Today's Edition

It's been more than 10 years since I've been inside the main office at Walmac, but when I close my eyes and think about it, I can place myself in John T.L. "Big Johnny" Jones Jr.'s office as vividly as if I were standing there right now. His door at the end of the hallway was nearly always open, as was Johnny. You'd smell the cigar before you saw him (but you already knew he was in the office because you could hear him clear across the other end of...

Current Godolphin Flying Start trainee Tom Harris sits down with programme graduate Jimmy Unwala, now head of nominations at Aquis Farm in Australia, to talk about his career trajectory pre- and -post Flying Start. TH: What is your background and how did you get into the sport? JU: My family raced and bred horses back in India and when I was growing up, around age 10 or so, I would sit with them and go through the pedigree books and regularly go racing with them. That's where I got the...

European Exports is a series where TDN International Editor Kelsey Riley catches up with people who have left their home countries to make a new life in the racing industry in America. Today, we speak with Romain Malhouitre of Runnymede Farm. KR: Where are you originally from? RM: I am from a city in Normandy, France, called Rouen, it's on the north side of Normandy, probably 60 miles away from Deauville. It's a lovely medieval town. KR: When did you come to America, and why did you decide to go...

The worth of any sale should be measured by its ability to turn out winners at the highest level, and with graduates of its November Foal and Mare Sales having featured in British and Irish Classics in 2018, Goffs certainly meets that standard and thus heads into the 2018 renewal of its November sale Nov. 19 to 24 with plenty of momentum behind it. First it was Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), a €88,000 foal purchase here three years ago, who became a first Classic winner for Joseph O'Brien when taking the G1...

John T.L. "Big Johnny" Jones, Jr., who parlayed humble cowboy origins as a Quarter Horse trainer into a high-profile bloodstock career as the owner of Walmac Stud International, died Friday at his home in Quanah, Texas. He was 84, and the cause of death was congestive heart failure. His son, John Jones, III, confirmed the death to TDN, adding that his father passed in the town where he was born and in the company of family members. As a Texan whose personality and presence often seemed to be as large...

Keeneland's 12-session November Breeding Stock Sale concluded Friday with dips in gross, average and median compared to last year. A total of 2,538 head changed hands for gross receipts of $188,508,300. The 2017 November sale, which featured a catalog that was 8.8% smaller and 2,424 recorded transactions, grossed $202,021,700. This year's average was $74,274 (down 10.9% from $83,342) and median was $25,000 (down 18% from $30,500). The 2018 RNA rate was 26.5% compared to 24.7% last year. Eight horses met or exceeded the $1-million mark--18 reached that mark 12 months...

Kodiac (GB), who added two new Group 1 winners this year in Best Solution (Ire) and Fairyland (Ire), will stand for a career-high fee of €65,000 at Tally-Ho Stud in 2019. Kodiac has sired three Group 1 winners-the other being Tiggy Wiggy (Ire)-and 23 total group winners. His six new Group 2 or 3 winners in 2018 include G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte winner Hello Youmzain (Fr) and G2 Mill Reef S. winner Kessaar (Ire), who joins his sire on the Tally-Ho roster next year at €8,000. Mehmas (Ire) retired to...

Gulfstream Park management has received assurance from the Coolmore racing operation that it will be sending horses to race in both the GI Pegasus World Cup and the inaugural GI Pegasus World Cup Turf. Attaching the Coolmore brand to the $7-million turf race is a major plus for Gulfstream Park and it could go a long way towards convincing others that the race is something they should consider. "Coolmore has told us they have at least one horse for each race," said Tim Ritvo, the COO of The Stronach Group,...

Taylor Made's franchise stallion Unbridled's Song (Unbridled - Trolley Song, by Caro {Ire}) died five years ago at age 20, but the indelible mark he left on the industry continues. Last year, for instance, he led the North American general sire list with the help of Arrogate's Gl Pegasus World Cup Invitational and G1 Dubai World Cup wins and Forever Unbridled's Gl Breeders' Cup Distaff score, even though he had far fewer starters than any other sire in the top 30 and his youngest runners were three. Through 17 crops,...

HARTPURY, UK--The days may be darkening in the relentless march towards winter but there was one last reminder, in the late autumn sun, of a golden summer for Qatar Racing's champion 3-year-old Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy) as he paraded at his new home on Thursday morning. As his connections were toasting his achievement in being named Cartier Horse of the Year at the Dorchester on Tuesday evening, the sleek grey was settling into his newly built stallion box at Tweenhills Farm & Stud, his lavish quarters facing another new recruit...

Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) is seeking a stiffer penalty for a veterinarian who was fined and put on probation for a year for violating rules pertaining to the shock wave treatment of horses because it is concerned about its reputation among horsemen and bettors. In an appeal of the ruling issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which fined Dr. Brian Van Arem $7,500 and placed conditions on his license for a period of one year beginning on Oct. 4, WEG wants additional penalties to be imposed...

The unveiling of the Cartier Award winners for 2018 has highlighted the dominance of John Gosden, who has ended the 2018 season as Champion Trainer of Great Britain for the third time. It is not merely that Gosden has trained the Cartier Horse of the Year for the fourth time in the last five years, Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy) following in the footsteps of Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who were the Cartier Horses of the Year in 2014,...