Meditate

Group 1 winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), favoured for both the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 Derby, is likely to step out for a racecourse gallop after racing at the Curragh on Saturday. The 'TDN Rising Star', a winner of three of his four starts including the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy S., the bay could be joined by 'Rising Star' and G1 Phoenix S. victor Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never). "Little Big Bear and Auguste Rodin are good, everything has been good so far anyhow," said...

The royal colours, which will now be carried by horses under the joint ownership of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen Consort, could be seen in Classic action on the day of the King's Coronation. The John and Thady Gosden-trained Slipofthepen (GB), a son of Night Of Thunder (Ire) who was bred by the late Queen, has been given an entry for the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas. Out of the 95-rated Free Verse (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), the colt is a fifth-generation homebred and won his sole...

For all that the annual parade of TDN Rising Stars is generally a formidable one, there are always those that just miss the cut and who forge on to bring that familiar sense of regret and longing from our team here. Of the Europeans who were closely considered but ultimately left out of the picture, none stings more than Ballydoyle's rugged Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never), who first appeared in the five-furlong Dundalk maiden in early April won in the past by Scat Daddy's high-achieving Caravaggio and Skitter Scatter. Mostly...

Off the back of a star-studded season, No Nay Never will stand for €175,000 in 2023, which represents a €50,000 rise, while his dual Group 1-winning son Blackbeard (Ire) will join him on the Coolmore roster next year at a price of €25,000. No Nay Never has had an exceptional year. Older filly Alcohol Free (Ire) landed the G1 July Cup at Newmarket, but it has been his Coolmore-owned and Aidan O'Brien-trained juveniles that have set tongues wagging this term. Like his father, Blackbeard landed the G1 Prix Morny in...

Ryan Moore, who guided three horses to Breeders' Cup victories during the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland Nov. 4-5, won the 20th Bill Shoemaker Award for the outstanding jockey of the two-day event. The Shoemaker Award goes to the jockey who rides the most winners in the 14 Championship races with the tiebreaker being 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes. Moore, who also won the Shoemaker Award in 2015, won Saturday's GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Tuesday (Ire), and Friday's GI Breeders'...

The Europeans made their presence felt at Keeneland on Friday. Aidan O'Brien bagged a Grade I double while Charlie Appleby, who has two favourites to look forward to on Saturday, also landed a winner on the opening day of the Breeders' Cup. From O'Brien working his magic to No Nay Never silencing his doubters and William Buick and Ryan Moore once again confirming themselves top of the international riding tree, we pick the bones out of a pulsating Friday at Keeneland.   Buick And Moore Confirm World-Class Status One of...

LEXINGTON, KY--Meditate (Ire)'s barnstorming display in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf provided one of the strongest indications yet that No Nay Never would produce Classic types as well as deadly speedballs, according to the winning trainer Aidan O'Brien. It has been a season to remember for No Nay Never with Little Big Bear (Ire) and Blackbeard (Ire) winning three Group 1 juvenile races in Europe over six furlongs between them. However, in pulling over two lengths clear of her rivals to win the Keeneland Group I in stylish...

LEXINGTON, KY--Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) scored the first of two victories for the Coolmore team, Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore Friday, charging home to a decisive score in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Favored at 2-1, Meditate bounded away from the stalls to establish position, settling in the three path near the back of the pack as 18-1 shot Spirit Gal (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) carved out an opening quarter in :23.19 and a half in :47.60. Meditate crept up a bit on the outside to sit...

We've all seen that video; it was in the month of March when Aidan O'Brien opened the gates at Ballydoyle to the Irish press and, tasked with naming his best 2-year-old by Brendan O'Rourke, the champion trainer did not hold back in his praise for Little Big Bear (Ire). After nominating Little Big Bear as being top of the class, O'Brien also advised O'Rourke, a renowned Irish racing commentator, to double his stake from a fiver to a tenner on the colt winning his maiden on debut at the Curragh...

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...