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Turfling
Europe
Tuesday 13 October 2026
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The lead
Eleven left in the Champion Stakes as the title race comes to Ascot
Eleven horses stand their ground for the Qatar Racing Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, and the first three home last year are set to meet again. Calandagan defends for Francis-Henri Graffard under Christophe Soumillon, who deputises for the suspended Mickael Barzalona, with Ombudsman and Almaqam back in opposition. Aidan O’Brien’s Gstaad steps up to a mile and a quarter for the first time, and Jessica Harrington’s Irish Champion Stakes winner Hotazhell runs for the last time before stud (The Irish Times)
Six horses were supplemented into the card on Monday. Talk Of New York was added to the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for 70,000 pounds, Constitution River was given the option of dropping back to a mile, Highwayman went into the Long Distance Cup, See The Fire and Tajlina into the Fillies and Mares Stakes and Soul Love into the Sprint. The day carries 4.35 million pounds, 1.3 million of it for the Champion Stakes, and Andrew Balding goes into it 74,664 pounds clear of O’Brien (Racing Post)
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Things to know today
| 1 |
Willie Mullins has been fined 1,100 pounds and Final Demand disqualified from second place in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival on 11 March, the horse having tested positive for a metabolite of mepivacaine, a local anaesthetic the regulator classes as a category B prohibited substance with a 72 hour detection time. A judicial panel chaired by Sarah Crowther KC published its decision on Monday and found the most likely window for exposure was on raceday, between the race and sampling, although the investigation did not identify the source. The British Horseracing Authority accepted that the failure to declare the treatment was accidental and a one off, and Cheltenham was fined 5,000 pounds because the Charles Turner yard, where Final Demand was stabled for part of his time in Britain, had no CCTV coverage (Racing Post) |
| 2 |
A Blue Point colt topped the opening day of Tattersalls October Book 2 at Park Paddocks at 600,000 guineas, Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock buying lot 487A, out of Floriade and consigned by Ballyhimikin Stud. Turnover passed 25 million guineas and 14 lots made 300,000 guineas or more. A Lope De Vega filly from Hillwood Stud went to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for 550,000, a Frankel colt from the same consignor to Amo Racing with Emmet Mullins for 475,000, and Cheveley Park Stud gave 450,000 for a Night Of Thunder filly from Carisbrooke Stud (Tattersalls) |
| 3 |
Sir Philip Davies has joined the British Horseracing Authority board on an interim basis as the Racecourse Association’s member nominated director, taking his seat as the new chair Simon Cox took his first board meeting. The association had put forward Martin Cruddace, chief executive of Arena Racing Company, and Bridget Guerin, chair of York, for its two director positions, and Cox pushed back on both on the grounds that their racecourse roles would create conflicts of interest (Racing Post) |
| 4 |
Dylan Browne McMonagle returned to the saddle at Roscommon on Monday, seven weeks after a heavy fall at Bellewstown in late August put him in hospital and cost him the Irish Champions Festival and Arc weekend. The Irish champion jockey finished sixth on Joseph O’Brien’s Big Cypress behind Jim Bolger’s Teoest and was well beaten on Willie Mullins’s Rakki. He said it was good to be back, that it had been a long time and that it felt good (Shropshire Star) |
| 5 |
Alphonse Le Grande became only the second horse to win the Cesarewitch twice, holding Sea Lantern by a short head at Newmarket on Saturday and matching Aaim To Prosper, who won it in 2010 and 2012. Tony Martin trains the seven-year-old, successful in the race in 2024 as well, and Patrick McGettigan rode him with a 5lb claim. Dawn Rising, runner-up a year ago, was third and High Fibre fourth. Martin said he could not believe it and had feared a Curragh run two weeks earlier had ruined the horse’s chance (Sky Sports) |
| 6 |
Ascot was riding good on Monday, with between two and five millimetres of rain forecast before the weekend, and the round course is expected to be used. Testing conditions have forced a switch to the National Hunt track in the past (The Irish Times) |
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International
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America
Forever Young breezes at Belmont before the Breeders’ Cup Classic
Forever Young worked half a mile on the main track at Belmont Park on Sunday morning in 51.8 seconds, with splits of 13.8 and 38.0 and the assistant trainer Yuki Araki aboard. It was the first work for Yoshito Yahagi’s five-year-old son of Real Steel since he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on 18 September. Japan’s reigning horse of the year has won 12 of his 16 starts at ten racetracks in four countries and earned more than 32.3 million dollars for Susumu Fujita, taking last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Saudi Cup in both 2025 and 2026. He ships to Kentucky on 20 October for the Classic at Keeneland on 31 October, and Araki said he had decided to breeze a little bit stronger than they planned beforehand, and that compared with last year this is a totally new challenge (Horse Racing Nation)
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Australasia
Caulfield Cup settles on 18 with Half Yours on top weight
Half Yours carries top weight of 57.5 kilograms in the 150th Caulfield Cup on Saturday, five kilos more than he had when winning it last year, and he has drawn barrier seven for Tony and Calvin McEvoy with Mark Zahra riding. Eighteen line up over 2400 metres with four emergencies behind them, Cosmic Crusader drawn seventeen for Andrea Leek, and three northern hemisphere trained runners take their chance: Roger Varian’s Enfjaar on the rails in barrier one, Harry Charlton’s Wine Dark Sea in nineteen and Joseph O’Brien’s Starford in fifteen (SEN, Races.com.au)
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Asia
Ka Ying Rising will take his chance whatever the ground
Ka Ying Rising had his final serious gallop at Canterbury on Monday, and David Hayes said the Hong Kong sprinter is in a great space, has lost ten pounds since his trial and is about ten per cent better than last year on a workload lifted by roughly the same margin. Showers are forecast across Sydney this week with significant rain due on raceday at Royal Randwick, where The Everest is worth 20 million Australian dollars, and he has raced on soft ground only once, having been narrowly beaten by Ninja in a soft track barrier trial last week. Zac Purton rides, and Hayes said scratching is not an option because it is just too big a logistic exercise, while adding that they would be less confident on a wet track. A win would make it 22 in a row and make him the first to take the race in successive years since Redzel in 2017 and 2018 (Idol Horse)
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Markets overnight
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FTSE 100 10,645, up 0.88 per cent (Trading Economics) |
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DAX 25,267.67, up 0.72 per cent (finanzen.ch) |
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CAC 40 7,822, up 0.24 per cent (Trading Economics) |
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EUR/USD 1.1181, the reference rate for Monday (European Central Bank) |
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GBP/USD 1.3208, the Monday daily close (Pound Sterling Live) |
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Gold 4,177.28 dollars an ounce, down 0.42 per cent (USAGold) |
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Brent crude 106.65 dollars a barrel, the Monday settlement and the highest since 15 September (Business Recorder) |
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Bitcoin 82,832.56 dollars, down 0.84 per cent over 24 hours, read at 11.06pm New York time on Monday 12 October (CoinDesk) |
The three indices are the Monday 12 October close, the most recent to have happened. Brent is the Monday settlement. The euro figure is the European Central Bank reference rate published for that Monday, and the sterling figure is the Monday daily close published by the source named. Gold has no official close and the figure is the spot level the source published for Monday. Bitcoin trades around the clock and carries the time the figure was read.
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The week ahead
| Today |
National Hunt racing at Punchestown |
| 17 October |
Qatar Racing British Champions Day at Ascot |
| 24 October |
Futurity Trophy Stakes day at Doncaster |
| 24 October |
The Cox Plate over 2040 metres, run at Flemington while Moonee Valley is redeveloped |
| 30 October |
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships open at Keeneland, running to 31 October |
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Turfling
Reported from official race-day materials, racecourse and regulator publications, and sales results, verified against trade press. Where a fact originates elsewhere, we say so. Market data as of the most recent close, sourced separately from racing content and linked at each figure. Drafted with AI assistance to Turfling’s published editorial standard. Not affiliated with any track, tote board, regulator or wagering product.
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