Earthlight

Victor Ludorum. With such a name should we ever have doubted him? Fifteen years after his late sire Shamardal blazed to glory in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains for the first half of his own Classic double, Victor Ludorum (Ire) set up a double of a different kind at Deauville on Monday, passing the Godolphin baton to his fellow colour-bearer and last year's champion juvenile Pinatubo (Ire) to attempt to complete a posthumous Classic double for Shamardal within a week. Should the much lauded Pinatubo resurface in the manner which...

French racing will return behind closed doors on Monday after being off since Mar. 16 due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, and the initial three cards at ParisLongchamp, Toulouse and Compiegne have drawn a whopping 1,069 entries. ParisLongchamp, which received clearance on Monday to stage its meeting in the nation's capital, has drawn a total of 257 entries across 10 races. The card's feature races are the G2 Prix d'Harcourt and Group 3 Prix la Grotte, Prix de Fontainebleau and G3 Prix de Saint-Georges. Last year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club...

LONDON, UK—Godolphin's homebred Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) was officially named Europe's champion juvenile of 2019 on Wednesday when given the highest rating for a 2-year-old in 25 years. In fact, it was a clean sweep for Godolphin and Kildangan Stud-based sire Shamardal, who were also responsible for the joint runners-up in the category, Victor Ludorum (Ire) and Earthlight (Ire). The magic number for Pintaubo—also awarded to Enable (GB), Crystal Ocean (GB) and Waldgeist (GB) when topping the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings—was 128. One has to look back as far as...

Deauville's month-long festival begins in earnest on Sunday with the G1 Prix Rothschild the first of five such events at the Normandy venue. Last year's G1 Prix Saint-Alary and G1 Prix de Diane heroine Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) returns to France for the fourth time and to this venue for the second, having been runner-up in the 2017 G3 Prix du Calvados prior to her blossoming into the top-class filly we now know so well. Having taken part in the two mile championship races for older horses, the G1 Lockinge...