Big Rock

Mark Casse-trained horses ran 1-2-3-5 in the first of Saturday's Grade I events at Woodbine, the Natalma Stakes, led by Live Oak's And One More Time (Omaha Beach). The barn accounted for the exacta in the day's final elite-level affair when 13-1 Win for the Money (Mohaymen) slipped through at the fence following a ground-saving journey to upend pacesetting stablemate Filo Di Arianna (Brz) (Drosselmeyer) in the GI Rogers Woodbine Mile and punch his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Content to linger...

Christophe Soumillon will ride both Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) and Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) at Royal Ascot next week. Trainer Maurizio Guarnieri confirmed Soumillon would take over from the regular rider of the pair, Aurelien Lemaitre, due to his greater experience of Ascot. Big Rock, who won the Queen Elizabeth II S. on Champions Day when trained by Christopher Head, disappointed on his seasonal reappearance in the Lockinge at Newbury when he had valid excuses. He will be aimed at the Queen Anne next week....

Christopher Head won his first Classic last season with Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and he is now eyeing a possible run un the Qipco 1,000 Guineas for Ramatuelle (Justify), who was the top-rated juvenile in France in 2023. The winner of the G2 Prix Robert Papin, and runner-up in the G1 Prix Morny, Ramatuelle is also entered for the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and she will begin her preparations for the Classics in Deauville on April 9. "Ramatuelle has been a tremendous filly for us as a...

LONDON, UK -- Japan stole the show at the Longines World Racing Awards in London, with Silk Racing's Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) named the Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2023 while the G1 Japan Cup claimed the title of Longines World's Best Horse Race. The top-rated three-year-old filly in the world was Japan's Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}). Equinox's top rating of 135 - the highest ever awarded to a Japanese horse - was achieved in his four-length romp in the Japan Cup, his final appearance...

   Continuing the profiles of the favourite horses of TDN Europe's editorial team in 2023, Emma Berry selects the French raider who took QIPCO British Champions Day by storm. I'd been impressed by Christopher Head since the day I first visited his stable in July 2019 and found him on the end of a broomstick sweeping the floor outside the rented boxes of the five horses he had in training at that time. His ascent has been rapid, and by now his string must be 20 times that size. And,...

Christopher Head's two star three-year-olds of 2023, dual Classic winner Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and Saturday's sensational Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), will both remain in training for next season. Timeform has awarded Big Rock a rating of 129 for his six-length romp on QIPCO British Champions Day, which is the highest figure recorded by a miler in Europe this season. The winner of two Group 3 Classic trials in the spring, Big Rock was second to Ace Impact (Fr) in...

ASCOT, UK--It's that time of year, with retirements of the top horses coming thick and fast, but the really good news from Champions Day is that Big Rock (Ire) and King Of Steel will both be back to wow us again next year.  And wow they did, along with that other predictable star of the show, Frankie Dettori. It is a course that he has been lighting up ever since his magnificent seven of 1996 and at which he is now commemorated in bronze, the statue of Dettori having been...

Trainer Christopher Head and owner-breeder Leopoldo Fernando Pujals have already taken home the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches trophy with Blue Rose Cen (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) and their year could become even more memorable should favourite Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) take another step forward in an impressive season to date. There's a strong homebred feel to the line-up, and only five of the runners have ever appeared at an auction. Four are graduates of the Arqana August Yearling Sale, while Winter Pudding (Fr) will be flying the flag...

Twelve horses stood their ground for Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club, led by Jaber Abdullah's homebred G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), and there will be one supplementary entry in Feed The Flame (Fr) (Kingman {GB}). The Andreas Schutz-trained Marhaba Ya Sanafi is joined by Yeguada Centurion's Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), who has won a pair of Group 3 contests for Christopher Head this season and is the current market favourite. The unbeaten Feed The Flame is trained by...

It has been a good spell for Christopher Head. On Sunday, his colt Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) became the latest group winner for owner-breeder Yeguada Centurion, followed two days later by a TDN Rising Star award for the trainer's first juvenile runner of the season, Ramatuelle (Justify), who demolished her opposition in the Prix du Premier Pas at Chantilly. This prominent start to the season picks up where Head left off last year: his first Group 1 success came in October's Prix Marcel Boussac with Blue Rose...

Thank goodness for France. While Britain and Ireland mostly pause the serious Flat action in Grand National week, the French Classic trials rolled on with the return of racing at Longchamp on Sunday, which will be backed up by another strong card this coming Sunday. It was hard not to be impressed by the seasonal debut of Jannah Rose (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who has raced only twice for two wins, and looked a proper Classic prospect for Al Shira'aa Farms and Carlos Laffon-Parias when winning the G3 Prix Vanteaux. When...