan and Mick and Sarah Murphy of Longways Stables for $150,000 at the Keeneland September Sale, the Munnings colt turned a handsome profit and will join trainer Roger Varian. "He's a very taking horse and Roger and I were keen on him," St Lawrence said. "He looks like a horse...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- A colt from the third crop of boom American stallion Gun Runner (lot 18) was hammered down to Stephen Hillen, agent for prominent owner Dr Jim Hay, for €543,210 to top Tuesday's second renewal of the Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale, held in the parade ring at Meydan Racecourse. On behalf of the Scotsman, Hillen also acquired the second-dearest offering of the evening, a Justify half-brother to GISW Fog of War (War Front) (lot 2), for the equivalent of €518,519. Following the withdrawal of 10 horses,...

Oliver St Lawrence has heaped praise on the bloodstock industry for coming together and supporting the online sale of stallion nominations in aid of the Giving To Ukraine charity and the Disasters Emergency Committee's Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal on Tuesday. The sale was hosted by Tattersalls and, according to St Lawrence, over £250,000 has been raised, but that figure is expected to rise to £300,000 by close of play on Wednesday. A nomination to Showcasing(GB)  topped the session when selling to Turquoise Bloodstock for 35,000gns while the La Australiana Partnership went...

A total of 78 stallions will have their nominations go under the hammer in the Tattersalls Online Charity Auction of Stallion Nominations which begins at noon on Monday, Feb. 20 and ends 24 hours later on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Organised by Oliver St. Lawrence, the charity auction benefits Giving to Ukraine and the Disasters Emergency Committee's Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal charities. There are nominations to the likes of Kodiac (GB), Nathaniel (Ire), Sea The Moon (Ger), Showcasing (GB), Sottsass (Fr), Territories (Ire), Time Test (GB), and The Grey Gatsby (Ire) among...

Top bloodstock agent Oliver St Lawrence has urged his fellow industry professionals to look kindly on the online sale of stallion nominations in aid of the Giving To Ukraine charity and the Disasters Emergency Committee's Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal that will be hosted by Tattersalls on Monday. The idea was first mentioned to St Lawrence at the Tattersalls December Sale by Stephen Byrnes, a well-known equine osteopath, who has undertaken a number of humanitarian missions to Ukraine and has witnessed first-hand the devastation caused in the war-torn country.  St Lawrence, who...

It has been another banner week for the breeze-up sector, not to mention the burgeoning Bahraini participation in European racing.  Following Classic victories for Cachet (Ire), Native Trail (GB) and Eldar Eldarov (GB), more graduates of the two-year-old sales scene lifted one of last weekend's major races in Britain, the G2 Mill Reef Stakes, and also the G3 Stockholm Cup.  Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) was imperious in the Mill Reef, and was the standout in a magnificent seven winners on Saturday for Roger Varian, which also included landing a Group...

Breeze-up king Willie Browne, who sold G1 1000 Guineas heroine Speciosa (Ire), G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire) and many more top-notchers, is allowing himself to believe that recent graduate Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) could be the real deal after he coasted to an effortless victory at Haydock on Thursday. The 76-year-old bought Sakheer for $65,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sales in 2021 before producing the colt to top the Arqana Breeze-up Sale in May of this year. Sakheer was bought by Oliver St Lawrence for...