Westover (GB)

Multiple Group 1 winner and Classic winner Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}--Mirabilis, by Lear Fan) has been sold and will stand at Yushun Stallion Station in Japan next year, his owner/breeder Juddmonte announced on Thursday. The Irish Derby hero will be syndicated and a fee will be announced later. Trained by Ralph Beckett, Westover won on debut at Sandown in August of 2021 and was listed-placed later that year. At three, he won the G3 Bet365 Classic Trial and was a good third in the G1 Derby prior to running off...

   Bringing the house down at ParisLongchamp in the panama hat G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Sunday, Gousserie Racing and Ecuries Serge Stempniak's brilliant Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}--Absolutly Me {Fr}, by Anabaa Blue {GB}) ripped up the rule book in scintillating style to become the first colt to win the revised 10 1/2-furlong G1 Prix du Jockey Club and this prize in the same season. "C'est enorme," uttered an emotional Jean-Claude Rouget after watching his unbeaten star rattle home past most of his rivals under a...

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...

Shadwell's Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was on Thursday handed stall 14 for Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, with the long-time favourite and G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}) in the middle in stall eight. Wide draws are notoriously difficult to overcome in the autumn showcase and the Owen Burrows-trained G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. hero will have to emulate the feats of Golden Horn (GB) in 2015 and Dalakhani (Ire) in 2003 if he is to...

The late Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah has been posthumously inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame, and is just the second person to be recognised within the Special Contributor category. He follows in the footsteps of 2021 inductee Queen Elizabeth II. Chosen by an independent panel of experts, in recognition of his contribution to the sport, his achievements through the breeding and racing operation Juddmonte leave a lasting legacy. The Prince's induction will be officially marked through a special presentation at York Racecourse on Wednesday, Aug. 23,...

After taking the G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot, Shadwell's Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has been given a mark of 128 on the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, which were released on Thursday. Another Shadwell representative, G1 Prince Of Wales's S. hero Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), is also at 128, with only Japan's Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) higher in the pecking order at 129. After the leading trio is Juddmonte's Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who was second in the King George, one better...

Jockey Jim Crowley has been banned for 20 days and fined £10,000 for his winning ride aboard Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in Saturday's G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot. Both he and Rob Hornby, who was aboard runner-up Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), were referred to the British Horseracing Authority's Whip Review Committee following the tight finish with only Crowley receiving a ban. On Monday the whip rules were tweaked once more by the BHA following a six-month review period and under the new regulations...

After all that build-up, Saturday's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Qipco S. had to live up to the billing and it managed it with a stirring finale provided by Shadwell's Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}--Aghareed, by Kingmambo) and Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) as the older horses ruled the roost at Ascot. Kept away from fast ground after his defeat of Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. at Sandown in May, the Owen Burrows-trained full-brother to Baaeed (GB) would have been any...

You've heard for a while that Saturday's edition of the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S. is a special one. "Race for the ages" has been bandied about and for good reason given the accumulation of top-class mile-and-a-half horses set for the Ascot joust. What had for so long been starved of a meaningful intergenerational clash and threatened to become a bygone curio has suddenly been dusted off and revived due largely to the presence of the Derby winner. Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is no...

Eleven high-quality runners will make up one of the greatest renewals of the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth II Qipco S. in recent memory on Saturday, with Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) the biggest missing name among them. Saeed Suhail's troubled 2022 Derby hero's leg infection means that the keenly-anticipated clash of the last two Blue Riband winners in the Ascot monument is cruelly denied, while the three other withdrawals disappointingly include the sole French challenger Simca Mille (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), whose chance was put paid to by...

Juddmonte's G1 Irish Derby hero Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}--Mirabilis, by Lear Fan) failed to contend with subsequent G1 Coral-Eclipse runner-up Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in last month's G1 Coronation Cup, but regained the winning thread in emphatic style with a record-breaking performance in Saturday's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Westover raced in a handy third behind Ralph Beckett-trained chaperone Malabu Drive (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who was usurped for the lead by last term's G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern victor Tunnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ire}), and eased into second...

Looking at the history of the G1 Coral-Eclipse, it is clear that fillies and mares have had a hard time against the colts in Sandown's jewel. While the illustrious Pebbles (GB) managed to prevail in 1985 and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) did so three years ago with the lesser-heralded Kooyonga (Ire) victorious in between in 1992, the list of beaten elite stars among the sex is extensive. It includes Time Charter (Ire), Triptych, Indian Skimmer, In The Groove (GB), Bosra Sham, Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}), The Fugue (GB)...