Oasis Dream

Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) is set to visit Dubawi (Ire) for the third year in a row,  according to plans released by Juddmonte for its European broodmare band. The 11-time Group 1 winner's dam Concentric (GB) (Sadler's Wells) will be covered by Frankel (GB) after foaling to Dubawi. Enable's first foal, the two-year-old colt by Kingman (GB) named Encompass (GB), will be trained by John and Thady Gosden at Clarehaven Stables, the former home of both his sire and dam. Enable's two-year-old full-brother Concert Tour (GB) has not yet been...

Outside the boxes of the foaling unit at Banstead Manor Stud are Juddmonte's versions of the blue plaques one sees across Britain on the former homes of famous people. Here, of course, the plaques are a subtle green, but when it comes to equine celebrities there can be no bigger name than Frankel (GB).  He was born in one of the old brick boxes which should be granted special sporting heritage status on February 11, 2008. It is hard to believe that his 16th birthday is looming. Backing on to...

Stick or twist? That's the question faced by many breeders this year. Anecdotally, it appears that some will be pulling back and not covering certain mares, which is understandable after a tricky sales season, not to mention the constant reminders from racecourse managers regarding the "significant headwinds" faced by racing. Unlike America, the foal crop in Britain and Ireland has been gently on the rise in recent years, up to 13,438 in 2023, compared to 12,778 in 2020, though within that combined number for last year, the Irish crop rose...

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...

Frankel (GB), who is set to become champion sire for the second time at the end of this year, has had his fee increased to a career high of £350,000 for 2024. Along with Dubawi (Ire), this makes him the joint-highest-priced stallion in Europe. Juddmonte has released the fees for its five European stallions, with Kingman (GB) remaining unchanged at £125,000 after a year in which his leading runners have included the top sprinter Kinross (GB) along with French Group 1 winners Sauterne (Fr) and Feed The Flame (GB). Kingman...

From being branded a bit of a tearaway, Quinault (Ger) is now simply a runaway winner. In fact, he is the winningmost horse in Britain and Ireland this season, with seven victories from his 10 starts in 2023 for Newmarket trainer Stuart Williams. The Oasis Dream (GB) three-year-old racked up an impressive string of six wins from April 27 to July 13 before finishing third in the Shergar Cup Sprint. Last weekend he returned to Ascot, and to the winner's enclosure, in the hands of Williams's apprentice Luke Catton, who...

The reigning champion sire Frankel (GB) has had his fee increased to £275,000 for the 2023 breeding season. In another stellar year, the Juddmonte stallion has been responsible for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista (GB) along with the Classic winners Westover (GB), Nashwa (GB) and Homeless Songs (Ire), and the Dewhurst S. winner Chaldean (GB). A statement released by Juddmonte on Wednesday read, "Following on from an exceptional 2021 season, we have seen Frankel further strengthen his reputation as a world-class sire with nine individual Group 1...

As the 2022 breeding season approaches, we bring our Value Sires series to a close by shining the spotlight on 10 sires with their first crops four and older that appear poised to deliver breeders value. Though it seems at times as if the chasm between the elite proven sires and the unproven pretenders is ever-widening, driven by the often ruthless nature of the auction marketplace, there is still value to be found among the lesser-priced proven sires. We have opted to make the cutoff fee for this exercise £/€20,000,...

Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who notched his first Group 1 win as a sire with the one-two in last weekend's G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. with Eshaada (GB) and Albaflora (GB), will stand next season at Haras des Faunes near Bordeaux, Racing Post reports. A Shadwell homebred, Muhaarar was champion sprinter of 2015, when he won the G1 Commonwealth Cup, G1 July Cup, G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and G1 British Champions Sprint S. as a 3-year-old. He has stood thus far at Shadwell's Nunnery Stud, beginning...

The catalogue for Bloodstock South Africa's National Yearling Sale, which takes place at the TBA complex in Germiston on Apr. 15 and 16, is online. The catalogue includes half siblings to a pair of Horses of the Year who were also National Sale graduates in Do It Again (SAf) (Twice Over {GB}) and Legal Eagle (SAf) (Greys Inn). Stallions represented by their first yearlings in the country include a few familiar names in Europe in Canford Cliffs (Ire), Erupt (GB) and Wings Of Desire (GB). Colts by Oasis Dream (GB)...

As breeding sheds prepare to swing open their doors in the coming weeks, we bring you the final installment of our 2021 Value Sires series. Gone are the days of dissecting sales averages and speculating on the comments of the judges; these elder statesmen have proven their mettle on the racecourse, and a few of them are even available at their lowest ever fees. While value exists in all price brackets and for all budgets, we have chosen to limit the scope of this analysis to stallions standing in Europe...

The setting of new sire records in the modern era tends more than not to be a direct consequence of ever-greater book sizes. But they must still be acknowledged as legitimate breeding benchmarks as they will inevitably feature some outstanding performances. Just look at Mehmas (Ire)'s tally of first-crop 2-year-old winners this term. Currently on 56 winners, he is already 17 clear of Iffraaj's old record and in normal circumstances we might be entitled to expect his record to stand for many years. It may well do, but his strike...