Prosperous Voyage

As the darkness draws in on the Monday and Tuesday afternoons of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, it is a signal for the those around Park Paddocks to head ring-wards for the bloodstock world's version of captivating theatre. Who present, shoulder to shoulder in the packed auditorium over recent years, can forget moments such as the sale of Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) for 6 million gns? Even her trainer Sir Mark Prescott, always ready with a witticism, was for once lost for words in the drama of it all.  A...

LEXINGTON, KY -- Though introducing no fissure of light into the bruised grey sky hanging over Keeneland, daybreak on Wednesday nonetheless spread an array of crimson and saffron, dazzling as any sunrise, into the trees peering over the rituals of training track and shed row. And for those supervising one horse in particular, it felt especially apt that a final, lingering blaze of autumn glory should be preserved against the fading of the year. For if he could win the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile here on Saturday, Kinross (GB)...

The flag at Somerville Lodge in Newmarket is at half-mast. For the inhabitants of that famous stable it is of course a deeply personal gesture as Maureen Haggas and her family mourn the death of her father Lester Piggott. Over the decades they will have become accustomed to the fact that the head of their family was also a racing icon--a man not just whose name is the first jockey a random member of the public can call to mind, but for many longstanding fans of racing the man who...