In this corner of the bloodstock world we like to keep our glass half-full, if not topped up to the brim. With that in mind, it is sometimes preferable to look back, rather than forwards. A dive into history via the pages of the Bloodstock Breeders' Review is always entertaining, if not a regular reminder that the more things change the more they stay the same. Take, for example, Lord Rosebery's speech as TBA president in 1947 when he said, “I was perturbed at the Yearling Sales at Doncaster when I saw that the big prices were almost entirely for animals who had no pretence to stay more than a mile, if so far.”In the spirit of optimism, it is also worth reflecting on the words of William Huddleston, who died in 1929 and whose book about his life in racing as an owner and gentleman rider included the passage: 'I unhesitatingly affirm that, given good health and a fair supply of the needful, “there's nowt like racing”. The more I think of it, indeed, the more I'm convinced that there's more pleasure to be got out of a racing career than any other. A life led mostly in the open air, constant change, excitement of the highest order, a broad-minded cosmopolitan company full of intelligence and up-to-date ideas, with, as a rule, the best of good fellowship overflowing with generosity.' Hear, hear, Mr Huddleston. We'll try not to be too grumpy then about the latest debacle which saw the last-minute cancellation of the two-day Easter meeting at Chelmsford. The BHA board clearly had good reason to baulk when it came to relicensing an operation which has twice faced financial difficulties leading to two different companies involved in the running of the course over the years being placed in administration. The lateness of the announcement, though irksome, was made with the best of intentions in a bid to give the meeting every chance of going ahead. But when the exploration of potential options for it to be run under another licensed operator proved fruitless, it would surely not have been impossible for the regulator to issue an emergency three-day extension to the existing Chelmsford licence which expired on March 31. Chelmsford would still be in the situation it is now – shuttered with a question mark hanging over its future – but a valuable and popular meeting would have been able to go ahead, with the running plans of owners, trainers and jockeys uninterrupted, not to mention the Good Friday plans of the 8,000 people who were said to have booked tickets.It is fervently hoped that Chelmsford City Racecourse can resume operations in the not-too-distant future, and the likelihood of that happening appears to be under the umbrella of another racecourse group. The Jockey Club would indeed seem the obvious candidate, particularly if it ends up losing its all-weather track at Kempton, and especially because it would mean that it would then not need to destroy the Southfields turf gallop in Newmarket to add an extra all-weather circuit there. On the Good Friday front, there were still two excellent meetings at ARC tracks which hosted the All-Weather Championships. Taking the lead with £1.05m in prize-money for Finals Day was Newcastle, while Lingfield was packed to the rafters for its Vase meeting and boasted prize-money of £550,000. I'll admit to not having loved the idea of racing being allowed to take place on Good Friday when this initiative was launched in 2013 but it has undeniably been a success, both in attracting bumper crowds to the races and in offering the chance of winning a proper pot to horses who have been plying their trade through the winter. The two richest races of the day, the middle-distance 'Easter Classic' handicap and the marathon handicap, both sponsored by Midnite and each worth £175,000, went the way of The Glen Rovers (Dark Angel), who had been bought unraced from Godolphin for 10,000gns, and Berkshire Sundance (Decorated Knight), a €40,000 Goffs Orby yearling. Scooping the £90,000 first prize was described as “a game-changer” by Conor Ryan, part-owner of The Glen Rovers, while Berkshire Sundance's owner Paul Spickett said, “This keeps me young and gives me a little bounce in my step.” Congratulations to all the winners, and also to the all-weather champions of the 2025/26 season. Tony Carroll (68 winners) and Billy Loughnane each retained their All-Weather Champion Trainer and All-Weather Champion Jockey titles, with Loughnane's 98 winners putting him 37 clear of his nearest challenger Luke Morris. Ryan Kavanagh was crowned All-Weather Champion Apprentice with 25 winners.The Admirable Al KareemThe warm weather may be slow to return but emerging from their winter wraps have been some favourite names in recent weeks.Al Qareem (Awtaad) may not be among the flashiest horses in training but he is one of the most determined and prolific, and it was heartening to see him return with a hard-fought win over Mount Atlas (Masar) in the inaugural running of the Goliath Cup on Saturday. The Listed contest was previously known as the Further Flight Stakes but was rechristened by Musselburgh when Nottingham relinquished the staying contest last year. Now seven, Al Qareem has won 13 of his 36 starts, including, fittingly, the final running of the Further Flight this time last year. Ten of his 13 victories have come in black-type company, including the G2 Prix Chaudenay of 2022. Having been bought from his breeder Shadwell Estates as an unraced two-year-old for 27,000gns by his trainer Karl Burke and owner Nick Bradley Racing, Al Qareem has now amassed earnings of £824,425. He remains a terrific advertisement for the skills of his trainer as well as for the merits of his sire Awtaad.The Goliath Cup result was made even sweeter by it being the first winner for Clifford Lee on his return to the saddle last Friday following a serious motorbike accident. Welcome back.Picture Keeps BrighteningOne of the delights of being sent to Deauville in the autumn to cover Arqana's October Yearling Sale is the chance to see the emergence of some young talent on the accompanying race days. A particular fondness is held for the Prix de Saint-Desir, a mile contest for unraced two-year-old colts and geldings which always seems to contain at least one nice individual. Erevann won the race in 2021 before becoming a dual group winner and a stallion at Haras de Bonneval, and another who went into the notebook two years later was Bright Picture, a reasonably rare non-homebred runner for the Wertheimer brothers who is a son of their Prix du Jockey Club winner Intello and was bred by John Carrington. Already gelded for his debut, Bright Picture went on to beat another famous gelding in Calandagan when he returned at three to win the Listed Prix Francois Mathet and later that year he added the G2 Prix Eugene Adam to his record.He's been sparingly raced by Andre Fabre but clearly still retains plenty of talent at the age of five and has made a faultless start to the year by winning first the G3 Prix Exbury and then Sunday's G2 Prix d'Harcourt. The latter was an interesting affair, with the field containing the returning Grand Prix de Paris winner of last year, Leffard (Le Havre), who closed ominously to finish second by a neck. Only half a length off Bright Picture in third was his stable-mate Cualificar (Lope De Vega), who had been singled out by Fabre as a “big hope” for the year in last Wednesday's TDN.Segall Swoops in La ForceSegall claimed Sunday's G3 Prix La Force to become the first group winner for his sire Sottsass as well as the first Flat group winner for owner David Layani, who said wisely after his success, “This minute and a half of racing allows us to forget all the difficulties of the sport.”Segall, who led home a one-two in the race for Andre Fabre, is now a likely candidate for the Prix du Jockey Club which was won seven years ago by his sire, who raced in the colours of Peter Brant's White Birch Farm. Brant's influence was evident again here as the co-breeder of Segall with Andreas Putsch of Haras de Saint Pair.A week earlier Sottsass had been represented by the Listed Prix Right Royal winner Asmarani. The son of Siyouni left Coolmore Stud for the JBBA's Shizunai Stallion Station last year and he followed to Japan Segall's dam Spain Burg, who, in the year her promising colt was foaled, was sold to JS Company for €90,000 while once again carrying to Sottsass. She subsequently produced another colt to the stallion followed by a colt by Kitasan Black before being covered last year by Kitasan Black's son Equinox.On the subject of Kitasan Black, his second-best son, last year's Japanese Derby winner Croix Du Nord, returned to action on Sunday in the G1 Osaka Hai and is now a Grade 1 winner at two, three and four. The winner of last year's G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange before finishing down the field in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the statuesque Croix Du Nord was later fourth behind Calandagan in the Japan Cup.Concorde Flies in to Classic ContentionWhile Segall had been sold as a yearling at Arqana's August Sale, his fellow Classic trial winner on Sunday, Concorde Agreement (Persian King), had been an Arqana October graduate, sold for €75,000 to Hubert Guy. The agent retains a share in the filly along with American-based owner Chris Baccari, Jean-Philippe Dubois and Arthur Pean. Making all to win the G3 Al Shira'aa Racing Prix Vanteaux, Concorde Agreement is now unbeaten in two starts and, the first group winner for her Chantilly-based trainer Pierre Groualle, she is entered for both the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane. Her dam, the Sadler's Wells mare La Concorde, is out of a Caerleon half-sister to Montjeu.Call UpSoldier's Call has had three homes in his seven years at stud: first he stood four seasons at Ballhyane Stud, then two years at Dullingham Park (now known as Ace Stud) before moving to Mickley Stud at the start of this year. In his final year at Ballyhane he covered 172 mares, and that crop has already yielded a pair of two-year-old winners this season. On Friday, the €3,500 yearling purchase Lars Soldier served a reminder of what a great leveller this sport can be when beating by a nose Confucius (No Nay Never), who was a 1.7m gns October Book 1 yearling and is a son of the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Millisle (Starspangledbanner).Lars Soldier, who is trained by Michael Mulvany, had the benefit of having run on the opening day of the Irish turf season when he finished fourth behind Ruler's Control (Territories). Confucius meanwhile will officially turn two on April 24 and was the first juvenile runner this year for Aidan O'Brien. A day later Adonius, a Soldier's Call two-year-old bred by Thomas Hassett and bought by his owner Michael Hughes from the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale for £32,000, won convincingly at Musselburgh by seven lengths in testing conditions. Soldier's Call also provided the runner-up in Saturday's Listed Cork Stakes, Soldier's Tree, while Ado McGuinness sent another of his sons, Dark Ace, to England for a successful raid on the valuable All-Weather Vase Sprint Handicap at Lingfield on Friday. Winning trainer and owner Jane Chapple-Hyam | Racingfotos From Kempton to CaulfieldIt has been a good week for Jane Chapple-Hyam, who has high hopes for her Kempton winner Balzac – a first-crop son of German-based stallion Japan – who holds an entry for the Derby and won well on his second start. Chapple-Hyam also featured as co-owner with her sister Anne Peacock of Saturday's G3 Easter Cup winner Ambassadorial in her native Australia. Chapple-Hyam had bought the five-year-old son of Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente as a yearling at the Inglis Premier Sale for just A$22,500 (£11,700).After Balzac's win on April 1, the trainer told Racing TV, “I always go lofty. I'd like to run him in the Blue Riband Trial at Epsom and see how he handles coming down the hill, and then if he handles that we'll be a 500/1 shot for the Derby.”Chapple-Hyam has good reason for optimism, however, as Balzac is a half-brother to her stable stalwart Claymore (New Bay), the winner of the G3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2023 who remains in training at the age of seven. Both were bred by international horse transporter Gunther Schmidt, who was on hand at Kempton to see the latest winner for his 15-year-old mare Brit Wit (High Chaparral).The post Seven Days: There’s Nowt Like Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.