Best In The World

To an extent, when Coolmore wins two of the weekend's premier Classics in Europe and Godolphin wins another, it feels like we are harking back to the glory days around the turn of the century, when the battle of the superpowers was epitomised by those back-to-back duels between Galileo (Ire) and Fantastic Light in the 'King George' and Irish Champion Stakes. Honours even. And it was honours even at Epsom, with the dazzling victory of Ballydoyle's Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Cazoo Oaks, followed by the satisfying success...

If we can view Europe's largest training centre of Newmarket as a microcosm of the wider racing world, then events in the last week give a pretty concerning snapshot of the future of the sport. On the positive front, there was a first winner for the town's newest trainer, Terry Kent, who, at 53, is also one of the longest-serving members of its workforce, having previously been a jockey and worked for trainers Michael Jarvis, Julie Cecil, Saeed Bin Suroor and Roger Varian. Another recent recruit to the training ranks,...