The 28-year-old, who is also a keen showjumper, has partnered six Group 1 winners in 2023, led by the  QIPCO 1,000 Guineas winner Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) for Godolphin.

His first public spin over jumps comes in the National Hunt Novices' Handicap Hurdle aboard Lets Do This (Ire) for Irish trainer Cian Collins but Murphy has plenty of experience working with jumpers through his uncle Jim Culloty, who rode the treble Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate (Fr) and also trained the Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere (Ire).

He said, “I worked with [Jim] in my teens, so jump racing has always been part of my life and it has always been a burning ambition of mine to ride in a jumps race.

“I took out a jumps licence earlier in the year, as at one stage it looked like I might get a ride in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.

“The programme of Flat racing means it is unlikely that I will be able to ride over hurdles often, but this opportunity arose as I know the trainer and owner of Lets Do This well. It is only a fairly low-grade handicap hurdle on Thursday, so it seemed like a good place to start.

“I have been schooling horses to prepare, though have not yet ridden Lets Do This.”

Murphy added, “It would be an amazing feeling to get a winner over jumps and I'm not looking beyond Thursday at the moment – I just hope I don't embarrass myself.”

The post Multiple Flat Champion Oisin Murphy To Make His Jumping Debut appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Among those honoured on the night was eight-time champion jump jockey Peter Scudamore, who received the Outstanding Contribution accolade, and Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}), awarded the 2023 Horse of The Season as well as Leading Hurdler.

The post 2023 The Jockey Club The McCoys Awarded appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The change addresses three principal areas:

• Supporting international competitiveness of prize money in black-type races both on Flat and over Jumps.
• Increase prize money levels in Class 2 and 3 handicaps with the aim of improving retention of higher-rated horses in Britain
• Enhance prize money values at the lower levels, with the appearance money scheme to be replaced by a £700 increase to minimum values in handicaps and classified stakes.

Additional changes include the absence of novice or maiden races programmed at Class 6 on Flat and Class 5 over Jumps. This will mean that these races will only be permitted with prize money of at least £5,300 (Flat), £5,800 (Hurdle) and £6,600 (Chase).

The size and shape of the 2023 Fixture List remains broadly similar to that of 2022, with a total of 1,478 fixtures scheduled.

To view the list of increases to minimum race values, click here.

The post Increase to Minimum Purse Value for ’23 British Season appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

This haul included the four championship prizes, as Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) won the Champion Hurdle, Put The Kettle On (Ire) (Stowaway {GB}) claimed the Champion Chase, Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) took the Stayers' Hurdle and Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) was victorious in the Gold Cup. 

There was more soul searching than celebrating among the British contingent, as the home team won just five races. Whether matters can be turned around this year remains to be seen, but given the Irish are responsible for 23 of 28 ante-post favourites, the early signs are ominous. 

For those immersed in the world of National Hunt breeding, Irish dominance is not a new phenomenon. Results over the last ten years provide a clear illustration, as there have been 276 Cheltenham Festival races run since 2012, and 151 (55 per cent) have been won by a horse bearing the IRE suffix. That is just over four times more than Britain, which has been represented by 37 winners (13 per cent) in the same time frame.

While the action on course generally revolves around Britain versus Ireland, in the breeding stakes French-breds have been a formidable presence with 80 winners (29 per cent) since 2012. The remaining eight winners were supplied by Germany and the US, who delivered four apiece. 

A significant factor in these results looking so lop-sided is the sheer weight of numbers, with Irish breeders producing far more jumps horses than their British counterparts. 

Data published in the latest Weatherbys Fact Book shows that in 2021, Ireland was home to 4,599 National Hunt mares, which is 31.7 per cent of the country's combined broodmare band and 3.8 times more than Britain, which had just 1,213 dedicated jumps mares, 14.8 per cent of its total broodmare population. In turn, Ireland produced 2,722 jumps-bred foals in 2021, which is 3.9 times more than the 696 youngsters born in Britain who are destined to race over obstacles. 

Moreover, not only do Irish breeders have a sizeable broodmare band to call upon, but the balance of National Hunt sire power has long since been based in Ireland. 

It was a notable subplot to Frankel (GB) winning the 2021 Flat sires' championship that he was the first British-based title-holder since Mill Reef, who landed the spoils back in 1987. 

But you have to go even further back to find the last time the champion National Hunt sire crown left Irish soil, with Spartan General (GB) registering a rare success for Britain during the 1978-79 season. It has been one-way traffic since then, with jumps racing titans like Deep Run (GB), who notched a remarkable 14 consecutive sires' championships, Strong Gale (Ire), Be My Native, Supreme Leader (GB) and Presenting (GB) all coming to the fore for Ireland. 

Although Sadler's Wells never claimed a National Hunt sires' championship to go with his record-breaking 14 Flat equivalents, the breed-shaping son of Northern Dancer has exerted a similarly huge influence over the jumping scene. Nowhere has this been more apparent than at the Cheltenham Festival. 

No fewer than 23 of Sadler's Wells' sire sons have been responsible for the winners of 84 Cheltenham Festival races in the last ten years, while another 22 winners have the former Coolmore flag-bearer further back in their paternal pedigree. This means that in the last decade alone, the Sadler's Wells line has been responsible for 106 Festival winners, a huge 38.4 per cent of the 276 races run. 

No stallion has done more to extend Sadler's Wells' influence over the jumping sphere than King's Theatre (Ire), who claimed five sires' championships and also supplied 12 Festival winners in the last decade, a tally that makes him the most prolific Cheltenham sire of recent times. The late Ballylinch Stud resident's Festival roll of honour includes the likes of Brindisi Breeze (Ire), Champ (Ire), Cue Card (GB), Riverside Theatre (GB) and The New One (Ire). 

Among the other successful sons of Sadler's Wells are names such as Milan (GB), source of seven Cheltenham winners since 2012 and the 2019-20 champion, Oscar (Ire), sire of ten Festival scorers, and Glenview Stud's Sholokhov (Ire), whose four successes at the meeting include recent Grade 1 winners Bob Olinger (Ire) and Shishkin (Ire). 

Other noteworthy sire sons include High Chaparral (Ire) and Montjeu (Ire), who were responsible for four-time Festival scorer Altior (Ire) and dual Champion Hurdle hero Hurricane Fly (Ire) respectively, while Montjeu's son Authorized (Ire) gave us the mighty Tiger Roll (Ire). 

While Sadler's Wells' influence has helped cement Ireland's position as the nucleus of National Hunt breeding, he is also responsible for a British heavyweight in Overbury Stud stalwart Kayf Tara (GB), who has sired seven Festival winners since 2012. 

As if all that were not enough, Sadler's Wells' own record includes an important winner from the not too distant past, as Synchronised (Ire) claimed the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup for JP and Noreen McManus. 

However, despite his ongoing influence, you need to look a little further back to find Sadler's Wells' defining achievement in National Hunt racing, as he is immortalised as the sire of Cheltenham Festival icon Istabraq (Ire), who won three consecutive Champion Hurdles from 1998 to 2000. 

Galileo (Ire), heir of the Sadler's Wells empire on the Flat, also has a handful of Festival winners on his vast stud record, and is the grandsire of a further four, with sons Nathaniel (Ire), best known for supplying queen of the Turf Enable (GB), and Soldier Of Fortune (Ire) each responsible for a brace. With so many high-class sons of Galileo on jumps breeders' radars, including the likes of Coolmore's National Hunt recruits Capri (Ire), Kew Gardens (Ire), Mogul (GB) and Order Of St George (Ire), we can expect his name to appear in prominent jumps pedigrees with increasing regularity over the coming years.

There have been 232 individual winners who have struck at the last ten Festivals, and these have been supplied by 124 different stallions. The diversity among this number means that, while Sadler's Wells has been an almost ubiquitous force in recent Festival history, his line is not alone in having had a significant bearing on proceedings. 

Another name more commonly associated with high-class Flat performers is Danehill, who has been represented by four successful sire sons with eight winners to their credit, namely Aussie Rules, Dansili (GB) and Duke Of Marmalade (Ire), who all have one winner apiece, as well as Castlehyde Stud's Westerner (GB), who has five. 

Danehill's rags-to-riches son Danehill Dancer (Ire) also emerged as a force in the National Hunt world, primarily through the exploits of the much-missed Jeremy, whose five Festival winners include Supreme Novices' Hurdle hero Appreciate It (Ire) and Champion Bumper victor Sir Gerhard (Ire), who are back for more this year. These results have seen Danehill feature in the male line of 15 recent Festival winners. 

The last decade has also seen significant success for descendants of other prominent National Hunt influences such as Alleged, Garde Royale (Ire) and Monsun (Ger). Alleged's name has appeared in the male line of 11 winners in the last ten years, with Shantou responsible for five of those and the mighty Flemensfirth having supplied another four, while Astarabad and Sir Harry Lewis also sired one winner apiece. 

Garde Royale's success owes plenty to Robin Des Champs (Fr), whose ten Festival winners in the last decade include National Hunt celebrities Quevega (Fr) and Vautour (Fr). Garde Royale has also been represented by Kapgarde (Fr), sire of A Plus Tard (Fr), a past Festival winner and a strong contender for this year's Gold Cup. 

As far as furthering their legacies, time may be running out for Alleged, whose breeding sons have either passed away or been retired from active duty, and Garde Royale, for whom Kapgarde is a sole representative between Britain, Ireland and France. Monsun, however, has already left his imprint on 12 Festival winners through six sire sons, and remains well represented among the European stallion ranks. 

Other sire lines may have been a more plentiful source of Festival success, but Monsun can lay claim to the highest-rated Cheltenham winner in recent times thanks to Sprinter Sacre (Fr), the son of Network (Ger) who won an Arkle and two runnings of the Queen Mother Champion Chase. 

The other sons of Monsun to supply a Festival winner are Arcadio (Ger), Gentlewave (Ire), Maxios (GB), Schiaparelli (Ger) and Shirocco (Ger). There were eight sons of Monsun standing across Britain and Ireland in 2021 – namely Axxos (Ger), Gentlewave, Getaway (Ger), Masterstroke, Maxios, Ocovango (GB), Schiaparelli and Vadamos (Fr) – and between them they covered 940 mares, which gives an indication of the sire line's ammunition for the years ahead. 

Given that National Hunt horses have longer career cycles than their Flat counterparts, by the time most jumps stallions reach the peak of their powers plenty have either been pensioned or passed away, as evidenced by Milan being the only serving champion jumps sire at present. With so many high achievers no longer in action, breeders will be looking to Cheltenham to reveal who is capable of filling the void. Once again the Irish ranks look to hold all the aces. 

Among those with a strong hand are the likes of Sadler's Wells' son Yeats (Ire), who sired four winners last year and will be represented by leading fancies Conflated (Ire), Flooring Porter (Ire), Mount Ida (Ire) and Party Central (Ire) this time around. Another member of the Sadler's Wells line with a strong team is Grange Stud's Walk In The Park (Ire), sire of past Festival scorers Douvan (Fr) and Min (Fr). 

The son of Montjeu could start the week with a bang when Jonbon (Fr), a brother to Douvan who fetched a record £570,000 at the Goffs UK Yorton Sale in November 2020, lines up in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle on Tuesday. Walk In The Park will also be represented by the progressive Ginto (Fr) and Champion Bumper favourite Facile Vega (Ire), who is out of six-time Festival heroine Quevega. 

Glenview Stud's Blue Bresil (Fr) could also be set for a good week, with the son of Smadoun (Fr) set to field the likes of Blue Lord (Fr), Constitution Hill (GB), Redemption Day (GB) and Royale Pagaille (Fr). 

The French ranks will be typically well represented, not least by the progeny of Doctor Dino (Fr), who stands at a record fee for a jumps sire at €18,000. The Haras du Mesnil resident looks set to supply well-fancied runners such as Dinoblue (Fr), Fil Dor (Fr) and State Man (Fr), while his compatriots No Risk At All (Fr), sire of Allaho (Fr) and Epatante (Fr), and Kapgarde, source of A Plus Tard and Prengarde (Fr), could also make an impact. 

There are also a host of younger names for whom a first Festival winner would mark a major milestone in their upwardly mobile careers. These include Arctic Tack Stud's Jet Away (GB), source of Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle second favourite Brandy Love (Ire), Haras de la Tuilerie's Masked Marvel (GB), who is responsible for Champion Hurdle challenger Teahupoo (Fr), and Kilbarry Lodge Stud resident Diamond Boy, sire of Brown Advisory Novices' Chase fancy L'Homme Presse (Fr). 

During a busy weekend of sport, Ireland were made to work hard for their 32-15 victory over England in Saturday's Six Nations contest at Twickenham, with the gloss added to the final score only inside the last six minutes. When the Cheltenham roar goes up and the countries renew their rivalry at the Festival this week, all known form suggests that matters will prove much more one-sided. 

The post Ireland Set Fair To Dominate Cheltenham Breeding Ranks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“It is important to acknowledge all those involved in getting a horse to the track and, whilst we appreciate products like ours play a key role, it is the stable staff who look after these animals who truly make the difference,” said Kirsty McCann, ARKequine Nutritional Manager UK and Ireland.

The post ArkEquine Partners with Naas appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Of that quintet, the Cheveley Park Stud-owned favourite Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) cost £400,000. Lower down the sales scale is the little mare Grangee (Fr) (Great Pretender {Ire}), a €25,000 purchase who now races for a syndicate of 50 owners, each of whom made an initial investment of €500. She has already given them plenty of bang for their bucks.

Jack Cantillon founded Grangee's ownership group Syndicates.Racing, which has a total of 13 horses in training, and it is fair to say that he is bordering on evangelical when it comes to persuading people to become involved in owning racehorses.

“I'm a lawyer by profession and friends would come to the Arc with me every year, or to Cheltenham, and it always puzzled me a little bit why they didn't buy shares in horses,” he says. “The reality is that it's prohibitively priced, but I did feel that there was a number there that people would invest, but in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Invariably our shares are in the hundreds.”

If you were at the sales last autumn it would have been impossible to miss Cantillon in his bright yellow jacket promoting his new stallion, Far Above (Ire), whom he stands in partnership with Micheal Orlandi of Compas Stallions. With his various projects in the bloodstock world, it's questionable whether Cantillon ever sleeps, but what little shut-eye he does manage to grab is likely to be even less this week. Not only do Syndicates.Racing have Grangee in Wednesday's Champion Bumper but, remarkably, its only other National Hunt horse in training, Cabaret Queen (GB) (King's Theatre {Ire}), is set to run in the G2 Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase on Friday.

Formerly owned by Highclere Thorougbred Racing, Cabaret Queen was a shrewd purchase two years ago by Cantillon and Adam Potts for just £13,000 after she had already won over hurdles and fences for Dan Skelton. Since then, the 9-year-old has won two €100,000 chases, the Munster National and the Kerry National, as well as finishing third in the Galway Plate. Grangee has also scooped a lucrative prize and equally valuable Graded black type when landing the mares' bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival to take her career tally to two wins and a third from three starts.

“You could give me €10 billion and I'd still be on the rope at Tattersalls, or down the chute in Arqana, or in the pocket at Goffs trying to rob horses for 20 grand. I know nothing else and I have to buy what I perceive to be the value horse,” Cantillon says.

Of the purchase of Grangee at Arqana just over a year ago, he recalls, “I wasn't at the sale but there was a mare I was interested in. I didn't get her but Fanny Cypres, who is a good friend and whose family bred Grangee, had had a look at the mare for me and she said I should have a look at this other filly. There had been suggestions she had worked quite well for Hector de Lageneste and the guy who owned her was getting out of racing. When the video of Grangee dropped I thought she was captivating: she's jet black and she has this lovely presence. She didn't sell in the ring but I bought her afterwards.”

He adds, “I didn't sell Grangee for a while, she was a slow burner, but it was the start of the Covid pandemic and people were a little reluctant. But we have assembled a variety of individuals and they are all enjoying the ride and are understandably very excited for Wednesday. Some of the people are in both Grangee and Cabaret Queen and they are pinching themselves at having two runners at Cheltenham, as I am.”

It was as recent as 2008 that the first race devoted solely to mares was run at the Festival. There was some short-sighted grumbling about the G1 David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle, more still when the G2 Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle was introduced in 2016 and, undoubtedly, there are plenty of jump racing fans that dislike the fact that this year sees the inaugural running of the G2 Liberthine Mares' Chase. But that is to fail to see the jump racing industry as a whole.

For years, fillies, whether sold as foals or stores, were all but being given away, leading a number of stallion farms to offer discounted nominations by way of compensation if a mare produces a filly foal. Initiatives by the TBA and ITBA, such as the National Hunt Mare Owners' Prize Scheme (now incorporated into the Great British Bonus) and Elite Mares Scheme, as well as significant expansion of the mares' racing programme in Britain and Ireland, are slowly making jump fillies and mares more enticing prospects at the sales. With three mares' races at the Festival, owners and trainers have gradually been encouraged to pay them more attention, though it is Cantillon's view that this is still a sector that represents great value.

He notes, “I think the most under-valued type of horse that you can buy is a National Hunt mare, and I think in 10 years' time we will be asking why they were so cheap at the time. The programme is remarkable and is improving the whole time, the bonuses are increasing, and in the UK if your mare has achieved a rating over 125 you basically get free nominations for life, which is amazing. If I was advising anyone that wanted to get involved in racing with a fun horse, I think a National Hunt mare is the first port of call.”

Cantillon continues, “In National Hunt racing, 22% of horses in training are mares and of course there's never going to be parity because horses will be retired at seven, eight or nine, but I think we should be moving towards 40% mares in training. That would be a brilliant thing for the breed, because then we are breeding from our best horses, and as a result the whole ecosystem that we develop, with layer upon layer of pedigree, will be more advanced as the best mares will be going to the best stallions. Cabaret Queen will be bred this year and she'll go to a very good stallion, but she wouldn't be going to one if there hadn't been the incentive for us to keep her in training.”

He adds, “When we get to the day when there is no longer the commercial necessity of a discount for a filly foal then we have reached the appropriate point. The overall goal needs to be the testing of the racehorses, and that is achieved by having the appropriate races for them and by continuing to invest in the mares' racing programme both in Ireland and in England.”

Cabaret Queen, from the final crop of the former multiple champion jump sire King's Theatre, will retire to the Cantillon family's Tinnakill House in Ireland at the end of the season and, as her youngsters eventually take to the track, will doubtless be the subject of continued interest from the owners who leased her during her racing career

“I usually end up with around 50 owners in a horse,” says Cantillon. “Cabaret Queen was on a lease basis and her training for six months was €210 per 1%. Some people take five or 10% but the majority take 1%. It allows a lot of people to be part of it, the everyday racing fans, and that's what's so heartening for me, the people who love racing for racing.”

He continues, “The amplification we achieve with the wider public from the 50 individuals who have a share in Grangee at €500 is amazing. It's something to be celebrated and fostered. And she won a €100,000 race so Grangee has decided she's going to be picking up the bill going forward.

“Maybe some owners think they would prefer to be in a syndicate with, say, five people, which is a bit more intimate. Nick Bradley does a great job, Middleham Park Racing do a good job. It's not just about Syndicates.Racing, it's about finding the syndicate that suits you, and I don't mind which syndicates people get into, I just want them to become part of the experience. I have a few shares in horses in Australia and I love waking up in the morning and receiving updates.”

For this week, however, it is Cantillon and his racing and bloodstock director John Bourke who are charged with keeping the many owners of Grangee and Cabaret Queen updated, especially in a year when the ongoing pandemic means that Festival is being conducted behind closed doors.

“It's a testament to Willie Mullins and his team and it's quite remarkable that they are both running in the Cheltenham Festival,” Cantillon says.

“The Festival is a festival in the sense of everything that surrounds it. It's looking at the Mullins string on the Monday morning, it's the walk up the hill, it's the fevered texts I get from people I haven't heard from in years looking for tips. There's all that, and of course the great racing, and not being there this year makes it very weird, but we are all still very excited.”

The post Pair Of Queens Gives Syndicate A Strong Hand appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post