Category: International

Two title defences, 79 overseas horses — and a Turf without Europe’s best

From race three to race six

Almost 10 years after Enable began her own career with a winning debut, her son did exactly the same

Saffie Osborne has taken the throne from Hollie Doyle among Britain’s female riders

Lulu Tøpholm and Veronika Jandová tried their luck once again in Baden-Baden in Germany on Sunday afternoon.

A day packed with a large part of the European elite is over, and no fewer than five Group 1 races were run.

The Bent Olsen-trained Great Wish came home eighth under William Buick in Saturday’s British Champions Sprint Stakes (Gr.1) over 1,200 metres at Ascot.

After 21 wins in a row, Ka Ying Rising’s winning run came to an end on Saturday morning in The Everest (Gr.1) at Randwick in Sydney.

The Bent Olsen-trained Great Wish (Night Of Thunder) faces the biggest task of his life in the British Champions Sprint Stakes (Gr.1) at Ascot on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon Thore Hammer-Hansen won Germany’s biggest two-year-old race, the Preis des Winterfavoriten (Gr.3) over 1,600 metres in Cologne.

Great Wish has landed in Newmarket, where he will be trained through the coming week for Saturday’s British Champions Sprint Stakes (Gr.1)

The four-year-old Sea The Stars colt Daryz won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for the second year running on Sunday, and

Elione Chaves boarded the plane to Mauritius on Monday 28 September. On Sunday he rode his first race day at Champ de

On home soil Daryz (Sea The Stars) lived up to expectations and repeated last year’s win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr.1). Daryz is trained by Francis-Henri Graffard and had Mickael Barzalona in the saddle, as always.

Aidan O’Brien was the last to name the jockeys for his three runners in Europe’s biggest race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr.1) at Longchamp.

Norway-born William Buick was on song at Newmarket on Friday afternoon, winning first a Group 2 and then a Listed race. On the famous Rowley Mile, Talk Of New York (Wootton Bassett) finally landed his first Group win.

Japan’s Forever Young (Real Steel) lined up in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Gr.1) at Belmont Park on Friday, and it produced a dominant victory by a good three lengths from Stars And Stripes (Not This Time). The field was down to just four runners, the others being Baeza (McKinzie) in third and Phileas Fogg (Astern) in fourth.

Rock singer Meat Loaf made the classic “Two out of three ain’t bad” famous, but “four out of five” must surely be better. And that is exactly what Irish star jockey Oisin Murphy achieved on Monday at Ffos Las in South Wales.

When Saffie Osborne, only 24, won the English St Leger (Gr.1) at Doncaster on Saturday, she became the first female jockey to win a Classic – but it was also Saffie’s first Group 1 win of any kind.

Ireland’s master trainer Aidan O’Brien landed another big-race triumph in the Irish St. Leger (Gr.1), and he underlined it by having the first three horses home. The odds-on favourite Scandinavia arrived on the back of two Group 1 wins in a row: the Gold Cup (Gr.1) during Royal Ascot week in June and the Goodwood Cup (Gr.1) in July.

Bente and Magne Jordanger’s Stall Perlen landed another French winner on Sunday afternoon when the four-year-old Aminaco was first past the post in the Super Handicap de la Rentrée over 2,000 metres at Longchamp. The Lope De Vega colt made it three in a row and picked up a first prize of €48,000.

Friday and Saturday proved quite eventful for Lulu Tøpholm, who landed the BBAG Auktionsrennen at Cologne with the two-year-old Killian, a one-two in the Odense Milen with Royal Dane and Alakay, and a triumph in Doncaster’s PJ Towey Handicap with the five-year-old Thunder Run, whom she owns in partnership with JWC Bloodstock.

Lulu Tøpholm’s two-year-old Killian produced a dominant display on Friday evening in the big German sales race, the BBAG Auktionsrennen over 1,400 metres in Cologne. The Galileo Gold colt scored in commanding fashion by five lengths in the hands of Thore Hammer-Hansen, picking up a first prize of €25,000.

More often than not it is his father Aidan O’Brien who steals the headlines, but in the oldest of all the Classics, the St Leger Stakes (Gr.1) over 2,920 metres at Doncaster, it was trainer Joseph O’Brien who landed a one-two with the outsider Highwayman ahead of Enceladus.