Piz Badile (Ire)

Classic-placed Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) has died after suffering a heart attack while cantering last Monday. Alan Cooper, the Niarchos family's racing manager, confirmed the news to TDN Europe on Thursday. The G3 Ballysax S. winner and G1 Irish Derby runner-up was five. "Very sadly he had a heart attack last Monday doing a regular canter under Gavin Ryan who landed safely on his feet," Cooper said. "No previous indications that this would be likely to happen. He was a lovely individual who everyone liked." A Flaxman Stables homebred, the...

Thursday's G1 Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp has attracted a tight field of six, with Flaxman Stables' supplemented Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) bringing the G1 Irish Derby form into play in what should prove one of the key pointers to the course-and-distance Arc. His G2 Prix Hocquart-winning relative L'Astronome (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is in the line-up for Al Asayl France and Francis-Henri Graffard, while KHK Racing's June 15 G2 Queen's Vase winner Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and the Nas Syndicate and the O'Callaghans' G1 Prix du Jockey-Club...

Saturday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby had been teed up as a match between Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}--Mirabilis, by Lear Fan) and Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), but in the ultimate assessment it was really a matter of no contest as Ralph Beckett's powerhouse colt overwhelmed all assembled for the Curragh Classic. Always travelling in a beautiful rhythm for Colin Keane granted a perfect lead by French Claim (Fr) (French Fifteen {Fr}), the 11-8 joint-favourite took control at the top of the straight and had already stretched into an unassailable...

Saturday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby will be contested by seven colts and the filly Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) after Aidan O'Brien confirmed just that G1 Oaks heroine for The Curragh's €1 million Classic. Drawn in stall one as she bids to become the first of her sex to prevail since Balanchine (Storm Bird) in 1994, she meets Juddmonte's G1 Derby third Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) who will break from stall five. With Rosegreen's Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Changingoftheguard (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) set to go elsewhere, the...

He won the Oaks as a rider and now Donnacha O'Brien is concentrating on securing more big-race riches at Epsom by confirming Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) to be on course for the Cazoo Derby June 4. Piz Badile announced himself as a genuine Derby contender when fighting tooth and nail to beat Buckaroo (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the G3 Ballysax S. at Leopardstown last month and, while O'Brien suggested a return to Leopardstown for the G3 Derrinstown Derby Trial could be a possibility at the time, the trainer...

Aidan, Joseph and Donnacha O'Brien were responsible for six of the nine runners in Saturday's G3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax S. and it was the pair of juniors who played out the finish with the youngest prevailing after a thriller involving Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) and Buckaroo (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Flaxman Stables Ireland's Piz Badile had been a half-length second to TDN Rising Star Duke de Sessa (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the nine-furlong G3 Eyrefield S. here in October, but had a three-pound pull with that rival...

After Saturday's exhilarating juvenile action at Doncaster and Saint-Cloud, Leopardstown pitched in late afternoon to offer up its own 2022 Classic hopeful in TDN Rising Star Duke de Sessa (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the nine-furlong G3 Eyrefield S. Impressive over a mile at The Curragh when breaking his maiden Aug. 21, Newtown Anner Stud Farm's homebred had disappointed when sixth of seven over the same track dropping a furlong for the Sept. 12 G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. and had a point to prove in a deep...