El Kabeir

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features the return of a 'TDN Rising Star'. 14.25 Doncaster, Cond, £300,000, 2yo, 6f 111yT JOHANNES BRAHMS (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) earned TDN Rising Star status on debut at Naas in May and has done nothing wrong in two subsequent starts, meeting one too good in the Listed...

Azure Blue (Ire) (El Kabeir), who bested Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) in the G2 Duke Of York S. in May, will square off again with that multiple Group 1 winner in York's G1 Nunthorpe S. on Aug. 25, trainer Michael Dods confirmed on Friday. A listed winner last October, the 4-year-old claimed the Listed Ellen Chaloner S. at Newmarket at the beginning of May before her group heroics. She was sixth in the G1 July Cup S. at Newmarket, but is reportedly doing well. "At the moment...

In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of the stakes-winning filly Salimah in upstate New York.   Stakes Winner Shines At The Spa The consistent stakes winner Salimah (Ire) (El Kabeir) added a win at Saratoga for Stephanie Seymour Brant and trainer Chad Brown on Thursday (video). Part of the Yeomanstown Stud breeding programme, the grey was a 180,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 graduate. She has now won four of six starts,...

Michael Dods trainee Azure Blue (Ire) (El Kabeir--Sea Of Dreams {Ire}, by Oasis Dream {GB}), successful in four of her five latest starts, stepped up from listed level to claim a career high in Wednesday's G2 1895 Duke of York Clipper S. at York. She had previously closed her sophomore campaign last term with a stakes breakthrough in October's Listed Boadicea Fillies' S. at Newmarket and doubled up in the May 6 Kilvington Fillies' S. back at HQ coming back off a 210-day break last time. Azure Blue bided her...

The stallions managed by Renew Italian Breeding--El Kabeir, Ruler Of The World (Ire), Morpheus (GB), and Cappella Sansevero (GB)--will be paraded for breeders at Scuderia Melissa Cipriani-Allevamenti della Berardenga at 11 a.m. local time on Monday, Jan. 16. Located at San Piero in Barca, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Siena, the stud's parade will also feature stallions Holy Ballet (Ire) and Mr Vegas (Ire).

El Kabeir, the sire of Group 2 hero Don Chicco (GB), will stand in Italy at Scuderia Melissa Cipriani in 2023, Renew Italian Breeding announced. The grey son of Scat Daddy previously stood in Ireland, and will command €6,000. From his first two crops of racing age, he has sired a quintet of stakes winners. He joins a roster that features G1 Derby hero Ruler Of The World (Ire), the sire of Group 1-winning fillies Iridessa (Ire) and La Petite Coco (Ire) among his six stakes winners, at €5,000. Frankel...

'Industry heavyweights' seems to have been the buzz phrase of the last few weeks, and we have a few of those in our long-running 12-to-follow competition organised by my husband every Flat and National Hunt season. Those competing this summer include several leading Irish stud masters, bloodstock agents, trainers, breeders, sales company executives, and the head of the Tote. And they are all currently trailing in the wake of an 11-year-old boy who was shrewd enough to include Little Big Bear in his list. What a selection that was. Mind...

There were some choicely-bred fillies in Newmarket's opening British Stallion Studs EBF "Newcomers" Maiden Fillies' S. on Saturday, but one dominant member of the class in Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's Bright Diamond (Ire) (El Kabeir--Starlite Sienna {Ire}, by Elusive Pimpernel). Sent off at 10-1, the Karl Burke-trained bay who was a bargain €52,000 purchase at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up was at work first under Clifford Lee but responded to power her way to the front approaching the furlong pole. Devouring the rising ground to the line, the relative...

Peter Brant's Salimah (Ire) (El Kabeir), the first American starter for her Yeomanstown Stud-based sire and former 'TDN Rising Star', matched that feat with a highly impressive debut success Saturday afternoon at Tampa Bay Downs. As skinny as 4-5 in the latter stages of the wagering, the Peter Brant runner eased out all the way to 7-5 and was 13-10 when the gates flew. Off to a hesitant beginning beneath Samy Camacho, Salimah was allowed to find a rhythm and raced with just two of her rivals behind her as...

In this penultimate edition of the Value Sires Series, we look at stallions that had their first runners last year, and will therefore have their first 3-year-olds in 2022. With the numbers for 2021 tallied, this group actually appears to be a deep one, with plenty of them having done enough to go into their second years with a legitimate shot to still make it as a sire. While the last two cohorts produced runaway leaders in Mehmas (Ire) and Night Of Thunder (Ire), this year the riches were much...

It was extremely unlikely that any first-season sire this year would even get close to the record-breaking 56 winners for Mehmas (Ire) in 2020. That feat was made all the more remarkable by the fact that the start of the Flat season was delayed for several months by the pandemic-induced shutdown of racing. Leaving this huge tally aside, in any other year 35 first-crop winners at a strike-rate of 40% would be more than respectable, and it is this number, and £788,531 in progeny earnings in 2021, that sees Mehmas's...

Veteran stallion Dark Angel (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) will stand for an unchanged fee of €60,000 in 2022, and leads the Yeomanstown Stud roster of five stallions. Firmly on top of the European 2-Year-Old Sires' table, the grey sired dual Group 1-winning juvenile Angel Bleu (Fr), as well as older filly Althiqa (GB), who won a brace of Grade Is Stateside. His third Group 1 winner this term was GI Maker's Mark Mile S. hero Raging Bull (Fr). Overall, the 16-year-old sired 20 stakes winners in 2021, 12 of them group...