Willie Carson

Leading American owner Mike Repole opened up about his long-term breeding plan after sourcing six fillies and mares for just shy of €2 million at the December Breeding Stock Sale at Arqana, headed by the Sunday sale-topper Hoshiana (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) at €220,000.  Fourth in a Listed contest on heavy ground when last seen, Hoshiana is out of Doctor Dino (Fr) mare Galtika Coat Frity (Fr) and was knocked down to bloodstock agent Alex Solis on behalf of Repole. She was sold by trainer Nicolas Perret.  Speaking from America, the...

QIPCO British Champions Series announced the late Sir Henry Cecil and William 'Willie' Carson will be formally inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame, the official Hall of Fame for British Flat racing, with a special induction ceremony due to take place on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot Saturday Oct. 15. Carson, who turns 80 next month, becomes the fourth jockey to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, after Lester Piggott, Pat Eddery and Frankie Dettori. Willie Carson was crowned Champion Jockey in Britain five...

As Hollie Doyle so adeptly showed on Sunday, women can easily taken on men in racing, but it is a rare thing for a filly to tackle the colts in a Classic. There have however, been some notable successes, and when Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) lines up for Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby she will be following in the hoofprints of her fellow Oaks winners, Salsabil (Ire) and Balanchine, who bounced from victory at Epsom to beating the boys on the Curragh. Willie Carson was aboard the John Dunlop-trained...

Shadwell's Erhaab (Chief's Crown--Histoire {Fr}, by Riverman), who won the G1 Derby at Epsom in 1994, died peacefully this week at Batsford Stud. The 30-year-old, the oldest surviving winner of the Blue Riband, had spent the past decade at the Gloucestershire stud. Bred by Sheikh Hamdan's operation in Kentucky, the half-brother to Group 2 winner Oumaldaaya (Nureyev) and stakes winner Hispanolia (Fr) (Kris {GB}) was trained by John Dunlop. In five starts as a juvenile, the dark bay won twice and was also third in the G3 Horris Hill S....

A day removed from the death of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the age of 75, Willie Carson-his former retained rider who rode many of his great stars of the late 1980s and 1990s-remembered his former boss as "a gentleman, a really nice man." Carson recalled on Sky Sports Racing how the appointment with Sheikh Hamdan pulled him back from the brink of retirement. "The lease was not going to be renewed for [trainer Dick Hern's] West Ilsley stables and Dick was a bit taken aback by that...

With racing in Britain suspended until at least the end of April, just days before the Guineas would have been run at Newmarket, the one certain thing in an uncertain world is that there will be some disruption to the Classic programme this season. Hopefully that will merely be some date changes. The last time there was a significant change to the British Classics was 25 years ago, when the Derby was moved from its traditional Wednesday slot to a Saturday. It still rankles in some quarters, though in this...