Mostahdaf

The G1 Juddmonte International, rated the Longines World's Best Race in 2020, will be run for a record £1.25 million in 2024, York Racecourse and Juddmonte announced on Friday. In 2023, the Juddmonte International was worth £1 million and produced another high-class winner in Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who ended the year as the joint highest-rated horse in the world outside Japan. The feature event on the opening day of the Sky Bet Ebor Festival also retained its position as one of the top ten races in the world. The...

Eighty-five years and a number of equine generations ago, Nearco (Ity) embarked on his stallion career at Beech House Stud. The year was 1939 and, understandably given the age, a bomb shelter was constructed by order of the stud's owner Martin Benson to protect its most prized resident. Benson had bought the unbeaten Nearco, winner of the Grand Prix de Paris and Derby Italiano, from his breeders Federico Tesio and Mario Incisa della Rochetta for a then-record £60,000 (the equivalent of just over £5 million today). To note that the...

LONDON, UK -- Japan stole the show at the Longines World Racing Awards in London, with Silk Racing's Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) named the Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2023 while the G1 Japan Cup claimed the title of Longines World's Best Horse Race. The top-rated three-year-old filly in the world was Japan's Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}). Equinox's top rating of 135 - the highest ever awarded to a Japanese horse - was achieved in his four-length romp in the Japan Cup, his final appearance...

Who would be a stallion master, eh? Sure it's fine if you have a new horse to show off, or one of the elite few who has truly made it, but pity the owner of the stallion who has just faded from fashion through no real fault of his own, merely overlooked as the stampede rushes on to the next new thing. One can't blame breeders either for showing such interest in the new stallions at stud, for they have yet to be judged (though they will be, just as...

NEWMARKET, UK -- There are no hotel rooms left in Newmarket. Visitors to Tattersalls are not only spread far and wide across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire but have come from far and wide too. The largest ever contingent from Japan is expected at Park Paddocks this week, and with most of the stallion farms in the region displaying signs saying 'open house' it's the perfect time for international breeders also to consider using a local stallion to cover a new purchase before export. The locals are pretty good after all. Frankel...

Our man in Ireland, Brian Sheerin, timed his run to the altar to perfection, leaving his colleagues to sort through and try not to miss any of the plentiful stallion fee announcements over the last week or so. He's now back from his Tuscan honeymoon and has been banned from getting married again. In case any of you were similarly distracted by nuptials, holidays, or binge-watching The Dry, here's a handy TDN overview as to who's up, who's down, and who's new on the stallion scene. (And a tip to...

There will be a change of scene for Shadwell's British-based stallions, who will move from Nunnery Stud to be located at the historic Beech House Stud in Newmarket for the 2024 breeding season. As previously announced, the dual Group 1 winner Mostahdaf (Ire) joins the roster for next year and will be introduced at a fee of £15,000. The son of Frankel (GB) is rated joint-second in the world rankings with Arc winner Ace Impact (Fr) on a mark of 128, just a pound lower than  Equinox (Jpn). Shadwell's star...

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Classic winner Ace Impact (Fr) (Cracksman {GB}) has been named Cartier Horse of the Year at the 33rd Cartier Racing Awards ceremony at London's Dorchester Hotel. Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget for Gousserie Racing and Serge Stempniak, the unbeaten colt is the first French-trained winner of the award since Treve (Fr) in 2013. His sire Cracksman was the Cartier Three-Year Old Colt of 2017. Ace Impact's fellow nominees for the premier award were Coolmore's Paddington (GB) and Auguste Rodin (Ire), each of whom won four...

ARCADIA, USA--Against the most stunning backdrop in world racing, just as the pre-dawn sky started to pinken with promise, a metaphorical dark cloud was cast across Santa Anita racetrack. Practical Move (Practical Joke), a leading contender for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack on his way back in from exercise in front of onlookers on the apron. The screens arrived eventually, but not soon enough to remind those present of the occasionally desperate nature of the sport we love, and how such a...

Jockey Jim Crowley has been banned for 20 days and fined £10,000 for his winning ride aboard Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in Saturday's G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot. Both he and Rob Hornby, who was aboard runner-up Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), were referred to the British Horseracing Authority's Whip Review Committee following the tight finish with only Crowley receiving a ban. On Monday the whip rules were tweaked once more by the BHA following a six-month review period and under the new regulations...

Shadwell's Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) dominated the G1 Prince of Wales's S. by four lengths at Royal Ascot last month and improved his Longines World's Best Racehorse Ranking (WBRR) from 121 to 128 to sit second behind the 129-ranked Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) on the leaderboard, with the latest rankings released by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) on Thursday. Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) who was second as the favourite in the 10-furlong contest, sits on 123 while Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) was third home and is weighted...

ASCOT, UK--There's plenty of red, white and blue draped about this most patriotic of race meetings, but the Union Jack had to give way for the Star-Spangled Banner during the early rounds of Royal Ascot's Wednesday fare. First Crimson Advocate blazed a trail in the G2 Queen Mary S., and even through she was all out at the line in an attempt to repel the fast-finishing Relief Rally (Ire), her nose was down where it mattered, providing the 27 owners who had travelled from America in support with a day...