Today's Edition

NEWMARKET, UK—The European yearling sales have been hit-or-miss all season and, from a slow beginning, the finale eventually sparked into life as dusk settled, with a number of high-priced lots contributing to a record average for Tattersalls December Yearling Sale of 35,597gns. A fall in clearance rate to 73% from 78% last season meant that the aggregate fell fractionally, with the 117 yearlings sold bringing 4,200,500gns, a drop of 2%. The median was down by 14% at 21,500gns. The green and red silks of Martin and Lee Taylor have already...

Gary Stevens had never been good at retiring. In 1999, he announced that due to serious knee problems, his career was over. By 2000, he was back. He called it quits again in 2005. This one lasted eight years, or until his restlessness once again got the best of him. He returned in 2013 and did so with a flourish, winning the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno) and the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff with Beholder (Henny Hughes). So when doctors told him earlier this week...

Not that anyone necessarily needed reminding, but John Gosden proved at this year's Breeders' Cup that not only is he one of the most gifted trainers in the sport, he is among the most durable. Way back in 1984, the then-33 year-old trainer won a race at the inaugural Breeders' Cup with Royal Heroine at Hollywood Park. Fast forward to 2018, in the 35th Breeders' Cup, and there was John Gosden back in the winner's circle with the phenomenal filly Enable GB (Nathaniel {Ire}). This week, they announced that she...

Superstar Japanese 3-year-old filly Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) appears to have the world at her feet after a track record-breaking victory in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup. The bay emulated the feat of Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in 2012 by adding the country's most famous race to her filly Triple Crown sweep earlier this year and like that famed predecessor she now looks likely to head overseas, with possible targets including the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic-a happy hunting ground for the Japanese, and the G1 Prix de l'Arc...

Tattersalls routinely produces a show-stopping finale to its sales year across the fortnight of the December Sale, which starts today with a single session of yearlings. Last year's record-breaking auction, featuring the final draft from the Ballymacoll Stud Dispersal, broke the 100 million gns barrier, with 6 million gns of that tally being given for one broodmare-in-waiting, the top-class sprinter Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}). While the mares' section routinely steals the headlines, the December Sale is a proper bloodstock gallimaufry: the yearlings today progress to four sessions of foals starting...

After hitting the board in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, second-choice Signalman (General Quarters) posted a breakthrough, neck victory in Saturday's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs. Longshots Plus Que Parfait (Point of Entry) and Limonite (Lemon Drop Kid) were second and third, respectively. "He's taken us a long way so far and it's been a lot of fun," said winning trainer Kenny McPeek, who also saddled Restless Rider to a narrow defeat in the GII Golden Rod S....

Liora (Candy Ride {Arg}), a runaway maiden winner at third asking beneath the Twin Spires Oct. 28, led them every step to narrowly pull off a 27-1 upset over heavily favored 'TDN Rising Star' Restless Rider (Distorted Humor) in Saturday's GII Golden Rod S. at Churchill Downs. High Regard (Will Take Charge) completed the trifecta. The dark bay left the stalls running and held a narrow advantage through fractions of :24.81 and :49.68 over the sloppy, sealed track. Under fire at the top of the lane with Restless Rider, favored...

The curtain came down on six days of polarised trade at Goffs on Saturday with the single-session Part 2 of the November Foal Sale. Unlike last year, the foal sale was condensed into one day rather than spread over two, and following a dismal clearance rate at Friday's mare sale it was encouraging to see a bit more activity on Saturday, albeit at a modest level. Again, the market spoke loudly when it came to deciding what stock was desirable, especially from a pinhooking point of view, and buyers were...

The Tattersalls December Sale provided Bobby Flay with his first graded stakes winner back in 2009. Her name was Mrs Kipling (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), her price was 165,000gns and her finest hour came in the Grade III Senorita S. at Hollywood Park. Just as Park Paddocks assisted the celebrity chef on his way to becoming a successful owner-breeder, Newmarket will now host an end of an era for Flay, as it presents a dispersal of his European stock over the coming fortnight. Three foals, three broodmares and two...

Robert McNair, who brought the National Football League back to his beloved Houston and who quickly rose to prominence as a Thoroughbred owner and breeder from the mid 1990s and for the better part of a decade and a half, passed away Friday. He was five weeks shy of his 81st birthday. Born in Tampa, Florida, Dec. 31, 1937, McNair grew up in Forest City, North Carolina, and ultimately graduated the University of South Carolina in 1958. His wife Janice attended a nearby university and the couple relocated to Houston...

A $330,000 Keeneland September yearling from a female family nurtured over decades by noted breeder Peter Blum, Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}) was sold to owner Steve Landers for $100,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November sale, a decent amount of money for a well-pedigreed horse, but one that had placed just once from three career starts while under the care of Neil Howard. It all came full circle Friday afternoon, when the handsome gray entire put the wraps on a truly memorable season with a doggedly determined defeat of an equally...

Uncovering a new elite sire is always exciting. By definition it doesn't happen very often: a sire that can produce stakes winners at a rate of 10% or higher is hard to find. The last time we got two in the same year was 2009, when Dubawi (Ire) and Shamardal made their debuts. Could 2018 be another of those special years? It will be a tough act to follow, but a handful of sires have advanced their claims in no small way during 2018. The top-class miler Kingman (GB) was...