Sir Michael Stoute

Ted Durcan has quickly established himself as one of the most respected bloodstock agents on the beat since retiring from race-riding with over 1,500 winners under his belt at the age of 45 in 2018.  In a career that spanned 25 years, Durcan achieved Classic success aboard Light Shift in the Oaks in 2007 before partnering Mastery to St Leger glory in 2007. He also enjoyed hugely successful periods abroad and was crowned champion jockey in the UAE on seven occasions.  In many ways, bloodstock has proved to be a...

Multiple group winner Passenger is on the comeback trail and is reportedly thriving at new trainer George Scott's base ahead of a potential return at Royal Ascot next month. The Niarchos family-owned runner and former Sir Michael Stoute trainee underwent surgery in August and has been recovering since. "When Passenger arrived we were very much seeing which direction he took us in after his injuries, but he's been training beautifully and I'm very pleased with his trajectory at the moment," said Scott of the Flaxman Stables homebred. "You can easily...

James Horton has secured a lease on Beech Hurst Stables in Newmarket and will continue his training career there. It is the former base of the recently retired Sir Michael Stoute. Stoute, who trained star-crossed G1 Derby hero Shergar (GB) (Great Nephew {GB}) at Beech Hurst, later expanded to Freemason Lodge. The 37-year-old Horton, a former Stoute assistant for seven years, previously trained for John Dance, who subsequently came under investigation for fraud last spring. Horton announced he was relocating to Newmarket in September of 2023, and was based out...

Kia Joorabchian has submitted an offer to buy Freemason Lodge, the long-term base of retiring trainer Sir Michael Stoute, the Amo Racing founder told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast on Tuesday. Stoute brought a training career spanning more than five decades to an end when he saddled his final runner at Yarmouth last week and Joorabchian has now confirmed his ambition to purchase the yard in Newmarket from which Stoute sent out the majority of his 16 British Classic winners. Joorabchian, whose spending spree at Book 1 of the Tattersalls...

At the start of each season the late Sir Henry Cecil would buy a large notebook and divide its final pages into squares, "like a crossword puzzle," to be filled in, one by one, when he trained a winner. Group wins were inked-in in colour. Each victory would send him to the trainers' championship table in the Racing Post, to see whether he had moved up, or further "in front of Michael Stoute, or any nearer to John Gosden." With Sir Michael Stoute's last turf runner, at Nottingham last week,...

John and Thady Gosden will be the new trainers of Nightwalker (GB) when he returns to the track in 2025, following a third-place finish in the G3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket on his final start for Sir Michael Stoute, who is due to retire at the end of the year. The son of Frankel (GB) opened his account at the second attempt at Yarmouth in September, before running an encouraging race when thrown into deeper waters at Newmarket, staying on gradually to pass the post around four lengths behind Saturday's...

There will be a time in the future when Sir Michael Stoute stands as a figure of fond recall in these parts, so his final Cambridgeshire meeting is something for the purists to savour as Newmarket begins its autumn-long farewell symphony in honour of one of its favourite adopted sons. Denied of late the frequency of elite 2-year-olds that was once a given at Freemason Lodge, the Barbadian has at least one more who could fit into that bracket with unerring timing in TDN Rising Star Formal (GB) (Dubawi {Ire})....

Sir Michael Stoute trainee Anna Swan (GB) (Almanzor {Fr}--Vivionn {GB}, by Dubawi {Ire}), a G1 Fillies' Mile entry who notched an impressive 5 1/2-length win at Great Yarmouth last month, remained on an upward trajectory and made all to post a two-length tally in Friday's Dubai Duty Free Full Of Surprises British EBF Fillies' Conditions Stakes at Newbury.   🇬🇧 British EBF Fillies' Conditions Stakes @NewburyRacing @BritishEBF Newbury - Classe 2 - 2 ans - 1408m - 4 Pts 🏆Anna Swan 🏇William Buick @WilliamBuickX 📖(Almanzor (Fr) @Haras_d_Etreham - Vivionn (Gb)...

Sir Michael Stoute, who announced his impending retirement earlier in the day, was very much in business-as-usual mode as 'TDN Rising Star' Formal (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}--Veracious {GB}, by Frankel {GB}) added to her impressive debut success at Newbury in July with an equally taking 2 1/2-length tally in Tuesday's British EBF Fillies' Novice Stakes at Leicester. 3rd-Leicester, £9,000, Nov, 9-10, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:29.82, sf. FORMAL (GB) (f, 2, Dubawi {Ire}--Veracious {GB} {G1SW-Eng, $597,607}, by Frankel {GB}), who attained 'TDN Rising Star' status in her July 25 debut over this...

Sir Michael Stoute, the ten-time champion trainer in Britain, has announced his intention to retire from the training ranks at the end of this season. Now 78, Stoute is one of the longest-serving trainers in Newmarket, where he has been based since 1972. With more than 4,000 winners to his credit, he has been responsible for six Derby winners among his 16 British Classic triumphs, beginning with Shergar in 1981 and, most recently, the 2022 winner Desert Crown.  "I would like to thank all my owners and staff for the...

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. Tuesday's Observations features a TDN Rising Star who impressed on debut. 15.10 Leicester, Novice, £9,000, 2yo, f, 7fT FORMAL (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) made an instant impact on debut at Newbury in July and would have been a warm order for the G3 Prestige Stakes had the rain not come and...

Flaxman Stables homebred and multiple group winner Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}) is recovering well from surgery and has started his rehabilitation, according to Niarchos family racing manager Alan Cooper. A winner of three of his six starts, the G2 Huxley Stakes and G3 Winter Hill Stakes hero, who placed in the G2 Dante Stakes last year, sustained a condylar fracture when third to Alflaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the G2 York Stakes on July 27. The Sir Michael Stoute trainee has since undergone surgery to repair the injury. Cooper said,...