MITOCHONDRIA THE MAKING OF SHANGHAI BOBBY?

  • Posted: January 30, 2019  by Alan Porter   -  
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When Shanghai Bobby retired to stand at Ashford Stud, Versailles, Kentucky for the 2014 breeding season, the hope was that he would become a prolific source of speedy and precocious dirt horses. At the time, that hope appeared to be an entirely reasonable one, given that he was an undefeated

Royal Ascot Day 4 – Coronation for Alpha Centauri

  • Posted: June 23, 2018  by Alan Porter   -  
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When she went to 2-for-2 with a win in last year’s Naas Fillies’ Sprint Stakes, Alpha Centauri, looked as if she had superstar potential. However, she was narrowly defeated by the French invader Different League in the Albany Stakes (G3) at Royal Ascot, and then ran unplaced in her next

Royal Ascot Day III – Stradivarius in the Gold Cup

  • Posted: June 22, 2018  by Alan Porter   -  
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The two-and-a-half mile Ascot Gold Cup (G1) may have long ceased to be as stallion making race – the last winner to become a major sire on the flat was probably Sheshoon who prevailed in 1960 – but it often provides an exceptional spectacle, and the 2018 renewal was no

Poet Has Last Word in Prince of Wales’s Stakes

  • Posted: June 20, 2018  by Alan Porter   -  
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The highlight of the day, the ten furlong Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) was also supposed to be one of the banker bets of the meeting, featuring Cracksman, officially the high-weighted turf male in the world last year. Cracksman had reportedly struggled to handle the downhill at Epsom when narrowly

ROYAL ASCOT DAY 1 – FRANKEL DOUBLE

  • Posted: June 20, 2018  by Alan Porter   -  
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Royal Ascot kicked off on Tuesday with a double for Frankel. His first winner, Without Parole, captured the St. James’s Palace Stakes (G1) by a ½ length over the determinedly-closing Gustav Klimt (a Galileo/Danehill cross, like Frankel). This rather recalled Frankel’s own St. James’s Palace, when he held off the

IF 6 WAS 20 – THE FAMILY ROOTS OF FRENCH DERBY WINNER STUDY OF MAN

  • Posted: June 9, 2018  by Alan Porter   -  
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To paraphrase Jimi Hendrix, “if 6 was 20, would we mind?” Well we might if we’re interested in mtDNA haplotypes, and were looking at the family of last week’s Prix du Jockey-Club/French Derby (G1) winner, Study of Man. Out of the Storm Cat mare, Second Happiness, he is a grandson

HOLLIDAY, HARZAND & MINDING

  • Posted: July 2, 2016  by Alan Porter   -  
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With Harzand and Minding taking the Epsom Derby (gr. I) and Epsom Oaks (gr. I), and then following up with wins in the Irish Derby (gr. I) and Pretty Polly Stakes (gr. I), it’s interesting to reflect how both go back to families developed by the great English breeder, Major

ROYAL ASCOT – DAYS 4/5 – THE NEED FOR SPEED

  • Posted: June 22, 2016  by Alan Porter   -  
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Run for only the second time the six furlong Commonwealth Stakes (gr. I) for three-year-old sprinters fell to Quiet Reflection, who was winning for the sixth time in seven starts, all but one of those victories coming in black type company. Quiet Reflection is from the second crop of the

ROYAL ASCOT DAY 3 – CUP OF ST GEORGE

  • Posted: June 17, 2016  by Alan Porter   -  
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After a runaway win in the Irish St. Leger (gr. I) at three last year, Order of St George was given a World Racehorse Ranking that rated him among the best stayers of recent years. To justify such lofty consideration he really needed to win this year’s Ascot Gold Cup

ROYAL ASCOT DAY 2 – SCAT DADDY SCORES AGAIN

  • Posted: June 16, 2016  by Alan Porter   -  
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On Day 1 at Royal Ascot, Carvaggio, a son of Scat Daddy, scored an impressive victory in the Coventry Stakes (gr. II). Last year, Scat Daddy was represented by Royal Ascot juvenile group winner Acapulco, and before that there was No Nay Never. None of that trio, however, was as