€1.4 million colt at Deauville
BLOODSTOCK agent Kerri Radcliffe paid €1.4 million at yesterday’s Arqana Breeze-Up Sale for a colt by Street Sense. It will be trained by her husband Jeremy Noseda.
Radcliffe has been very active at this year’s breeze-up sales buying for Luxembourg-based Phoenix Thoroughbreds.
The Street Sense colt was consigned by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill Stables having been purchased at Keeneland last September for just $15,000.
A more detailed report can be found on theirishfield.ie and more details will be carried in next week’s paper.
Caravaggio headed for Naas
THE unbeaten Caravaggio will run in the Lacken Stakes at Naas on Sunday week, May 21st, with a view to going on to Royal Ascot for the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.
The Scat Daddy colt won each of his four starts as a juvenile, including impressive displays in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, but has yet to make his three-year-old debut.
He was left in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains at the latest entry stage on Thursday but, as expected, his name was not among the final declarations on Friday.
Speaking at Chester this week, trainer Aidan O’Brien confirmed that Caravaggio will be kept to sprint trips. “He’s rapid, he really is, and we’ve never even tried to see how far he’ll stay. He’s got so much speed it wouldn’t be fair. He’s the only horse I’ve ever seen that actually stumbles when he quickens and he does it so quick. If all goes well then we’d look at Ascot, but I see no point in taking on his elders when we don’t have to, so it would be the Commonwealth Cup.”
PTP Awards tickets on sale
THE Irish Field Point-To-Point Awards will take place in the Clayton Whites Hotel on Saturday, June 10th with tickets now on sale from p2p.ie.
Tickets are priced at only €65 and a limited number of rooms are also available from p2p.ie. For further details contact Kirsty (087 1611067) or Niall (086 7907676).
Barry O’Neill currently leads two-time winner Jamie Codd by eight winners in the race to be crowned The Irish Field Champion Rider. Last year’s leading handler Colin Bowe is six winners clear of Donnchadh Doyle ahead of the action this weekend.
Goffs UK helps PTP watering costs
THE rain forecast for this weekend will be welcomed by the point-to-point committees struggling to keep their tracks watered during the recent dry spell.
Goffs UK contributed towards the irrigation costs incurred by the organisers of tomorrow’s Bartlemy meeting which is expected to produce late entries for the upcoming Goffs UK Spring Sale (preview on page A39). The track has benefited from an umbilical watering system and safe ground is expected.
Michael Moore, agent for Goffs UK, said: “Watering is a huge challenge for point-to-points at this time of year and the racing authorities should consider making additional funding available when necessary.”
A dozen horses in training have been added to the catalogue for the Goffs UK Spring Sale which starts on Tuesday week, May 23rd. Heading the supplementary lots are Thursday’s Tipperary bumper winner Duhallow Gesture and Lisronagh point-to-point runner-up He’s No Molly. Some British point-to-pointers have also been added and further late entries are expected.
Heartbreak City in fatal accident
HEARTBREAK City, runner-up in last year’s Melbourne Cup, has been put down after breaking his leg in a gallops accident. The Tony Martin-trained gelding sustained the injury while working at the Curragh.
The gelding won the Ebor at York last year before heading to Australia where he was beaten just a head by Almandin in the Group 1 feature at Flemington in November. Heartbreak City was last seen when finishing well beaten in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in March.
Martinstown switch
OWNER J.P. McManus has rebranded the series of races he sponsors confined to claiming professional jump jockeys.
Previously known as the Martinstown Stud series, the races will carry the Adare Manor prefix when the first leg is run at Punchestown on May 22nd.