Stallion Reviews
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Sunday, September 6th, 2009Last month, I wrote about the phenomenal success that Oasis Dream was enjoying. Not to be outdone, Pivotal has just had his own super Saturday. It was a potent reminder that he has earned the right to be considered the best sire in Britain and he isn’t going to easily relinquish that title to young pretenders Oasis Dream and Dansili.
Within [...]
No mystery here.
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009The Prix Morny was expected to see Cranford Cliffs prove himself a superstar. Instead he finished only third behind narrow winner Arcano. Arcano is now unbeaten in three runs after winning a Newmarket maiden and the Group 2 July stakes also at Newmarket. His win wasn’t visually impressive and more improvement will be required if he [...]
Cavalryman Charges to Glory
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Since the change in distance of the Prix de Jockey Club, the Grand Prix de Paris has assumed the mantle of the ‘real’ French Derby. Run on Bastille Day, this years Grand Prix de Paris was a weak affair and the winning performance of Cavalryman would have to be rated well below the Derby winning performances of [...]
Vision D’etat
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Last June I wrote about Vision D’etat after his French Derby success. He was then given a traditional Arc preparation which involved a midsummer break before returning in September when he won the Prix Niel. He lost his unbeaten record when finishing a creditable fifth, beaten only 3.5 lengths behind Zarkava in the Arc itself. [...]
Farewell M.V.O’Brien
Thursday, June 11th, 2009Vincent O’Brien was my hero. In the post war decades, he showed that Irish people didn’t have to emigrate to succeed on the world stage. In an Ireland that seemed to lack ambition, Vincent always strived for perfection- and usually attained it. He was more than just an incredible trainer he was the ultimate pedigree analyst. It [...]
Ghanaati and the sport of Queens
Sunday, May 10th, 2009The 1000 Guineas was meant to be a coronation for Rainbow View. She was the best two year old filly of her generation and the Guineas seemed to be at her mercy. Her most obvious challengers Fantasia and Proportional were both waiting for the French Guineas albeit for very different reasons. However Rainbow View never really looked [...]
Who said it’s difficult to breed a classic winner?
Monday, May 4th, 2009It used to be said that the fittest horse wins the Guineas, the luckiest horse wins the Derby and the best horse wins the St Leger. Whatever about being the fittest, Sea the Stars was the best bred horse in the Guineas field coming from a truly outstanding female line that produce top racehorses with [...]
New season, old stories
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009The Craven meeting at Newmarket is all about looking ahead to future classics, but it can also remind us of past glories. The highlight of the first day was the very impressive performance of Fantasia in the Nell Gwyn stakes. In winning, Fantasia became the first winner of the race for Sadler’s Wells. The King [...]
Binocular-difficult to forsee?
Monday, February 16th, 2009Binocular is a very short priced favourite for the Champion Hurdle, especially for a horse who was beaten on his only previous visit to Prestbury Park. That aside his pedigree is interesting and serves as a reminder of some stars of yester-year who had disappeared from the public eye. His sire Enrique ran 8 times [...]
Montjeu jumps to the fore
Thursday, January 8th, 2009Sadler’s Wells has had a profound effect on the jump racing scene, even more so than his impact on the flat. A look at the current jump stallions standings shows Sadler’s Wells himself in 15th position by prize money and an astonishing 7 of his sons are ahead of him in the stallion rankings. These [...]
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