Perfect Power

Close to 1,500 foals have changed hands at Goffs and Tattersalls over the past fortnight during what industry stakeholders have acknowledged to be a magic marketplace. This was the year to sell a foal with all of the key figures jumping dramatically at both sales houses.  Not only were the pinhookers predictably strong after what was widely agreed to be an unexpectedly good end to the yearling sales, but a number of end-users--Godolphin, Yulong, Juddmonte and more--really stepped up to the plate at both sales.  There were records broken at...

NEWMARKET, UK -- Mehmas (Ire) has done little wrong since exploding onto the scene as the leading first-season sire of 2020 and, unlike some who have achieved that accolade, he has sustained that momentum through subsequent seasons. Only a few weeks ago, his daughter Naughty Eyes (Ire), who has been supplemented for next week's December Mares Sale as wildcard lot 1486D, became her sire's 62nd two-year-old winner of the season, enabling Mehmas to break the record set by his own stud-mate Kodiac (GB).  It has been another stellar year for...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin On Tuesday the European Pattern Committee (EPC) announced that 42 races are at risk of being downgraded in 2025, including Britain's G1 Commonwealth Cup. Its status will depend very much on its performance in 2024, which will mark the tenth running of the race introduced to the British calendar in 2015 as a readymade Group 1 in order to "create a more balanced programme and better opportunities for high-class sprinters". The Commonwealth Cup, run at Royal Ascot over six furlongs for three-year-olds only, was...

It never bodes well when a trainer starts an interview with the words, "I don't really like doing interviews." This, from Richard Fahey, was far less intimidating, however, than when TDN went to interview David Elsworth some years ago to be greeted by him marching across the yard and stating, "I'm in a murderous mood." I Having mercifully escaped from Egerton House Stables unscathed to live to annoy many more trainers, our recent mission to Malton was a comparative cakewalk.  For a start, it would be impossible for either interviewer...

Top bloodstock agent Richard Brown has done his bit to alleviate any stresses vendors may have been feeling on the eve of the Doncaster Breeze Up Sale by explaining that he will be using a raft of metrics other than just times in an effort to find the next Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) at this year's sale.  Monday's breeze took place on testing ground, with some two-year-olds handling it better than most, which will all be taken into account by the buying bench, according to Blandford Bloodstock's ace scout. ...

Treble Group 1-winning sprinter Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}--Sagely {Ire}, by Frozen Power {Ire}) has been retired to stand at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket for 2023. Trained by Richard Fahey for Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, the son of Britain's leading first-season sire of 2021, Ardad (Ire), first signalled his talent on the big stage when winning the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot just eight days after breaking his maiden. A glorious juvenile campaign saw him go on to win the G1 Darley Prix Morny at...

Connections of G1 Commonwealth Cup scorer Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) are favouring a tilt at the G1 July Cup over travelling to France for the G1 Prix Jean Prat, provided the ground is suitable at Newmarket. Although Perfect Power produced a scintillating performance to win the Commonwealth Cup on ground described as good-to-firm, connections of the Richard Fahey-trained speedster are adamant that the three-time Group 1 scorer wants easier going.  Perfect Power is reported to have bounced out of his Royal Ascot win in tremendous form by Bruce Raymond,...

Goffs UK has sold six Royal Ascot winners in the past six years at its Breeze-Up Sale, and the firm released the catalogue for its latest edition of that sale with 186 juveniles set to go under the hammer on Apr. 21. The breeze will take place at Doncaster on Apr. 19 from noon, with an inspection day on Apr. 20. Perfect Power (Ire), whose own sire Ardad (Ire) was also a Goffs UK Breeze-Up graduate, proved the star of last year's sale. A £110,000 purchase by Sheikh Rashid Dalmook...

It could be said that there's a stallion to suit all types of breeder at Overbury Stud, and the farm that was for so long synonymous with Britain's perennial leading National Hunt sire Kayf Tara (GB) now has a budding star of a very different type. Ardad (Ire) finished 2021 as the leading first-season sire in Britain and was second overall to Cotai Glory (GB), who stands at Tally-Ho Stud, where Ardad was himself bred and where his sire Kodiac (GB) has long been king of the hill.  Now eight,...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today's Observations features a close relative of this year's dual Group 1-winning 2-year-old Perfect Power. 1.58 ParisLongchamp, Debutantes, €27,000, 2yo, c/g, 9fT EPIC POET (IRE) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) starts out for the White Birch Farm and Jean-Claude Rouget connection and is a 450,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book...

KILDARE, Ireland--There's no denying that bloodstock sales are an important part of the business but it is what happens on the racecourse that truly counts and recent events have put an extra spring in the step of a number of breeders at Kildare Paddocks ahead of the start of the Goffs Orby Sale. Standing outside her draft of six from Staffordstown on Monday morning was Kirsten Rausing, chatting happily with her staff and brand new director of the stud John Oxx. Rausing broke off every now and then to accept...

There are banners along the High Street of my home town of Newmarket saying 'Welcome back to racing'. Though we've been fortunate in England to have been able to allow crowds gradually to return to racecourses earlier than some other countries, it has only really been in the last few weeks that it has felt like the proper pre-pandemic experience. And where better to have the people back in force than at York, widely regarded by many to be the best racecourse in the country? Any amount of time spent...