Last week we took a look at the Top 50 North American and European sires by APEX A Runner Index (click here), using new Midyear 2015 data, meaning from 1/1/2009 through 7/5/2015. A particular note about this, if you will refer to the table on page five of last Wednesday's paper, is that the earnings [...]

At the end of 2014, Coolmore's Galileo had finally ascended to the top of the list of North American and European sires by A Runner Index, with a 4.09 rating (8.18% of his 1,822 year-starters 2008-2014), just slightly ahead of Claiborne's War Front (4.02). Now, halfway through 2015, War Front (3.98) has edged ahead of [...]

Having covered the new sires with their first yearlings selling at Fasig July extensively, it is appropriate for us to acknowledge that there are other sires represented–quite a few of them, and quite important ones, too. There's one Tapit filly catalogued from Gainesway, and one War Front colt bred by Southern Equine and consigned by [...]

by Bill Oppenheim ELITE EIGHT With next Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park (100 points to the winner) and Keeneland's GIII Lexington S. (10 points) the only remaining Derby preps with points, there are now eight colts which dominate the GI Kentucky Derby discussion, pending the confirmation of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) as one of [...]

By Bill Oppenheim It's been a hard road to the top of the APEX charts for Coolmore's Galileo, the consensus world number one. It's one thing to be the top sire in North America and Europe by progeny earnings on the TDN General Sire List three straight years (2012-2014), while siring 60-some black-type horses a year, [...]

One week from tomorrow Fasig-Tipton kicks off the 2015 North American yearling market with the Kentucky July yearling sale, in which 40 years ago this year, Seattle Slew sold as a yearling for $17,500 to Karen and Mickey Taylor, and it's been producing good horses ever since. This year 332 yearlings are catalogued–a 25% increase [...]

The world's greatest week of racing, Royal Ascot, lived up to its billing last week. British-based operations Godolphin, Shadwell, and Juddmonte's Prince Khalid Abdullah each won two races. Moyglare, the Aga Khan, the Wertheimers, and Al Shaqab all got on the scoreboard. American-based trainer Wesley Ward hit the target twice, taking his Royal Ascot total [...]

There haven't been too many shock results the first two days at Royal Ascot; in fact, the favorites have won three of the four Group 1 races run thus far. The meet opened on Tuesday with the G1 Queen Anne S., for 4-year-olds and up on the straight mile. It was a one-two for France [...]

When Coolmore did the deal to buy the breeding rights to American Pharoah in January, before the Eclipse Awards, they were just hoping they were buying their fifth champion 2-year-old colt in six years to stand at their Kentucky arm, Ashford Stud. They couldn't have bought the sixth anyway; that was the gelding Shared Belief, [...]

When Coolmore did the deal to buy the breeding rights to American Pharoah in January, before the Eclipse Awards, they were just hoping they were buying their fifth champion 2-year-old colt in six years to stand at their Kentucky arm, Ashford Stud. They couldn't have bought the sixth anyway; that was the gelding Shared Belief, [...]

The Triple Crown is on the line, and American Pharoah has one huge stat in his favor: he has beaten, it looks like, every horse set to line up against him; plus, the long-range forecast says it could rain on Saturday. Of course, he still has to be moving forward after his first two Triple [...]

Last week, Shamardal; this week, Teofilo, from Darley's Irish base at Kildangan Stud, grabbed the headlines. The European racing season is now in full swing, and last weekend's Irish Guineas meeting at The Curragh featured, besides a vintage Ryan Moore ride to extricate Gleneagles from a serious pocket just in time to get home in [...]