Scandinavia

Aidan O'Brien already has Lambourn for the St Leger, but judged by the way Scandinavia went through Thursday's G3 Bahrain Trophy plans for the Doncaster Classic could yet evolve. Storming to an 8 1/2-length success in the July Festival's 13-furlong opener, the son of Justify who was making a big leap from the Queen's Vase is seen as a key staying prospect by connections. "We could have some fun with him over those longer distances now," Paul Smith said of the heavily-supported 11-8 favourite. "He seems to be progressing nicely...

Newmarket's mile maiden on Friday evening's card holds a special place as the race that hosted the debut of Frankel (GB), not to mention Motivator (GB) and others who went on to make their mark in the big league, and this year it was the turn of Julian Richmond-Watson to enjoy the spoils courtesy of his newcomer Anniversary (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}--Lixirova {Fr}, by Slickly {Fr}). Racing prominently from the outset under Rob Hornby, the 16-1 shot gained the edge approaching the furlong marker and stayed on strongly to...

Tackling Leopardstown's often-informative Frank Conroy Irish EBF Maiden with vital experience, Marc Chan's homebred Green Impact (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Emerald Green {GB}, by Galileo {Ire}) made that edge count as he denied a pair of Ballydoyle bluebloods to open his account in the mile contest. Slowly away before rushed up to shadow the leader in second, the Jessica Harrington-trained 11-8 favourite was committed by Shane Foley approaching the furlong pole and stayed on strongly to account for Ryan Moore's pick of the Aidan O'Brien-trained duo Delacroix (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) by...

Italy's major races will see the most significant downgrades among European countries after the European Pattern Committee announced alterations to the 2023 Flat programme Wednesday, as a host of that country's major races are set to be demoted in status. There will be 827 black-type races run in Europe this year, compared to the 852 in 2022, while group races have been cut by 13 to 412 and listed races drop to 415 from 427. One of the most significant changes to the Irish programme comes in the case of...