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    • Dr. William Baxter Jr.'s Stony Pointe Stables are going for it with New York-bred Fourth and One in the $200,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack Jan. 31.View the full article
    • Off to a hot start to the year with her nine-horse stable, trainer Aggie Ordonez is targeting grade 1s on March 7 at Santa Anita Park with Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy.View the full article
    • During Sunday's post position draw at Gulfstream Park, Juddmonte Farm's Disco Time (Not This Time) gained the nod as the 8-5 morning-line favorite while drawing Post 1 for Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational. Disco Time is undefeated in five prior starts, including last season's GII Lecomte Stakes, St Louis Derby and Withers Stakes. The 4-year-old is trained by Brad Cox, who also WinStar Farm, CHC Inc., Cold Press Racing and Qatar Racing's Tappan Street (Into Mischief), winner of last season's GI Curlin Florida Derby. The former, given an 8-1 chance, will be ridden by Flavien Prat while the latter will be accompanied by Luis Saez. Cox previously won the race with Horse of the Year Knicks Go in 2021. Returning to defend his title, C2 Racing Stable LLC, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) was installed the second morning-line choice at 4-1 for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Last seen finishing off-the-board in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup last summer, the 7-year-old will break from Post 11 with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons. Also representing Joseph Jr., Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) returns off a victory in the Dec. 20 GIII Harlan's Holiday Stakes. Third behind his stablemate in last year's renewal of the race, the 7-year-old will be accompanied by Tyler Gaffalione while breaking from Post 5. He is 15- on the morning-line.   In search of his fourth Pegasus win, Bob Baffert is represented by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and partners' Madaket Road (Quality Road), who drew Post 6. Hall of Famer Mike Smith has the mount. The 4-year-old was given a 10-1 chance on the morning line. Nice Guys Stables' Mika (Catholic Boy), runner-up in the GII Cigar Mile last time out for trainer Mike Maker, was rated at 10-1 on the morning line after drawing Post 10. Manuel Franco has the return mount. St. Elias Stable's Captain Cook (Practical Joke) will break from Post 9 for a bid to give Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher a second Pegasus World Cup success, joining Life Is Good in 2022.   The 4-year-old finished second in the GIII Perryville at Keeneland and GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga in his last two starts, has been installed the 15-1 on the morning line. Hall of Famer John Velazquez will ride Captain Cook for the first time Saturday. The field is rounded out by British Isles (Justify) (20-1, Post 2), Full Serrano (Full Mast) (12-1, Post 3), Banishing (Ghostzapper) (20-1, Post 4), Poster (Munnings) (20-1, Post 8), Brotha Keny (Mo Town) (30-1, Post 12), Lightning Tones (Tonalist) (AE, Post 13), Catalytic (Catalina Cruiser) (AE, Post 14). The 10th anniversary of the nine-furlong test for older horses, Pegasus World Cup Day will also feature the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational and the GII Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf. The post Disco Time Draws Rail, Morning-Line Favorite for Pegasus World Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Taken by the Wind (Rock Your World) remained undefeated and took another step closer to a start in the GI Kentucky Oaks when capturing Saturday's Silverbulletday Stakes at the Fair Grounds. But a day later, what was most on the mind of trainer Kenny McPeek was what he called a “bureaucratic nightmare” that she had to overcome to even make the $150,000 race. The Silverbulletday was Taken by the Wind's first start since she won the Sept. 13 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. McPeek said that she was sidelined not by injury, but by a decision made by Dr. Nick Smith, the chief racing veterinarian for the Kentucky Racing Commission, to put the filly on the vet's list after her win in the Pocahontas. “The Kentucky state vets wouldn't let her run until this weekend,” McPeek said. “She won the Pocahontas and then the Kentucky vets put her on the vet's list after the race. I never understood why. It's ridiculous what they did. We've never found anything wrong with her. They forced us to bone-scan her, to PET scan her. We've done everything, and Dr. Nick Smith wouldn't let her run. He didn't like the way she moves. This was one of the most frustrating things I've ever dealt with as a horse trainer. She should have won the Alcibiades and she should already be a Grade I winner. She was going to be the even-money favorite in that race. And then we would have taken her to the Breeders' Cup.” McPeek said that his filly was not removed from the vet's list until after a Dec. 29 workout at Oaklawn Park. “We had to ship her to Oaklawn to work her to get her off the HISA vet's list,” he said. “And we had to ship her back to the Fair Grounds to run her. I hope it's not going to be an on-going issue because we've never found so much as a bump or bruise on her. We don't know what it has been about. But Dr. Smith seems to think that his eyes are stronger than PET scans and bone scans. We've been very frustrated by it. It has hurt her value. You watch. She'll win the next one, and I think she has a very good chance of winning the Oaks. This is a very good filly. She does everything right. We're dealing with this regularly, especially in Kentucky. They are basically picking us apart, and this filly has been caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare. But her talent keeps rising.” McPeek, known for his ability to find talented horses at bargain prices, purchased Taken by the Wind for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale. But he said there's more to the story, and it also involves horses winding up on the vet's list in Kentucky. “The $20,000 is a little bit of an aberration,” he said. “I bought her as a yearling in July for $70,000 for Walking L Thoroughbreds, which is owned by a gentleman named Scott Leeds. For years, he's been one of my best clients. He decided to divest himself of everything after we bought her and after he had a list of horses go on the Kentucky vet's list. He said. 'Just sell everything.' I said, 'You shouldn't sell her because I think she's a pretty good filly.' He said, 'No, just run her through the sale.' He ran her through the sale in October, and I wasn't going to let her go for nothing. I think people hesitated. I think they were thinking, 'Why did Kenny buy her in July for $70,000 and now he's selling her back in October? Is there something wrong with her?' No, there was nothing wrong with her whatsoever. l just protected her and bought her back.” The good news is that McPeek formed a new ownership group, and it includes a celebrity, the Hall of Fame quarterback and Fox NFL analyst Terry Bradshaw. “Terry watched the race from the Fox NFL studio with all of his cohorts and colleagues,” McPeek said. “They hadn't gone on the air yet. He was there with 15 to 20 people. They watched the race together and they had a blast.” McPeek added that Taken by the Wind will likely run next in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks on Mar. 21 or the GII Fantasy Stakes, which will be run on Mar. 27 at Oaklawn Park.   The post McPeek Wins The Silverbulletday With Taken by the Wind But Frustrations Linger appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Vodka Vodka (Stay Thirsty), winner of Saturday's Unusual Heat Turf Classic, exited his first stakes win in good form, according to trainer Aggie Ordonez Sunday morning. “He ate all his dinner last night, his legs are cold and tight this morning,” she added. Vodka Vodka won the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic by a half-length under Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux. In his only previous stakes try, which came on Opening Day of the Classic Meet, Vodka Vodka finished fourth on dirt in GII Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes. Bred by co-owners Jerry Baker and Connie Baker, Vodka Vodka is a 5-year-old gelding out of the Hard Spun mare Margie's Minute. His year-younger half-sister Om N Joy (Om), provided Ordonez last year with her first graded stakes win in the GIII Torrey Pines at Del Mar. The two siblings combined helped Ordonez produce a career-best year in 2025 with $645,233 in earnings, more than double her previous high. Ordonez currently has nine horses in her stable. “It's unbelievable to have the two best horses of my career running at the same time. In the barn, healthy and sound at the beginning of a new year,” Ordonez said. “I look back on last year and I couldn't have dreamed to put something like that together. I almost didn't want the year to change. I didn't want to flip the calendar. I thought we can't possibly keep that going or do it again. Then right off the bat Dark Omen comes up with a giant race to break his maiden here and now Vodka Vodka becomes a stakes winner. It's more than I could dream.” Dark Omen (Om), a 3-year-old gelding, was a debut winner on Jan. 10 at Santa Anita for Ordonez and owners-breeders Larry and Marianne Williams. Next up for Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy could be Grade I's on Mar. 7 at Santa Anita. Ordonez is eyeing the GI Santa Anita Handicap for Vodka Vodka, while Om N Joy is a candidate for the GI B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile on the same day. “I'm a dreamer. I love to swing big,” Ordonez said. “[Vodka Vodka] ran a great race. I think his best race is actually dirt, I don't think it's grass.” Om N Joy is back galloping at Santa Anita after spending “six to eight weeks” on the farm. She closed out the 2025 campaign on Oct. 18 with a fourth-place finish in the GII Raven Run at Keeneland. “She looks great,” Ordonez. “She looks like a 4-year-old now. She had lost some weight towards the end of last year and I knew she needed some time after to recover after a tough season.” “She's going to be ready in March. I'd like to try her in the Beholder. I know people say 'wow' when I say the Beholder, but she's been 'wowing' me for a while.”     The post Ordonez Outlines Grade I Goals for Vodka Vodka, Om N Joy 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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