G1 Prix du Jockey Club

Thursday also saw the draw made for Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly, with Jeff Smith's G1 2,000 Guineas fourth Ghostwriter (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) getting an inside post in two. In between the two ParisLongchamp conditions winners Sosie (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Look De Vega (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), the Clive Cox-trained G2 Royal Lodge S. scorer will at least have a tactical advantage in the 10 1/2-furlong Classic, with his trainer saying earlier this week, "He is very versatile and very balanced,...

Aidan O'Brien has confirmed City Of Troy (Justify), Los Angeles (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and outsider Euphoric (GB) (Frankel {GB}) as his three intended runners in the G1 Betfred Derby at Epsom on Saturday. "That is what we're thinking of, maybe the three," O'Brien said in a Zoom call hosted by France Galop on Tuesday. "Everything seems well with them all at the moment, so that's what we're thinking. "They're giving Friday and Saturday dry [forecast], so you often see the ground can be slow for the Oaks and perfect for...

Ghostwriter (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), last seen finishing fourth in the G1 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, is said to be an intended runner in Sunday's G1 Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly as he tries to provide trainer Clive Cox with a first Classic success. One of 21 colts still in contention for the Prix du Jockey Club, Ghostwriter shaped as if ready for a step up in trip when beaten four and a half lengths on the Rowley Mile, form which received a couple of boosts on Saturday when...

Prix du Jockey Club winner and Arc runner-up Vadeni (Fr), who also landed the Eclipse S. at Sandown in a spellbinding 3-year-old campaign, has been retired.  The highest rated son of Churchill (Ire) won five times for Jean-Claude Rouget and carried the colours of the Aga Khan. He will join the stallion ranks at Haras de Bonneval, where he will stand alongside Siyouni (Fr), Zarak (Fr) and Dariyan (Fr). No fee has been decided on yet.  Georges Rimaud, manager for the Aga Khan Studs in France, commented, "We are delighted...

Undefeated Feed the Flame (GB) (Kingman {GB}) will be supplemented to the June 4 G1 Prix du Jockey Club, confirmed racing manager Gerard Larrieu, who purchased the colt for €270,000 at Arqana August on behalf of Jean-Louis Bouchard. Named a TDN Rising Star following an eye-catching 5 1/2-length victory going 10 1/2 furlongs at ParisLongchamp on Apr. 9, the Pascal Bary trainee returned to make it two straight with a victory at that same venue on Apr. 27. Christophe Soumillon, who was aboard for both of the colt's prior wins,...

Yeguada Centurion's 3-year-old colt Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}--Hardiyna {Ire}, by Sea The Stars {Ire}), who failed to nose ahead in each of his first three outings, graduated in a Feb. 2 handicap at Chantilly and repeated the dose back there in last month's Mar. 3 Listed Prix Maurice Caillault. Sent forward for a sterner test in Sunday's G3 Prix La Force at ParisLongchamp, he dented a host of lofty reputations with a game performance in the nine-furlong French Derby trial to register a career high. Big Rock...

G1SW Intello (Ger) (Galileo {Ire}-Impressionnante {GB}, by Danehill) has joined the Haras de Beaumont roster for 2023. The 2013 G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner will stand for €8,000 LF. The 12-year-old stood for the same fee at Haras du Quesnay in 2022. Out of a half-sister to MGISW Mondialiste (Ire) (Galileo) and hailing from the extended family of European sprint champion Elnadim, the Wertheimer Et Frere homebred is listed among the top French sires in 2022 with a 10.74% black-type horses to runners. Also standing at Haras de Beaumont...

With the last eight winners of the G1 Cazoo Oaks hailing from Ballydoyle or Clarehaven, this particular rivalry is taking on epic proportions unmatched in the great Epsom Classic's history. Not even the duels between the race's record holder Robert Robson and Dixon Boyce in the early 19th century and between the current Rosegreen maestro and the late Sir Henry Cecil at the end of and beginning of the 20th and 21st enjoyed such mutually-exclusive domination. There is more than a strong chance that it will be extended on Friday,...

There was just the one withdrawal from Friday's £550,000 G1 Cazoo Oaks on Wednesday, with the removal of Kirsten Rausing's G3 Musidora S. third Ching Shih (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) meaning that 11 fillies will head postward for the Epsom Classic. The John and Thady Gosden-trained market leaders and TDN Rising Stars Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and  Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) have been drawn alongside each other in five and six respectively, while of Ballydoyle's quartet Coolmore and Westerberg's 1000 Guineas third and Irish 1000 Guineas...

Earle Mack's Cash (Ire) (Shamardal), who ran second in Sandown's Apr. 22 G3 bet365 Classic Trial by only a short head to Juddmonte's Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), will make his next start in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club on June 5, according to Mack's British-based racing manager Anthony Burke. Trained by David Simcock, the colt broke his maiden at first asking going a mile at Newmarket last October. He was withdrawn from the G1 Cazoo Derby field earlier this week. Burke said, "He goes to the French Derby. We...

Listed winner Eydon (Ire) (Olden Times {GB}) will go to Epsom to test his aptitude for the course during the Cazoo Derby Gallops Morning on May 23, Prince Faisal's racing manager Ted Voute revealed. Depending on his results, that will see the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas fourth take his chances in the G1 Cazoo Derby on June 4. Alternatively, he will be re-routed to the G1 Prix du Jockey Club in France one day later. Voute said, "He'll go on Monday to Epsom and have a little piece of work...

2020 G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}-Starlet's Sister {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) has been retired and will take up stallion duties at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, owner Peter Brant announced on Tuesday. A colourbearer for Brant's White Birch Farm initially with Coolmore buying a 50% interest earlier this year, the 2019 French highweight's fee will be announced later. "A world champion at three and now an Arc winner at four, I have decided to retire Sottsass after what he has achieved," said Brant. "He...