Bay Bridge gearing up for racecourse return

Group 1-winning trainer and colourful Newmarket character Neville Callaghan died on Saturday aged 77 after a long battle with illness. A much-loved figure, Irish-born Callaghan trained more than 800 winners on the Flat and nearly 100 over jumps in a 38-year career before retiring in 2008. Originally from Fermoy in County Cork, the former assistant…

The QIPCO Champion Stakes betting sees the French raider Horizon Dore topping the market for the Saturday Ascot showcase race on Champions Day. This Patrice Cottier runner will be looking to uphold the good record in the race for runners from France but will also be taking on last year's winner Bay Bridge and this season's Epsom Derby runner-up…

Bay Bridge, who shocked the racing world by ending Baaeed's unbeaten record in last season's Champion Stakes, faces eight rivals in defence of his crown at Ascot this weekend. Mostahdaf, the impressive winner of this year's Juddmonte International and Prince Of Wales's Stakes, would appear to be the leading player on ratings but the five-year-old's…

IF we are going to be left in awe after Sunday's Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe showpiece then the chances are it will be down to French favourite Ace Impact. The unbeaten six-timer-seeking Classic winner takes on 14 runners for the Group 1 European middle distance crown. Further down this column I'll be tipping up a lively outsider. . . but first…

The world's most prestigious all-aged horse race has the big guns circling once again. Planet Sport takes a look at all the runners in Sunday's big race (1505 BST). (Trainer - Henk Grewe) Rating (out of 10) 3 German challenger who has some smart placed form in the book from earlier in the summer, but was well held most recently and could prove up…

We are set for one of the most wide open renewals of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in recent times and all eyes will veer to Longchamp on Sunday afternoon for an epic renewal of Europe's most prestigious all-age middle distance Flat race. Here at Horseracing.net, we are hotly-anticipating an epic renewal in the French capital of Paris and our man…

Bay Bridge is set to be a high-quality addition to the British challenge for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe next Sunday, after connections confirmed last year's Champion Stakes hero was on course for Longchamp as long as conditions do not get too quick. He will bid to add a second Arc success to Sir Michael Stoute's glittering CV, 13 years on…

It is always exciting when Sir Michael Stoute has one capable of running in Group 1s as a juvenile because he is famed for bringing horses along slowly and not overfacing them. Stoute has run only seven two-year-olds in Group 1 contests since the start of 2008, and the 2018 Breeders' Cup Mile winner Expert Eye was one of them. That gives you an…

Owen Burrows was left struggling for words when stable star Hukum made a triumphant return from injury to deny Desert Crown in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes. It was a first start in 356 days for the Shadwell-owned six-year-old, who sustained a potentially career-ending hind-leg fracture during his victory in last year's Coronation Cup at Epsom, but…

Desert Crown is the tenth Derby winner this century to race on at four but would be only the fourth to return with a win if successful. Sir Michael Stoute used the Brigadier Stakes as the starting point for both Workforce, who won it, and North Light, who finished second - but what have previous Derby heroes achieved when brought back the following…

Sandown's Brigadier Gerard Stakes - which takes place on Thursday evening - might only have Group 3 status but the names of Sir Michael Stoute's 11 winners of the race spanning four decades is a rollcall of many of the best middle-distance performers he has trained. In fact, most of his winners have used the race as a springboard towards winning,…

Last year's Derby winner Desert Crown is set to make his eagerly-anticipated return to action in Thursday's Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown, the first time he'll have been seen on a racecourse since maintaining his unbeaten record with a scintillating performance at Epsom. The official winning margin there was two and a half lengths, but even…

Last year's Derby hero is set to return on Thursday in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown. We assess what he has done and what he might go on to do this season. . . Chatter was already travelling around Newmarket before Desert Crown's debut at Nottingham and the son of Nathaniel justified all the noise with a clear-cut five-and-a-half-length…

Sir Michael Stoute and Sea The Stars are the two most recent inductees into the Qipco British Champions Series Hall of Fame. A presentation at the Qipco Guineas Festival at Newmarket on Saturday will mark the occasion after both were chosen by an independent panel of industry experts. Stoute, 77, becomes the first active trainer to be inducted and…

Stormy Sea, the younger half-sister of Champion Stakes winner Bay Bridge, broke her maiden in impressive style for Sir Michael Stoute. Like her Group 1-winning sibling, who runs in Sunday's Prix Ganay, Stormy Sea represents owner-breeder James Wigan and looked an exciting type herself when powering clear of Lmay in the 1m fillies' novice stakes…

Charlie Appleby expects 2021 Derby winner Adayar to be a big player on his seasonal comeback in the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown Park later this month. The Godolphin handler will revert the five year old son of Frankel back down the Group Three level in the 10-furlong contest on Friday 28th April following an intended racecourse gallop…

There are racehorses, and then there are racehorses, the ones who seem born with an innate desire to excel in competition and outrun opponents no matter the distance, conditions, or level of competition. There can no doubting that the great Miesque was a racehorse in the truest sense. If you had felt inclined to place a $2 show bet on Miesque every…

The Queen owned numerous superstar horses during her remarkable life in racing. Here are some of the best. . . The Queen had relatively few colts try their luck at Epsom in the Derby and none finished better than Aureole who, but for an inspired Sir Gordon Richards on Pinza, would have carried off the great prize just four days after the…

Jean-Claude Rouget has targeted his three-year-old Vadeni at the 10-furlong contest since he beat his elders in the Eclipse at Sandown. That day he held off the late thrust of John and Thady Gosden's Mishriff, who many considered to be slightly unlucky in running at Sandown, and he will have another crack at the favourite. Luxembourg was Aidan…

Sir Michael Stoute will continue to weigh up his options for Bay Bridge as the colt nears a return to action. From the first crop of foals sired by Prix du Jockey Club winner New Bay, he notched up five successive wins in taking the Group Three Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown on his seasonal debut in May. He was then beaten a length by State Of…

Wonderful Tonight laid down an impressive starting marker in a season where her target is the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October with an authoritative length and half win in the Hardwicke Stakes. The 5-1 shot was a third winner of the week for jockey William Buick but the first in the career of Sussex-based, French-born trainer David…

A year ago at Del Mar it was World Approval coming from just off the pace to capture the Breeders' Cup Mile. When the $2 million turf event is run at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, it appears that a host of European invaders will be at or near the front throughout, with four Group I winners this year across the pond set to make the trip, with three…