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4 days ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes
Wathnan Racing's leading sprinter Kind Of Blue is poised to get his season under way in a fortnight’s time at the Curragh. The four-year-old's only start in the peacock blue and old gold colours of the Qatari operation was a successful one when he landed the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot last October.
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5 days ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes
Jim Crowley has picked up the ride on live outsider Prague in the Group 1 BoyleSports Lockinge Stakes at Newbury next Saturday, and dropped in for a first sit on Dylan Cunha’s stable star on the watered gallop on Friday. The five-year-old won the Group 2 Joel Stakes on the neighbouring Rowley Mile last September, and showed he was at home on the similar undulations when shining in a solo exercise under the Shadwell Estates first jockey.
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6 days ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes
Roi De France failed to fire on his last start on turf when he was drawn badly in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket, but he's well fancied to put that behind him in a lively Victoria Cup market. The four-year-old is a rare runner in the Ascot feature for John and Thady Gosden, but he's had a productive winter on the all-weather for the stable and has a stands’ side berth this time around [stall 18], which is usually an advantage when the ground is riding fast.
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6 days ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes
Anapurna, who won the Lingfield Oaks Trial on a wet day in 2019 before going on to Classic glory at Epsom, now resides at her owners Meon Valley Stud in Hampshire where they are celebrating the foaling of her first ever colt. Mark Weinfeld, managing partner to Meon Valley Stud, said: "We've had a breakthrough recently as Anapurna has foaled a colt. He's by Dubawi and he's probably the nicest foal she's had so far.
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1 week ago | 
racingpost.com | Robbie Wilders |David Milnes
It may be hard to believe after he landed the Cheshire Oaks-Chester Vase double on Wednesday, but Aidan O'Brien's dominance of Chester's Classic trials is even more apparent in the Dee Stakes. Minnie Hauk and Lambourn took his tally to 13 of the last 22 winners in the Oaks and Vase combined. Since Cliffs Of Moher won the Dee in 2017, O'Brien has won six of the last seven runnings.
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1 week ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes |Graeme Rodway
It’s impossible to escape the notion that Illinois was a bit of a nearly horse in his Classic campaign last season. He was second in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, the Great Voltigeur at York and the St Leger at Doncaster, and lost by a neck in the last two of them. However, he has still won twice in the last year and both victories came at Group 2 level, so he is definitely capable of winning this Group 3, but can he defy a penalty for his higher-grade wins?
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1 week ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes
John Gosden has said he will move to using the best rider available in the wake of Kieran Shoemark's 2,000 Guineas defeat onboard Field Of Gold. Shoemark has come under increased pressure since replacing Frankie Dettori as the stable's number one in 2024, and while Gosden said he still plans to use Shoemark he confirmed the decision was directly related to Saturday's Guineas defeat on the 15-8 favourite.
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1 week ago | 
racingpost.com | Harry Wilson |David Milnes
It seems as though Aidan O’Brien has a particular modus operandi when it comes to this Classic trial. All eight of his winners have two things in common: they failed to win a race as a juvenile and had run at least once as a three-year-old before lining up at Chester. This year's representative would be breaking the mould, as Minnie Hauk won a mile maiden on the second of two starts as a juvenile and is making her seasonal reappearance.
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1 week ago | 
racingpost.com | Harry Wilson |David Milnes
Finding the winners of sprint handicaps at Chester usually consists of two things: you want a low draw and you need early pace. There have been 32 handicaps run over this distance with more than ten runners since 2017. Twenty have been won by those drawn one through to five, with 12 from the inside two stalls, while seven of the last eight winners made all or were prominent. That trend was bucked last year when Garfield Shadow (stall 13) edged out Al Shabab Storm (stall ten).
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1 week ago | 
racingpost.com | David Milnes
The switch to 72-hour declarations for this year's Betfred Derby has been broadly welcomed by British trainers after ten-time race winner Aidan O'Brien questioned the decision on Monday. Michael Bell, who landed the Classic with Motivator in 2005, said he does not believe there will be "any downside" to the change, which means the final field will be known 24 hours earlier than usual.
