Sottsass (Fr)

Sottsass (Fr) had two deeply promising fillies in Saint-Cloud's Prix Kizil Kourgan on Tuesday and despite his Ultrafragola (Ire) starting favourite it was the other daughter Safia (Fr) who emerged best to earn TDN Rising Star status. Carrying the colours of racing and breeding's rising force David Layani, the Fabrice Chappet-trained descendant of Sophisticat (Storm Cat) and Serena's Song (Rahy) travelled easily throughout the mile Classic pointer under Cristian Demuro and readily held White Birch Farm's TDN Rising Star Ultrafragola by two lengths. Chappet was pointing to the May 11...

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 pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' returning from long absences. 2.30 Saint-Cloud, Cond, €28,000, 3yo, c/g, 8fT GUN OF BRIXTON (FR) (Frankel {GB}) was one of the 2024 cast of TDN Rising Stars after his win at Clairefontaine in July and so this first subsequent outing...

Arc hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) has been sold and he will stand under the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association banner at Shinzunai Stallion Station beginning in 2025. The news was confirmed by Coolmore to TDN Europe on Saturday morning. Bred by Ecurie des Monceaux, the €340,000 Arqana August grad and Jean-Claude Rouget trainee also won the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and ran third in the Arc at three. Kept in training at four, he added the G1 Prix Ganay besides his Arc heroics for Peter Brant's White Birch Farm...

   Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), a full-brother to G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr), has been given a rating of 123 by Timeform. Third in Saturday's G1 Irish Champion Stakes, the Yoshito Yahagi runner was formerly rated 114. The race report by the publication read, "Shin Emperor, placed in the Japanese Derby when last seen in May, ran really well on his first start in Europe, finishing one place better than his full-brother, Sottsass, had in this race in 2022, and it would be no surprise...

Japanese raider Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) is on course to attempt an ambitious Group 1 double in the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after coming through a racecourse gallop at Longchamp on Sunday morning. Trained by Yoshito Yahagi, whose many international successes include a Breeders' Cup double in 2021, Shin Emperor was last seen in competitive action when finishing third in the G1 Japanese Derby in May. He arrived in Chantilly towards the end of last month and has slowly been building up his...

After making the long journey from his Japanese base, Group 3 winner Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) arrived in Chantilly on August 27 ahead of an intended engagement in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The three-year-old will use Chantilly as his training base ahead of Longchamp's marquee race on the first Sunday in October. Victorious in last season's G3 Kyoto Nisai Stakes, he was runner-up in the G1 Hopeful Stakes. This season, he has finished second in the G2 Deep Impact Kinen at Nakayama and third in the...

Deauville August is underway and with it a new TDN Rising Star as White Birch Farm's homebred Ultrafragola (Ire) (Sottsass {Fr}--Toinette, by Scat Daddy) provided her Prix du Jockey Club and Arc-winning first-crop sire with a sensational breakthrough winner turning the Prix des Marettes into a procession. Well found in the market as the 7-5 favourite, the Jean-Claude Rouget-trained daughter of the four-times graded-stakes winner travelled strongly for Christophe Soumillon in the wake of the early leader Marques (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}). Looming to that stablemate two out, she was...

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. Sunday's Observations features a daughter of pricy auction grad Toinette (Scat Daddy). 14.33 Deauville, Debutantes, €50,000, 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT ULTRAFRAGOLA (IRE) (Sottsass {Fr}) is a notable runner for White Birch Farm on this Deauville August opening card, being a daughter of Peter Brant's $800,000 Keeneland November purchase Toinette...

Just a handful of days after her passing from colic, Ecurie des Monceaux's star broodmare Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) came up with her fourth group winner, the now two-for-two Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who won the G3 Radio Nikkei Hai Kyoto Nisai S. at Kyoto on Saturday. The chestnut full-brother to G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) was made the 5-2 pick by the Kyoto faithful, but his task was not made easier when he made a slight hop at the break and...

As the only trainer to bring a winner of the "new" Prix du Jockey Club to the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and succeed, Jean-Claude Rouget can be forgiven his aura of zen ahead of the all-important Paris rendezvous for Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}) on Sunday. While the yard's Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) took more than a year to complete the difficult double, late September's freak heatwave means that the 2023 edition of this autumn jewel is not the dire test it habitually represents for the Classic...

The G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club conqueror Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}) will head straight to the Oct. 1 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe following his recent victory in Deauville's G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano. Conditioned by Jean-Claude Rouget, the undefeated colt gave Rouget back-to-back Group 1 wins this season and will aim to become the trainer's second victor in Europe's richest middle-distance contest behind multiple Group 1-winner Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). A long-circled date on the calendar for the connections, the team is reportedly happy with Ace Impact's...

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 the eagerly-awaited seasonal debut of a 'TDN Rising Star'. 2.25 Saint-Cloud, Cond, €28,000, 3yo, c/g, 8fT VALIMI (FR) (Teofilo {Ire}) has already flashed talent last term and makes his 3-year-old bow for The Aga Khan and Jean-Claude Rouget in this Prix Comrade won 12 months ago...