Month: October 2022

Dabirsim’s Horizon Dore Bounds To Delahante Triumph

Patrice Cottier trainee Horizon Dore (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}–Sweet Alabama (Fr), by Enrique {GB}) took his tally to a perfect two-for-two when annexing Monday's Listed Prix Delahante at Marseille-Borely. The gelded 2-year-old had posted a five-length debut win at Salon-de-Provence last month and bounded to another wide-margin triumph on black-type bow in the 8 1/2-furlong juvenile contest. Foiling a Cottier exacta, Harry Way (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) nailed Horizon Dore's stablemate Cambronne (Fr) (Alex The Winner) on the line for second.

Monday, Marseille-Borely, France
PRIX DELAHANTE-Listed, €60,000, Marseille-Borely, 10-24, 2yo, 8 1/2fT, 1:40.83, gd.
1–HORIZON DORE (FR), 126, g, 2, by Dabirsim (Fr)
1st Dam: Sweet Alabama (Fr), by Enrique (GB)
2nd Dam: Hallen (Fr), by Midyan
3rd Dam: Haumette (Fr), by Mille Balles (Fr)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. (€45,000 Ylg '21 ARQAUG). O-Michel Delaunay, Ecurie du Sud, Ecurie Gribomont, Daniel Dumoulin & Mlle Chantal Becq; B-Mlle Chantal Becq (FR); T-Patrice Cottier; J-Marvin Grandin. €30,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, €39,000. *1/2 to Cavale Doree (Fr) (Sunday Break {Jpn}), GSW-Fr & GISP-US, $162,561.
2–Harry Way (Fr), 126, g, 2, Galiway (GB)–Miss Vinga (Fr), by High Rock (Ire). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O/B-Robert Bonaventure (FR); T-Nicolas Perret. €12,000.
3–Cambronne (Fr), 126, c, 2, Alex The Winner–Candie (Fr), by Kendargent (Fr). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois; B-Mme Lisa Lemiere Dubois (FR); T-Patrice Cottier. €9,000.
Margins: 6, HD, 1. Odds: 2.80, 3.60, 20.00.
Also Ran: Bolivie (Ire), Mqse De Maintenon (Ire), Pacific Boy (Fr), Hayejohn (Fr), Una Stonda (Ire). Video, sponsored by TVG.

Horizon Dore, who posted an impressive five-length debut success going nine furlongs in a Sept. 24 newcomers' test at Salon-de-Provence in his only prior start, bounded to another wide-margin triumph with a dominant display in this black-type bow. Recovering from a sluggish getaway to track the leaders in fourth after passing the judge first time, the 14-5 second choice loomed large to launch his challenge full of run in early straight and surged clear of toiling rivals in style, once seizing control approaching the furlong pole, for a career high.

Pedigree Notes
Horizon Dore, the latest of eight foals and runners, is one of seven scorers out of a multiple-winning half-sister to five-time stakes placegetter Zayade (Fr) (Country Reel). His dam Sweet Alabama (Fr) (Enrique {GB}) is also half to Winter Springs (Fr) (Stormy River {Fr}), who finished second in the 2014 renewal of this contest. The March-foaled bay's third dam Haumette (Fr) (Mille Balles {Fr}), who hails from a family featuring European champion and Irish Derby-winning sire Prince Regent (Fr) (Right Royal {Fr}), is kin to G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris and dual G3 Prix d'Hedouville-winning sire Robore (Fr) (Zino {GB}). Horizon Dore is a half-brother to G3 Prix du Calvados victrix and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf third Cavale Doree (Fr) (Sunday Break {Jpn}).

The post Dabirsim’s Horizon Dore Bounds To Delahante Triumph appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Grade 2 Winner Concert Tour Sold To Stand In Korea

Concert Tour, a multiple Grade 2 winner who ran in the 2021 Preakness Stakes, has been sold to begin his stallion career in Korea.

The 4-year-old son of Street Sense arrived in Korea on Sept. 23, according to Korea Racing Association records, and he will stand as property of the Korean Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

Owned by Gary and Mary West and trained by Bob Baffert and later Brad Cox, Concert Tour retired with three wins in eight starts for earnings of $881,303.

Concert Tour started his career on the west coast in the barn of trainer Bob Baffert, where he won on debut in January of his 3-year-old season in a wire-to-wire Santa Anita Park maiden special weight. He immediately jumped into graded stakes competition and found success in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes.

The colt was then shipped to Oaklawn Park for the rest of his Kentucky Derby prep races, where he once again led at every call to dominate the G2 Rebel Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths. He then finished third as the favorite in the G1 Arkansas Derby.

Concert Tour had the points to enter the 2021 Kentucky Derby, but his connections elected to skip the race and point for the Preakness, in order to give the colt more time to recover from his uncharacteristically poor Arkansas Derby effort. He was never a factor in the Preakness, and he finished ninth in what would be his final start of the year.

The colt would return in 2022 under the Brad Cox shedrow, and he finished last in the listed Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park in his seasonal bow. He ran second in an Oaklawn allowance optional claiming race later in the meet, then he finished fifth that spring in a Keeneland optional claimer in his final career start.

A homebred for the West operation, Concert Tour is out of the winning Tapit mare Purse Strings, whose two foals to race are both winners. Champion Stardom Bound is in his extended family.

Among the notable U.S. horses on the KTBA stallion roster are Any Given Saturday, Colonel John, Gemologist, Girolamo, Nitrous, Overanalyze, and To Honor and Serve.

The post Grade 2 Winner Concert Tour Sold To Stand In Korea appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Tough, Genuine and Consistent’: Rock Of Gibraltar Dies at 23

Former world champion 3-year-old Rock of Gibraltar (Ire) (Danehill–Offshore Boom {GB}, by Be My Guest) has died from heart failure at Castlehyde Stud in Ireland at the age of 23.

The son of Danehill was bred by the late Joe Crowley with his daughter Annemarie and son-in-law Aidan O'Brien. He was sent into training with the latter at Ballydoyle as a juvenile in 2001, later racing for the partnership of Sir Alex Ferguson and Susan Magnier.

Rock Of Gibraltar's sensational racing career, which saw him land seven consecutive Group 1 races in 11 months, began in the April of his 2-year-old season when he broke his maiden over five furlongs in the hands of Mick Kinane at the Curragh. Kinane, Ballydoyle's stable jockey at that time, would be aboard for 12 of the colt's 13 starts, his one omission being when suspended for the 2000 Guineas. Rock Of Gibraltar, ridden that day at Newmarket by Johnny Murtagh, raced on the far side of the track, beating stablemate and race favourite Hawk Wing by a neck to land the first of his two Classic victories, with Kinane back in the saddle for his follow-up at the Curragh.

Kinane remembers his partnership with Rock Of Gibraltar as “the most fun I had riding any racehorse”.

He told TDN on Monday, “He was an exceptional racehorse. He loved racing, and he was the only horse I ever rode who would have a buck and kick and a squeal going down to the start. He had an unbelievable turn of pace. He was a fantastic miler, a brilliant 2-year-old and a brilliant 3-year-old.”

In hindsight, Rock Of Gibraltar's 2000 Guineas starting price of 9-1 seems extraordinarily generous. By the time he lined up for his seasonal debut on the Rowley Mile on May 4, 2002, he was already a dual Group 1 winner, having annexed the Grand Criterium and Dewhurst S. to conclude a juvenile campaign in which he won five of his seven races, including the G2 Gimcrack S. and G3 Railway S.

At three, he became the fifth horse in history to land the 2,000 Guineas double in Britain and Ireland, and then went on to add the St James's Palace S., Sussex S., and Prix du Moulin to his outstanding record, becoming the first horse to win seven consecutive Group 1 races in the northern hemisphere, beating a record previously held for 30 years by the great Mill Reef. In his final start, Rock Of Gibraltar was second to Domedriver (Ire), beaten less than a length in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Arlington.

Horse of the Year in 2002, Rock Of Gibraltar embarked on his stud career at Coolmore the following season, effectively replacing Mozart, another top son of Danehill who had died the previous May after only one season at stud. 'The Rock' remained in Ireland for all bar one of the subsequent years, when he stood at the Shizunai Stallion Station in Japan in 2007. His 16 Group 1 winners include the top sprinter Society Rock (Ire), Eclipse S. winner and former useful sire Mount Nelson (GB), and the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Samitar (Ire). In recent seasons Rock Of Gibraltar has featured as the broodmare sire of subsequent winners of the 2,000 Guineas, Kameko and Poetic Flare (Ire).

Rock Of Gibraltar was out of the Be My Guest mare Offshore Boom (GB), who had been bought from her breeder Moyglare Stud by Crowley and the O'Briens in 1997 for IR£11,000. One of her later foals, also by Danehill, was the G3 Derrinstown Stud  1,000 Guineas Trial runner-up Nell Gwyn (Ire).

A lengthy essay in Racehorses of 2002 perhaps summed up the late stallion's racing career of 10 wins from 13 starts best when stating, “It goes almost without saying that the hardy Timeform epithet 'tough, genuine and consistent' fits Rock Of Gibraltar to a T.”

In tribute to Rock Of Gibraltar, Paddy Fleming, stud manager at Castlehyde, said, “He was healthy and looking great right up to the end. He was a fantastic racehorse and a very good sire who will be missed by all the staff here.”

The post ‘Tough, Genuine and Consistent’: Rock Of Gibraltar Dies at 23 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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