Highfield Princess

Trainers John and Sean Quinn have been dealt a cruel blow with the news that stable star Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) has died after suffering "an inoperable fracture". Highfield Princess took the Quinn stable on an extraordinary journey, winning 14 of her 39 career starts and earning close to £2 million in prize-money for her owner-breeder John Fairley.  She tasted Group 1 success four times and mixed it with some of the fastest horses in the world. However, the Prix de l'Abbaye, Nunthorpe, Flying Five and Prix...

John Fairley's top sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) has been retired from racing with immediate effect after suffering a "very serious and concerning" injury in her stable on Tuesday morning. The mare's trainers John and Sean Quinn, via a statement issued on social media on Thursday, said, "That morning she was transferred to Rainbow Equine Hospital and has been in their care ever since. Her progress over the past few days has been encouraging and whilst she still has a way to go to make a full...

Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) are among 16 elite-level winners and 25 overseas-based horses that have been extended invitations to the Longines Hong Kong International Races meeting at Sha Tin Racecourse Sunday, Dec. 9. Winner of this year's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup and a narrowly beaten second to his GI Breeders' Cup Turf-winning stable companion Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in defence of his crown in the G1 Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown Sept. 9, the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup-bound Luxembourg...

The 2023 Longines Hong Kong International Races meeting to be held at Sha Tin Racecourse Sunday, Dec. 10, has attracted some 189 entries--including a whopping 68 from Japan--from a total of 12 racing jurisdictions. The four Group 1 races, collectively deemed the 'World Turf Championships, will offer record prizemoney of HK$118 million (£12.4 million/€14.3 million/A$23.8 million/US$15.1 million). The entries include no fewer than 55 Group 1 winners from around the globe, including Sunday Racing's exciting Japanese Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), who was given the option of...

While the G1 Irish St Leger is officially the feature race on The Curragh's second part of the Irish Champions Festival, Sunday's fixture is really first and foremost about Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star City Of Troy (Justify) who graces the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. Of all the stable's 2-year-old stars over the past 25 years, he already looks at home accompanying the same metaphoric space as the likes of Johannesburg, Fasliyev, Air Force Blue, Hawk Wing, Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) and Little Big Bear (Ire) which is an...

John Quinn has identified the Breeders' Cup as the long-term target for Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) after his stable star finished placed in both Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot last week.  But first, Highfield Princess could take in the G1 July Cup at Newmarket, with Quinn reporting last year's triple Group 1-winning sprinter to have bounced out of Ascot in rude health.  The six-year-old was beaten a length when runner-up to Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) in the King's Stand last Tuesday and was narrowly denied again...

Australian sprinter Cannonball (Aus) (Capitalist {Aus}) is being predicted to make an explosive impact at Royal Ascot by majority owner James Harron who insists the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt will post "a very big performance" if the ground is good or better in the G1 King's Stand S. A general 10-1 chance to emulate last year's winner Nature Strip (Aus) and the brilliant Scenic Blast (Aus), Miss Andretti (Aus), Takeover Target (Aus) and Choisir (Aus) by winning the King's Stand for Australia, success for Cannonball would also reverberate as...

Star sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) will return in the G2 Duke of York S. on May 13, following a similar path this year as her 2022 campaign, trainer John Quinn said. The 6-year-old Trainers House Enterprises homebred won last year's Duke of York before taking the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S. and the G1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Flying Five S. She has not run since finishing fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland Nov. 5....

Kirsten Rausing's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Shadwell's outstanding colt Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) head the nominations for the 32nd Cartier Racing Awards, which will be held at London's Dorchester Hotel on Wednesday, November 9. Both trained in Newmarket throughout their careers, Alpinista and Baaeed have won 11 Group 1 races between them. They are joined on the short list for Cartier Horse of the Year by John Fairley's treble Group 1-winning sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Moyglare...

Where to begin? The past week has been so wrought with emotion that by the time Sunday arrived with its 15 group races in England, Ireland and France only the dourest of stayers made it through to Doncaster's Mallard Handicap. This is a racing publication, of course, but before we reflect on the action on the racecourse, it would be remiss not to mention the heartbreaking human loss which was so intrinsically entwined with the sport.  Grief engulfed two nations. Wednesday brought the indelibly sad image of Henry de Bromhead...

John Quinn has showered star sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) with praise and described the G1 Flying Five-bound filly as the best he's trained. Highfield Princess is chasing a third Group 1 win on the spin when she lines out in Sunday's Flying Five S. at the Curragh, one of the feature races of Longines Irish Champions Weekend and Quinn, a native of County Tipperary who has been based in England for the majority of his racing career, is in no doubt that the speedball is the...

Sir Mark Prescott will happily recount the story of the time he bashed his former pupil assistant William Haggas over the head with a frying pan for oversleeping. He will also reflect with pleasure on the great pride he felt when Haggas won the Derby in 1996 with Shaamit (Ire). When it comes to being a benevolent dictator, the Prescott pendulum has, by his own admission, swung more from dictatorship towards benevolence in recent years and, more than anyone involved in British racing, the master of Heath House cares deeply...