English Group 1 sprints on agenda for an international cast

Ialysos, the undefeated Greek sprinter, made a successful English debut the other day at Haydock Park and is entered for the the three big Group 1 English sprints this summer, the Golden Jubilee, the King’s Stand, and the July Cup. These three races also were on the board for the undefeated Hungarian star Overdose before foot [...]

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“He’s a Greek freak!” said Sara Cumani, the trainer’s wife

Click here to read the recap of Greek-bred Ialysos‘s win today in a Listed race at Haydock Park in England. Now undefeated in eight starts, the son of So Factual has several Group 1 targets in his sights (see post below for more information). Click here to see the chart of the race.

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Undefeated Greek horse entered Saturday at Haydock Park

Undefeated Greek-bred and raced Ialysos, a son of five-furlong Group 1 winner So Factual (by Known Fact) and the Polish Precedent mare Vallota, is entered in the Listed five-furlong J.W. Lees Achilles Stakes at Haydock Park Saturday. A 5-year-old who’s won all seven of his starts at Markopoulo race track in Greece over a synthetic surface, [...]

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Sporting Post: US-based Kitalpha’s colt tops May Zim sale

The following is from the Sporting Post website from South Africa. Zimbabwe National Yearling Sales May 2009 With a top price of US $22,000 for the Kitalpha colt out of the mare Satin Sally and an average of $7,915, it certainly looked like there was something in the sale for both vendors and buyers. Satin Sally is [...]

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Futeki charts Brazil sire lines by mares bred in 2008

Japanese blogger Futeki has painstakingly correlated the number of mares bred to stallions in Brazil in 2008 by the sire lines of these horses. You’ll note that lines that are fairly extinct here still have life in Brazil, such as those of Blenheim/Mahmoud, Sicambre/Shantung, Sassafras, Buckpasser, Nashua, Grey Sovereign, Never Bend, and Damascus. Click here [...]

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Bennett Liebman and the origin of the term “Triple Crown”

Bennett Liebman, executive director of the Government Law Center of Albany Law School, had an interesting post on the New York Times The Rail blog May 24 titled The First American Triple Crown Series. Mr. Liebman, who in previous writings has researched the origins of the term “Triple Crown” as it applies to the Kentucky [...]

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Raia Leve: Pioneering sold to a group of Brazil stud farms

The Brazilian publication Raia Leve reported that Overbrook Farm’s Pioneering, a Mr. Prospector half-brother to Storm Cat, has been sold to a consortium of Brazilian breeders and will stand the 2009 Southern Hemisphere season at Haras Castelo in Bage, Brazil. The group that reportedly purchased the stallion is comprised of Haras das Estrelas, Haras Nacional, [...]

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Indian Charlie on Andy Beyer and IEAH Stable from May 16

Indian Charlie says, “We never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” But, he’s got an amusing way with words in his newsletters. Here’s a link to the May 16 issue, which comments on Andy Beyer + Mine That Bird and IEAH - Rachel Alexandra + Stardom Bound + I Want Revenge = [...]

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Ex-Yankee Ramiro Mendoza spotted at racetrack Thursday

Ramiro Mendoza, former New York Yankees pitcher and four-time World Series champion, was caught at the intersection of racing + baseball on Thursday at Hipodromo Presidente Remon in Panama, his native country. The baby-faced righthander who went by the nickname “El Brujo,” or the witch doctor, was a middle reliever whose sinking fastball “disappeared” over the [...]

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Pedigree writer John Sparkman discusses his new book

John Sparkman is my favorite living pedigree writer and third on the all-time list behind my late friend Leon Rasmussen (No. 1) and the late Abram S. Hewitt (No. 2) — who, as chance would have it, was introduced to big-time racing by my wife Cynthia’s great-grandfather, J.W. Colt. But, back to John. He has [...]

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Baden-Baden mixed sale severely down versus 2008 figs

The Baden-Baden Sales Company’s (Baden-Badener Auktionsgesellschaft, or BBAG) mixed sale today, which included a breeze-up component, was down significantly versus last year. Click here to read the Racing Post recap.

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Prince Sultan gets (yet) another Argentine runner for Saudi

Every week or so, it seems, yet another South American racehorse is sold to either Dubai (Sheikh Mohammed, primarily) or Saudi (Prince Sultan Al Kabeer, primarily) interests. The latest, according to Japanese blogger Futeki, is the Mutakddim Southern Hemisphere 2-year-old El Amarillista, who is a Group 1-placed winner. The buyer is? Envelope, please . . . [...]

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Aga Khan Studs offering more horses for private sale

For the second time this year, the Aga Khan Studs is offering for private sale from its website a group of young colts and fillies off the track. This time around, each horse horse has been priced. Click here to see the offerings.

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Life of Victory lands Argentina’s top Pellegrini award

(The following post was written in Buenos Aires by Diego Mitagstein, editor of Turf Diario and Revista Palermo Blanca in Argentina.) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Special for Sid Fernando). Life of Victory, the horse that last year achieved the glory of having won the most important race of the country, The Group 1 Carlos Pellegrini, was the great figure of the [...]

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Jockey changes, a filly were part of Korean classics, too

The musical chairs game among jockeys during the Triple Crown season here, which features the filly Rachel Alexandra, has a parallel in Korea, too, where the filly Sangseung Ilro won the Korean Derby May 17 to snatch the second leg of the Korean Triple Crown. Japanese jockey Eiki Nishimura won the first leg of the Korean Triple [...]

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