Arizona Blaze (GB)

As a heralded and unbeaten member of the dominant 2-year-old fillies' division entering Saturday's G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at The Curragh, Juddmonte's TDN Rising Star Babouche (GB) (Kodiac {GB}--Pavlosk, by Arch) was always going to be a force to be reckoned with and in the event she was too much for Whistlejacket (Ire) (No Nay Never) to handle in the first major clash of the sexes in this age group. Surrendering a length and a half from the gates to the Ballydoyle representative, the Ger Lyons-trained G3 Anglesey Stakes winner...

Wathnan Racing's Shareholder (Not This Time--Cloudy Dancer {GB}, by Invincible Spirit {Ire}) had only announced himself a G2 Norfolk Stakes candidate 12 days ago when winning Beverley's Two Year Old Trophy Conditions Stakes and made light of the quick turnaround to capture the Royal Ascot prize. Held on to by James Doyle early among the group racing up the centre, the Karl Burke-trained 12-1 shot was in front passing the two-furlong pole and asserted to score by a length from Tropical Storm (GB) (Eqtidaar {Ire}), with a head back to...

Crack stayer Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) leads a 12-strong field for the 2 1/2-mile G1 Gold Cup, as next Thursday's Royal Ascot fields take shape. A winner of this event in 2022, the chestnut sustained an injury last term that forced him to make just two starts. However, he has put that hiccup behind him and has won the Listed Vintage Crop S. and the G3 Levmoss S. in succession. This race's entries read like a who's who of some of the best stayers in Europe, and, although Wathan Racing's...

   Continuing the stellar start to his stud career of Sergei Prokofiev, Amo Racing and Giselle De Aguiar's Arizona Blaze (GB) outstayed Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Camille Pissarro (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) at the close of The Curragh's G3 GAIN Marble Hill S. run in memory of Theresa Marnane on Saturday. Second to the runner-up's stablemate Whistlejacket (Ire) (No Nay Never) in the five-furlong Listed First Flier S. here earlier this month, the £82,000 Goffs UK Premier graduate, who was his sire's first winner also at this venue in March,...

Monday's curtain-raising Curragh card saw Whitsbury Manor Stud's first-season sire Sergei Prokofiev register his opening salvo as his son Arizona Blaze (GB) captured the five-furlong Castle Star And Alkumait At Capital Stud Irish EBF Maiden. Representing AMO Racing Limited and Giselle De Aguiar and the Adrian Murray stable, the £82,000 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale graduate was always on the sharp end under David Egan. Asserting from Rowdy Yeats (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) inside the final furlong, the 5-4 favourite eked out a professional 1 1/4-length success. "David [Egan] said...

No sooner is the Cheltenham Festival wound up than the Flat Turf season begins at The Curragh on Monday, leaving no time to draw breath. Offering the ultimate contrast to the recent jumping spectacles is the opening five-furlong Castle Star And Alkumait At Capital Stud Irish EBF Maiden for 2-year-olds, where a clutch of the entries are by the first-season sires Sergei Prokofiev, Verbal Dexterity (Ire), Far Above (Ire) and Arizona (Ire). It is Whitsbury Manor Stud's resident Sergei Prokofiev who could have the favourite in the Adrian Murray-trained colt...