Kirsten Rausing

This year will go down as one of the strangest in living memory. If in January you'd announced to owners and trainers that there would be no racing for two and a half months, it would have been met with widespread incredulity. But that was the situation in which British racing found itself in mid-March and, though the timing was a little off, it wasn't too dissimilar to how things used to be for the predominantly Flat racing heartland of Newmarket before the advent of all-weather racing through the winter...

Kirsten Rausing homebred Sands of Time (GB) (Bobby's Kitten) became the first winner for her Lanwades Stud-based freshman sire (by Kitten's Joy) with an impressive five-length score for Mark Johnston at Lingfield. 1st-Lingfield, £6,400, Mdn, 6-7, 2yo, f, 5f 6y (AWT), :59.31, st/sl. SANDS OF TIME (GB) (f, 2, Bobby's Kitten--Starlit Sands {GB} {GSW-Fr, GSP-Eng & Ger, $128,929}, by Oasis Dream {GB}) was sharpest from the stalls and seized immediate control of this debut. Holding sway throughout, the 10-3 chance was shaken up off the home turn and powered clear...

The US Jockey Club's announcement of an impending cap on the number of mares a stallion can cover has received a mixed reaction among breeders in Britain and Ireland. As reported in yesterday's TDN, colt foals born in 2020 who eventually retire to stud will be restricted to covering 140 mares in a season. No limit will be set for stallions already at stud or for those born before 2020. The US Jockey Club figures for 2019 show that 43 stallions served books of more than 140 mares. In Britain...

As we await the start of the delayed flat season, the TDN's Tom Frary will profile 'dark horses' that he expects to make an impact in 2020. He starts with the David Simcock-trained 3-year-old filly Oriental Mystique. ORIENTAL MYSTIQUE (GB), f, 3, Kingman (GB)--Madame Chiang (GB) (G1SW-Eng, $741,088), by Archipenko. This is the first foal bred from Kirsten Rausing's G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S. and G3 Musidora S. heroine Madame Chiang, who also raced for this yard. Sporting the famous white-and-green silks brought to prominence by Alborada...