The weekly TRC industry digest - a round-up of the international racing news from the past week.
Arc hero Torquator Tasso to race next year
Europe: Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso will remain in training next season, with connections confirming that the now 4-year old will target a second win at ParisLongchamp.
The son of Adlerflug became the third German winner of the great race, and the first Arc for both German trainer Marcel Weiss and jockey Rene Piechulek. They are now #58 and #53 in their respective TRC Global Rankings categories. The horse has climbed to #15 and his sire to #32.
There had been rumours that Torquator Tasso would go to the Japan Cup before retiring to stud, but Julia Römich, a representative from Weiss’s Mulheim an der Ruhr stable, told Equidia that owners Gestut Auenquelle had “resisted the temptation” to take part in the contest at Tokyo Racecourse “so that he can rest up for next year”.
“The objective is to defend his title in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and, as such, he will come back to Longchamp next year,” said Römich.
Read James Willoughby’s post-race thoughts on the 2021 Arc here
Sea The Stars filly tops Book 1
Europe: Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at Newmarket finished with a flourish on Thursday, with three lots selling for 1 million guineas or more and turnover above 30 million guineas for the second day in a row. Sale turnover, average and median all showed increases on last year as did the clearance rate of 83%.
The top-priced lot on the final day was the Sea The Stars filly out of the Exceed And Excel mare Best Terms, who realised 1.5 million guineas to the bid of Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin. The filly was consigned by Newsells Park Stud on behalf of breeders Robert and Ann Barnett.
The top-priced colt during the final session was a son of Galileo out of the Starspangledbanner mare Anthem Alexander, who realised 1.1 million guineas to the bid of Coolmore’s MV Magnier.
Altogether, 452 yearlings came under the hammer over the three days of Book 1, and 375 were sold - a clearance rate of 83 percent. Turnover was 86,369,000gns, a five per cent gain over the Covid-hit 2020 edition. Five yearlings in total went for more than a million guineas.
Godolphin were the biggest spenders, purchasing 15 lots for 9,375,000gns (11 percent of turnover). Newsells Park Stud was top consignor chart for the fourth year running with 22 lots sold for 10,785,000gns.
Hall of Famer Pat Eddery
Europe: 11-time British champion jockey Pat Eddery was posthumously inducted into the Qipco British Champions Series Hall of Fame, the UK’s official institution honouring the achievements of equine and human individuals in racing.
Between 1974 and 1996, Eddery won 6,000 races, 4,632 recorded in Britain, a figure exceeded only by Sir Gordon Richards. Among those UK victories were 14 Classics, including three Derbys - on Grundy, Golden Fleece and Quest For Fame.
His daughter, Natasha Eddery-Dunsdon, a competing showjumper, said of her father, who died in 2015 that he “was, and always will be, one of the all-time greats”. She highlighted his “quiet concentration, his focus, the determination to win” and said he had the “best hands of any jockey”.
“Entering the Hall of Fame would have made him so proud. I only wish he were still here to experience this special moment. It’s one myself and my family will cherish,” she added.
World #1 Frankie Dettori remembered that Eddery was affectionately referred to as ‘God’ by his weighing-room colleagues, while former champion trainer Richard Hannon Snr said, “Pat would have loved to have been inducted.”
Visit Horseracinghof.com for more information on the Qipco British Champions Series Hall of Fame.
New chief takes helm at the IFHA
Asia: The executive council of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) met at the offices of France Galop and via Zoom on Monday. The meeting was led for the first time by new IFHA chair Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, who succeeded longtime chief Louis Romanet, who attended the meeting as chairman emeritus.
The meeting also marked the commencement of the terms for America’s Jim Gagliano, Ireland’s Brian Kavanagh, Japan’s Masayuki Goto, and Arentinian Horacio Esposito as vice-chairs of the IFHA. The chair and vice-chairs will serve a 3-year mandate until 2024.
Appointments to the executive council were approved for Bruce Sherwin, director of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, and Dr Paull Khan, secretary-general of the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (EMHF), as rotating members representing ‘developing racing countries’.
Additionally, the council endorsed the chair, Woodbine Entertainment Group’s Jim Lawson, and nominations to its finance committee. It has also appointed a chair, BHA Chief Executive Julie Harrington, to its governance committee. A commercial and marketing committee was formed and will be chaired by France Galop’s Olivier Delloye,
Saudi Cup is now officially in the top-flight
Middle East: The world’s richest race, the $20 million Saudi Cup, is now a G1. The elevation was agreed by the IFHA’s executive council.
This comes after only two runnings of the race. It has been classed as a G1 all along by TRC Global Rankings because of the strength of the fields.
The move was just one of several shots in the arm for racing in the Gulf from the IFHA’s executive council. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been promoted to Part 2 of the International Cataloguing Standards and five other races on the Saudi Cup undercard are to become G3s.
HRH Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Al Faisal, Chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, called it a “pivotal moment” in the Kingdom’s racing history and a “halfway mark in our ambition to become a Part I racing jurisdiction”.
The Bahrain International Trophy also becomes a G3. The third running of the £500,000 event takes place on November 19 at Sakhir racecourse on the island. Three other races there have been raised to listed level.
Weatherbys to develop cutting-edge system for Bahrain
Middle East: Bahrain’s Rashid Equestrian and Horse Racing Club (REHC) has appointed the British firm Weatherbys to develop and deploy a digitally integrated racing administration and stud book system.
The is seen as an indication that Bahrain, which already features the £500,000 Bahrain International Trophy in November and the new £550,000 Bahrain Turf Series, is strongly committed to growing domestic and international racing.
The Weatherbys platform will transform the Bahrain Horseracing Authority into one of the world’s premier digitally integrated racing and breeding organisations. The system is designed and built in a cloud, allowing it to be continuously updated on the Weatherbys ‘Power’ Platform. It is configured on a secure central data model, providing seamless management operations, stakeholder engagement and distribution of data.
Alongside the new Racing and Stud Book platform, the Bahrain Horseracing Authority will also be adopting the Weatherbys ePassport – the new equine digital lifetime document for traceability, welfare, health, biosecurity and anti-doping that is now in use in Ireland and Britain.
New role for Three Rules
North America: 2016 Florida-bred Horse of the Year and champion 2-year-old male, Three Rules, has been retired and will stand the 2022 breeding season at Robert Smith’s Wesfield Farm, near Ocala. His fee is yet to be announced.
The Graded stakes-winning son of Gone Astray won the first five races of his career in 2016 for trainer Jose Pinchin, including a 5-length win in the Birdonthewire Stakes at Gulfstream Park. He concluded his juvenile season by traveling to Santa Anita for the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, finishing sixth behind Classic Empire.
Three Rules last raced in July 2020 and his last recorded work was at Wesfield Farm in August of this year. He finished his career with a 6-2-2 record from 19 starts while earning $971,825.
Elsewhere In racing …
Oceania: World #58 Ben Melham has been suspended until March next year, the longest ban issued to Australia’s five ‘Airbnb jockeys’. More here
North America: The online catalogue for Fasig-Tipton’s November Sale can be viewed here.
North America: No Never No More, a son of the late Scat Daddy, will stand at Pleasant Acres Stallions for the 2022 breeding season with a $2,500 fee. More here
Africa: Duke Of Marmalade has been retired from stallion duties at Drakenstein Stud in South Africa on veterinary advice. More here
North America: Ken Ramsey’s Catienus, described as a ‘blue-collar sire’, has died at 27. The son of Storm Cat was euthanized on October 3 due to the infirmities of old age. More here