By Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.) (Ed. note: link to video of race below. Grades of races listed for informational purposes only. All Indian graded races qualify as Listed black type internationally.) In 1976-77, Squanderer, one of India’s all-time great horses, went through his Classic year with a string of nine unbeaten runs. Today (Sept. 24), … Continue reading Desert God’s Indian St. Leger and record
All spring leading up to the Derby, heavyweights Uncle Mo, the bay challenger, and Tapit, the gray champion, traded blows each weekend, it seemed, with one or the other landing major punches in the runup to the main event. And these weren’t the fluffy nothings like those thrown in a fight between “pastel bros” captured here … Continue reading Uncle Mo lands the haymaker against Tapit
Since Spectacular Bid, the champion 2-year-old colt of 1978, won the Derby in 1979, two other champion juvenile colts have emulated him in the ensuing 36 years: American Pharoah in 2015 and Street Sense in 2007. This isn’t a flattering endorsement for championship form at 2 for the Derby, and it extends to the winners of the … Continue reading Derby sire-line facts
Tapit and Uncle Mo have received the lion’s share of Derby press this year — including from this corner — with potential multiple entries in the classic, but they aren’t the only two. Results from the last few days are a reminder that there’s a third stallion in this elite group with far-reaching influence. He’s Ashford’s Giant’s … Continue reading Giant’s Causeway is big Cat for sire and Ashford
Roger Attfield, along with Harry Giddings Jr., has won Canada’s premier classic, the Queen’s Plate, a remarkable eight times. Last year he attempted to enter the record books with Danish Dynaformer, a homebred colt from the last crop of Dynaformer for client Charles Fipke. This year, he will try again with Shakhimat, a colt from the … Continue reading Lonhro’s Shakhimat makes move to Queen’s Plate for Attfield
Lots of news from Australia and New Zealand today. Winx is becoming an icon for her late sire Street Cry — a Southern Hemisphere bookend for Street Cry’s legendary Northern Hemisphere daughter Zenyatta. Written Tycoon, fresh off the G1 mark with the Golden Slipper winner Capitalist a few weeks ago, struck again at the highest level with … Continue reading Montjeu sprinter rising as a sire in New Zealand
The last two posts here were about California Chrome and Sunday Silence, both linked by the races in Dubai on Saturday — and perhaps by their non-commercial female families. California breeder George A. Pope, Jr. (1901-1979), mentioned in the piece on Sunday Silence as the breeder of his first three dams (4th dam Dowager was bred … Continue reading Pope link to California Chrome and Sunday Silence
