Europe

Abundant rain turned Newmarket's ground to heavy before Friday's action and while it sunk the much-vaunted Formal (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G2 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Rockfel Stakes, it proved no hindrance to fellow TDN Rising Star Bubbling (Ire) (No Nay Never--Lumiere Noire {Fr}, by Dashing Blade {GB}) as she became the latest Ballydoyle juvenile filly to register a black-type win in 2024. Partnered by Ryan Moore after the stable's Ecstatic (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) was taken out due to the going, the impressive Galway maiden winner and Listed...

Yeguada Centurion homebred Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) has been retired from racing, Paris Turf reported on Friday morning. The 4-year-old daughter of multiple group winner Queen Blossom (Ire) (Jeremy) won a quartet of Group 1s, including the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane. Trained through her first 12 starts by Christopher Head, the bay won four of her six appearances at two en route to being named the top filly of her year in France. She landed the G3 Prix d'Aumale and G1 Prix Marcel Boussac...

The dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) will make one final appearance in the Japan Cup on November 24 before retiring to stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.  The four-year-old son of Japan's breed-shaping stallion Deep Impact (Jpn) has won at the highest level in each of his seasons in training, landing the Vertem Futurity after his initial black-type success in the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes.  At three, despite disappointing in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas on his seasonal debut, he put together a formidable CV of four Group/Grade 1...

There will be a time in the future when Sir Michael Stoute stands as a figure of fond recall in these parts, so his final Cambridgeshire meeting is something for the purists to savour as Newmarket begins its autumn-long farewell symphony in honour of one of its favourite adopted sons. Denied of late the frequency of elite 2-year-olds that was once a given at Freemason Lodge, the Barbadian has at least one more who could fit into that bracket with unerring timing in TDN Rising Star Formal (GB) (Dubawi {Ire})....

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday's Observations features a Medaglia d'Oro at Dundalk. 17.45 Dundalk, Mdn, €18,000, 2yo, f, 7f (AWT) DRAMATIC (Medaglia d'Oro) is one of two Ballydoyle newcomers in the line-up and apparently the second-string on jockey bookings, but as a $1.5-million Keeneland November Foal purchase and half-sister to the high-class Honor...

A substantial drop in the median, average and overall turnover along with a 72% clearance rate spoke to the struggles facing Irish breeders at Part 2 of the September Yearling Sale at Tattersalls Ireland on Thursday.  Trade was highlighted by the Rockview Stables-consigned New Bay (GB) colt [lot 812], who sold to prominent breeze-up handler Thomond O'Mara for €36,000 on a day where all of the key figures were down on last year.  Despite 27 more horses going through the ring compared to 12 months ago, turnover dropped by 20%...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Miriam's Fire in New York.   Showcasing Filly On Fire In Debut Pura Vida Investments' Miriam's Fire (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) clawed out a neck victory in her racetrack bow at Belmont at the Big A (video). Trained by Mike Maker, she was bred by Charlotte Greenway. A frequent visitor to the sales ring, the bay was a 30,000gns foal buy at Tattersalls in...

Kind Of Blue (GB), recently beaten a head when second in the G1 Sprint Cup at Haydock, has become the latest in-training signing for Wathnan Racing.  The three-year-old son of Blue Point (Ire), who has until now raced for his breeders Michelle Morris and Jan and Peter Hopper, will remain in the stable of James Fanshawe. Kind Of Blue was unraced at two but has made rapid progression since making a winning debut in April. Fourth in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot after two straight wins, he has...

Hugo Palmer trainee The Waco Kid (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}--Catchingsnowflakes, by Galileo {Ire}) served a three-race stakes apprenticeship after graduating over six furlongs at Newbury in July and made a black-type breakthrough with a pillar-to-post triumph in Thursday's G3 Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket. The January-foaled bay bettered an Aug. 2 fifth in Goodwood's G2 Richmond Stakes with a fourth in the Aug. 21 G3 Acomb Stakes at York in his penultimate start and arrived here off the back of a third in this month's Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster. Quickest...

The recently announced merging of the stables of leading French trainers Jean-Claude Rouget and Jerome Reynier will now not take place. Rouget, the five-time champion trainer in France, has been undergoing treatment for lymphoma and in August announced that he would take out a joint-licence with Reynier from January 2025. He said at the time, "I have known Jerome for some years and when I looked at the way he works, everything about it pleased me." In the days following the announcement, the Aga Khan Studs relocated its horses from...

Jimmy George will step down from his role as marketing director of Tattersalls at the end of 2024 to join the International Racing Bureau (IRB) as managing director. He will take over from Alastair Donald, who has held that position since 2001. George, who has been a director of Tattersalls for 23 years, said, "I joined Tattersalls in 1986 and have served on the Board since 2001 so this has not been a decision taken lightly, but I have a long association with the International Racing Bureau which, like Tattersalls,...

The programme for next year's Cheltenham Festival has undergone some key changes in order to improve competitiveness in a number of races. From 2025, the two-and-a-half-mile Turners Novices' Chase will be replaced by a Grade 2 limited novice handicap chase over the same trip, while the National Hunt Chase, which has been contested by amateur riders, will be open to professionals and become a novice handicap chase for horses rated 0-145. Jon Pullin, head of racing and clerk of the course at Cheltenham, said, "We have had to acknowledge that...