Amo Racing

King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) heads the 13 still standing for Saturday's Royal Bahrain Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown on a weekend where the colt's owners Amo Racing could bid for a Group 1 double with Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on course for the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S on Sunday.  Trained by Roger Varian, King Of Steel heads the betting for the Irish Champions Stakes, the showpiece event of the rebranded Irish Champions Festival, and connections of the colt are predicting a bold display.  "It's a...

After watching the best horse he ever trained, New York Thunder (Nyquist), suffer a catastrophic injury in Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., trainer Jorge Delgado had to get out of Saratoga. Shortly after the race, he drove back to his base at Monmouth Park, arriving there about 4 1/2 hours after the field crossed the wire in the Jerkens. It was 9 o'clock, but he needed to be with his horses. "I had to go to his stall to make sure he wasn't there," Delgado said. "It was...

Derby runner-up King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), last seen when third in the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. last month, will skip the Aug. 23 G1 Juddmonte International S. and instead target the G1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion S. on Sept. 9. "We didn't confirm him today for York," said Tom Pennington, racing manager for owners, Amo Racing. "I know when you look at the prize-money and think it could be quite a small field, you might get a bit carried away, but we are going...

Ornellaia (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), winner last out at Goodwood Aug. 3, will target a series of group tests over the coming weeks, according to Tom Pennington, racing and operations manager for Amo Racing. The Dominic Ffrench Davis-trained filly is slated to make her first foray into group company Saturday in the G2 Prix du Calvados at Deauville. Prior to her seven-furlong score, the 2-year-old finished third behind Sacred Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire})--subsequent G3 Princess Margaret S. winner--in a six-furlong Newmarket maiden July 13. "We went to Newmarket...

Most normal people spend some of August at the beach. Bloodstock folk do too, though the spade work involves no bucket, just plenty of prowling around the Arqana sales ground looking at yearlings. There may be the odd oyster here and there at the hospitality suites of various consignors but, make no mistake, this is gruelling work. It's curtain up this Friday for the European yearling sales season, and we all know what that means: Christmas is right around the corner. For breeders and stallion masters, results on the track...

by Jessica Martini and Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - With bids ricocheting from all directions both inside and outside the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings opened with a strong session topped by a pair of million-dollar babies Monday night in upstate New York. "I thought it was a tremendous start to the 2023 Saratoga Yearling Sale," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said at the close of business Monday. "The numbers are essentially on par with last year's opening session, which was a remarkable,...

Alex Elliott and Ben McElroy, acting as agents for Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing, accounted for the first seven-figure offering Monday at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, going to $1.1 million to acquire hip 77 from the consignment of Gainesway, agent for Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Bred & Raised. The March-foaled bay is a son of I'm a Looker (Henny Hughes), winner during her racing days of the GIII Winning Colors S. en route to bankrolling better than $316,000. Stonestreet acquired the March foal's dam for $475,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November Sale and sold...

Kevin Stott has billed Saturday's King George VI And Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S. as the race of the season so far and backed his mount King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) to exact revenge on his Derby conqueror Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). However, the jockey warned that the Ascot showpiece is far from a two-horse race, and described being a part of such a spectacle as incredibly exciting.  King Of Steel finished just a half a length behind Auguste Rodin at huge odds of 66-1 in the G1...

Group 2 winner Persian Dreamer (Calyx {GB}), who bears the silks of Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing, has been handed the G1 Cheveley Park S. as a likely autumn target, according to trainer Dominic Ffrench Davis. "She's great and we're very happy with her and we're now looking forward to having a crack at a Group 1 with her," the trainer said. "She appreciates a bit of cut in the ground and when she does get it, her returns from her races are much better." After breaking her maiden on debut...

4th-Mth, $55K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5fT, 2:02 p.m. AMO Racing's MADAME MISCHIEF (Into Mischief), out of a half-sister to MGISW Divisidero (Kitten's Joy), went for $550,000 at OBSMAR after clocking .10 flat during the under-tack breeze show. The Jorge Delgado trainee gets Isaac Castillo in the irons. TJCIS PPS 1st-HAW, $35K, Msw, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, 3:30 p.m. Another recent OBSMAR grad who fetched $500,000, Dorothy Crowfoot (Audible) makes her first start for trainer Larry Rivelli. Her dam, Enjoy This Moment (Midnight Lute), is a half-sister to MGSW Sum of...

Amo Racing's longshot G2 Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) will target the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, trainer Adrian Murray revealed. The colt has already secured a spot in the starting gate at Santa Anita Park in California on Nov. 3 as the race was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series qualifier for the Future Stars Friday card. "He's probably going to be aimed at the Breeders' Cup now in November," Murray said. "He will more than likely run before then but having talked to the owner he...

He's as big as it gets among top-class thoroughbreds, but Amo Racing's King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Eldacar {GB}, by Verglas {Ire}) showed for the second time this month that he has grace in abundance as he stormed to glory in Friday's G2 King Edward VII S. Denied only by Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in a dramatic finale to the Derby, the imposing grey was at risk of coming back too quickly but his odds of 11-10 reflected the confidence in Roger Varian not to make that particular...