Steve Parkin

The all-grey silks of Steve Parkin's Clipper Logistics have become an increasingly familiar feature at racecourses over the last two decades, and the prolific owner recently added another string to his bow in becoming a breeder. His Yorkshire-based Branton Court Stud notched a major milestone on Wednesday when Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) scorched home in the G2 Queen Mary S. to provide Parkin with a first homebred group winner. "We started in racing 20 years ago and, through Joe Foley, I started a breeding operation," said Parkin. "[Dramatised] has come...

Making it two-for-two for the TDN Rising Stars in Royal Ascot's juvenile prizes, Clipper Logistics' Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}--Katie's Diamond {Fr}, by Turtle Bowl {Ire}) put up an impressive display in a fast time in Wednesday's G2 Queen Mary S. under an in-form Danny Tudhope. Handed the monicker after her dynamic four-length debut win at Newmarket Apr. 29, the filly that Karl Burke regards as the fastest he has had through his hands was backed into 5-2 favouritism and raced near the front line towards the stand's side early. Committed...

If we can view Europe's largest training centre of Newmarket as a microcosm of the wider racing world, then events in the last week give a pretty concerning snapshot of the future of the sport. On the positive front, there was a first winner for the town's newest trainer, Terry Kent, who, at 53, is also one of the longest-serving members of its workforce, having previously been a jockey and worked for trainers Michael Jarvis, Julie Cecil, Saeed Bin Suroor and Roger Varian. Another recent recruit to the training ranks,...

On a typically busy day last week at Ballyhane Stud, Joe Foley was asked by a visitor, "What do you actually do?" It's a good question, and one which it would be hard for the master of Ballyhane to answer definitively. That's not because he's idle, but because there are few facets of Irish breeding and racing in which Foley is not actively involved. On that particular day he had just delivered 100 questions—some of them fiendishly difficult—for the popular quiz named in memory of his friend Mark O'Hanlon and...