Back in business

Hugh Bowman rode Le Romain (Hard Spun {USA}) when he broke his maiden at Newcastle and they team up there on Saturday.

The top jockey will partner the Kris Lees-trained 7-year-old, who he won the G1 Canatala S. with, in the $1 million Pages Event Hire Hunter.

"He has been a great horse to me. He's been a great horse to everyone involved with him," Bowman said.

"He is a class horse and he's performed consistently at the top level. Hopefully, we can have a bit of luck from the wide draw."

New experience

South Australian-based Barend Vorster's trips across the border to Victoria have so far been successful, most notably by combining with Sunlight (Zoustar) to win the G1 Newmarket H.

On Saturday, Vorster will be in action for the first time at Sandown where he has six rides on the 10-event card.

Among his mounts are Jentico (Written Tycoon) in the G3 Summoned S., while Vorster has picked up rides for Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, Byron Cozamanis, Richard Laming and Robbie Laing.

Trained by Vorsters principal backers Tony and Calvin McEvoy, Jentico has won both of her lead-up races at Morphettville ahead of the Summoned.

Confidence in champ

Hong Kong champion Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock) will attempt to return to winning form in Sunday’s G2 Jockey Club Mile.

He had strung together 10 consecutive wins before finishing third in the G2 Sha Tin Trophy.

“We’re going into the race with very high hopes that he’ll be winning, especially given the fact that he won't be carrying a massive weight this time, he’ll only be giving them five pounds,” trainer John Moore said.

Beauty Generation pleased connections in a gallop on Thursday morning and will jump from gate one on Sunday in a seven-horse field with Zac Purton aboard.

“The way he just worked, we were really pleased with that gallop. The feedback from his work rider, he was very positive and said the horse was very full of himself,” Moore said.

Prize for best named

G3 Spring S. contender Donandkim (Smart Missile) is one of the best-named horses in commission.

The 3-year-old takes his moniker from United States President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un, who provided timely inspiration for his owners with their historic meeting at last year's Singapore Summit.

"When they were naming him, the President of America and the President of (North) Korea were having their meetings in Singapore," Ryan said. "He is by Smart Missile out of Negotiate so he is very well named."

Donandkim came to Ryan from Gary Nickson having raced twice as a juvenile for two comprehensive defeats.

"On his work and his trials previously, I didn't know how his form could be so bad," Ryan said. "I just think it was a maturity thing."

Beholder to Bolt d'Oro

Four-time champion Beholder (USA) will be bred to Bolt d’Oro (USA) in 2020. Spendthrift’s three-time Breeders’ Cup champion mare was retired to the Lexington nursery in 2013 after accounting for 11 Group 1 victories. Dual Group 1 winning Bolt d’Oro will stand for US$25,000 (AU$36,802) S&N in 2020.

“We strongly considered breeding Beholder to Bolt d’Oro this past season, so it’s a mating we’ve been excited about for some time,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift farm’s general manager.

“Frankly, Bolt d’Oro has been so tremendously in-demand that we decided to wait until 2020. One of the coolest things about this mating is it matches two of the fastest Group 1 winning 2-year-olds that racing has seen in the last decade.”

Beholder, who is in foal to War Front (USA) with a January due date, is already responsible for a yearling colt by Uncle Mo (USA), named Q B One (USA), and a weanling filly by Curlin (USA).

Bolt d’Oro, who stood his first season at Spendthrift in 2019, covered 214 mares in his first Northern Hemisphere book.

Lope De Vega up to €100,000

Lope De Vega (Ire) will stand for a career-high €100,000 (AU$162,510) at Ballylinch Stud in 2020.

“Lope De Vega has had another incredible season with a Classic winner, two new Group 1 winners and 25 stakes winners,” said Ballylinch Managing Director John O’Connor. “Despite only having six crops of racing age, only Galileo (Ire), Dubawi (Ire) and Shamardal (USA) had more black-type winners amongst the European sires."

Make Believe (GB), who was represented by his first runners this year, is available for €12,000 (AU$19,501). Group 1 winners Fascinating Rock (Ire) and New Bay (GB) both have their first runners next year, and they stand for €7000 (AU$11,376) and €15,000 (AU$24,121), respectively, while newcomer Waldgeist (GB), as announced earlier this week, stands for €17,500 (AU$28,439).

Tasty rematch

Kelly Schweida is looking forward to Meet Mr Taylor (Turffontein) taking on Tarzan (Drumbeats) again when they clash in the Swiss Ace Plate on Saturday.

The last time they met it was the Stuart Kendrick runner who beat Meet Mr Taylor by a half-head at Eagle Farm.

"It was a terrific run because he drew barrier eight and was caught three-deep the whole trip while the winner had a much easier run," Schweida said.

"This time we have barrier one and Tarzan has the outside barrier 10.

"I don't know if that makes much difference to Tarzan's style and we do meet him worse at the weights under the conditions of the race, but the chances don't stop there and it should be an exciting race. I am looking forward to it."

Inflamed tops session

Glen Hill Farm went to US$170,000 (AU$250,258) for Inflamed (USA) (Unusual Heat {USA}), the top lot during the ninth session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Consigned by Paramount Sales, she is the dam of Mo Forza (USA) (Uncle Mo {USA}), who recently won the G2 Qatar Twilight Derby at Santa Anita, and is in foal to Tapiture (USA).

“The thought is for now to breed her to Kitten’s Joy. If Mo Forza wins the Hollywood Derby, I might have to breed her back to Uncle Mo,” Glen Hill’s Craig Bernick said.

Keeneland sold 263 horses on Thursday for US$4,465,300 (AU$6,571,578) at an average of US$16,978 (AU$24,986) and a median of US$11,000 (AU$16,184).

Big shoes to fill

Kiwi (NZ) (Blarney Kiss {USA}), Glory Days (NZ) (Red Giant {USA})… Beyond The Fort (NZ) (Niagara)?

It may be too early to mention the latter in the same breath as the two Group 1 winning stayers, but the small South Taranaki township of Waverley has developed a knack for producing top quality stayers.

The Snow Lupton-trained Kiwi put it on the map after storming home late to win the 1983 G1 Melbourne Cup, while Glory Days put the town back up in lights after her heroics in this year’s G1 Auckland Cup.

Glory Days’ trainer Bill Thurlow is also eyeing the Auckland feature with quality mare Beyond The Fort and he is using Sunday’s Steelform Roofing Group Waverley Cup as an early gauge.

“The Waverley Cup has been a good race to us,” he said. “We won it with Glory Days last year and we won it a few years back with a horse called Yours, which was great.

“We are looking at the Auckland Cup with Beyond The Fort. We are pretty open-minded about it, but whether it is a year too soon for her with a race like the Auckland Cup I am not quite sure."

INS announces students

The Irish National Stud has announced its intake of 27 students from around the world for its 2020 Thoroughbred Breeding Course. The class of 2020 comprises students from nine countries: Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.

The students are Hannah Airey, NZTBA Scholarship Recipient (New Zealand), Aaron Boland, (Ireland), David Burke (Ireland), Daniel Byrne (Ireland), Honor Clinch (UK), Justine De Lageneste (France), Mike Doleuze (France), Megan Dreeling (Ireland), Hannah Faber (UK), Anna Fairbank (UK), Ines Goupil de Bouille (France), Ben Hanley (Ireland), Charles Harris (UK), Michaela Kemp (Canada), Grace Kerr (Ireland), Tyler Maronde (USA), Laura McCrann (Ireland), Laura McNabb, NZTBA Scholarship Recipient (New Zealand), Tom Murphy (Ireland), Ross O’Mahony (Ireland), Stephanie Putsch (Germany), Brittany Reinhardt (South Africa), Ben Swinburn (UK), Rachel Thompson, HTBA Scholarship Recipient (Australia), Stuart Tyrell (Ireland), Constance Vincent (France) and Sydnie Willett (America).