The sales ring at Park Paddocks stole the show on Tuesday, as Godolphin went to 4.6 million guineas for a Night Of Thunder colt to smash the European record at Tattersalls October Book 1. Elsewhere, Cheltenham is ready to welcome racing back after a summer of major drainage work, and the build-up to Friday’s Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket is gathering pace.
Here is the racing news today rounded up for Wednesday 7 October.
Godolphin smash European record at Tattersalls
Tattersalls October Book 1 opened in spectacular fashion on Tuesday. Lot 130, a Night Of Thunder colt out of the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes runner-up My Astra, was knocked down to Godolphin for 4.6 million guineas. That eclipses the 4.3 million guineas Amo Racing paid for Poker in 2024, and sets a new European record for a yearling colt. Bred by Ling Tsui and offered by Norelands Stud, he is a fourth-generation product of the Tsui family, with Sea The Stars in his pedigree.
Godolphin’s Anthony Stroud said: “He is a particularly taking individual. He has the pedigree, he has the looks and he has stallion potential.”
It was a poignant day for the operation. Sheikh Mohammed was at Park Paddocks just a fortnight after the death of his elder brother, Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whose colours were carried by Saddadd in Sunday’s Arc. Godolphin certainly did not hold back, signing for 11 yearlings at a combined 15.7 million guineas, around a third of the day’s business. Their other big buys included a Wootton Bassett yearling at 3.8 million guineas, a Frankel at 1.8 million guineas and a Ghaiyyath at 1.3 million guineas.
The figures made for happy reading for Tattersalls. Turnover on the opening day reached 46,778,000 guineas, up 15% year-on-year, while the average rose 26% to 406,765 guineas and the median climbed 14% to 240,000 guineas, with 85% of the lots offered finding a buyer.
Cheltenham ready for October return after drainage overhaul
Prestbury Park is ready to go again. Cheltenham’s two-day Showcase meeting on 23 and 24 October will be the first racing at the course since a major drainage project was completed in August.
The work was prompted by the hole that appeared on the track during January’s Trials Day card, and three fixtures in April and May were lost to allow it to go ahead. The 600-metre main drain was upgraded from April, and more than 1,000 metres of drainage has been replaced in total. A ground-penetrating radar survey of both the Old and New Courses has since found no immediate areas of concern.
Clerk of the course Jon Pullin said: “We’re very happy with how the drainage upgrade and recovery has gone. We worked closely with specialists in turf management and drainage throughout the project to make the right decisions for the long-term management of the track.” (Irish Times) The track has been watered after a summer in which temperatures reached 30 degrees, and all eyes will be on the ground when the jumps season’s first big Cheltenham fixture comes around.
Rogue Passion connections relishing Musical Times clash
12 fillies remain ahead of declarations on Wednesday for Friday’s £500,000 bet365 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket (2.57pm), and the market is dominated by Charlie Appleby’s unbeaten Musical Times. The May Hill Stakes winner is as short as 2/5 to complete a four-timer under William Buick.
The connections of Rogue Passion are not for lying down, though. Ed Bethell’s filly won at ParisLongchamp last time, and that form has been franked in the strongest possible fashion. The runner-up, Amusingly, has since won the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, while the third, Data, was beaten a head in the Prix Marcel Boussac.
Tony Elliott, founder of the Rogues Gallery syndicate that owns her, said: “We wouldn’t have been that keen to take on Sun Goddess but I’m really keen to take on Musical Times so we will see what happens. She ran in France last time and the form could not have worked out better.” He added that the filly scoped clean after missing a planned Boussac bid and “we are pretty sure she has improved”. Rossa Ryan takes the ride.
Clock ticking on O’Brien’s Group 1 record bid
True Love‘s success in the Prix de la Forêt on Sunday took Aidan O’Brien to 20 Group 1 wins for 2026. That leaves him eight short of the world record of 28 that he set himself in 2017, and time is running out.
The Fillies’ Mile and Saturday’s Dewhurst give him two shots this weekend, with the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, two juvenile Group 1s at Saint-Cloud and the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland still to come. That is before British Champions Day, where Ballydoyle’s haul could also prove crucial in his trainers’ title battle with Andrew Balding.
One of his Breeders’ Cup candidates is Arc third Diamond Necklace, and O’Brien believes she is only now coming into her own. He said: “The funny thing about her is it’s only in the last month that she’s been able to take a normal horse’s work, so there’s every chance she’s been weak all year and is just starting to progress now.”
Racing today
The first and last race times below are from the live racecards when this draft was built. Check for late changes before publication.
Worcester — first race: 13:05 · last race: 16:35
Nottingham — first race: 13:29 · last race: 17:05
Navan — first race: 13:45 · last race: 17:18
Sedgefield — first race: 13:50 · last race: 16:20
Kempton — first race: 17:00 · last race: 20:30
[View today’s racecards] · [Latest non-runners] · [Today’s results]