Today's Edition

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted in response to Kevin Blake's Jan. 4 Op/Ed on how Ireland and Britain need to continue working together for their mutual benefit, despite the upcoming challenge of Brexit.Should you wish to chime in, please send your thoughts to [email protected]. Kevin Blake may well be correct in saying that Britian and Ireland are the finest breeders of flat racehorses in the world, but his figures do not give the full story. As anyone involved with breeding in France or Germany knows, where a...

The latest edition of our value sires series (click for parts one and two) focusing on stallions with their first yearlings in 2019 gives us the opportunity to look at how the market has actually assessed the first progeny of the sires, rather than speculating as such based on pedigree and racetrack performance. With such a large slice of the European foal market feeding pinhooking trade, the progeny of fast, precocious, unproven stallions have become more and more popular-those foals expected to develop early and that have the added bonus...

Saturday's GIII Sham S. was billed as and bet like a procession for highly touted 'TDN Rising Star' Coliseum (Tapit), but when that one came up empty, another grey colt stole the show as Gunmetal Gray (Exchange Rate) rallied from last to first to score impressively. Installed the 7-2 second choice having last been seen finishing fifth behind Coliseum's stablemate Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 2, the $225,000 OBS March acquisition only out-broke the favorite but was allowed to lope along at the...

Do It Again (SAf) Twice Over {GB}) confirmed his G1 Vodacom Durban July victory was no fluke with a win in the G1 L'Ormarins Queen's Plate-a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile--at Kenilworth on Saturday. The 2019 edition of the race had been billed as the race of the year, with dual Horse of the Year Legal Eagle (SAf) (Grey's Inn) attempting to win the race for the fourth time, thus tying with the record set by Pocket Power in 2010. Out to prevent that...

As horses of racing age continue to attract increasing interest at public auction, a pair of owners will look to capitalize with offerings carrying recent graded stakes updates into the Keeneland January Horses-of-All-Ages Sale next week in Lexington. During Monday's first session of the four-day sale, Marc Detampel will offer GIII Commonwealth Turf S. third-place finisher Marzo (Medaglia d'Oro) through the Hunter Valley Farm consignment and Stuart Morris will consign recent GIII Mr. Prospector S. third-place finisher Heartwood (Tapit) Tuesday. Marzo Could Pay Dividends for Detampel Marc Detampel, who has...

Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), Triple Crown hero and 'TDN Rising Star' Justify (Scat Daddy) and the exceptional 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) will battle it out for hotly contested and much-debated Horse of the Year honors as the finalists for the 2018 Eclipse Awards in 12 equine and 5 human categories were revealed Saturday morning. Accelerate, whose owner Hronis Racing of Kosta and Pete Hronis was among the three finalists in that particular division, won six of his seven outings in 2018, including a wide-trip success in the GI Breeders'...

In the first of a series, Tom Frary looks back at the standout British-trained juveniles of last season and considers who will be most prominent during their key Classic season. I was listening to the BBC World Service the other day and the programme in question was about unpredictability, with an established fund manager explaining how they operated in such a volatile, changing environment. "It's touchy-feely," he confided to the reporter and that struck a chord. I think the same synonym can be applied to the torchlight search during this...

Headlining the Keeneland January Sale this year is the 2017 Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old filly, Abel Tasman, who sells as hip 288 during the auction's opening session this coming Monday. We went out to visit the mare at Taylor Made Farm last week and to talk to Mark Taylor about the six-time Grade I winner's selling points. TDN: You found out, I'm assuming, kind of late in the year that you're going to have Abel Tasman in the consignment. How did that come about? MT: Well, we've had a great...

Christie DeBernardis and Patty Wolfe have earned the Eclipse Award for Audio/Multi-Media Internet for their piece chronicling the journey of Cozmic One, first foal of champion Zenyatta, from the racetrack to the show ring through the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) and the careful eye of 17-year-old show rider Isabela de Sousa. The entry appeared first online in the July edition of TDN Weekend, a publication of Thoroughbred Daily News and can be viewed here. The story of Cozmic One is told by DeBernardis, who came up with the idea, wrote...

Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm in the U.S. has long been an advocate of diversification and utilising international bloodlines. TDN's Gary King chatted with Bernick about the European-based stallions he plans to use in 2019. GK: Could you let us know which European-based stallions you plan on using this season? CB: Here's the complete list: Most Beautiful (GB): Kodiac (GB) Take a Deep Breath (GB): Saxon Warrior (Jpn) Modern Love (Ire): Zoffany (Ire) Deer Valley: Frankel (GB) How (Ire): Lope De Vega (Ire) Easter (Ire): Kingman (GB) Galileo Gal...

With less than 100 days to go until Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union, the bloodstock and racing industries in Britain and Ireland face uncertain times as to how different their worlds will be after that date. The Tripartite Agreement that ensures free movement of Thoroughbreds between Britain, Ireland and France could be brought to an end by Brexit. While hopes are high that this mutually beneficial arrangement for horses of a 'high health' status will be upheld, the possibility of a no-deal Brexit makes the waters very...

Dream Castle (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was once considered a leading British Classic contender by Godolphin, and while Meydan's G3 Singspiel S. is a far cry from those lofty targets, Thursday's win nonetheless indicated that the now 5-year-old may now be prepared to fulfill some of that early promise after being gelded. Not that Dream Castle disappointed in the 3-year-old features. After breaking his maiden on debut in early April 2017, the bay was pitched straight into the G3 Greenham S. and finished second to the subsequent Group 1-winning miler Barney...