Thanks to the imperious American Pharoah, last year saw the Fappiano branch of the Mr. Prospector-male line strengthen its grip on the Triple Crown events. Fappiano himself sired a GI Kentucky Derby winner in the 1990 hero Unbridled, who matched that feat in 1996, via Grindstone. Another of Fappiano's sons, Quiet American, also made his [...]

Spring is around the corner and the sap is rising, and so too are the expectations of the Classic generation. Last week saw Classic hopefuls put to the test in the U.S., Dubai and Japan. But which of these races can be relied upon to act as a stepping stone to Classic success? Well, the [...]

“Like father, like son” is a phrase that held good when Mshawish contested the GI Donn H. three days ago. In powering clear in this Grade I dirt contest, the 6-year-old emulated his sire Medaglia d'Oro, winner of the 2004 Donn as a prelude to his second in Pleasantly Perfect's G1 Dubai World Cup. There [...]

When Awesome of Course retired to stud at the end of 2003, hardly anyone took any notice. His services were priced at only $2,500 at Jubilee Farm near Citra in Florida, the state in which he had gained four of his five successes, but even so he succeeded in attracting only 10 mares, for eight [...]

Thanks partly to Storm Jonas, which sent ice floes sailing down New Jersey streets, there was little action on the racing front last week. Consequently, the most interesting news of the week arguably came in last Friday's TDN, when Bill Finley explained that the Stronach Group has asked that the re-vamped Laurel Park circuit be [...]

How do you begin to define charisma when it is such an intangible quality? The truth is that you've either got it or you don't, as we were reminded a couple of times last week. David Bowie certainly had it and so too does A.P. Indy, the two-time champion sire. This son of Seattle Slew [...]

When it comes to selecting a subject for my weekly column, fixtures such as Royal Ascot, the Arc weekend, Belmont Park's Super Saturday and the Breeders' Cup inevitably represent an embarrassment of riches. Some horses whose achievements thoroughly deserve recognition invariably miss out, as I was reminded by last week's publication of the 2015 Eclipse [...]

The form book shows that any American owner considering importing a European turf filly could do much worse than choosing a daughter of the champion 2-year-old and sprinter Oasis Dream. The 2009 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf provided ample evidence of their suitability for America's firm turf tracks. One daughter, the diminutive Visit, hung [...]

It looks as though we are destined to wonder what might have been whenever we hear Eskendereya's name. As a racehorse this son of Giant's Causeway appeared to have the 2010 GI Kentucky Derby at his mercy, after he had won all three of his starts earlier in the year. He had been notably impressive [...]

Bearing in mind that his sons collected such famous prizes as the Kentucky Derby and the Melbourne Cup, plus two editions of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and many other Grade I races, Street Cry (Ire) could never be described as a “filly sire.” However, he certainly owed some of his finest moments as a stallion [...]

You didn't need to look very hard to appreciate why Galileo's daughter Hanky Panky created so much excitement at Tattersalls a week ago, when she sold for 2,700,000gns (more than $4,250,000). The 5-year-old's many attractions included that she's a daughter of a multiple champion sire; she's a half-sister to another multiple champion sire in Giant's [...]

According to good old Wikipedia, a shaman is “a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits…Typically such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practise divination…” Wiki also says the noun derives, by a complicated route, from a word meaning “fatigue, weariness, exhaustion, labor, [...]