Space Blues

We're off. Well, sort of. In a manner reminiscent of the sputtering start to the Flat turf season, Seven Days returns this week but is immediately taking a short break before promising to be back in time for the Lincoln and the Brocklesby. So, for those of you still in a post-Cheltenham/St Patrick's Day slump, here's a little look back on the week that was. We'll mention Cheltenham only briefly here to reiterate the point that we may well see the 100/1 Triumph Hurdle winner Poniros (GB) back in action...

Find out what trainer says their charge has been "prepared to perfection" for the Irish Lincolnshire The Irish Flat season kicks off at the Curragh on Sunday and boy are we ready for it. The opening two-year-old maiden has been won by some top-notchers down through the years, including Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who went on to bag a breakthrough Group 1 success for the Amo Racing team.  There is no shortage of intriguing runners in this year's race, with first-season sires Space Blues (Ire), Lucky Vega (Ire),...

His Highness the Aga Khan was remembered on the opening day of the Goffs February Sale, where the auditorium fell silent before the action--which was headlined by a €150,000 Space Blues (Ire) filly--got underway shortly after 11am. The Aga Khan Studs was due to offer a draft of seven horses during the two-day sale but they were withdrawn as a mark of respect to one of the most influential owner-breeders who passed away at the age of 88 on Tuesday night.  "On behalf of the Board of Goffs, Group Chief...

It's too soon, isn't it, to be thinking about this year's first-season sires? Well, not according to bookmaker Paddy Power, which has already released a market on this year's championship for Britain and Ireland, installing Starman (GB) as odds-on favourite to take the crown. There are a number of good reasons to imagine that this might be the case. For a start, the Group 1-winning sprinter stands at Tally-Ho Stud, which enjoys loyal support from many commercial breeders as well as backing their own stallions to the hilt. In recent...

With the foal sales at Goffs and Tattersalls confined to the rear view mirror, perhaps now is the time to get a good gauge on the young sires coming through.  Bragging rights belong to St Mark's Basilica (Fr), who topped the December Foal Sale at Tattersalls when a filly by the multiple Group 1-winning stallion out of Oaks winner Talent (GB) sold for 575,000gns.  The St Mark's Basilica sale-topper was consigned by Ashbrittle Stud and bought by agent Jill Lamb on behalf of Newsells Park Stud, with the former labelling...

It is the most wonderful time of the year. No, I'm not talking about Christmas, but the upcoming foal sales.  What is it that we all love about this time of year? Surely much of the attraction about the foal sales revolves around seeing the progeny of first-season sires and predicting who is here to stay and who will be banished to the memory banks in the years to come.  The best part of the whole thing is you get to put your money where your mouth is and there...

Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin was named 2021 National Owner of the Year, presented by 1/ST, and also Breeder of the Year during the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA)'s National Awards Dinner held Sept. 10 at Keeneland. The event was emcee'd by TVG's Gabby Gaudet. Horses carrying the Godolphin blue won 84 races from 479 starts in America in 2021, for a strike rate of 18% and purse money of better than $17 million, led by champion Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf. Godolphin also won...

As he prepares his runners for the upcoming flat season, Jim Bolger is also keeping a watchful eye on his breeding stock. The master trainer may be juggling the education of his runners with the oversight of his broodmares and youngstock, but Bolger has proven mighty adept at this kind of multi-tasking in the past: as has been well-documented, Bolger breeds many of his own runners, often going back two or three generations on both the top and bottom of the pedigree. His 2021 G1 2000 Guineas and G1 St...

Strip away the brass name plates, parade the Darley stallions in front of seasoned horsemen and ask them to pick the horse who last year sired three Breeders' Cup victors among 38 stakes winners and was the broodmare sire of the Derby winner. Of those who haven't seen him before, it is unlikely that many would choose Dubawi (Ire). Unlike his sire, the brilliant but ill-fated Dubai Millennium (GB), he is not a horse who 'fills the eye' with those long classic lines and fluent stride. On the short side...

Welcome to TDN Europe's annual Value Sires Series. Over the next few weeks we will analyse the continent's sires by sire crop and provide a general state of play in the stallion market and, most importantly, pull out some potential value that may be lurking beneath the surface. Of course, the concept of value is subjective and can depend upon a wide range of goals: whereas one breeder may be looking to produce an animal that they can race and pick up purses with for years to come, many more...

Dubawi (Ire) has long been established as a sire of international merit. This weekend at Del Mar, however, he took his reputation to another level, siring three winners at the Breeders' Cup-something never before achieved by a sire in the meeting's 37-year history. Twelve sires have supplied two winners in a single Breeders' Cup. That was first accomplished by Cox's Ridge in the second Breeders' Cup in 1985 when Life's Magic took the Distaff and Twilight Ridge the Juvenile Fillies. Four other sires did it when the Breeders' Cup was...

For so long virtually untouchable in the stayers' division, Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) heads to Tuesday's G1 Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup with a distinct air of vulnerability surrounding him as he attempts a fifth consecutive victory in the prestigious two-miler. Since his emphatic success over Nayef Road (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Santiago (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}), with the latter receiving 15 pounds weight-for-age, in this 12 months ago Bjorn Nielsen's chestnut has had five starts with just a Group 3 win and a second in a Group 2 to...