Saxon Warrior

Maybe, the former European champion two-year-old filly and dam of 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior, has died at the age of 17. A report on the Coolmore website stated that the daughter of Galileo had succumbed to "a sudden illness". "She was the loveliest, sweetest mare and will be greatly missed by all of those who took such great care of her during her time here," said Coolmore manager James Mockridge. A €340,000 yearling purchased at the Arqana August Sale from Croom House Stud, Maybe remained unbeaten through her juvenile...

In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the Breeders' Cup meeting. Ethical Diamond Hands Mullins The Turf Training maestro Willie Mullins landed the biggest Flat victory of his career with Ethical Diamond (Awtaad) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf on Saturday (video). A winner of a brace of valuable handicaps across the pond, the five-year-old gelding has also run seven of his lifetime starts over hurdles. Bred by W. Kennedy, Ethical Diamond is owned...

Saxon Warrior's Victoria Road won a six-furlong Warwick Farm trial on Friday morning Down Under. A winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in 2022 for the Coolmore partners and Aidan O'Brien, the six-year-old gelding was having his second trial since 2023. Privately purchased by Ozzie Kheir and Halo Racing Services prior to the 2023 G1 Cox Plate, he motored home on Friday a quarter-length winner over Miss Hades (Hellbent). MV Magnier purchased the gelding for 115,000gns from Ballyhimikin Stud out of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

ASCOT, UK -- If the wait had been a while for Golden Horn to have his first Group 1 winner on the Flat, for the coterie of folk involved with his son Trawlerman it had been a worthwhile one.  "He's just like his father - very brave," said John Gosden as he assessed the performance of Trawlerman in the Gold Cup, Thursday's showpiece event. "When they go wire to wire like that, it takes a bit of doing." It was something the old warhorse had attempted last year, when still...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Dreamloper. 15.50 Newbury, £40,000, Nov, 3yo, f, 8fT In-form trainer Ed Walker is represented here by DREAMASAR (IRE) (Masar {Ire}), a half-sister to the stable's G1 Prix d'Ispahan and G1 Prix du Moulin heroine Dreamloper (Ire) (Lope De Vega...

With a royal audience, Continuous (Jpn) became the seventh winner of the St Leger for Aidan O'Brien, relegating the King and Queen's runner Desert Hero (GB) to third, just as Pour Moi (Ire) had done in the Derby with Carlton House back in 2011 in front of the late Queen. There were plenty of strands to an enthralling St Leger that would have made for good storylines: two of those, victory for Desert Hero with his owners present on Town Moor, or a final British Classic for Frankie Dettori, may...

King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) heads the 13 still standing for Saturday's Royal Bahrain Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown on a weekend where the colt's owners Amo Racing could bid for a Group 1 double with Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on course for the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S on Sunday.  Trained by Roger Varian, King Of Steel heads the betting for the Irish Champions Stakes, the showpiece event of the rebranded Irish Champions Festival, and connections of the colt are predicting a bold display.  "It's a...

Five years ago this week, Katie Walsh took Relegate (Ire) from going nowhere to the Cheltenham Festival winner's enclosure when galvanising the mare to come from last to first to take the Champion Bumper in pulsating fashion.  Little did we know at the time, but that Cheltenham success was to be Walsh's last, as she bowed out on a winner at her beloved Punchestown Festival the following month. A lot has changed in those five years since. Along with her husband Ross O'Sullivan, a prominent trainer in his own right...

First job in the Thoroughbred industry? Mucking out at Guirys 1 in Coolmore Ireland on my year out from University. I think there were 20 foals in the barn - 18 by Sadler's Wells and two by Danehill. Biggest influence on your career? Ultimately, my father, who introduced both my brother William and I to racing. He loved his National Hunt and we spent many a happy afternoon at Huntingdon and Towcester. Later in life, both Richard Henry and Simon Mockridge played major roles in my experience and development. Favourite...

Having provided the winners of this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane, Prix Jacques le Marois, Grand Prix de Paris and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Frankel (GB), unsurprisingly, has been named the champion sire of France in 2022. He ceded his position as champion in Britain and Ireland to Dubawi (Ire), whom he finished in front of when it comes to overall European earnings. Of the winners of the above named Group 1 races--Alpinista (GB), Nashwa (GB), Inspiral (GB) and Onesto (Ire)--all bar Alpinista remain in training...

Not only did Havana Grey (GB) record more individual winners and total wins than any of his first-season sire rivals in Great Britain and Ireland, but he also broke the £1-million marker for total earnings, which is why he deservedly wears the champion freshman stallion crown. Those earnings were propped up by big sales race winners Shouldvebeenaring (GB) and Eddie's Boy (GB), with the latter going on to bag a Group 3 before selling for 320,000gns at the Tattersalls horses-in-training sale in October. Havana Grey had 36 winners for 76...

Two of the most exciting colts to look forward to as three-year-olds in 2023 are in the same stable, hail from the same family and the same sire-line. The Ballydoyle duo of Auguste Rodin (Ire) and Victoria Road (Ire) concluded their juvenile seasons with victories, respectively, in the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, and they are a son and grandson of Deep Impact (Jpn), the latter being by the late Shadai resident's Classic-winning son Saxon Warrior (Jpn). Auguste Rodin is in fact bred on the...