It now appears confirmed that Haya Zark didn't make it; he suffered a pulmonary bleed. A desperately sad postscript to the race that I think we all sensed was coming. Rest easy, fella. 😓
Matt Chapman: 'You're going to praise everyone else, but let's talk about you for a change.'
Aidan O'Brien: *praises literally everyone else involved, even the sire and dam* 😂
It's impossible not to like him.
Justify covered 410 mares in 2023.
In the US - 222 (9th biggest book)
In Australia - 188 (7th biggest book; busiest shuttle sire)
Is that sustainable?
I'm wondering whether he'll be covering the same numbers this year, now he's private?
I can't bring myself to celebrate 410.
I lost my mum this morning. She was only sixty-four. No longer will I share my life or the racing with her.
Please don't judge me for continuing to read and tweet on racing Twitter at the moment; horse racing is my anchor.
@xraygoddis
@fasc1nate
This is an example of a VFSS. The dog probably presented with dysphagia.
The odds of this Twitter account having access to fluoroscopy and performing this study themselves are vanishingly small.
Panic not.
@fasc1nate
Lots of concern in the comments. For those freaking out:
1. This account didn't make this. The equipment needed to do so costs hundreds of thousands. Vid came from here:
2. This technique is performed for medical diagnostic purposes, not casual interest.
Seeing a few gripes about that race. Was this really such a 'bad' result? Pyledriver was already a G1 winner over 12f and he's beat four other G1 winners. I can't be alone in not being overly shocked by the result.
You'd have to think that could well be the last ever Classic winner for the peerless Galileo.
He's got one more crop of three-year-olds to come next year, but it's tiny. Maybe there's a gem in there, but odds are this epic thread ends with Jan Brueghel.
Respect, old man. 🫡
📣We are thrilled to announce the safe arrival of AUTHORIZED at Capital Stud! 🤩
We are glad to report the multiple Grade 1 sire took the journey in his stride - eating, sleeping & drinking the whole way from Turkey🇹🇷 What a pro! ⭐️
We can’t wait to show him to Irish breeders🤩
IN MEMORIAM of horses lost in 2023 (thread) 🧵
The list isn't exhaustive. Condolences and memories extend to all those lost in the past year - not just those on the list. Please feel free to add others.
📸DANEDREAM, who died in August 2023.
cgerry77 Wiki
So disappointing from Auguste Rodin - he really is an all-or-nothing colt, isn't he? At least we know we can't write him off, though, given his tendency to do this. You'd be brave to rule him out in his next G1.
@cestnepa5
Hi Nick. Sure, this all about the 'love you' - but I prefer the part where you both greet each other with 'Hi Nick' (even though neither one of you is called Nick), both greetings go uncorrected, and basically it's now social convention that we start all messages with 'Hi Nick'.
Had such a relaxing afternoon at Newmarket with my sister and niece.
Didn't drink, didn't bet - just ate crepes and enjoyed watching the beautiful creatures run.
It was a marvellous tonic after a very tough few days at work. ❤️
📷 Pogo
UNOFFICIAL ROYAL ASCOT SIRES' CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
It's the Urban Sea influence at the top - Frankel and Sea The Stars finish joint second to the late Galileo, who is evergreen as ever.
Fab result for Blue Point, too!
Winner = 3 points
2nd = 1 points
3rd = 1 point
STALLIONS WHO HAVE SIRED BOTH A DERBY WINNER AND OAKS WINNER IN THE LAST 50 YEARS
Blushing Groom
Caerleon
Cape Cross
Frankel
Galileo
Nathaniel
New Approach
Petingo
Sadler's Wells
Sea The Stars
Vaguely Noble
Desert Crown's injury is serious; it's a fracture, he's undergoing surgery today and various specialists have had to be drafted in. Keeping everything crossed that surgery is successful, his recovery uneventful and he can get through this. 😥🤞
ALCOHOL FREE seems pretty underrated to me. She's won G1 races at two, three and four - beating the boys twice. I wonder why we don't talk more about her?
Mares covered by Wootton Bassett at Coolmore this year:
ALBIGNA
ALEXANDROVA
ALWAYS A DREAM
AWESOME MARIA
BEATRIX POTTER
BRACELET
CLEMMIE
COOLMORE
ENTICING
ENTREAT
FANCY BLUE
FOUND
GREEN BANANAS
IMMORTAL VERSE
JOYEUSE
MABS CROSS
MOONSTONE
PALACE
WADING
WAS
YOU'LL BE MINE
Stallions still represented as broodmare sires in 2023:
Shirley Heights (born 1975)
Alleged (born 1974)
Be My Guest (born 1974)
Gunner B (born 1973)
Green Dancer (born 1972)
Mr Prospector (born 1970)
🤯
Stallions with first yearlings in 2022:
Magna Grecia
Ten Sovereigns
Calyx
Waldgeist
Phoenix Of Spain
Masar
Too Darn Hot
Blue Point
Advertise
Inns Of Court
Invincible Army
Soldier's Call
Land Force
Eqtidaar
Barraquero
Best Solution
Donjuan Triumphant
Le Brivido
City Light
The final crop of Giant's Causeway, born in 2019, consisted of just three foals - all colts.
One of them is Giant Game, who is set to run in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile tomorrow. He's a rare thing indeed!
We wax lyrical about You'resothrilling - and rightly so - but Lillie Langtry doesn't seem to get quite the same plaudits. Tuesday is her third Classic winner. Unreal!
Pearl Secret 😍 The only(?) representative of the Byerley Turk line left in Britain, and one of just a handful in Europe.
So pleasing to see him still fighting for the bloodline.
A win in the Brocklesby for Doddie's Impact in Britain's traditional Flat turf season opener.
Bred by Ciaran and Nicola Paterson, the son of Pearl Secret is out of the unraced Fastnet Rock mare Rock Cake and a half-brother to the winning Bake.
Seventeen foals in the final crop of Shamardal, and now two G1 winners in Inisherin and Cinderella's Dream. It's lovely to see the stallion going out on a high.
Flaming Page was the first mare ever covered by Northern Dancer in 1965. That pregnancy sadly ended in a dead foal, but the following year she was bred back to him and produced Nijinsky.
She was also the dam of Champion 2-y-o Colt Minsky and Fleur (dam of The Minstrel).
Just FYI - 2nd Kentucky Oaks
Ramatuelle - 3rd 1000 Guineas
City Of Troy - 9th 2000 Guineas
Just Steel - 17th Kentucky Derby
Just A Touch - 20th Kentucky Derby
From this (highly scientific! 😜) evaluation, I've concluded that Justify's fillies are better than his colts...
🤯 Absolutely bonkers!
German Derby winner PALLADIUM has been sold for €1.4 MILLION 🤑, purchased by Lady Bamford to go into Jumps training with Nicky Henderson.
A 3YO Gleneagles half-brother to Paul Nicholls' Panjari, who is rated 135 over Hurdles...
Here are all the stallions who sired G1 winners in Europe in 2022, by the number of individual winners.
Stats for the entire Northern Hemisphere coming soon - there are still some G1s to be run in the USA and Japan.
Just reading that Adayar is the first Derby winner since Isinglass (1895) to win in Europe at the age of five. The last Derby winner to even run at five in Europe was St Amant in 1906.
That's crazy! 😯
(Quest For Fame and High-Rise won outside Europe as five-year-olds).
I know this isn't relevant to Justify but it makes me think: surely it's time to scrap off 'number of winners' as the metric for crowning first season champion sires? All it does it encourage unproven stallions to cover mega books. Wouldn't a ratio of winners: runners be fairer?
Justify covered 410 mares in 2023.
In the US - 222 (9th biggest book)
In Australia - 188 (7th biggest book; busiest shuttle sire)
Is that sustainable?
I'm wondering whether he'll be covering the same numbers this year, now he's private?
I can't bring myself to celebrate 410.
The season's not yet over in most jurisdictions, so the fat lady hasn't yet sung. But here are the current sire standings across the entire Northern Hemisphere, in terms of G1 winners.
Giant's Causeway's year-younger brother looks amazing at twenty-three. You'resothrilling and fellow G1 producer Pearling would follow. What a mare Mariah's Storm was.
Happy 23rd birthday to
@nytbreeders
living legend FREUD! The gorgeous, spirited stallion enjoyed admiring visitors - and cake - this chilly morning at his longtime
@sequelnewyork
home.
FREUD, perennially among NY's leading sires, is dearly loved and looks spectacular. ...
If Military Order wins the Derby, it will make Anna Salai the first mare to produce two Derby winners by the same stallion since Perdita II, whose winning sons Persimmon (1896) and Diamond Jubilee (1900) were both by St Simon.
Overall, twelve mares have foaled two winners.
I know this is an unpopular opinion, especially while emotions are high, but I very much doubt the Breeder's Cup vets are breezily making these controversial decisions without any care as to the consequences. In many senses they are damned if they do, damned if they don't.
@DCHI23
I don’t think folks appreciate how many angles they are taking pressure from. From the connections, to track vets, to the tracks & they are the first place people will go to if tragedy happens. Not a position I’d want
What a result for BLUESTOCKING. Thrilled for Rossa Ryan. How fabulous to see another filly winning the Arc in the Juddmonte colours. 🩷💚🤍
So sad for Haya Zark. 😔
Horses in the background of William Buick's interview at York: *whinnying*
My OH: "Is that Bean?"
Me: "Probably wouldn't hear him all the way up at York..." 😂
@LifeOfBean
I took this picture of Bayside Boy last year. He wasn't interested in saying 'hi' so only got this angle of him - similar to that the QEII field just saw!
No offence to Saxon Warrior, but I'm more excited about Auguste Rodin babies. He is the image of Sunday Silence and I hope he passes on those fabulous looks to his offspring.
DYLAN THOMAS in his second season at stud, 2009. At €50,000 in his first year, he was the most expensive of the first-season stallions to retire in 2008. By 2019 his fee had dwindled to €4000, and he is now in Chile. He was an utterly marvellous racehorse.
ALPINISTA is the first grey to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe since Dalakhani in 2003.
She is also the first mare to win it since Corrida in 1937.
🏇⚪⚫⚪⚫
Sad news from Longchamp as GODDESS (Camelot - Cherry Hinton (Green Desert)) could not be saved after her injury in the Prix de l'Opera. Condolences to all of her connections; a lovely filly. 😢
📷
@polkamazurka
- wonderful photo.
@dai_walters
@sharper_brain
Against my better judgement, I did click. Other things we've been doing wrong include not realising that you're supposed to use the right amount of laundry detergent and apply shampoo to your scalp first... 🙄
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding this 'replacement for Galileo' narrative with St Mark's Basilica, but the prospect of any unproven colt retiring to 'replace' the most successful stallion Europe has ever seen is just bizarre to me.
Porta Fortuna feels so underrated to date; I hope that's in the past now. She could be the best 3-y-o filly in training in Europe. I know we've yet to see more from Opera Singer.
IN MEMORIAM of horses lost in 2021 (thread)
The list isn't exhaustive. Condolences and memories extend to all those lost in the past year - not just those on the list. Please feel free to add others.
04/01 - ELMHURST (Wild Again) - 1997 BC Sprint winner. Heart failure, aged 31.
Out in the real world, I now decide very very carefully to whom I confess I'm a horse racing fan.
It is becoming increasingly more difficult to defend. And it's becoming emotionally exhausting.
I'm sorry, New York Thunder.
I'm sorry, Thoroughbreds. ❤️
Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my mum's passing. A link to the 2020 running of the Grey Horse Handicap was the last message I ever sent her while she was alive. She couldn't reply by then. But she loved a grey, as do we all - so let's cheer them all on today. 🩶🤍🖤
2-y-o
1st Coventry Stakes (5.5f)
1st Richmond Stakes (6f)
3rd Middle Park Stakes (6f)
3-y-o
1st Derby (12f)
2nd Princess Of Wales S (8f)
1st St Leger (14f)
1st Jockey Club S (10f)
4-y-o
1st Gold Cup (20f)
1st Eclipse S (10f)
The career of PERSIMMON, b 1893.
Different times...
It is with immense sadness that
@stockwell_tb
announce the passing of ARAZI, at the grand age of 32. The 1991 European Horse of the Year saw out a happy retirement at the Victorian farm and will be missed
Gutted for Live In The Dream. 😓
The silver lining is Nobals, a sprint winner for Frankel's brother Noble Mission. Could Frankel ever get a G1 sprinter, let alone one over 5f?!
@paulickreport
I don't know what to say. I'm concerned as to why a stallion with such clinically significant orthopaedic pain was expected to cover a book of that size.
Sorry for the poor quality photo, but I just want to share this very special gift.
Unbeknownst to me, my mum bought the things to make this Eclipse embroidery for me before she died. She didn't live long enough to make it. My amazing sister has made it instead. ❤️
#crying
🥲
@StebbyMartin
If we break our leg, we are on bedrest for weeks and wheeled around in a wheelchair while it heals. This is usually not possible for horses, who are 500kg flight animals on small legs. Some equine fractures can be repaired - and these often are - but many are too severe sadly.
THE OAKS - G1 BROODMARES 1970-2018
How does the (Epsom) Oaks fare as a source of G1 winners these days? 🧵
📸 AUSTRALIA (out of an Oaks winner) - Wikipedia (Epsomdan)
Am I the only one on Racing Twitter who doesn't mind a bit of hype? 😁 Who cares if it's tenuous, overblown or later proven wrong? This sport thrives on promise and equine fairytales, and I'm going to enjoy watching the Baaeed hype train for as long as it's running.
#noshame
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE G1 WINNERS IN 2022
I counted 176 individual G1 winners across the Northern Hemisphere in 2022. Countries included were: UK, Ireland, France, Germany, USA, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Here are stallions who sired more than one G1 winner.
Maybe City Of Troy's Guineas defeat is a blessing in disguise - it gets the 'unbeaten' monkey off his back. Shame it had to happen in a Classic rather than a minor race (à la Sea The Stars), but hopefully this will preclude any overly conservative campaigning from here on in?