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Friday's racing round-up includes the death of a notable jumps sire and the purchase of a Group 2 placed juvenile by Wathnan Racing...
The Strikin Viking, second in the Group 2 Railway Stakes, has been sold to Wathnan Racing and will be trained by Ahmed Al Jehani. Formerly owned by Middleham Park Racing, the Inns Of Court juvenile was a comfortable winner at York on debut before chasing Henri Matisse home in the Railway Stakes.
The racing world eagerly awaits the new television series Champions: Full Gallop, which will premiere on ITV at 9pm on Friday night. A six-part documentary, the series covers the big stories from the 2023-24 jumps season and is hoped to encourage a new generation of racing fans to the sport.
Passenger could return in the Group 2 York Stakes on 27 July, before a possible tilt at the Group 1 Juddmonte International. The lightly raced colt ended his three-year-old campaign with a win in the Group 3 Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor and showed an impressive turn of foot when taking the Group 2 Huxley Stakes at Chester on seasonal reappearace. Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, the son of Ulysses was ruled out of a run at Royal Ascot and Sandown with a minor setback.
Boardsmill Stud have announced the death of jumps stallion Court Cave, best known as sire of Cheltenham Festival winners City Island and Willoughby Court. A full-brother to multiple Group 1 winner Beat Hollow, Court Cave was unraced but soon rose to prominence as a sire of useful jumps performers. Boardsmill Stud paid tribute to the stallion in a statement on their website (www.boardsmillstud.com), saying: "Court Cave proved himself the hard way having started out covering small books of mares. He quickly proved he had the ability to upgrade his mares and whilst never covering overly large books of mares, he was one of the most consistent sires out there for siring sound winning horses".