Charming Thought

Darley stallion Charming Thought (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who operated out of Dalham Hall Stud for a fee of £5,000 this year, became the latest European freshman sire off the mark when the Tick Tock Partnership's Alicestar (GB) claimed a debut score going a shade over six furlongs in Wednesday's Southwold Novice Auction S. at Great Yarmouth. 5th-Great Yarmouth, £5,400, Nov, 7-22, 2yo, 6f 3yT, 1:13.47, g/f. ALICESTAR (GB) (f, 2, Charming Thought {GB}--Atheera {Ire}, by Shamardal) found cover in fifth from the outset of this unveiling. Angled into the...

Monday heralded the first day of perhaps the strangest turf season any of us will ever witness. From Wednesday, Ireland has gone from racing behind closed doors to joining the rest of the Europe in learning to cope with no racing action at all. There is now uncertainty over when the next 2-year-old race will take place but three of this year's 30 first-season sires in Europe are already off the mark with a first runner, with Buratino (Ire), Prince Of Lir (Ire) and Markaz (Ire) each having been represented...

For the stallions with first-crop 2-year-olds of 2020, the guessing game is effectively over. The market has offered up its opinions at the foal and yearling levels--for some, reputations have been enhanced even before their firstborns bore tack. For others, the market has nearly already decided their fate. Irrespective of what happened in the ring, however, a great many first-crop 2-year-olds are now in the hands of their trainers, and we have just mere months to wait before the most precocious of those begin to show their hands. In the...