Things to know today
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Item has been confirmed for the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on 12 September. The Frankel colt, owned by Juddmonte and trained by Andrew Balding, has won five of his six starts, taking the Group 2 York Stakes in July and the Group 1 Juddmonte International in August, and was unplaced in the Derby at Epsom in June. Balding said the Arc is still in the picture but that Item would not want a mile and a half on soft ground. His stablemate Blue Bolt goes for the Matron Stakes on the same card (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
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Acclamation Star took the Group 3 Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes at Salisbury on Thursday by half a length under Kieran Shoemark for James Owen, with Dark Issue second and Nuit D’Eclair a further half length back in third. Shoemark said she had run some nice races over five furlongs and that he thinks she is a pretty quick filly. Shoemark also took the British EBF Quidhampton Maiden Fillies’ Stakes on the Roger Varian filly Miss Miniver (Sporting Life) |
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Sharadd won on debut at Haydock on Thursday by six lengths in the EBF Ashton In Makerfield Novice Stakes over six furlongs. The Dark Angel colt, owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, is a full brother to Binhareer. Maureen Haggas called it a nice start and said he is a nice horse. He was the first leg of a treble for William Haggas and Tom Marquand, completed by Diplomata in a nursery by a length and by Hoseki in the Reprocolor Premier EBF Fillies’ Handicap by half a length (Sporting Life) |
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Seven have been declared for the Group 3 William Hill September Stakes over a mile and a half at Kempton on Saturday, among them Constitution Hill, who is two from two since being switched to the Flat this year and who is ridden by Billy Loughnane. He meets Gethin for Owen Burrows, Pride Of Arras for Ralph Beckett, Warrant Holder for John and Thady Gosden, Almeric for Andrew Balding, and Dubai Future and Tornado Alert for Saeed bin Suroor (Sporting Life) |
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Bay City Roller goes to the Prix Foy at ParisLongchamp on Sunday rather than Kempton, and meets the Arc holder Daryz there. George Scott said the pair had weighed up both options and that the Foy had always been the first choice, even before the four-year-old had run this season, because the horse loves to travel, is proven at the track and four weeks is the better preparation for the Arc. Oisin Murphy rides. His last win was by 10 lengths in the Coronation Cup at Epsom (Sporting Life) |
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Solitary Man topped the GoffsGo Early September Sale at 60,000 pounds, bought by Ed Bailey Bloodstock and Harry Derham from Enda Bolger’s Howardstown Stables. The Champs Elysees gelding has won ten times, including this year’s Midlands National at Kilbeggan. Bailey said he had been following him for a while and called him a high quality horse ready to run for good prize money. Thirteen of 24 lots sold for a gross of 145,700 pounds, with the bumper winner Goliath Power next at 50,000 to Highflyer Bloodstock (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
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The BBAG September Yearling Sale opened in Baden-Baden on Friday, and a Sea The Stars filly out of the Group 3 winning Soldier Hollow mare Sconset, from her breeder Gestut Ebbesloh, made 600,000 euros to Jeremy Brummitt, who outbid Suzanne Roberts and was buying for a Newsells Park Stud syndicate. She is a half-sister to the Group 3 Schwarzgold-Rennen winner Santa Catarina, who runs in Saturday’s Listed Wackenhut Fillies’ Cup at Baden-Baden. Brummitt said nothing is more dear to his heart than trying to buy the dams of Classic winners (Thoroughbred Daily News). Also catalogued are Lot 148, a Torquator Tasso colt out of Delegation consigned by Gestut Auenquelle, a half-brother to Dardanos, who was sold at the same sale in 2024 for 10,000 euros and went on to win the Deutsches Derby, and Lot 80, a Frankel colt out of Wellenspiel from Gestut Rottgen, a half-brother to the Derby winners Windstoss and Weltstar (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
| 8 |
Timeless Tale is Timeform’s highest rated juvenile in Europe on 97, ahead of Darkness Falls on 96 and Benjamin Hornigold and Atlantic Bridge on 94. The Sioux Nation filly, trained by Willie McCreery and out of the Kodiac mare Storyline, has run once, winning an Irish EBF fillies maiden at Naas on 23 August by eight and a half lengths after leading on the bridle two furlongs out (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
| 9 |
The going at Haydock was eased to heavy on Friday morning, from soft, good to soft in places, after 23 millimetres of rain since Thursday’s racing, and American Affair has been taken out of Saturday’s Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup because of the ground. Daniel Cooper, the clerk of the course, said a lot of rain came overnight but the track had taken it well, and that the ground is heavy for Flat racing without any area he has found to be false. Eight of the nine declared for the Sprint Cup remain (Racing Post) |
| 10 |
Notable Speech has been withdrawn by Charlie Appleby from Sunday’s Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp at ParisLongchamp. Ballydoyle’s Gstaad now heads a seven-strong field for the mile Group 1, among them Godolphin’s Opera Ballo, who was third in the Sussex Stakes (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
Ten items against a cap of fifteen, leaving room for anything today’s racing adds. Saturday’s September Stakes at Kempton, Sunday’s Arc Trials at ParisLongchamp, the Irish Champion Stakes and the BBAG sale are not repeated in The week ahead below, because the items above already carry them.
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