BloodHorse.com

The big race on Wednesday, the ten-furlong Prince of Wales’s Stakes (gr. I), saw a Juddmonte one-two, as Byword scored from Twice Over. The result paid a further compliment to Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes (gr. I) heroine, Goldikova, who had defeated Byword by a ½ length in the Prix d’Ispahan (gr. I) on her seasonal reappearance. Byword (TrueNicks ...

The first day of the Royal Ascot meeting featured five stakes events, four group, and three group I. The highlights were the Queen Anne Stakes (gr. I) for older horses on the straight mile, and the St. James’s Palace Stakes (gr. I) – which our colleague Bill Oppenheim has appropriately called the “European 2,000 Guineas” – for three-year-olds on ...

While the death of Red Ransom was a serious loss to the breeding industry, we take a degree of comfort in his undoubted legacy as a sire of sires and as a broodmare sire. His influence in that first role was underlined over the last two weekends when Snow Fairy, by Red Ransom’s son Intikhab, took the Epsom Oaks, and the rapidly improving Pressday, ...

Saturday in the U.S. saw a potential star among the older horse ranks gain his first grade I, and a slew of events for older fillies. An in-form Rachel Alexandra might have tackled males in the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I), but she side-stepped that one, and instead the race confirmed Blame as one of the best of his division. Blame gained his ...

Sarafina didn’t see a racecourse until May 3, but just six weeks later she is a classic and dual group I-winner. Successful in over a mile at Chantilly on her debut, she returned three weeks later to take the Prix Saint-Alary (gr. I) by ½ length over Deluxe (a Storm Cat half sister to Banks Hill, Heat Haze, Dansili, Intercontinental, Champs ...

We have covered Belmont Stakes (gr. I) victor Drosselmeyer in detail in an earlier post, but there was plenty of other significant weekend action in the U.S. The Belmont undercard provided several other good contests. Not surprisingly, European pedigrees played a major part in the destination of two of the turf events. Juddmonte, who had won the ...

The day after Workforce scored a runaway win in the Epsom Derby (gr. I), the French 2,000 Guineas (gr. I) victor, Lope de Vega, was almost equally impressive in recording an easy triumph in the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (gr. I). In taking both classics, Lope de Vega emulated his sire, the impressive second crop sire, Shamardal ...

Back in January we noted in a column that Distorted Humor (TrueNicks,SRO) was a stallion whose offspring took a while to develop, and noted that he had a whole group of promising three-year-olds that could develop into serious runners. Of the horses mentioned, Colizeo took an allowance race in impressive style last time out; Age of Humor has ...

Just last Sunday we reported on the Japan Derby (gr. I) victor of Eishin Flash, a son of King’s Best. Just a week later, another son of King’s Best, Workforce, gave King’s Best a remarkable Derby double with a seven lengths Epsom Derby (gr. I) win, in a new course record. This was the second win in three starts for Workforce, who won a maiden in ...

While others could doubtless offer worthy alternatives, Quality Road (TrueNicks,SRO) impresses us as the most naturally talented U.S. runner we’ve seen since Ghostzapper (TrueNicks,SRO). His latest exploit saw him return from a near four-month break to take the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I). In doing so, he lead throughout, turning back a pair of ...