Empires rise and empires fall. But in breeding, only some do the latter. As most of us know, thoroughbreds started with the importation to empire-building Britain, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, of the holy trinity of foundation sires: the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian. By the mid-1980s, one... Read More

Lindsay Maxsted is feeling a lot of tension as the winter turns to spring. Happily, it’s not Monday-to-Friday pressure drawn from his various roles as one of Australia’s corporate high-flyers, in which he’s been at the pointy end of firms including KPMG, Westpac and BHP. Instead, the anxiety comes about on weekends. For one thing,... Read More

Showcasing, the son of Oasis Dream who won York’s Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, shuttled for seven seasons to Karaka’s Haunui Farm, where he stood for between $7,500 and $12,000. Right now, he commands the fifth-highest advertised service fee in Great Britain, standing at Whitsbury Manor Stud in Hampshire for £45,000, or around $85,000 in today’s... Read More

A bit like 1980s ad man Victor Kiam, the literally smooth American who so loved his electric razor he bought the company, Jonathan Munz liked his mare Rekindled Applause so much he also acquired the source – her mum. Rekindled Applause (Royal Applause) arrived in Australia from Britain in January, 2006. Seven months later, the... Read More

Rough shod is not a phrase you’d normally want associated with your gallopers, but breeding behemoth Stuart Ramsey hopes those words are the key to exciting times ahead for unbeaten mare Chain Of Lightning (Fighting Sun). The four-year-old homebred made it four wins from four in adapting smoothly to the Flemington straight and Benchmark 84... Read More