Watering has resumed at Ascot ahead of next week’s Royal meeting with little rain forecast over the next few days. Australian Group One winner Shamexpress will run in the King’s Stand on the first day of the five-day meeting. Clerk of the course Chris Stickels turned on the taps on… Read More »
Veteran English trainer Clive Brittain says he has used the controversial substance Sungate on his horses, unaware it contained a banned steroid. Brittain, who has won many of the world’s biggest races including the Breeders’ Cup with the great racemare Pebbles, told the Guardian that some of his horses, who… Read More »
Plans remain fluid for vanquished Epsom Derby favourite Dawn Approach. The 2000 Guineas winner lost his unbeaten record in the premier Classic when he came home last, having refused to settle from the outset. Godolphin’s colt has already been ruled out of the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot,… Read More »
Ex-pat Australian trainer Jeremy Gask reports Medicean Man to be on course for Royal Ascot despite a slight scare following his victory at Haydock on Friday. The seven-year-old sprinter took in a piece of turf during the Achilles Stakes and had to stay the night at the track. However, he… Read More »
Prince Khalid Abdullah is reported to be scaling down his breeding and racing empire but superstar Frankel will remain with Juddmonte Farms. Juddmonte chief executive Douglas Erskine-Crum confirmed on Saturday the prince would be reducing his numbers. “His Highness is going to make some disposals in the course of the… Read More »
Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom is now odds-on to win the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot with his main rival Farhh to miss the race through injury. The Queen Anne will be Animal Kingdom’s final start before he heads to Australia’s Arrowfield Stud which is the major shareholder… Read More »
Palace Malice took charge on the home turn to win the Belmont Stakes, holding off Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow and Kentucky Derby champion Orb. The win gave Todd Pletcher his second Belmont winner in six years and vindicated the trainer’s support of the three-year-old who came into the final leg… Read More »
Through all the tumult of the past five weeks, the final leg of the 2013 Triple Crown season has in some sense come full circle to where things stood on the eve of May 4. Trainer Todd Pletcher again has compiled a five-horse arsenal to face morning-line favorite Orb in… Read More »
Ed Dunlop remains keen on a trip to Royal Ascot with Snow Fairy after the mare came through a racecourse gallop at Sandown on Thursday with flying colours. The six-time Group One-winner has not been seen in competitive action since her exhilarating victory in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown… Read More »
Ed Dunlop’s globetrotting superstar Red Cadeaux is set to make his first appearance in Britain in almost a year in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. The 2011 Melbourne Cup runner-up has enjoyed another outstanding winter campaign, claiming the biggest victory of his career in December’s Hong Kong Vase before… Read More »
A second trainer from British racing headquarters Newmarket has been charged with giving anabolic steroids to horses, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced on Friday. Nine horses trained by Gerard Butler tested positive for steroids but, although he admits using the drug Sungate, which contains banned substances, he claims he… Read More »
Trainer James Fanshawe is likely to make a late call on whether Deacon Blues will be ready in time for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. The six-year-old has been off the course since winning the British Champions Sprint Stakes at the Berkshire track in October 2011. He is… Read More »
Frankie Dettori has ridden his first winner since returning from a six-month drugs ban, steering Asian Trader to victory at Sandown. Dettori made his comeback at Epsom last Friday but had been out of luck in 11 previous rides in England and in France. That unwanted statistic was finally stricken… Read More »
Godolphin insist no Royal Ascot target has been decided upon for Farhh despite further support for Animal Kingdom in the market for the Queen Anne Stakes. Lockinge winner Farhh is entered in both the Queen Anne on the first day of the meeting and the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes 24… Read More »
Kentucky Derby winner Orb was made the 3-1 favourite over Revolutionary and Preakness champion Oxbow on Wednesday as the draw was made for Saturday’s 145th running of the Belmont Stakes. The 1 1/2-mile (2400m) showdown of three-year-olds is the final leg in American flat racing’s Triple Crown, which has not… Read More »
Mount Athos is set to tackle the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot following his easy success at Chester last month. The six-year-old was a nine-length winner of the Ormonde Stakes on his first start since finishing fifth in the Melbourne Cup and 12th in the Japan Cup last November. Trainer… Read More »
Godolphin’s Moulton Paddocks stable made a speedy return to action at Lingfield with a winner from the first runner since the Mahmood Al Zarooni scandal broke. The yard on the Bury Road in Newmarket was closed for investigation by Godolphin principal Sheikh Mohammed after trainer Al Zarooni was found guilty… Read More »
Ruler Of The World has been given the lowest rating of any Epsom Derby winner this century by the British Horseracing Authority’s senior handicapper. Phil Smith gives Aidan O’Brien’s unbeaten colt a figure of just 120 following his defeat of Libertarian, although he admits he has the potential to improve… Read More »
Trainer Gerard Butler is set to face charges over his over his use of the drug Sungate, which contains a banned anabolic steroid. The Newmarket trainer admitted to being subject to a British Horseracing Association investigation concerning the joint treatment, which was developed by an Italian company and contains stanozolol…. Read More »
New Zealand trainer Richard Collett expects So Wotif to show the benefit of his first Australian start when the three-year-old runs in Saturday’s Listed Creswick Stakes. So Wotif finished third in his Melbourne debut at Caulfield and Collett believes the extra time spent in Australia and a step up to… Read More »
