G1 Prix de l'Abbaye

Consistent filly Believing (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), second in Sunday's G1 Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh to Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), will be given a break, according to trainer George Boughey. The Highclere Thoroughbred Racing and Jane Addams runner will return in either or both the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye in October or the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar a month later. "It will be interesting to see how she comes out of Sunday's race," he said. "I was really pleased to hear from Ryan Moore on...

Relief Rally (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), the winner of the G2 Lowther S., will take her chance in the G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket on Oct. 30, Anthony Bromley, racing manager for owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, revealed on Wednesday. The four-for-five William Haggas-trained bay was also being considered for the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye in open company and versus elders the day after the Cheveley Park. Second in the G2 Queen Mary S. by only a nose at third asking in June, she triumphed in the Weatherbys Super...

Kevin Blake and Jack Cantillon have secured French sprinter Bouttemont (Ire), who they are targeting at a rare Group 1 double in the Flying Five and Prix de l'Abbaye, before standing the highly-rated son of Acclamation (GB) in Ireland.  Bouttemont will see out his career with current trainer Yann Barberot and will race in the colours of Syndicates.Racing, the successful ownership group which is headed by Cantillon.  A number of packages that include racing and breeding rights are available in the Group 3 winner with Blake describing the opportunity to...

Group 1 winner The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) (lot1924B) will be offered as a wildcard entry during the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Successful in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye, the bay will be sent through the ring during the second Sceptre Session on Nov. 29. The first Group 1-winning juvenile filly to be offered during the Tattersalls December Mares Sale this century, she was also the first of her age and sex to take the l'Abbaye since Sigy (Fr) (Habitat) in 1978. The Middleham Park Racing runner was...

   After the early retreat of Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and mixed signals from the Classic generation in general this summer, Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will provide more answers if not perhaps the categoric truth about how the generations compare on Sunday. In a fascinating renewal replete with conundrums, the best of the remaining 3-year-olds in action Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) and Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) pit their wits against the matured might of Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente...

Group 1-placed filly The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) will start next in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye on Oct. 2, according to Middleham Park Racing's Tom Palin. The five-furlong specialist was not entered in the six-furlong Sept. 24 G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket on Tuesday morning. "The Platinum Queen is a very useful filly," said Palin. "We didn't confirm her for the Cheveley Park this morning [Tuesday], we want to keep her to five furlongs so she will head straight to the Abbaye now--all being well." A...

Breeders' Cup winner Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead--Night Gypsy {GB}, by Mind Games {GB}) has been retired from racing following her eighth-place finish in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. The Bearstone Stud homebred, who was trained by Kevin Ryan, won the G3 Prix du Petit Couvert followed by the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye at three. In 2020, she added the G1 Flying Five S. in Ireland, ran second in another edition of the l'Abbaye,  and maintained that form Stateside with a half-length win in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf...

It is racing's greatest dichotomy. Labelled by the official ParisLongchamp website as "la meilleure course au monde", the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will have few who brook any argument with that claim. Yet it is the time of year within which it is framed that delivers the ultimate snag, with autumn's entry prompting an often drastic change in terrain and a late turnpike for the kings and queens of summer just past. Half of the previous 10 renewals of France's great monument have been run on testing...

Champion sprinter and four-time Group 1 winner Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}--Anna Law {Ire}, by Lawman {Fr}), has been retired from racing, connections announced on Saturday. The 7-year-old gelding raced in the Shadwell colours for the late Sheikh Hamdan and in 2021, his daughter, Sheikha Hissa. His final start was a seventh-place run aiming for a fifth-straight win in the G2 King George Qatar S. at Goodwood on Friday. Racing Manager Angus Gold said on behalf of Shadwell Estate Company, Ltd., "Following telephone conversations with HH Sheikha Hissa Bint Hamdan...

Group 1 winner Wooded (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}-Frida La Blonde {Fr}, by Elusive City) has been retired and will stand at Haras de Bouquetot in France next year. A fee for the winner of the 2020 G1 Prix de l'Abbaye will be announced later. "Wooded stood out from the day he arrived for his good looks and ability and he was very sound, never missing a day's work," said trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. "In the G3 Prix Texanita he announced himself as a potential superstar and we were confident he would...

She is here. She made it. Relax, breathe easier. All the personnel linked by her journey from Juddmonte foal to Clarehaven thoroughbred icon have their work complete. There is only Frankie now in the human chain that connects to the wondermare whose very name evokes positivity and entitlement. At 4:05pm Parisian time, Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) brings closure to her epic odyssey against a suitably dramatic climatic backdrop. As if she has summoned the trinity of gods of the wind, the rain and the clouds to frame her historic bid...

Make a Challenge (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) will make his next appearance in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye Oct. 4. The winner of four of six starts this season, including a pair of Irish listed stakes in August, the gelding finished fifth--beaten two lengths--in his most recent start in the Curragh's G1 Flying Five S. Sept. 13. "We were very happy with the horse," said Hogan. "He raced out on his own for most of the race and the drying ground probably didn't help, but I think the main thing...