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Eric Ngwane: “I never really got the opportunity at home.”

Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking had a major South African influence. Eric Ngwane’s rise in South African horse racing was a promising one. As a two-time champion apprentice in KwaZulu-Natal, his potential was clear from early on. By the time he qualified as a fully-fledged jockey at the end of 2018, expectations were high. Yet, as his career should have taken off, Ngwane faced an unexpected struggle.

Frances Ethel, See It Again head Summer Cup Entries

42 horses were entered for the highly anticipated R6 million Betway Summer Cup, set to be contested over 2000m at Turffontein on Saturday, 30 November.

Among the standout entries is the country’s top rated horse over the distance See It Again, trained by Michael Roberts. This accomplished five-year-old son of Twice Over, a winner of two Grade 1 races, was recently gelded, and it has been confirmed that his next big challenge will be this prestigious Grade 1 event – the richest race in Africa.

PRIDE OF JENNI CROWNED AUSTRALIAN RACEHORSE OF THE YEAR

It was all about Pride of Jenni at the star-studded Australian Racehorse of the Year Awards last night at the Wolf Blass Event Centre at Morphettville Racecourse.

The Ottobre family took to the stage twice as the super mare claimed Champion Middle Distance horse and the overall Australian Rac

Frankel Filly gets 4.4m Guineas, 2nd Highest Ever in Europe

An electric atmosphere and frenzied trade characterised a remarkable opening session at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale with a FRANKEL filly realising 4,400,000 Guineas (US$ 5.64, R106m), the second highest price for a yearling in European auction history, and eighteen lots realising 500,000 guineas or more.

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UPCOMING GRADED RACES WORLD WIDE

Godolphin’s Michael Banahan

Joins the TDN Writers’ Room

It was another banner weekend for Godolphin as the stable swept the two Grade I races for two-year-olds at Keeneland. The filly Immersive (Nyquist) won Friday’s GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes and Godolphin finished things off with a very impressive win by the colt East Avenue (Medaglia d’Oro) in the GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity. Both will appear next in the Breeders’ Cup, where they could both be favorites.

Leading the cheering section for Godolphin was its Director of Bloodstock, Michael Banahan, whose duties include overseeing the U.S.-based Godolphin horses. He was this week’s Guest of the Week on the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast presented by Keeneland.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the WinStar stallion Nashville, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders’ Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV.com and the KTOB, the team of Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley reviewed the major races run last week, zeroing in on the major two-year-old races over the weekend.

Click here to watch the show.

Click here for the audio-only version.

photo credit: Coady Media

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2025 sales calendar

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