Dramatised

There can have been no ignoring the explosive entrance of the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing to the European racing scene in particular over the last 18 months. The 2023 Royal Ascot winners Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) gave advance warning as to what was to unfold in the ensuing period, with their victories respectively in the G1 Gold Cup and G2 Queen's Vase coming on their first starts in the Wathnan silks after being bought privately from their owner-breeders, Anthony Oppenheimer and...

On December 3, 1995, the G1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle was won by the Aidan O'Brien-trained Thats My Man (Ire). It is unconfirmed, but those may well have been the words uttered by John Magnier when he decided to appoint O'Brien to uphold the good reputation of his surname at Ballydoyle. This he has done with aplomb. From that December day at Fairyhouse until Sunday at the Curragh, A P O'Brien has been the name printed alongside 400 Group or Grade 1 winners. From his roots in National Hunt, he...

The all-grey silks of Steve Parkin's Clipper Logistics have become an increasingly familiar feature at racecourses over the last two decades, and the prolific owner recently added another string to his bow in becoming a breeder. His Yorkshire-based Branton Court Stud notched a major milestone on Wednesday when Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) scorched home in the G2 Queen Mary S. to provide Parkin with a first homebred group winner. "We started in racing 20 years ago and, through Joe Foley, I started a breeding operation," said Parkin. "[Dramatised] has come...