Romanised

DEAUVILLE, France--First went the Irish, then the French. For some, it was a woeful weekend in the sporting world outside horseracing as the Rugby World Cup quarter finals left only England standing among the European nations to go forward to the next round at the Stade de France.  Plenty of sales folk huddled around the screen at Deauville racecourse on Sunday evening to see the home team's dreams shattered, but by Monday morning the focus was fully back on the horses and the next week of yearling action ahead.  Before...

DEAUVILLE, France--In a departure from the normal schedule, Arqana's August extravaganza kicks off a day early this year, on Friday. With a handful of shows having taken place on Tuesday, viewing began in earnest on Wednesday morning, with Joseph O'Brien first out of the blocks and on parade at the Haras des Capucines draft while most people were still having breakfast. While many of the families of the horses catalogued will be familiar to potential purchasers, each new season brings with it a wave of new stallion names to grapple...

Benoit Jeffroy's Haras de Castillon, a burgeoning force on the French racing and bloodstock scenes, burst into international prominence in December when it consigned the Group 1-winning Grand Glory (Ire) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) at the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale, where she sold for €2.5-million. The quickly growing Castillon has only been in existence under its current guise since 2015, but the Jeffroy family has a history of breeding quality racehorses from their SCEA des Prairies, with just one recent example being Zelda (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}), a listed winner last...

Group 1 winners Wooded (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) have each had 10 mares scanned in foal shortly after beginning their first covering seasons at Haras de Bouquetot. G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Wooded's in-foal mares include the multiple group-placed juvenile Al Johrah (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}); group-winning 2-year-old and Classic-placed Salona (Ger) (Lord Of England {Ger}); and black-type mares Edya (GB) (Makfi {GB}) and Tosen Shauna (Ire) (Alhebayeb {Ire}). The G1 Irish 2000 Guineas and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois scorer Romanised, meanwhile,...

Since Al Shaqab Racing's first foray into racehorse ownership, the organization has grown exponentially with strong investment in bloodstock globally. The company has built an impressive stud farm at Haras de Bouquetot, which houses its nine-strong stallion roster as well as playing host to a broodmare band that includes dual G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) and multiple Group 1 winner Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) to name a few. However, it may be Al Shaqab's investment in personnel that sees the company thrive and...

The Route des Etalons was established in 2010 in an attempt to stimulate a flagging French stallion scene. A little over a decade on, it could be said that it's 'job done'. That doesn't mean that the annual open weekend of Normandy studs has been shelved. Its popularity has grown year on year for breeders and bloodstock pilgrims alike, and it is only a global pandemic that has stopped it run in 2021. It will, however, be staged online across this weekend, with videos of the 108 stallions involved shown...

Racehorse owner Robert Ng has agreed to a three year sponsorship of The Curragh's G2 Minstrel S., which will be run as the Romanised Minstrel S. in honor of Ng's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who also won the Minstrel in 2019 and 2020. Romanised enters stud this year at Haras de Bouquetot in Normandy, France. Ng said, "It gives me great pleasure to sponsor the Minstrel S. as The Curragh has been a lucky racecourse for me....

Classic winner Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}-Romantic Venture {Ire}, by Indian Ridge {Ire}) has been retired from racing and will enter stud in 2021 at Haras de Bouquetot in Normandy, France, for a fee of €7,000. Campaigned by Robert Ng and trained by Ken Condon, Romanised won at first asking in April of his 2-year-old campaign and was second to eventual G1 Derby winner Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) in the G3 Solario S. that fall. He sprang a 25-1 upset when beating US Navy Flag (War Front) in...

Olivier Peslier has picked up the mount on Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) in Sunday's G1 Prix du Moulin at ParisLongchamp, with regular rider Billy Lee set to stay in Ireland to avoid a two-week quarantine that would see him sit out Irish Champions Weekend. Dual Group 1 winner Romanised was second in this race last season. He won the G2 Minstrel S. on his 5-year-old debut in July before settling for fifth over heavy ground in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois on Aug. 16. "Romanised is heading...

With Kameko (Kitten's Joy) heading to York, Europe's leading 3-year-old miler status is there for the taking and 'TDN Rising Star' Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) might prove in Sunday's G1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois that he already holds the rights to that title. Stepping straight to the highest level from novice and handicap company to land Royal Ascot's G1 St James's Palace S. with relative comfort on June 20, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum's unbeaten colt is in that unique position of being open...

Back in 2006, when the first two flashed past the winning post in the G1 Dewhurst S., they also earned themselves first and second places on the European Two-Year-Old Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings. Galileo's unbeaten son Teofilo topped the table by 1lb from Danehill's dual Group 1-winning son Holy Roman Emperor, who had also been beaten into second place by Teofilo in the G1 National S. Holy Roman Emperor, for his part, had won four of his remaining five starts, notably taking the G1 Phoenix S. and the G1 Prix Jean-Luc...