Blue Point

There will be a lot of I-told-you-sos when looking back on the first-season sires' championship with Blue Point (Ire) living up to his lofty billing by amassing 50 individual winners in Europe including two Group 1 scorers in what can only be described as a dream debut season.  The pledge of support behind Blue Point from a very early stage, in what was viewed by many as the most competitive first-season sires' championship in a long time, was telling.  Perhaps one of the most accurate predictions came from trainer Richard...

There was a familiar theme to develop at Park Paddocks on Wednesday as, for the second time in the space of 24 hours, the progeny of Havana Grey (GB) dominated at the December Foal Sale with a colt by the Whitsbury Manor Stud-based stallion fetching 250,000gns to unknown entity Rumstar Bloodstock.  A brother to G3 Cornwallis S. winner Rumstar (GB), lot 638 was one of two foals by the sire to clear six figures on the day, with five more foals by Havana Grey selling for at least 80,000gns. Whitsbury's...

ARCADIA, USA -- A clean sweep for Europe in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. How about that to start the Breeders' Cup? And then for the closing act, a one-two for Aidan O'Brien in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf after the drama of the early-morning scratching of race favourite River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). For the curtain up, Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), named to honour a fallen friend, paid the best possible tribute to the late Paul Evans in giving his British owners Paul and...

Lodge Park Stud produced one of the most unlikely of turnarounds to top Monday's Book 2 session at Tattersalls with their Dubawi (Ire) filly selling to Godolphin for 725,000gns.  Not because the price wasn't expected as the quality of their offering was never in doubt. But when the filly gave herself a nasty cut en route to Book 1 and was forced to miss that engagement, plans B, C and D whirled through the head of her breeder Damien Burns. To the delight of Burns, his Dubawi filly out of...

With Dubawi as its lynchpin, there have of course been plenty of red-letter days for Darley in recent years, but the results from the Arc meeting at Longchamp on Sunday can nevertheless be deemed to be extra special. Best of all was the victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for the unbeaten Ace Impact (Ire), a member of the first crop of Cracksman (GB). That stellar performance was backed up by a first-crop Group 1 winner for Blue Point (Ire), who is leading the first-season sires' table and...

Top breeze-up handler Mickey Cleere has shared how he breathed a huge sigh of relief after Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), a horse he describes as the fastest he has ridden, bounced right back to form to run away with the G2 Flying Childers S. at Doncaster.  That win provided Cleere with an added pep to his step ahead of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, where he picked up the similarly smart juvenile Ballymount Boy (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) for just €8,000, before turning him into a €110,000 breezer...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale continued to match the figures from its blockbuster 2022 renewal with colts by Curlin and Not This Time bringing seven figures during a competitive concluding Book 2 section Thursday. "Today was a very steady, good healthy market," said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. "We were tracking the median all through the day and it never moved at all. It was very, very steady. Overall, I think people were very happy. I think there was...

Mick Appleby is preparing Royal Ascot winner Big Evs (Ire) for a tilt at the G3 Molecomb S. at Goodwood after the Blue Point (Ire) colt confirmed his speed in running out a 20-1 winner of the  Windsor Castle S. A trip to the Knavesmire at York has also been pencilled in later in the season by Appleby, who revealed that he was not one bit surprised by the colt's performance at the royal meeting last week. He said, "I did quite fancy him because he worked well with Annaf...

Hard to believe that Colin Keane was 0-50 at Ascot before booting Villanova Queen (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) home to record an emotional victory for Jessica Harrington in the Kensington Palace Fillies' Handicap. Anyone with even a passing interest in Irish racing will know that Keane is right up there with the best riders in Europe and his royal winner was long overdue.  Of course, it came in rather fortuitous circumstances, with Keane deputising for Harrington's number one rider Shane Foley, who was cruelly ruled out for six weeks after breaking...

DEAUVILLE, France--Close to €38 million had already been spent on juveniles at the four breeze-up sales in Europe to have preceded Arqana, and that figure has now risen to around €59 million following a bullish day of trading in Deauville. Featuring the season's only seven-figure breezer and with a much larger catalogue than usual, it was no surprise to see turnover increase, though a near-50% upturn was perhaps even better than anticipated, with the 140 sold bringing in a total of €21,110,500 to ring the new record bell. Other indicators...

The first juvenile to reach the €500,000 mark at Arqana's Breeze-up Sale was a daughter of Darley's first-season sire Blue Point (Ire), who will be trained in America after being bought by Nicolas Bertran de Balanda of NBB Racing on behalf of Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stable. Out of the listed-winning Afleet Alex mare Shimmering Moment, lot 44 was consigned by Brendan Holland's Grove Stud. She was bought as a foal at Tattersalls for 135,000gns by DPA Bloodstock. Bertran de Balanda confirmed that the filly, who was bred by...

DEAUVILLE, France--So many of this season's Classic trials in France have been run in testing conditions but the forecast rain stayed away from Deauville on Thursday morning, allowing the breeze session for the Arqana sale to be conducted amid a pleasant mix of sun and breeze on ground that looked forgiving and fair.  Certainly the various consignors appeared to have a pretty relaxed air about them as their horses galloped on the back stretch of the racecourse in front of a decent-sized crowd gathered on the makeshift grandstand. "The ground...