Big Rock (Fr)

As if conjuring the renowned Babet as a personal Tempest for his [probable] European goodbye, racing's true Duke of Milan rides back into his beloved Ascot on Saturday as the eye of the storm for a suitably dramatic instalment of the Qipco Champions Day. While this fixture has fast become a resounding success, despite its mid-October nook being that bit too far into the wet season to deliver a fair playing field, it always needs at least one dynamo per year to power it into the headlines. Officials are lucky...

Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) has exited the G1 Prix du Moulin in good order and will aim for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. on QIPCO British Champions Day, according to trainer Christopher Head. Successful in a listed race in March, the Yeguada Centurion homebred added the G3 Prix la Force and G3 Prix de Guiche in successive months. He has finished second in his last three races, all at Group 1 level--the Prix du Jockey Club, the Prix Jacques le Marois, and the Prix du Moulin,...

Placed in three group 1s including the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches prior to Sunday's G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois's hard-working homebred Sauterne (Fr) (Kingman {GB}--Salicorne, by Aragorn) had her day in the sun under Tony Piccone as she conquered the summit in the ParisLongchamp feature. Always happy using the 3-5 favourite Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) as a target, the belle of the Patrice Cottier stable mastered him 150 metres from the line before asserting for a length success at 11-1, with Facteur Cheval (Ire)...

   With no Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) lurking in Sunday's G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, the way is clear for Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) to bag that elite contest that his portfolio demands. Having met his match in Ace Impact (Ire) in the 10 1/2-furlong G1 Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly, Yeguada Centurion SL's G3 Prix de Guiche and G3 Prix la Force winner came up short against Cheveley Park Stud's high-class filly in Deauville's G1 Prix Jacques le Marois last month but that form...

It had to happen and thankfully it did. Frankie's final ride at Deauville was one for the memory store on Sunday, as one of the world's finest of all time engineered a super-smooth eighth victory in the G1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois out of Cheveley Park Stud's Rolls Royce Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}--Starscope {GB}, by Selkirk). Showing why he is and has been so prominent in his trade for so long, the Italian judged the pace set by Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) to...

Twelve months ago, Cheveley Park Stud's Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was using Deauville's G1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois as a springboard back to the big time having suffered a shock reversal in the G1 Falmouth S. This time around, the John and Thady Gosden-trained homebred is in Normandy attempting to make up for another defeat having been bogged down in Goodwood's unexpectedly tacky surface in the G1 Sussex S. As she had shown when disappointing in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. on Champions Day, easy...

Ecuries Serge Stempniak's hitherto undefeated Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}--Absolutly Me {F}, by Anabaa Blue {GB}) posted a third straight win when annexing last month's Listed Prix de Suresnes at Chantilly and returned to that Paris venue for Classic glory in Sunday's €1,500,000 G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club. Preceding his black-type breakthrough with impressive early-season wins at Cagnes-sur-Mer and Bordeaux-Le Bouscat, the 19-2 chance extended trainer Jean-Claude Rouget's record to six wins in the contest after defeating 17-10 favourite Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) by an impressive...

Chantilly offers its riposte to Epsom's Derby jamboree on Sunday as the 183rd edition of the G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club welcomes France's new star of the middle-distance division, Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}). Initially slow to develop into the barnstorming character he has become, Yeguada Centurion's homebred would be an emotive winner for Christopher Head in the week that his beloved grandmother Ghislaine passed away. Introduced this year by Head in this track's Prix du Chene des Trois Freres handicap on the Polytrack in February, Big...

It still seems hard to imagine, given how long he has been omnipresent in British racing, but Friday's G1 Betfred Oaks will mark the penultimate Epsom Classic experience in the saddle for Frankie Dettori. It may also prove his best chance of going out in a blaze of glory, as Soul Sister (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) looks the more likely of his Friday and Saturday mounts to conjure that soon-to-be-missed flying dismount. Carrying the "Sariska" silks of Lady Bamford, the homebred left no one in any doubt that she is a...

If there was any doubt who was the Cock Of The North among the French 3-year-old middle-distance colts heading into Tuesday's G3 Prix de Guiche, Yeguada Centurion's Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}--Hardiyna {Ire}, by Sea The Stars {Ire}) provided the emphatic answer with a dominant display at a rain-soaked Chantilly. Compared to Frankel (GB) by the commentary team of Racing Galop afterwards, the homebred first foal out of the owner-breeder's €72,000 Goffs November purchase from The Aga Khan's draft was more Old Vic (GB) as he sliced through...

Yeguada Centurion's 3-year-old colt Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}--Hardiyna {Ire}, by Sea The Stars {Ire}), who failed to nose ahead in each of his first three outings, graduated in a Feb. 2 handicap at Chantilly and repeated the dose back there in last month's Mar. 3 Listed Prix Maurice Caillault. Sent forward for a sterner test in Sunday's G3 Prix La Force at ParisLongchamp, he dented a host of lofty reputations with a game performance in the nine-furlong French Derby trial to register a career high. Big Rock...