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War Front’s European Success Enhances Force of Coolmore

As the flat season kicks into gear in Europe, few events have done more to whet the appetite than Aidan O’Brien’s announcement that he is likely to saddle only one colt in the G1 QIPCO 2,000 Guineas. It is not unusual for O’Brien to run several colts (or fillies) in a Classic, so there is one, and only one, obvious conclusion to draw from his statement: Air Force Blue (War Front) must be streets ahead of his peers within his own stable. If that is indeed the case, then he could be a very special horse indeed, a horse with the potential to light up the season.

Montego Bay Wins at Santa Anita

MONTEGO BAY chased outside then moved up four wide on the backstretch and into the second turn, continued three deep through that turn and into the stretch, bid outside the runner-up to gain the lead in midstretch and gamely prevailed under urging.

Pedigree Insights: Lani

Not for the first time, the Dubai World Cup meeting must have left a few of America’s older breeders fighting the urge to kick themselves. This urge to don a hair-shirt dates back to 1990, when it was announced that 1989’s Horse of the Year Sunday Silence was being retired to the Stone Farm of co-owner Arthur Hancock III. The response–or lack of it–from local breeders was such that Zenya Yoshida was able to increase his stake in this great racehorse and Sunday Silence left Stone Farm for Shadai without standing a single season.

Sunday Silence May Have Influence on Derby

Upon his retirement, 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sunday Silence attracted surprisingly little attention from American breeders but was sold to Japanese interests for $11 million, at the high end of the market at the time. It was a prudent move, as he went on to make innumerable contributions to that bloodstock industry. Now, more than a decade after his death, he could be adding some international intrigue to this Kentucky Derby.

Mandola the Wonder Horse

“You get lucky sometimes, but it helps to have the right kind of patient. His attitude is what prompted them to save him in the first place and it surely helped him in his recovery. He’s a cool horse, which only helps.”