Speak Of The Devil

Can we have too much of a good thing? When it comes to racing in the spring the answer is almost certainly not, but the rapidity with which all the decent action takes place can make it difficult to take it all in. For example, in the last 11 days we have had three Derby favourites. First the horse who had held that honour all winter, Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who was then replaced by his stable-mate Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), all the rage after his Derby Trial victory...

Speak of the Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) makes her first start for Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown in the GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S. Saturday. The 5-year-old mare, who just missed when second in the 2020 G1 French 1000 Guineas and again when third in last year's G1 Prix Rothschild, was purchased by Brant for €1.95 million at last year's Arqana December sale. Brant and Brown will also be represented in the Distaff Turf Mile by In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). The 4-year-old was a flashy wire-to-wire...

French 1000 Guineas runner-up and multiple listed winner Speak Of The Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) brought a bid of €1,950,000 from Michel Zerolo for Peter Brant of White Birch Farm and will now be transferred to America to be trained by Chad Brown. The 4-year-old was the third filly in training to have sold for seven figures in Deauville on Saturday evening following Purplepay (Fr) and Rougir (Fr). A winner on her sole start at two, Speak Of The Devil was second in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches...

DEAUVILLE, France-the sales caravan has rolled into its final stop of the season, the European bloodstock community having made its annual descent upon Deauville, France over the past two days for the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale. With an expected deluge of rain remaining at bay through the first part of Friday, the usual suspects from across Europe and further afield were out of full force inspecting the cross section of fillies, broodmares and foals that will take their turns in the ring beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday. "People...

DEAUVILLE, France--Nurlan Bizakov has made no secret of his intention to make a lasting mark on the French Thoroughbred industry, the Kazakhstani businessman having over the past two years purchased two of the best-known studs in the country: Haras de Montfort et Preaux and Haras du Mezeray. Those, along with Bizakov's Hesmonds Stud in the UK, have been united under one name, Sumbe, which will this weekend present its first sales consignment at Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale. And Sumbe-named for the famed Kazakhstan horse and agricultural region where Bizakov...

Speak Of The Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}-Moranda {Fr}, by Indian Rocket {GB}) will be offered at Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale on Dec. 4. The winner of her lone 2-year-old start in 2019 for owner Rashit Shaykhutdinov and trainer Fabrice Chappet, Speak Of The Devil was second, beaten a nose by Dream And Do (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches of 2020. Fourth in the G1 Prix Rothschild two months later, Speak Of The Devil earned a first black-type win in ParisLongchamp's Listed Prix de...