Derby winner

The dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) will make one final appearance in the Japan Cup on November 24 before retiring to stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.  The four-year-old son of Japan's breed-shaping stallion Deep Impact (Jpn) has won at the highest level in each of his seasons in training, landing the Vertem Futurity after his initial black-type success in the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes.  At three, despite disappointing in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas on his seasonal debut, he put together a formidable CV of four Group/Grade 1...

The Aga Khan's homebred dual Derby winner Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}--Hazariya {Ire}, by Xaar {GB}) has been sold to continue his stallion career in Ireland at Kilbarry Lodge Stud. Trained by Dermot Weld and ridden by Pat Smullen, Harzand overcame a last-minute foot injury scare to win the 2016 G1 Derby to give his owner-breeder a fifth triumph in the Epsom Classic following Shergar (GB), Shahrastani, Kahyasi (Ire) and Sinndar (Ire). He then followed up with victory in the G1 Irish Derby. Among Harzand's Flat runners this season...

An awful lot has changed in the world of Italian breeding since Nearco (Ity) was bred in 1935 by the legendary Federico Tesio. The Pharos (GB) colt's faultless 14-race career, which included victories in the Derby Italiano and Grand Prix de Paris, led to his sale, on the cusp of World War II, to stand in England at Beech House Stud, where a bomb shelter was constructed to ensure his safety.  It proved to be a precaution worth taking. As the sire of Nearctic and grandsire of Northern Dancer, Nearco's...

Shadwell's Erhaab (Chief's Crown--Histoire {Fr}, by Riverman), who won the G1 Derby at Epsom in 1994, died peacefully this week at Batsford Stud. The 30-year-old, the oldest surviving winner of the Blue Riband, had spent the past decade at the Gloucestershire stud. Bred by Sheikh Hamdan's operation in Kentucky, the half-brother to Group 2 winner Oumaldaaya (Nureyev) and stakes winner Hispanolia (Fr) (Kris {GB}) was trained by John Dunlop. In five starts as a juvenile, the dark bay won twice and was also third in the G3 Horris Hill S....

This time twenty years ago, Galileo (Ire) was a once-raced winning maiden gradually being honed to full fitness on the Ballydoyle gallops ahead of his Classic season. That debut outing at Leopardstown on Oct. 28, 2000, had started with the young son of Sadler's Wells and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Urban Sea as evens favourite and ended, after a mile on heavy ground, with him 14 lengths clear of the Aga Khan's Taraza (Ire).  We've all seen 2-year-olds burn brightly in their maidens only to fizzle out...