Stallion Reviews
« Previous EntriesFirm Conclusions about Royal Ascot 2010
Sunday, June 20th, 2010Royal Ascot 2010 provided enough material for a book, never mind a blog entry. Trying to summarise the five days racing comprising 30 races, 7 group 1’s and 7 group 2’s is difficult. I went to the trouble of looking at the ninety placed horses over the meeting and comparing the results against the number of runners for [...]
Hernando’s new heroine
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010There is always some aspect of a pedigree that can be used to explain why a horse won a particular race- after the event. Tipsters have a much more difficult job and yet they are regarded with far more suspicion than ‘expert’ bloodstock writers. Most writers would wait until after the Derby and Oaks to provide pedigree reports on the winners. Here [...]
Lope de Vega- something to write about
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Lope de Vega was a celebrated Spanish writer, ranked almost the equal of Cervantes and the author of an incredible 1800 plays (thanks Wikipedia). Last weekend’s French Guineas (Poule d’Essai des Poulains) saw another Lope de Vega defeat Dick Turpin by half a length. The equine Lope is unlikely to achieve evarlasting fame but on [...]
A vintage crop?
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010When we think of races involving horses that became successful stallions, the standout event is the 1984 French Derby that famously saw Darshaan defeat Sadler’s Wells and Rainbow Quest. The 1996 July Cup won by Anabaa, had Danehill Dancer and Pivotal back in fifth and sixth places. It is early days yet, but we might soon [...]
A strange sequence of events-1000, 2000, 2010 Guineas
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010Our friends in the States may not agree, but they have their classic programme in the wrong order. Having the Kentucky Derby as the opening classic is like having your main course first. In Europe, we have the Guineas for starters, building up to the main course of the Derby and then we allow plenty of time for digestion, [...]
Dubious about Dubai but not Dubawi
Saturday, February 13th, 2010From the 22nd of January to the 7th of February, Dubawi had six runners on the all-weather. All six won. The six victories earned the lucky owners £15,811, an average of £2,635 or $4,130 per victory. These are the amounts before deductions for the winning trainers, jockeys and stable staff and before entry fees,riding fees and travel costs [...]
M J Kinane-worth remembering
Monday, December 28th, 2009Mick Kinane announced his retirement at the start of December. His decision to retire after his annus mirabilis with Sea the Stars is indicative of a jockey who had a perfect sense of timing. Many of the glowing tributes described him as the ‘best flat jockey that Ireland ever produced’. I’m not convinced he was demonstrably better than Pat [...]
2010- the year of Montjeu?
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009The future looks very bright for Montjeu. We commented on St Nicholas Abbey after his win in the Beresford and he then followed up with a very impressive performance in the Racing Post Trophy. He was priced at 5/2 for Epsom which was understandable given the manner of his success and the fact that Montjeu’s previous [...]
10 days that changed the world (of bloodstock)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009The last 2 weeks have seen huge amounts of top level action in the UK, Ireland and France. It would be easy to simply write about one top level winner but I aim to please so here are ten items of interest from the past two weeks…….
1.Sea the Stars- His greatness is unquestioned, but is he the greatest [...]
Stewards, disqualifications and breeding- a potted history
Monday, September 28th, 2009The disqualification of Dar Re Mi after her victory in the Prix Vermeille was a decision that ignored common sense (see video www.youtube.com/watch?v=omn4ebLJoLY ). The failure of the appeal against the decision adds insult to the injury. Stacelita was awarded the race and thereby retained her unbeaten record. Cynics will argue that it is probably not [...]
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