Joyeuse, a half-sister to the mighty Frankel, is among 28 entries for the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday. The two-year-old daughter of Oasis Dream made an impressive start to her career, winning a Lingfield maiden by 3-1/4 lengths last month. Owned by Khalid Abdullah and trained by Lady… Read More »
A jockey and his rider had a lucky escape at Auckland’s last race meeting of the season when a six-metre-deep hole opened up underneath them, sending the pair tumbling down the track. Jockey Rogan Norvall escaped serious injury when he was sent flying from seven-year-old gelding Buckles in the seventh… Read More »
You could not find a cooler head for a Royal Ascot mission of quite enormous importance than John Velazquez. Animal Kingdom heads for the Queen Anne Stakes as perhaps the greatest American-trained horse to run in Britain, certainly as good as any since another Kentucky Derby winner, Reigh Count, failed… Read More »
Eclipse Award-winning jockey Ramon Dominguez has announced his retirement on doctors’ advice because of head injuries sustained in a January fall at Aqueduct. The 36-year-old New York-based rider said he had hoped to resume his career but doctors advised him to retire after he fractured his skull. “Riding thoroughbreds has… Read More »
Ascot racecourse has announced the Queen’s Vase at next week’s Royal meeting will be run in memory of Sir Henry Cecil, who died on Tuesday. With 75 victories, Cecil was won more races at the Royal meeting than any other trainer and he won the Queen’s Vase eight times. The… Read More »
Mike de Kock has unveiled an audacious plan for King’s Stand Stakes favourite Shea Shea to step up in trip for next month’s July Cup. The multiple South African champion trainer has been training the six-year-old uphill in an attempt to familiarise the Al Quoz Sprint winner with Ascot’s stiff… Read More »
Dawn Approach appears all set to take his chance in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot next week after pleasing trainer Jim Bolger in a piece of work on Thursday morning. Last season’s champion juvenile kept his unbeaten record intact with a breathtaking display in the 2000 Guineas… Read More »
Sir Henry Cecil’s widow Jane has sent out the first winners for the stable since the 10-time champion trainer’s death earlier this week. Fittingly the first win came courtesy of Morpheus, a half-brother of Frankel, the brilliant horse that had lit up Cecil’s twilight years. Cecil died on Tuesday at… Read More »
A win by Lady Gazerra in the Queen Of The Valley Matchmaker at Muswellbrook on Friday would prove a fitting salute for the late Jaime Mackay. Lady Gazerra is owned and bred by Mackay’s wife, Jennifer Mackay. He was a leading Australian polo player. “It’s been a shattering couple of… Read More »
A private funeral for Sir Henry Cecil will be held in Newmarket on Monday week, it has been announced. The legendary trainer died on Tuesday morning, aged 70, following a long battle with stomach cancer. While his funeral will be a family-only occasion, a further celebration of Cecil’s life is… Read More »
Dawn Approach has emerged a surprise contender for Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. Godolphin’s 2000 Guineas hero was originally thought to be an unlikely runner in the mile race after finishing last in the Derby at Epsom earlier this month. However, trainer Jim Bolger reports his Classic… Read More »
Seventeen horses from the stables of three Hong Kong trainers have tested positive for the banned drug zilpaterol, a substance used to produce muscle growth in livestock, the Hong Kong Jockey Club said on Wednesday. Thirteen of the horses have been withdrawn from Wednesday’s public holiday races following testing that… Read More »
High profile jockey Matthew Chadwick has been granted bail by police after being arrested in relation to an alleged assault in Hong Kong. Chadwick was accused on Monday of assaulting a bus driver and breaking a window on the bus door, reports the South China Morning Post. His girlfriend was… Read More »
Frankel’s owner Prince Khalid Abdullah has paid a personal tribute to Sir Henry Cecil following the trainer’s death on Tuesday at the age of 70. Abdullah and Cecil enjoyed one of the strongest relationships in racing with the owner standing by Cecil throughout his period in the doldrums in the… Read More »
Sir Henry Richard Amherst Cecil was one of the most popular and greatest racehorse trainers of this, or any other, era. A phenomenal 10 champion trainer titles and 25 British Classic winners are the tip of the iceberg, with his 75 victories at Royal Ascot not in danger of being… Read More »
Champion trainer Sir Henry Cecil has lost his long battle with cancer. His death at the age of 70 was announced on his website on Tuesday. Responsible for 25 British Classic winners and crowned champion trainer 10 times, Cecil was also the leading handler at Royal Ascot by a long… Read More »
Frankie Dettori has been booked to ride United States raider Havelock in the Group One Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot but his agent admits it has been hard to find mounts in the big races. Dettori, who has only just returned from a six-month drugs ban, will link for… Read More »
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 »
