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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Keeneland announced July 14 that Dean Dorton, a nationally recognized advisory firm that began in Lexington and has headquarters here, is the new sponsor of the $250,000 Myrtlewood Stakes.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Calumet Farm's Lexitonian was represented by his first winner when Ritzaphena dug in and battled for victory on closing day at Lone Star Park July 13.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) is inviting applications for non-fixture related grants for the period January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026. The application window opens on July 14 and closes on August 22. Applications are welcomed for projects and activities that support HBLB's Statutory Objectives and the 13 Racing Outcomes as set out in HBLB's Business Plan. This process excludes race fixture-related items such as prize-money and raceday service grants or items falling within HBLB's veterinary science and education budget. Grant applications must be made online using the HBLB Funding Gateway. The Funding Gateway can be accessed via this link. The post HBLB Opens Application Round for 2026 Non-Fixture Related Grants appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A good ranch horse was worth its weight in gold. They needed to be able to withstand long hours navigating rocky, unforgiving terrain beneath the blazing Arizona sun. With six to eight cowboys riding out daily at H and E Ranch, there never seemed to be enough horses to meet demand. So Elena Crim set out to breed her own stock. She focused on producing sound, sturdy Quarter Horses that could not only tolerate the harsh conditions, but thrive in them. As it turned out, Crim's lifelong passion for horses made her a shrewd and instinctive breeder. When her ranch horse program began to flourish, she set her sights on breeding Thoroughbreds. Over the past 30 years, Crim has found that the same traits that made her ranch horses durable and dependable also shape winning racehorses. GI Jaipur Stakes victress Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy) and multiple graded stakes winner Desert Dawn (Cupid), both bred by H and E Ranch, demonstrate how those foundation principles translate seamlessly onto the racetrack. Growing up on a farm in northern Wisconsin, Crim's early memories are of following her father around the barn. Her family was involved in Standardbreds and their top earner, The Harvester, was a famous trotter from just after the turn of the 20th century whose legacy inspired the naming of a modern cigar. “Horses became my passion when I was a little kid,” Crim recalled. “It was my father's passion and we were with him all the time, so it just came naturally. We rode pretty much every day and then later we got into showing horses.” When she was 16, she met her husband Hollis Crim. He was, as Crim describes, a handsome cowboy who loved horses as much as she did. After he returned from serving in Vietnam for three years, the two married and went to work on a cattle ranch in Florida. Crim was initially optimistic about their new adventure, but then after only a week there, an alligator ate her dog and she was eager to relocate to somewhere with fewer reptilian hazards. Desert Dawn as a yearling at H and E Ranch | Lea Sage Watson The Crims moved to Globe, Arizona–a small town about 100 miles southeast of Phoenix. They leased government land, paying grazing fees for the open range based on the number of cow-calf pairs they ran, and used their first initials to name their operation H and E Ranch. “I rode with the cowboys there for 10 years,” recalled Crim. “It was a lot of fun, just like in a John Wayne movie. It sounds staggering, but our ranch covered about 300,000 acres. We're talking about a lot of mountains and very rugged land.” From riding show jumpers as a teenager to working cattle through the arid desert, and then delivering foals when she launched the ranch's breeding operation, Crim's horsemanship evolved with every new chapter. It was Crim's longtime friend Mary Jane Hunt, a breeder in Ocala, who encouraged the Crims to make the shift from Quarter Horses to Thoroughbreds. Early into their commercial breeding venture, they traveled to Florida and, with Hunt's help, purchased the winning young mare Ashley Secret (Dr. Carter) in 1996. The broodmare quickly proved to be a lucrative buy, producing Resolve (Future Storm), who claimed three stakes including the 2001 Arizona Breeders' Derby, and Grimm (Hansel), a seven-time stakes winner at Turf Paradise. The Crims sold most of their stock, but they kept a daughter of Ashley Secret who RNA'd as a yearling in 2005. Ashley's Glory (Honour and Glory) won five times over three years before retiring to the ranch in Arizona where she was once foaled. The homebred had little success as a broodmare until late in her career, when she produced a leggy Cupid filly in 2019. By then, Hollis's health had started to decline and the Crims' daughter Hollie joined them in managing some of the daily workings of the farm. Hollie was the one who foaled out Desert Dawn. “She was unusually tall and very lanky,” Crim explained. “We ran her through OBS as a weanling, but bought her back for $32,000. At the time I thought that just didn't seem fair, so we decided to run her ourselves and she turned out to be a real jewel.” Trained by Phil d'Amato, Desert Dawn became H and E Ranch's first graded stakes winner when she claimed the 2022 GI Santa Anita Oaks. The homebred placed third in her next start in the GI Kentucky Oaks and added 11 more graded placings over the next two seasons, including a win in last year's GIII La Canada Stakes. “She never took a lame step, which is amazing for how big she is,” said Crim. “She competed with some very tough fillies and we didn't miss a single one of her races. She's the dream of a lifetime.” The only shadow on an otherwise fairytale-like story was that Hollis never got to see the filly develop into a star. Crim's husband passed away when Desert Dawn was just a foal. Hollie, a lawyer by trade, joined her mother in running the family business following his passing. In some ways, the program's focus has shifted over the past few years. The cattle are gone and Crim now spends most of her time in Scottsdale, but the mother-daughter team are still intent on breeding high-quality animals. In addition to their Quarter Horses, H and E Ranch manages about 40 Thoroughbred broodmares. The majority of those are based in Kentucky, but they still foal out a few in Arizona every spring to support their home state's program. “These days I don't do as much with the foalings other than give instructions,” Crim said wryly. “At 73, I've had two hip replacements and my body has been tormented by these equines for years, so I try not to get into areas where I don't belong.” But Crim is still a horsewoman through and through. At her home in Scottsdale, Crim's barn is filled with a collection of the farm's retired ranch horses and Thoroughbreds, including Thegloryisallmine (Mineshaft), the half-brother to Desert Dawn who was stakes placed for H and E Ranch. A $30,000 weanling, Ag Bullet went on to bring $220,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale | Keeneland “It's a sickness,” she joked of her love for the animals. “It just follows you the rest of your life. I have 12 head here at my house. They're all retired, so they get a lot of attention and carrots twice a day and they're spoiled rotten.” In addition to caring for the farm's retirees, Crim enjoys working the sales and planning matings each year. She is partial to gray mares–she has 14 of them–but also stresses the importance of paying attention to how a horse moves. When Vekoma's first foals were hitting the ground, Crim was struck by their athleticism. She supported the Spendthrift sire in his second year and sold one of his yearlings for $350,000 in 2023, just as the eventual leading freshman stallion's first runners were making noise on the track. “Some horses have a presence to them,” she explained. “They're no different than people. Something just strikes your eye and you go,' Wow, they have presence.' That's the best way I can describe it. Movement is a big deal for me and obviously it is in the industry now too.” At the 2013 Keeneland January Sale, a maiden gray mare caught Crim's eye. The Audley Farm homebred had broken her maiden on debut by eight lengths on the turf. Crim purchased Noble Grey (Forestry) for $70,000. Initially, the mare went back home with Crim to Arizona, but she proved to be such a handful that Crim sent her back to Kentucky. What Noble Grey lacks in decorum, she makes up for in genetic capability. Her first nine foals have all been winners, including turf standout Ag Bullet. H and E Ranch sold the daughter of Twirling Candy for $30,000 as a weanling at the 2020 Keeneland November Sale and the filly returned to the same sales ring the following September, fetching $220,000. Campaigned by Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran, Ag Bullet emerged as a stakes winner at three in 2023. After moving to trainer Richard Baltas the following year, she claimed the GIII Monrovia Stakes and GII Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes at Kentucky Downs before finishing a hard-fought third in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. After a troubled trip in the GIII Unbridled Sidney Stakes on Kentucky Derby weekend this year, Ag Bullet bounced back with a definitive win over males in the GI Jaipur Stakes, punching her ticket back to the Breeders' Cup. The victory marked Ag Bullet's first Grade I score, as well as H and E Ranch's first as breeders. Army Mule filly. " width="1155" height="840" /> Noble Grey and her 2025 Army Mule filly | Elena Crim Crim is certain that successes like this recent win could not have happened without the help she has received along the way. Early on, she was introduced to Callan Strouss at Lane's End and Frankie O'Connor at Kildare Stud. Today, most of her mares are in the care of those same two horsemen. “I'm very fortunate to have people around me that know what they're doing,” she said. “Lane's End and Frankie run exceptional operations and they have taught me so much. We try to have quality horses and associate ourselves with quality people, because without them, we couldn't do what we do.” While Crim still sells the majority of her stock, a few young homebreds may have a permanent place in her program. This year, Noble Grey foaled a striking Army Mule filly who is a half-sister to Ag Bullet. H and E Ranch also has Desert Dawn's 2-year-old full-sister in training with d'Amato who is expected to debut at Del Mar in the coming months. And Desert Dawn herself is at Kildare Stud carrying her first foal by Nyquist. With their continued success on the racetrack, H and E Ranch is building a reputation in the sales ring. They have four yearlings pointing to this year's Keeneland September Sale, including two colts by the in-demand young sire Maxfield and an Omaha Beach colt out Sanity (City Zip), a half-sister to Ag Bullet. For Crim, horse sense has always come naturally. What has carried the program forward, however, is the combination of a horsewoman's intuition with hard-earned knowledge and wholehearted dedication. “We were so naive in those early years,” she reflected. “I mean, what did I know? Absolutely nothing. That was a long time ago and we've come a long way. I've made every mistake you can make and I try not to make the same mistake a second time. It's amazing when you think back on it now. I've been very fortunate.” The post Keeneland Breeder Spotlight: From Desert Dust, a New Dawn at H & E Ranch appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Lone Star Park wrapped up its 29th Spring Thoroughbred Racing season Sunday, July 13, handling a daily average of $247,453 in Live On-Track handle and a daily average of $162,976 in export handle over the 41-day meet, which were both increases over 2024 figures by 2% and 5% respectively. Attendance for the meet increased 7% over 2024. Jockey Ramon Vazquez ended the meet with 55 wins, taking the leading jockey title for the second time after having won the 2020 title with 58 races. Among his biggest wins, the veteran won this year's GIII Steve Sexton Mile aboard Komorebino Omoide (Jpn). The meet ended with End Zone Athletics being named leading owner for the fifth consecutive year at Lone Star Park. Garnering 22 wins, End Zone Athletics collected its ninth time that End Zone Athletics has been the leading owner, surpassing Tom Durant's eight titles. The title for leading trainer went down to the wire and it was Lone Star Park's all-time leading trainer, Steve Asmussen, who edged Abel Ramirez-Rodriguez with 33 wins. Asmussen clinched the training title after MSW Noem Beach, with Erik Asmussen aboard, won Sunday's seventh race. This is the 18th time that Asmussen has been honored as the meet's leading trainer. Among this season's highlights, Lone Star's Million Day on Memorial Day generated the highest on-track handle of the meet with $788,805 wagered from 5,521 fans on a rainy day. The day that generated the highest export handle was the June 28 Summer Turf Festival card, generating $343,964 off track. The July 4 Lone Stars & Stripes Fireworks Festival drew a season topping 11,913 fans to the Grand Prairie oval. The post Lone Star Park Concludes with On-Track Handle, Daily Average Up appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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