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Jan 18, 2025 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
Where to start on the first morning of the Route des Etalons? It was a decision which would have been easy to rush to, what with so many enticing options to choose from, all of them immaculately presented, ready and waiting to welcome the first guests of the day. 'Pace yourself,' I reminded myself. 'There's always tomorrow for anything you don't get to today.'Anyway, that's enough about the breakfast buffet at the hotel.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
Friday will be a day of milestones in the life of this scribe, with the first day of Normandy's Route des Etalons set to coincide with the one-year anniversary of my first day as a member of team TDN. And boy, what a year it's been. One of the highlights from 12 months spent in the job came in August when I had the opportunity to sample the delights of Deauville for the first time.
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Jan 12, 2025 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
There's a growing sense of anticipation at Bearstone Stud with less than 11 weeks to go until the start of the British Flat season on turf, with the first foal out of the farm's most notable graduate, Glass Slippers (GB), having recently turned two. The Dubawi (Ire) colt in question will be the third generation of this family to have been bred and raced by Terry and Margaret Holdcroft, who founded the business back in 1979.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
The all-weather action in Britain has had the floor to itself since Friday of last week, with the exception of two races at Chepstow on Sunday, before that card joined the growing list of National Hunt abandonments as a result of the extreme weather conditions which have devastated parts of the country.
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Dec 28, 2024 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
“He's been everything to us,” was the sign-off from Gay O'Callaghan in this must-read TDN feature from Emma Berry, who had a golden opportunity during the Tattersalls December Sale to sit down with the Yeomanstown Stud patriarch, as well as his sons David, Guy and Robert, to discuss the remarkable story of their homegrown hero, Dark Angel (Ire).
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Dec 16, 2024 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
When City Of Troy (Justify) and his entourage descended on Southwell for a racecourse gallop on that feel-good afternoon back in September, it was commented on that the number of racing fans there to see him–thought to be 700-plus–was larger than would usually turn up for a typical day of racing there. The Nottinghamshire track traditionally staged low-grade fare which offered no real prospect of seeing a horse with talent even remotely comparable to that of the Derby winner.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
And breathe. If you listen carefully enough, you can almost hear the collective exhale from all of those invested in the bloodstock industry and its transfer market, as we near the conclusion of another dizzying year on the merry-go-round that is the European sales calendar. The relentless nature of it can have a bewildering effect at the best of times, but this year the sums changing hands were often so astronomical that you could be forgiven for mistaking what were you watching for a mirage.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
thoroughbreddailynews.com | Adam Houghton
“Look away Mick Appleby, but there has arguably been no finer exponent of the new and improved all-weather programme in the last decade than the Gosden stable, home to a handful of Classic/Group 1 winners who learned the ropes at the likes of Kempton and Newcastle in the depths of winter.”That comment featured in our first installment of Winter Watch, followed by a promise to put that illustrious roll of honour under the spotlight at a later stage when it seemed appropriate.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
ttrausnz.com.au | Brian Sheerin |Adam Houghton |TDN Europe
Cover image courtesy of Tattersalls•Day 2 of the Tattersalls Mare Sale was the highest-grossing sale in European auction history. A clearance rate of 85 per cent, achieved through the sale of 200 fillies and mares, brought turnover of 55,168,500gns (AU$114 million), up by 14 per cent on this day last year, which saw 175 sold.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
ttrausnz.com.au | Brian Sheerin |Adam Houghton
Cover image courtesy of Tattersalls•A total of 223 lots (198 sold last year) sold for 22,955,500gns (AU$47 million). •This was well up on last year's turnover of 15,477,300gns (AU$31.7 million), a 48 per cent rise. •The average was 102,939gns (AU$211,100) and the median 50,000gns (AU$102,500). •Last year's day one average was 78,168gns (AU$160,000), an increase of 32 per cent. •The median was up 16 per cent from last year's 43,000gns (AU$88,200).
