Silvestre de Sousa has been booked to ride Withhold (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) in the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup as long as the gelding makes the field for the 'race that stops a nation' on Nov. 6. The champion jockey comes in for the mount as Robert Winston, who steered the Roger Charlton-trained 5-year-old to [...]

Undeterred by the looming presence of inbound Typhoon Trami, Fine Needle (Jpn) inked his second Group 1 tally in the G1 Sprinters S. at Nakayama on Sunday, a “Win and You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint slated for Churchill Downs in November. The Godolphin runner came with a punishing late charge to [...]

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday's Insights features €1.6 million Goffs Orby Yearling Sale topper Old Glory (Ire) (Frankel [...]

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Insights features a daughter of G1 Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}). 5.45 Leopardstown, Mdn, [...]

In this ongoing series, Heather Anderson subs for Alan Carasso and takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running [...]

The NZ$200,000 G1 Fiber Fresh NZB Thoroughbred Breeders' S. sees an even dozen fillies and mares step forward in the final top-flight contest of the New Zealand season at Te Aroha on Saturday. One of two Stephen Marsh trainees in the field–the other being G2 Rich Hill Mile heroine Ruud Not Too (NZ) (Bernardini)–Thee Auld [...]

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Insights features a daughter of 2011 GI Mother Goose S. heroine Buster's Ready (More Than Ready). [...]

After the injury induced scratch of Bonneval (NZ) (Makfi {GB}), a winner of the 2017 G1 New Zealand Oaks, the runner-up in that contest deputized admirably, as Devise (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), became her sire's ninth Group 1 winner when she pulled off a half-length score in the 1600-metre G1 Haunui Farm WFA Group One [...]

MY BOY JACK (c, Creative Cause—Gold N Shaft, by Mineshaft) O-Don't Tell My Wife Stables & Monomoy Stables LLC. B-Brereton C. Jones (KY). T-Keith Desormeaux. Sales History: $14,000 RNA wlg KEENOV '15; $20,000 yrl KEESEP '16. Lifetime Record: MGSW, 11-3-3-2, $705,145. My Boy Jack was the most dramatic bet-down of the Derby, from 30-1 on [...]

FLAMEAWAY (c, Scat Daddy—Vulcan Rose, by Fusaichi Pegasus) O-John Oxley; B-Phoenix Rising Farms (ON). T-Mark Casse. Sales history: $150,000 yrl KEEJAN '16; $400,000 yrl SARAUG '16. Lifetime Record: MGSW, 10-5-2-0, $704,834. Flameaway broke alertly but was outgunned for the lead. This $400,000 FTSAUG Scat Daddy colt went into stalk mode while ambitiously third down near [...]

The G1 Pretty Polly S. will be sponsored by Juddmonte Farms for the next three years, The Curragh Racecourse announced on Tuesday. Worth €250,000, the 10-furlong contest is slated to be held on July 1, 2018, the feature race on the third day of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival. Juddmonte has been the [...]

The final day of the reformatted four-day NZB Karaka Yearling Sale Book 1 ended on a high, with all key statistics rising from 2017. Of the 700 yearlings catalogued in Book 1, 539 sold (82.5%), grossing NZ$83,549,000–already higher than last year's entire Premier, Select and Festival Sales combined. The average was NZ$155,007, while the median [...]