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    • Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) “pending” and “resolved” cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Dates: 01/15/2026 Licensee: Charles Frock, trainer Penalty: 7-day period of Ineligibility for Covered Person, beginning on January 16, 2026; Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $1,000; imposition of 2 Penalty Points. Admission. Explainer: Medication violation for the presence of Gabapentin—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from Bond's Belle, who finished second at Laurel Park on 11/16/25. Pending ADMC Violations 1/21/2026, Johanna Urieta, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Methocarbamol–a class C controlled substance–in a sample taken from Ready for Action, who finished tenth at Mahoning Valley on 12/8/25. 1/21/2026, Mike Maker, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Tramadol–a class B controlled substance–in a sample taken from A Lilac Rolla, who finished fourth at Churchill Downs on 11/8/25. 1/20/2026, Andrew Harris, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Glycopyrrolate–a class C controlled substance–in a sample taken from Constant Conflict on 12/15/25. 1/20/2026, Amador Sanchez, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Methocarbamol–a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from More Than Glory, who finished second at Gulfstream Park on 12/13/25. 1/20/2026, Guadalupe Guerrero, trainer: Pending out-of-competition medication violation for the presence of Testosterone–a banned substance–in a sample taken from Rock Me gently on 8/22/25; and pending medication violation for the presence of Testosterone–a banned substance–in a sample taken from Silver City Kitty, who finished second at Parx Racing on 9/15/25. 1/16/2026, Hernan Parra, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Dexamethasone–a class C controlled substance–in a sample taken from Nadir Han, who finished eighth at Gulfstream Park on 12/13/25. 1/16/2026, James Dimmett, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Caffeine—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from Woods Hole, who finished sixth at Belterra Park on 10/1/25. Violations of Crop Rule Santa Anita Park Juan Hernandez–violation date January 20; $500 fine, two-day suspension Diego Herrera –violation date January 20; $500 fine, one-day suspension   The post National Weekly Rulings: January 16-21 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • 5. CINISTER CIX, TP, 1/16-6th, 6 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure-83 (2nd) (c, 4, by Curlin–Auntjenn, by Uncle Mo) O-Bartolome Mafla Herrera. B-Breffni Farm. T-Shane Sands. J-Walter Rodriguez. Privately purchased from the breeder after a half-dozen mostly uninspiring starts, the Curlin filly ran a career-best Beyer and appears to be just coming around. The pedigree is solid: dam Auntjenn was twice stakes-placed, five times ran Beyers between 81 and 83 for Brad Cox, and out of four foals to race has also produced GSW Petulante ($254k) and SW The Donegal Clan ($276k). 4. TAP ME A SONG, TP, 1/16-6th, 6 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure-84 (g, 4, by Tapiture–Gwithian, by Street Sense) O-Cowboys and Razorbacks Racing Stables. B-Clark Brewster (Ky). T-Carlos Santamaria. J-Gabriel Saez. It took 10 starts to break his maiden, but a rail run and switch to Tapeta unlocked sharp improvement and a new top in the Beyer department. Unraced dam Gwithian is a half-sister to former Coolmore runner Solomini (Curlin), a Grade I winner at two who went on to run in Justify's 2018 Kentucky Derby and is now standing stud in New York. 3. RUNNING WITH CHAOS, SA, 1/18-6th, 6 1/2 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure-84 (g, 4, by Khozan–House Money, by Wildcat Heir) O-Eduardo Bernal, Larry Buckendorf and Jeffrey Lambert. B-Woodford Thoroughbreds (Ky). T-Bob Hess Jr. J-Edwin Maldonado. In a four-horse field against a couple of favorites who had run 92 Beyers, he dueled them into submission with a half in :44.04 then emerged the clear survivor. Nothing jumps off the pedigree page (thus his $50k OBS 2023 yearling price), but in three starts he now has a Beyer progression of 77-81-84. 2. TROUBLE CALLING, FG, 1/17-6th, 6 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure-86 (2nd) (c, 3, by Dialed In–Into Trouble, by Into Mischief) O/B-Donamire Farm (Ky). T-Greg Foley. J-Luis Saez. In the week's fastest maiden race, he more than held his own against Knock It Off (below), battling for the lead from the outset and giving way only grudgingly to finish eight lengths clear of third. The Donamire genes are there: dam Into Trouble took the Arlington-Washington Lassie and has produced Grade I winner Troubleshooting (Not This Time, $1.7 million thanks to Kentucky Downs) and SW Big Trouble (Kantharos) – both turf sprinters, so the green may be a future option. 1. KNOCK IT OFF, FG, 1/17-6th, 6 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure-89 (c, 3, by Vekoma-Bodie's Flight, by Bodemeister) O-Kirk & Judy Robison. B-Deann & Greg Baer (Ind). T-Steve Asmussen. J-Paco Lopez. Bought as a weaning for $18k then pinhooked as a yearling for $150k, the Indiana-bred made a splashy debut at Fair Grounds – leading throughout in 1:09.47 for a Beyer eight points faster than the Lecomte Stakes later on the card. He's a colt to watch, at least in the 3-year-old sprint division. The Robisons are best known as the owners of sprint sensation Jackie's Warrior, while the Baers are perennial leading breeders in Indiana. The post Five Fastest Maidens: January 12-19 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Iscreamuscream (Twirling Candy) (hip 385), winner of the GI Del Mar Oaks, has been supplemented to Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale on Monday, Feb. 9. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, she is offered as a broodmare prospect. A five-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy, Iscreamuscream won her first four career starts at two and three for the ownership partnership of Little Red Feather Racing, Agave Racing Stable, John Hundley Jr., Marsha Naify, and John and Stacey Snyder. Her most important victory came in the GI Del Mar Oaks, where she went wire-to-wire to defeat a field that included graded stakes winners Medora, Zona Verde, Buchu, and Whiskey Decision. Her three-year-old campaign also included a victory in the GII Del Mar's San Clemente Handicap. She is a winner from 6 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, including a debut win at two in 1:08.90 going six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita. “She was one of the most talented fillies I've ever had in my barn,” said her trainer Phil D'Amato. “Broke her maiden first time out impressively at two, won her first four starts, just a complete freak of a racehorse. A big, strong filly with good size and scope, a great mind, and she has every right to develop into a true blue-hen type broodmare.” Iscreamuscream is out of Silver Screamer, a graded stakes winning daughter of Cozzene. Iscreamuscream is a half-sister to three other winners, including stakes producer Tap Tap Taparoo. “Iscreamuscream has everything a breeder could want in a broodmare prospect,” said Mark Taylor, President and C.E.O of Taylor Made.  “She's by a perennial leading sire in Twirling Candy and a perfect fit for most of the elite stallions around the world. She's going to be fun to sell!” Iscreamuscream will be offered along with a pre-approved nomination to Not This Time, the young super-sire standing at Taylor Made. From six crops to race, Not This Time has already sired 11 Grade I winners, 33 graded stakes winners, three champions, and the earners of more than $70 million. In 2025, he sired 17 yearlings that sold for seven-figures or more. Streak of Luck, the dam of presumptive two-year-old champion male Ted Noffey, sold for $6,200,000 in foal to Not This Time at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale to become the highest price Thoroughbred sold in North America last year. “Iscreamuscream fits Not This Time like a glove,” Taylor continued.  She matches up like many of the dams of his best runners, and she brings Candy Ride in on the pedigree side.  We are holding a place in his book for the new owner.” The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale will take place on Monday, February 9, in Lexington, Kentucky. The catalogue may be viewed here. The post GISW Iscreamuscream, With Not This Time Nomination, Supplemented To Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • There are two types of people in life: those who are bowed by adversity and those who stare it in the face and dare it to try to bring them down.  For more than a year Joe Foley has been involved in an ongoing court battle with Steve Parkin. Prior to that the pair had a long and successful run on the track with Parkin's Clipper Logistics operation, which Foley managed. Recent highlights include the homebred Classic winner Fallen Angel, who is now in the ownership of Wathnan Racing. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the current situation, the loss of a once-close friendship must hurt deeply, even if neither side would wish to admit it. Amid all this, it appears that Foley and Parkin hit on a stallion with real potential. Sands Of Mali, the Group 1-winning sprinter, was bought from the Cool Silk Partnership for €225,000 and joined Foley's Ballyhane Stud in 2021.  From an initial fee of €6,500, he has been turning heads to the degree that when it was decided that the stallion must be sold he became the subject of a fierce bidding war among some of the most renowned commercial studs in the business. In November, he was auctioned privately for many millions, with Yeomanstown Stud the successful bidder. Parkin also sold Shaquille, whose first foals were well received last year, to Harrison Li's Ace Stud, which is the new name of Dullingham Park. What are the odds of finding a successful stallion? One in 10, if you're lucky? Now it appears that Foley has been both lucky and unlucky. Is he bitter? It doesn't appear so, as he is currently in 'head down, drive on' mode to launch the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Magnum Force (Mehmas) a year after recruiting Sakheer (Zoffany) to stand in partnership with owner KHK Racing. He says first of his old friend Sands Of Mali, “He's a very exciting stallion, possibly a brilliant stallion. And I wish them all the absolute best of luck for him. I was delighted to buy him in the first place, and I remember when I was considering buying him, I knew that Gay O'Callaghan was also considering buying him, so if anybody was to end up with him, they deserved to have him.” Foley continues, “They paid plenty of money for him but I'm convinced he will repay their investment in him. I know [trainer] Richard Fahey rated him extremely highly, in the same breath as Wootton Bassett. I loved his physique, I loved the pedigree, I loved the [grandsire] Miswaki, the whole Mr. Prospector thing. I thought he'd be a lovely outcross for mares, but also a lovely horse to inbreed to other Mr. Prospector mares, like Dark Angel mares and Machiavellian-line mares. And I thought he was a very interesting project, especially given he was such a good racehorse at the height of his powers. That's why I was keen to buy him.  “I was experimenting with some mares with him, multiplying Mr. Prospector, and that seemed to really work out. Time For Sandals, for example, was a Rathbride Stud-bred filly, and she's inbred 3×3 to Miswaki. “As I said, it was a pleasure to have him in Ballyhane, and I've no doubt that he's going to be a very important sire for Ireland for years to come.” When it comes to finding new stallions, for smaller independent studs the competition can be fierce, with greater risks being taken to buy into racehorses earlier in their careers, gambling on an eye-catching two-year-old building on that promise at three.  “When I started there was quite a lot of stallion prospects available to be bought 20, 30, 40 years ago,” says Foley. “But nowadays, the big operations are concentrating on buying yearlings to make stallions, so they're getting in at ground level to have stallions in their portfolios. “So the number of stallion prospects that are openly for sale has diminished over the years. On the flip side of that, there are not as many stallion farms as there were 20 or 30 years ago. So there's less demand for horses and sometimes I feel sorry for people who have colts who are just not quite good enough to make the commercial stallion business.”   Magnum Force at Ballyhane | Emma Berry   Magnum Force may as well have the word 'commercial' spray-painted across his quarters. For a start, he's by Mehmas and, though there is a growing number of his sons at stud, commercial breeders who can no longer afford to use Mehmas will be rolling the dice and hoping that one of the next in line will prove a hit. Magnum Force's page pretty much screams speed, with notable sprinters such as Acclamation, Royal Applause, Fastnet Rock, Danehill, and Bahamian Bounty all among the male influences in his first three generations, and his first two dams having both been winning sprinters. Eyes firmly on the horizon, Foley says, “We've moved into a new phase of Ballyhane, which is terrific. I started with Sakheer last year, who stood alongside Sands of Mali, and maybe suffered for that, considering both of them were at the same fee. But notwithstanding that, he attracted a very solid book of mares. He covered 130 and has great fertility. “Luckily then I was able to buy Magnum Force in conjunction with his breeder, Sheikh Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa, and I'm delighted to welcome him to Ballyhane. “I'd seen him at the racetrack but when I went to Ger Lyons's in September to see him I was so struck by the horse that I really thought I had to have him.  “He's what I look for in a horse: first of all, a beautiful looking horse, which is so important for the Irish stallion market. Irish breeders are very shrewd judges. Importantly, he had a lot of ability, and then pedigree-wise, he's by a sire that looks to be exceptionally talented, he's out of a Fastnet Rock mare, which I like, from a good Jeff Smith family. On top of that, he's a lovely-tempered horse, so he looks to be going down very well so far.” Certainly there were plenty of rave reviews from those who saw Magnum Force on the recent Irish Stallion Trail, where he had to fight for attention with Jane Foley's pair of miniature daschund puppies. Hetty Spencer was so smitten with the latter that she forgot to book a nomination but left Ballyhane heading for the pups' breeder and bought two for herself that afternoon. Doubtless, though, there were others who put their names down on the list to send a mare to Magnum Force.  Foley has been buoyed by the continued goodwill which has come his way during some less-than-happy times. But it's a two-way street. “One of the biggest kicks I get is when one of my clients either has a big payday in a sale ring, which is very important for people to stay afloat and remain in the business. That's number one, but obviously when they breed a very good horse, that's fantastic,” he says.  “I try to stand stallions at a fee that gives people a chance of making a profit. I know that's a weird thing to say, but I think it's important not to squeeze the lemon dry in stallion fees. You have to leave some room for margin, or profit, for the mare owners, because it's such a difficult business. “So it's not all a monetary thing, it's a way of life as well, and it's tremendous to see breeders, who, in a lot of cases, are my friends, be successful by taking the trouble, and trusting me, to send one of their mares at 7 o'clock in the morning to a stallion in Ballyhane. I appreciate every single one of the mares that arrives in the gate at Ballyhane, and I appreciate that they've trusted my judgement with the stallion, and I get a big kick out of it one day when that decision by them is justified.”   The distracting Ballyhane puppies | Emma Berry   And it's not just the Ballyhane clients who benefit from Foley's seemingly boundless energy. Currently chairman of the Irish EBF, he has also served as chairman and president of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (ITBA), which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026 and has its immensely popular annual awards night this Saturday. Along with current ITBA chairman Cathal Beale, whom he credits as being a “very bright guy”, Foley was instrumental in launching the Irish Incentive Scheme which rewards the winners of certain ITM-backed races with a €10,000 voucher on top of prize-money to spend at the Irish sales. He was also instrumental in the launch of the Irish Champions Festival. “It's just great to see that a lot of people are trying to make the industry better,” he says. “I've had a privileged life of travelling around the place. I used to share a house in Newmarket with David Redvers, who is a great friend. With the Qatar team of Sheikh Fahad and Peter [Molony] and Hannah [Wall], I saw the birth of British Champions Day up close. It struck me on the first British Champions Day that we could do something similar in Ireland, and that became the genesis of the idea of Irish Champions Weekend. It's the same with the Irish Stallion Trail – a lot of people have credited me for coming up with that idea. I didn't, I just nicked the idea from the Route des Etalons. I saw the wonderful PR that the French stallions were getting out of that, and I thought, given the quality of the stallions in Ireland, that we could mimic that, so I suggested it to Charles O'Neill of ITM, who ran with the idea.” Foley continues, “I enjoy the Irish EBF role because the stallion farmers voluntarily put a lot of money into a fund to help prize-money in Ireland. Prize-money is vital, and I still don't think that message is quite out there, but it's great to see that HRI [Horse Racing Ireland] have put a significant amount into prize-money for the 2026 season, even given the fact that their horse and greyhound fund from government has stayed static. But they've managed to budget, with the help of others, to get a significant rise in prize-money, which is very necessary, and that needs to continue growing. “Be it the Irish EBF Median Auction Series, the Red Mills Auction Hurdle Series, that we co-sponsor with them, the Smullen Series that we sponsor, we see that they have a positive impact on Irish racing and horses in training in Ireland, and it's good to be able to influence some of that. And once again, with the Irish EBF, we'll be co-sponsoring the Ballyhane Stakes on August 3.” He adds, “We've got a lot of pillars built up now, a lot of high-class racetracks in Ireland – the Curragh, Leopardstown, Naas, Punchestown and many other tracks, but we just need to make sure prize-money keeps at the level it needs to be.” Clearly, he wears a lot of hats, but Foley insists that the branding be that of Ballyhane Stud. He says, “Ballyhane is my first gig, and the rest I do on very much a part-time basis, but I enjoy meeting other similarly-minded people.” That said, he compiled the 100 questions for last weekend's Mark O'Hanlon Memorial Quiz and is on the organising committee for the awards this coming weekend. Sure, sleep is over-rated anyway.  “The ITBA is now 100 years old. The first ever meeting was in the Shelbourne Hotel on January 13 in 1926,” he says, proudly spouting this fact after somehow having found time to read the minutes of the inaugural meeting.  And he is relishing the thought of this Saturday's action. “It's one of the huge nights of the year because you get all the top politicians, including our Minister for Agriculture, who's coming again this year. We've had the Taoiseach there in the past, and they come because they know the racing and bloodstock industry is a big industry within Ireland. Ireland's a small country, and it's still an agricultural economy, even though it's matured and grown up rapidly in the last 30 or 40 years. But the agriculture sector is very important to Ireland in terms of GDP and the bloodstock industry is a huge employer – it's a green industry. “So it is great for the politicians to see the awards won by normal people who live in normal villages and towns around the country, and to see the influence that they have around the world with the Irish flag wrapped around them.” Perhaps no-one has this flag more tightly wrapped than Foley himself, but Irish racing can count itself fortunate to have such a passionate advocate.    The post ‘I Appreciate Every Mare That Arrives’: New Phase for Ballyhane as Magnum Force is Launched appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Nominations are open for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds to become eligible for the 2026 Triple Crown with an early $600 payment that is due Jan. 26.View the full article
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