Today's Edition

Just as Wednesday's session-topping Soldier Hollow (GB) filly had benefitted from a final-hour update when her full-sister added black-type at the racecourse across the street from Arqana's Deauville sales complex just hours before she stepped into the ring, Thursday's €230,000 session-topping filly was also the beneficiary of a late boost. Albeit, hers had come three weeks earlier, but it was about as good as its gets: her half-sister, Lily's Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}), had upgraded the page significantly when winning the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac on the G1 Prix...

From a first taste of the stallion market through Aclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in 2018, the team at Avenue Bloodstock has increased its representation three-fold in recent weeks with the announcement that Lancaster Bomber (War Front) and Rajasinghe (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}) will also join the ranks at the National Stud for next year. While the operation is a relatively new name in the bloodstock world, the faces behind it are not. Former Godolphin chief executive John Ferguson teamed up with another long-term member of the Godolphin/Darley staff, Mark McStay, and...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton October Fall Yearlings Sale continued to churn out steady results through its third session in Lexington Wednesday, with a filly by Uncle Mo bringing top price of $350,000 when selling to bloodstock agent Mike Ryan on behalf of Bob Edwards's e Five Racing. During Wednesday's session, 244 head sold for $7,990,900. The session average was $32,750 and the median was $12,000. Through three sessions, 723 yearlings have sold for $24,575,900. The cumulative average of $33,992 dipped 3.7% from the same point a year ago, while...

DEAUVILLE, France—The later start time for the concluding session of Part 1 of Arqana's October Sale proved to be of benefit to the breeder of the first lot through the ring on Wednesday after her 2-year-old sister Nova Sol (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) delivered a black-type update with a placed finish in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs two hours before trade gut underway. John Hammond struck early, effectively allowing lot 229 to make all when leading the second day, ensuring that the neat bay filly from the Haras de Saint...

If once again lamentably timid regarding the other dirt races, a record European entry for the 35th Breeders' Cup more than redresses that lack of adventure with a genuinely audacious challenge for the Classic itself. For if dual Arc winner Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) bears the standard in the turf programme-which has, as usual, attracted a formidable raiding party--then confirmation that her stablemate Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy) will target the Classic represents a gamble in the very best sporting traditions. With only a fortnight to absorb a gruelling race in...

Led by multiple Grade I winner Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), two-time G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Enable (Nathaniel {Ire}), multiple Group 1 victor Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy) and four-time Grade I victress Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), a record 221 horses, including 51 from overseas, have been pre-entered for the 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships, to take place Nov. 2-3 at Churchill Downs. The 35th Breeders' Cup will consist of 14 races, 13 of them Grade I's, with purses and awards totaling a record $30 million. This is the record-tying...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton October Fall Yearlings Sale continued with another businesslike day of selling in Lexington Tuesday. With a pair of colts by American Pharoah leading the way, a total of 256 yearlings grossed $9,068,000 for an average of $35,422 and a median of $15,000. Through two sessions of the four-day auction, 479 head have sold for $16,585,000. The average of $34,624 is up 8.6% from the first two sessions of 2017 and the median of $15,000 surged 36.4% from a year ago. "It was another solid day...

DEAUVILLE, France—George Bolton didn't make it to Deauville when the flying filly Lady Aurelia won the G1 Darley Prix Morny but the American owner-breeder ensured that his first visit to Arqana did not go unnoticed when, through Kerri Radcliffe, he bought the top lot on day one of the October Sale. Consigned by Eric L'hermite's Haras de Grandcamp as lot 77, the Siyouni (Fr) half-sister to Group 3 winner Evasive's First (Fr) (Evasive) led all comers through the first select session at €360,000 and she will remain in Europe to...

The Neapolitan nobleman Cavaliere Odorado Ginistrelli, who saddled his home-bred filly Signorinetta (GB) (Chaleureux {GB}) to land the Derby/Oaks double in 1908, will always hold a special place in Newmarket's racing history. Another Italian horseman, however, has subsequently earned himself an even more distinguished position in the town's pantheon. Having announced on Monday his decision to call time on his 43-year training career, Luca Cumani will draw stumps at the end of the current season, a retirement which really will be the end of an era. In the early 1970s,...

It's a blue-collar racetrack where tough horses grind away for good purses, their owners and trainers normally content to let the people in places like Saratoga, Arcadia and Lexington have all the glory that comes with owning a star. But at Parx, every once in a while there is an outlier, a horse fast enough to be successful at the highest level. No one proved that better than Smarty Jones, the winner off the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. At Parx, Smarty Jones has all but been...

LEXINGTON, KY--The Fasig-Tipton October Fall Yearling Sale opened its four-session run with a solid day of trade in Lexington Monday, during which 223 yearlings sold for $7,517,000 for an average of $33,709 and a median of $16,000. With 83 of 306 offered head failing to meet their reserves, the buy-back rate was 27.1%. Those figures were ahead of the sale's 2017 opening session, which saw 230 head gross $6,479,500 for an average of $28,172 and a median of $10,000, but Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. cautioned against making any hasty...

However the owners end up resolving their differences, everyone can agree on at least one thing. At Adena Springs, it must remain business as usual. With one of Kentucky's most influential and valuable stallions leading the roster, his stature as a broodmare sire freshly gilded by a Triple Crown winner, the team has an important job to do. And, after all, the timeless cycles of the breed transcend even the most excruciating ups and downs in the lives of horsemen. How fortunate, then, that Ben Walden is able to bring...