Darley

Spendthrift purchased the breeding rights to Authentic before the Grade l Santa Anita Derby, and the $9 million kicker it agreed to pay Authentic's former ownership group for winning the Gl Kentucky Derby is indicative of the premium that's placed on a stallion prospect with North America's most prestigious Classic on his resume. A front-running colt, Authentic has the right type of sire behind him as well. He's by Spendthrift's flagship stallion Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday), who cranks out graded stakes winners like nobody's business, particularly sprinters and milers that...

Earning TDN Rising Star status on debut when winning over a mile at Yarmouth Aug. 30, George Strawbridge's Indigo Girl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) made an impressively rapid jump forward to capture Thursday's G2 bet365 May Hill S. at Doncaster. Held up in last early by Frankie Dettori after an awkward start, the 10-3 second favourite was delivered with an eye-catching move stand's side to swamp the long-time leader Dubai Fountain (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) with 1 1/2 furlongs remaining. Despite running green in front, the full-sister to the same connections' group...

Three years ago, Darley's Sales Manager Darren Fox boarded a plane for Australia to see if  Astern (Aus), their highly-rated son of Medaglia d'Oro, could be a good fit for the American roster. "Upon making the trip to Australia to make sure he would work physically, it took all of about three seconds of looking at Astern to say, 'Yes, this horse will work in America,'" Fox recalled. "He has a lot of attributes that we look for and he was, in any jurisdiction, a high-level, high-performing racehorse. So it...

Sent postward as the 17-10 favourite for Sunday's G1 Darley Prix Morny at Deauville, Stonestreet Stables' Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) added lustre to a banner season for Tally-Ho Stud with a dominant performance in her first outing beyond the five-furlong trip. She had opened up with an impressive 3 1/2-length score over five in her May 31 unveiling at Gulfstream Park, stepping up to garner Royal Ascot's June 20 G2 Queen Mary dash on black-type bow in her only other start, and the April-foaled bay went straight to the head...

Godolphin's Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) continues to go from strength to strength and only had to go about his usual business to add Wednesday's star-studded G1 Juddmonte International to his G1 Coronation Cup and G1 Eclipse S. triumphs. Always content on the front end with William Buick holding on to something, the 11-8 favourite was brought up the centre of the home straight and stayed out of reach of Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to win by three lengths, with Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) 1 1/4 lengths away in third....

With vital course-and-distance experience to call upon, Mark Johnston's Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) proved toughest in a war of attrition to land York's G3 Tattersalls Acomb S. on Wednesday. Successful over this seven-furlong trip on debut July 25, the 9-1 shot was placed prominently by Silvestre de Sousa from the outset and battled gamely to overhaul Spycatcher (Ire) (Vadamos {Fr}) close home. At the line, there was half a length between them, with the long-time leader Broxi (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) three lengths away in third having forced a...

There's a tendency in this business--as in life--to downgrade the relevance of the aged and to push them aside in favor of youth. You see this in bloodstock all the time. Everyone wants young mares, just as everyone wants to patronize first-year sires. Old mares, even some stakes producers, are discarded cheaply, and older sires, unless they are elite, have a hard time attracting mares, even at discounted fees. Likewise, everyone wants good 2-year-olds that will mature into early 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail, but no one seems to...

Godolphin had two livewires in a renewal of Deauville's G1 LARC Prix Maurice de Gheest that looked well up to standard but also tough to call and it was the white cap of the second-string Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) that emerged on top in a thriller. Third in this 6 1/2-furlong feature 12 months ago, the Charlie Appleby representative had yet to win over this short a trip but gave all the right signals with the way he travelled through the seven-furlong G2 Lennox S. when registering a career-best...

6th-Saratoga, $72,000, Msw, 8-2, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.77, ft. LADY LILLY (f, 2, Nyquist--Miss Inclined {MSP, $184,451}, by Pulpit) raced out to take an early lead, showing the way through initial splits of :22.48 and :45.82. In the clear turning for home, the $280,000 KEESEP yearling appeared to be home free, but despite getting leg-weary in the final sixteenth, the 9-5 choice held on for a neck victory over the oncoming Mo Dean (Uncle Mo). The winner's freshman sire, Nyquist, was registering his third winner, following Gretzky the Great's maiden...

A filly by Bernardini out of Mystic Love (Not For Love) was selected as grand champion of the 86th annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association's Yearling Show, held Sunday in Timonium.  Bred by GreenMount Farm in partnership with Godolphin, the champion filly was the winner of Class IV (for fillies foaled in Maryland, by out-of-state sires). She was shown by Sabrina Moore, manager and co-owner of GreenMount. A total of 67 yearlings in four classes were judged by two-time Classic-winning trainer and Hall of Fame Show Jumping rider Michael Matz. "I...

Maybe he was just born too beautiful, and too rich, to be setting the alarm every single morning and riding the same suburban train to work. He can leave the maximisation of income, the humdrum consistency, to lesser creatures. Like some aristocratic dilettante touched by genius, however, Bernardini (A.P. Indy) remains ever capable of producing a masterpiece. The Darley stallion had lately become so slack--only two graded stakes winners in each of the past two years--that this spring he suffered his third consecutive cut, to just $40,000, having commanded a...

Recovered from an injury which forced the abandonment of any and all plans for this term's rescheduled one-mile Classics, the belated reintroduction of Godolphin's homebred Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal) in Sunday's Listed Qatar Prix Kistena at Deauville was as straightforward as starting odds of 2-5 might suggest and the Andre Fabre trainee maintained his perfect record, going six-for-six, with an impressive 2 1/2-length dismissal of Wanaway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) in the six-furlong dash. Settled under cover in sixth after an alert departure from the outside stall, last term's G1 Prix Morny...