Tag: Europe

A Taste Of Home At Jebel Ali?

Three-time stakes winner Home Brew (Street Sense), who races in the colours of Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is the highest-rated horse in Saturday's AED700,000 G3 Jebel Ali Mile Sponsored by Shadwell.

Trained by Michael Costa, who has been enjoying a successful season in the UAE, the 5-year-old entire won the Bourbon Trail S. at Churchill Downs in his final start for breeders Gary and Mary West. He resurfaced in these new colours at Meydan in November, but ran unplaced that day. Saturday is his first start back and he leaves from the widest gate, stall 13.

Despite his ample backclass, Home Brew faces a stiff challenge in the form of four-for-six Swing Vote (GB) (Shamardal). Rabbah Racing's representative won a pair of Chantilly contests last spring, and enters on the back of two victories over this track and trip–defeating the Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum-owned duo of Tenbury Wells (Medaglia d'Oro) on Dec. 13 and the In Crowd (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) on Jan. 20.

Shadwell homebred Monaada (Giant's Causeway) broke his maiden in March of 2022 on turf, but lost his way a bit after a pair of wins in England later that year. Saturday's affair will be his first start since December of 2023.

The post A Taste Of Home At Jebel Ali? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Willie Browne’s Unbeaten Port Augusta Sold For “Proper Money” To Hong Kong

Willie Browne's unbeaten Port Augusta (GB), who racked up wins over six and seven furlongs at Dundalk over the winter, has been sold for “proper money” to Hong Kong.

The legendary breeze-up handler has described his recent upsurge of form on the track as “a breath of fresh air” and, while the 77-year-old admitted to being sorry he couldn't hold on to a horse as talented as Port Augusta, he revealed the son of Zoustar (Aus) fulfilled what he was bought to do by getting sold. 

A 75,000gns Book 1 yearling, Port Augusta missed his engagement in last year's Craven Breeze-Up Sale back at Tattersalls after pulling out of the pre-breeze with a small splint. 

After being given the necessary time to recuperate, the colt went some way to proving his ability by landing back-to-back races at Dundalk, providing Browne with plenty of enjoyment in doing so. 

He explained, “I would think he will suit Hong Kong very well. He is a very sound horse and rattles off quick ground. He has a lot of pace and he stays. We haven't seen the best of this horse, not by a long way. I feel we have only been scratching the surface with him over six and seven furlongs at Dundalk and, if he got a fast pace to aim at over a mile, he could be a serious horse. He's out of a very good race mare [Ship Of Dreams (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire})] and he's very good-looking himself. 

“I thought I might be able to hold on to him and take him to Dubai but he wasn't bought for that and came to me to get sold rather than to race. I got my days in the sun with him and it's good money to get. Proper money.”

Browne added, “He went to the Craven and did the preliminary canter but was slightly lame that evening. We couldn't figure it out. We thought he had given himself a little twist or something. On the morning of the breeze proper, he was still a little off and we discovered that he had a tiny splint halfway down the inside of his shin. We had to withdraw him and give him time. It's probably been a blessing in disguise for this horse.”

Browne may be best known for his breeze-up exploits but his Tipperary stable has been represented by some classy performers in recent times. Spirit Gal (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), winner of the Listed Star Appeal S. at Dundalk, famously took Browne to the Breeders' Cup in 2022 before transferring to Andre Fabre. In the past three seasons, Browne has sent out a hugely respectable tally of 15 winners domestically. 

“To say I am enjoying it would be putting it mildly now,” the veteran operator chuckled. “It's been a breath of fresh air. We've been terribly lucky to get a half dozen nice horses at the same time over the winter. Sure I didn't know myself. They've all done their job and the next trick is to try and replace a few of them, which isn't easy.”

Asked if would consider buying a few more yearlings specifically to race rather than to breeze, given how much he has enjoyed his trips to the races in recent times, Browne replied, “I'd say not, to be honest, and there's two reasons why. Number one, I am too old to start doing that and number two, it's very hard to separate the two in terms of deciding that this yearling is for racing and this one isn't. You would only complicate the thing too much and then you would become known as a trainer. It could affect the main business, which is the breeze-ups.

“No is the short answer. I wouldn't buy specifically to go down the road of racing but what I would love is for somebody else to send me a horse. But I'm not stupid enough to think that, at 77 years of age, there'll be a queue of people wanting to send me a horse. For me to go buying yearlings and start putting them into different boxes wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be good for business.”

At 77 years of age, Browne has made it clear that he is not going to go reinventing himself or anything crazy like that. But one thing's for sure, the man who has blooded many top-notchers under the banner of Mocklershill still gets as big a kick out of the game as ever before. 

He concluded, “It's not that easy to explain what the kick of training winners is because it's very different to breezing horses. Once you breeze them, okay you follow them for their new connections, but your input is finished. When you're training them and get them ready for a race and go out the next morning and look at them in the box and admire them, it's a great feeling. There's huge job satisfaction when you can prepare your horse to go and win a few nice races. That's my idea of heaven.”

The post Willie Browne’s Unbeaten Port Augusta Sold For “Proper Money” To Hong Kong appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Speightstown Colt Soars To Debut Win At Meydan

3rd-Meydan, AED175,000, Nov., 2-9, NH & SH 3yo, 1400m, 1:23.77, ft.
FALCON OF ARABIA (c, 3, Speightstown–Lawn Party {SP-US}, by Medaglia d'Oro) made a winning debut over the main track on Friday. The colt led pillar-to-post and coasted home to win by 1 1/4 lengths. He was pressed by Auto Bahn (Arg) (Asiatic Boy {Arg}) the entire way around. It was 10 1/4 lengths back to the third-place horse, King Of Luck (GB) (New Bay {GB}). “He has to be nice to do that first time,” said O'Shea of the Falcon Racing Team-owned colt. “He has a nice temperament, a good pedigree and he was very professional. He was getting a weight pull from the top horse [Auto Bahn] but he'd had a run and we hadn't.” After selling twice as a yearling, the chestnut was offered by Top Line Sales at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and caught the eye of trainer Bhupat Seemar after breezing an eight of a mile in :10 3/5. Falcon Of Arabia is a half-brother to Stellar Agent (More Than Ready), who was third in both the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and the GII Miss Grillo S., as well as the stakes-winning Anaconda (Pioneerof The Nile). His dam was covered by Epicenter last spring. Second dam Fiery Pursuit (Carson City) won the GII Louisville Breeders' Cup S., while third dam Engaging (Private Account) was a half-sister to the outstanding Eclipse Champion Juvenile Filly Flanders (Seeking The Gold), who would go on to produced Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Surfside to the cover of Seattle Slew. Sales history: $95,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $80,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $150,000 2yo '23 FTIMAY. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, AED105,000.
O-Falcon Racing Team, LLC. B-Sandra Sexton & Silver Fern Farm (KY). T-Bhupat Seemar.

 

The post Speightstown Colt Soars To Debut Win At Meydan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Last of the Galileos

Deep Impact (Jpn), who died in 2019, has to some degree gone out in a blaze of glory with the dual Derby, Irish Champion S. and Breeders' Cup winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) among his final truncated crop of just 14 foals. What then of his old friend, the 12-time champion sire Galileo (Ire), with whom he has blended so well, and members of whose own last crop enter their juvenile season in 2024?

There are just 13 Galileo two-year-olds and, according to the Weatherbys' sire report, only one of the baker's dozen appears to have been named so far. That colt has the moniker of Last Galileo (Ire), although he was actually the first of this last crop to be born, on February 13, 2022.

Bred by Coolmore, he is out of Bye Bye Birdie (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}), whose dam Slink (GB) (Selkirk) is a half-sister to James Wigan's dual Grade I winner Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}). The colt was bought through BBA Ireland for Yulong for €200,000 at last year's Goffs Orby Sale and is currently in England in pre-training.

BBA Ireland was also the buying agent, again for Yulong, of the filly out of Gold Lace (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who was sold as a weanling for €290,000 in 2022. The half-sister to the Listed-placed Gold Filigree (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was bred by Newstead Breeding and is now in training with Jessica Harrington, who trained another Galileo filly, the G1 Irish Oaks winner Magical Lagoon (Ire), for the same owner. 

Nowhere will Galileo's eventual absence as a sire be more keenly felt than within the walls of Ballydoyle. The horse's own stellar racing career was crafted there back in the early years of this century, and legions of his classy offspring have subsequently been trained on those same gallops.

Aidan O'Brien's final intake numbers three, two of which are colts: one out of the Listed-placed Bounce (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}) and another out of the Australian G1 Thousand Guineas winner Amicus (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), making him a brother to Royal Ascot winner Okita Soushi (Ire) and the G2 Beresford S. runner-up Chief Little Rock (Ire). Foaled on May 13, the latter was one of seven members of Galileo's final crop to be bred by Coolmore, including the last of his fillies to enter Ballydoyle. She is a daughter of Anna Karenina (Ire) (Green Desert) and her full-brother Battle Of Marengo (Ire) was fourth in the Derby as well as winning twice at Group 2 level.

Donnacha O'Brien has taken charge of two juvenile colts by Galileo in the Lynch-Bages-bred son of Aegean Girl (Ire) (Henrythenavigator) and a son of the Listed winner Chanting (Danehill), who has produced two black-type earners among her four winners by Galileo. 

Five of Galileo's last batch of foals were born within a week in May, and we've all seen what May foals can do. The Coolmore-bred colt out of Charlotte Bronte (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) arrived on May 8, and the last Galileo ever born, on May 15, 2022, was bred by Phoenix Thoroughbred Ltd. The colt out of Take Me With You (Scat Daddy), herself an $800,000 two-year-old purchase, has subsequently left Ireland and has been exported to America. He is now in pre-training with his eventual trainer still to be decided.

Another three members of the final crop are in training or pre-training in England. Richard Hannon is listed as the trainer of the Westerberg-bred filly out of Perfect Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

Jayne McGivern, owner of the Overbury Stud stallion Golden Horn (GB) and a select group of horses in training, is a sworn jumps fan who often jokes that she is going over to the dark side when she has a runner on the Flat. She may soon come to view it as the bright side, as McGivern is the owner of the two-year-old Galileo filly out of Darsan (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). Bred by Frank Hutchinson, she was bought for 325,000gns from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale and her owner says, “She was a bit backward but she caught up with a good holiday. I have just sent her to Malcolm Bastard for breaking and pre-training.”

It's a great buzz to have a horse like him, especially being the last of a
dynasty like Galileo's – Roderic Kavanagh 

Newmarket-based Belgian Kevin Philippart de Foy has recently moved his string to Induna Stables, which was the former base of Chris Wall, and he is looking forward to welcoming a Galileo colt out of Wind Chimes (GB) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), whom he bought with the assistance of Mark McStay of Avenue Bloodstock for €140,000 at Goffs.

“He's in pre-training at the moment and is arriving next week,” says the trainer of the May-born colt who was another bred by Coolmore. “He was quite a backward horse when we saw him at the sales but he has improved a huge amount physically. He has got a lot bigger and a lot stronger in a very short space of time.

“He's a horse who has been very straightforward in pre-training. He was good to break in, he's a good mover and he has a very good mind on him. He's showing a lot of professionalism and I am delighted with him. Fingers crossed he can follow in the footsteps of his pedigree.”

There remains a chance to buy one of the last Galileos at public auction as breeze-up pinhookers Roderic Kavanagh and Cormac O'Flynn of Glending Stables signed up the colt out of Manderley (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale for 125,000gns.

The team behind the Craven Breeze-up Sale topper and dual Group 1 winner Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) plans to return to that same auction with the  three-part-brother to Listed winner Hidden Dimples (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). He too was bred by Coolmore and is a May 13 foal. 

“We haven't done anything serious with him at all but I'm very fond of him,” Kavanagh told TDN. “I haven't dealt with too many Galileos but he has a beautiful mind and he's enjoying his work.

“It's a great buzz to have a horse like him, especially being the last of a dynasty like Galileo's. Just as an individual he seems to be a good model with a good mind and has taken it all well. With his birthday he might be more of an Arqana horse, but we're going to try for the Craven. There's a bit of prestige there with Vandeek last year. We're dreaming at the minute anyway.”

It has been a privilege to have been following racing and breeding through the era of Galileo. His name may be gradually receding in pedigrees but it will endure for generations yet. And with 93 three-years-olds from his penultimate crop and the juveniles detailed above, we can but hope for a last hurrah or two.

 

The post The Last of the Galileos appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights