Firstly, though, the opening French Classics of the season returned home to the newly-refurbished Longchamp on Sunday and both the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (Gr 1, 1600m) and Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Gr 1, 1600m) were marred by controversy with Christophe Soumillon, who finished third aboard Dice Roll (Showcasing) in the former, staunchly criticising the... Read More

Despite the perfect racing surface, the first two Classics of the year produced contrasting results. Aidan O’Brien continued his domination over the 2000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) when winning the race for the ninth time with the still-unbeaten Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact), who quickened up in fine style entering the Dip and was worth more... Read More

Although good ground prevailed at Randwick earlier in the month, the two-day meeting has often been run on quite testing conditions and with the rain continuing to fall in Europe, now seems a prudent time for identifying those horses with the right credentials to compete at The Championships next April. Two such candidates emerged at... Read More

However, the virtue of patience reaped its just rewards last week with five days of good-quality and informative action at Newmarket and Newbury and a number of horses caught the eye with a view to the Australian spring, not least the Richard Hannon-trained Danehill Kodiac (Kodiac), who finished second in the John Porter Stakes (Gr... Read More

Ribchester stamps his class on mile division The Godolphin-raced and Richard Fahey-trained four-year-old Ribchester (Iffraaj) stamped his class on the miling division in Europe during 2017, building on the promise of his three-year-old season to win three times at the highest level. The son of Haunui Farm shuttler Iffraaj (Zafonic) commenced his campaign with a... Read More