Europe

Harry Eustace is plotting a two-pronged assault on some of Australia's biggest races with Docklands (GB) (Massaat {Ire}) and Sea King (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Being owned by Australian-based syndication company OTI Racing, Docklands was always slated for a trip to the Southern Hemisphere. Last year's Britannia Stakes winner has performed with credit in some high-class contests this season, notably when returning to Royal Ascot to fill the runner-up spot behind Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes. Sea King was last seen finishing a...

Earning his first group tally earlier this March, 3-year-old Meisho Tabaru (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}) went to the front and never looked back while adding his second career group score in Sunday's G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai (Japanese St. Leger Trial at Chukyo. Striding purposefully to the front soon after the start, the free-wheeling 5-1 chance held a clear advantage down the backstretch and through the far turn. Still in front by open lengths straightening for home, Meisho Tabaru started to feel the effects of his early efforts as June Take...

Tattersalls Ireland has rightly earned a reputation as being a place where the younger brigade can prosper and Conor Mahon could well be the latest to play a star role at the September Yearling Sale this week.  Under his own Archersgrove Bloodstock, one of the newest consignments on the sales circuit, the 30-year-old will offer a Space Blues (Ire) filly and a Make Believe (GB) colt who were purchased as foals for €26,000 and €10,000 respectively.  Archersgrove Bloodstock is already up and running for the year. A combined £46,000 was...

If the first half of the Flat season is for graduation ceremonies, this is the bit where Masters and PhDs are handed out. To see Ryan Moore sit so beautifully on City Of Troy - and this year's best horse race round Southwell so fluidly - was to feel a surge of anticipation greater than before his seasonal reappearance for the 2,000 Guineas.  We all love spring and the history-laden game of labelling three-year-olds 'Classic' winners. But sorry, late summer and autumn is when we really get ready to rumble....

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. Monday's Observations features the first foal out of a high-class racemare. 15.18 Leicester, Debutantes, £15,000, 2yo, 7fT ELARAK (GB) (Kingman {GB}) is the first foal out of Shadwell's triple group 3 winner Tantheem (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) who is also a half-sister to this month's G2 Champagne Stakes runner-up Monumental...

Despite the absence of the King George hero Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) in Sunday's G1 Mehl-Mulhens-Stiftung Preis von Europa, the Cologne feature held up well with the two domestic Classic winners bidding to deny Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}--Minidress {GB}, by Street Cry {Ire}) a second edition of the prestigious mile-and-a-half contest. In the event, Godolphin's high-class stalwart was able to ward off all challenges and reproduce his 2022 success for a sixth win at the top level. Last seen finishing best of those who raced near the hot pace...

Sunday sees Cologne's G1 Mehl-Mulhens-Stiftung Preis von Europa, for which the King George hero Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) would have been a warm order, but there is still intrigue with Godolphin's 2022 title-holder Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in attendance. Having covered himself in glory when third in a red-hot renewal of Ascot's July showcase event, the winner of five top-flight events including a Breeders' Cup Turf and a Dubai Sheema Classic appears as good as ever and that should be enough despite the presence of Liberty Racing's G1 Deutsches...

Veteran rider Franny Norton, who announced his retirement earlier this week, rode a trio of winners at Chester to end his career on a high. Norton enjoyed seven rides on Saturday, prevailing with 1-3 favourite Raneenn (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) in the EBF "Confined" Fillies' Novice Stakes for trainer William Haggas and owner Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum in the day's third race. Haggas said, "It was lovely to give him a winner on his last day. He rode the most brilliant race for us a few years ago (2017) on a...

Saturday's SGA Yearling Sale in Milan resulted in co-toppers as a colt and a filly each brought €70,000 when purchased by Diego Romeo's Scuderia Incolinx. Just a handful of lots into the sale, a son of Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) already named Lethal Emperor (Ity) (lot 8) hammered for €70,000 to take the early lead on the bid of Scuderia Incolinx. Consigned by Societa Agricola Alessandrucci, the bay is out of the Lethal Force (Ire) mare Lethal Island (GB), who won three times in Italy. She is the dam of...

The G7 Agricolture will be held at Ippodromo del Mediterraneo in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy on Sept. 28-29. There will be the G1 Grand Prix Freccia d'Europa for trotters and a trio of super handicaps each worth €34,000 Euros for Flat horses on Saturday. The next day, the Gran Premio Federnat, known as the Gentlemen's Lotteria, will take place under the trotting discipline, while the Thoroughbreds will race in the Criterium Divinazione Expo 2024. Other attractions will provide a vibrant sideshow for racing fans until 11 p.m. local time.

Saturday's G2 Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes was hit with a spate of withdrawals following the heavy rain at Newbury, but Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's Powerful Glory (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}--Wouldntitbelovely {Ire}, by Kodiac {GB}) stepped up to provide the rescue with a game win in the testing ground. So impressive on a contrasting good-to-firm surface at Pontefract last month, the 5-2 second favourite travelled strongly in his own rhythm as the race split into three pairs across the track. Staying on strongly to enter contention approaching the...

Catch On Me (Fr) (Martinborough {Jpn}) topped Auctav's NH Sale on Friday on a €120,000 bid from Guy Petit. The winner, out of the stakes-placed Nan's Catch (Fr) (Loup Solitaire), was consigned by Haras de Fresneaux. Lot 128B is a half-brother to graded-placed jumper Catch One (Fr) (Smadoun {Fr}) and the listed-placed hurdler Cardigan Bay (Fr) (Turtle Bowl {Ire}). The other six-figure lot of the sale was the 3-year-old filly Clotilda (Fr) (Clovis Du Berlais {Fr}) (lot 101B), a €100,000 sale to Tom Malone Bloodstock. Ecurie Butel & Beaunez sent...