Stefano Cherchi

The curtain came up at Longchamp on Sunday, with the 'réouverture' being conducted in extremely testing conditions but nevertheless providing a welcome return to action at France's premier racecourse. The most important thing on arrival in the Bois de Boulogne is to make it into the track without being mown down by one or more of the cyclists within the relentless peloton that streams past the gates of Longchamp of a weekend. Everything after that feels like a blessing.  And indeed we were blessed with an almost dry and definitely...

Racing has been rocked by the news that jockey Stefano Cherchi, 23, has died from the injuries sustained in a fall at Canberra, Australia, two weeks ago. The former apprentice to Marco Botti had been riding Hasime in the third race at Canberra when his mount fell. A statement released on Wednesday morning by NSW Jockeys on X, previously known as Twitter, read, "With deep sadness, the Cherchi family have announced their beloved son Stefano passed away peacefully today. "The family are very grateful for the love, prayers & messages sent...

We've been waiting so long for the proper Flat to start that it seems almost criminal to veer straight off to the other side of the world, but there was plenty of interest for breeders from this side at Rosehill in Sydney on Saturday morning.  One person who managed to stay awake past 2am to watch the highly impressive last-to-first romp of Post Impressionist (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the G3 N E Manion Cup was his breeder Henrietta Egan, who is based at Corduff Stud with her husband David.  Now...

Former Newmarket-based jockey Stefano Cherchi has been hospitalised in Australia following a mid-race fall at Canberra on Wednesday. Racing was delayed while the 23-year-old was treated on the track for a head injury and internal bleeding before being taken to hospital. His mount, Hasime (Aus), trained by Robert Quinn, fell during the third race, bringing down two other runners whose riders, Shaun Guymer and Jeff Penza, both walked back to the weighing-room. None of the horses are believed to have been seriously injured. In a post on Twitter, the NSW...