Wandering Eyes

Jose Ortiz added to his 2025 graded stakes victories with wins Aug. 2 in the Test Stakes (G1) and the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) and a total of nine wins for the week, earning him Jockey of the Week honors for July 28-Aug. 3.View the full article

Even some of the best Thoroughbreds are one-dimensional. They want to race on the lead or from the back of the pack, and taking them out of their comfort zone can lead to upsetting results. Then there's Far Bridge. View the full article

Juvenile colt Gentlemanlike caught the eye of Mandore International Agency's Nicolas de Watrigant for €250,000 during Arqana Online's August Pop-Up Sale on Wednesday. De Watrigant signed for a French partnership consisting of Alain Jathiere, Gousserie Racing, Ecurie David Layani and Gerard Augustin-Normand. He was originally sold for €12,000 from the Baroda Stud draft during the Arqana October Yearling Sale last year to owner/trainer Igor Endaltsev. Consigned by Endaltsev on Wednesday, the Al Shira'aa Racing-bred son of Group 1 sire Australia and the Kodiac mare Samskara won his only start by four lengths at Chantilly in July. His granddam is Chiara Wells (Refuse To Bend), a winner of the Listed Premio Certosa and third in the G3 Premio Carlo Chiesea. This is also the family of Meafara (Meadowlake), a multiple graded winner and placed in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Coolmore's dual Derby winner Australia is responsible for G1 Derby/G1 Irish Derby hero Lambourn and G1 Coronation Stakes heroine Cercene this term. The post Mandore International Goes To €250K For Gentlemanlike During Arqana Pop-Up Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Anyone kindly persevering with this column as it gropes through the pedigree maze will by now be familiar, perhaps wearily so, with my proclivity for broodmare sires. From all that tremendous sport at Saratoga last Saturday, then, you won't be surprised that I'm going to focus on the fact that two of four Grade I winners–Kilwin (Twirling Candy) and World Beater (Oscar Performance)–were out of Blame mares. Though approaching the evening of his career at 19, the Claiborne stallion remains highly precocious in this slow-burning sphere. His daughters have not yet sent 300 foals into the gate, compared with 1,741 even for another active sire in Tapit, five years his senior. So really, Blame has barely started. Even so, he is already damsire of 33 stakes winners, representing 11.3 percent of starters–as many as 17 in 2024, eight at graded level, from 181 starters. At 9.4 percent, that clip destroyed all meaningful opposition (though we'll acknowledge one potential exception below). Of the many whose bigger arsenals elevated them up the prizemoney table, closest was Curlin at 5.2 percent! Yet Blame is no one-trick pony. His own runners include 6.3 percent black-type winners to named foals, and 2.7 percent for his 22 graded stakes winners, a match for many standing at multiples of his $25,000 fee. He connects at market too–his $91,119 yearling average in 2024 is rock-solid against their conception fee (then $20,000). Meanwhile, his son, 'TDN Rising Star' Nadal, has made a brisk start at stud in Japan. In the round then, there are few better ways to prove a mare at this kind of money. But the real fun begins if you get a filly, whether to retain for your own program or to profit as Blame's reputation as broodmare sire–first announced in 2022, when 'Rising Stars' Forte (Violence) and Loggins (Ghostzapper) slugged it out in the GI Breeders' Futurity–continues to soar. Obviously the respective dams of Kilwin and World Beater can't take all the credit, having been mated with high-achieving stallions, and we'll examine their respective pages shortly. But let's just consider how Blame's key attributes might at least inform the perennial mystery of what actually “makes” a broodmare sire. First and foremost, each side of his pedigree is rooted in one of the best families in the book. His own maternal line reaches fifth dam Rough Shod (GB) via the main highway of her daughter Thong (Nantallah) and then Special (Forli {Arg}), with everything that entails: Blame's Grade I-placed granddam Bound (Nijinsky), for instance, duly being half-sister to Nureyev. And his sire Arch represents a similarly aristocratic dynasty, pegged down by Courtly Dee (Never Bend) as third dam. And, in the old days of controlled books, that guaranteed elite seeding throughout. Arch's first four dams, for instance, are by Danzig, Alydar, Never Bend and War Admiral. Kilwin wins the GI Test | Sarah Andrew That's working horizontally, as it were: following maternal lines. But you duly get equally seamless quality in what I like to call the “stairwell,” working top-to-bottom. The four sires in Blame's third generation are Roberto and Danzig behind Arch; plus Mr. Prospector and Nijinsky behind Blame's dam Liable (Seeking the Gold). The eight in his fourth generation are Hail to Reason, Princequillo, Northern Dancer and Alydar behind Arch; plus Raise a Native, Buckpasser, Northern Dancer again and Forli (Arg) behind Liable. Not too many creaking steps there! And by the way, this kind of thing we may never see again, if we keep flooding the gene pool with hundreds of foals by new stallions, only a small minority of which will ultimately prove to have been contributing healthily to the breed. In this context moreover, it's also intriguing to see so many names–above all those of Princequillo and Buckpasser–that especially excelled as distaff brands. The puzzle persists as to why some stallions will smuggle genes through a daughter that aren't manifested so consistently in their own runners. And we also know that blood, both good and bad, does not always tell–whether on the track or at stud. But we must be grateful for such footholds as we can find in the scree of pedigrees. And in a world where we can't even be certain of the color of a foal's coat, what a comfort to know that the depth of quality behind Blame means that it barely matters which particular strand might filter through. A Shooting Star Among Mares As noted above, Blame cannot claim all the credit for his daughters' landmark weekend. While the unraced one who produced Kilworth, for instance, is certainly proving an excellent producer, she had much else to work with besides. Actually one aspect even of her $1,500 purchase as an unraced 3-year-old, at the 2017 Keeneland November Sale, suggests that Spanish Star must have had more going for her than that price might suggest. For the docket was signed by Tommy Wente of St. Simon Place, who has a history of unearthing these diamonds in the rough. He presumably figured that Spanish Star was a blank slate out of a mare of high ability in La Gran Bailadora (Afleet Alex), a Grade III winner on synthetic who also made the podium in the GI Spinster Stakes (at the time also on such a surface). The next dam Affirmed Dancer (Affirmed) was also well above average, failing by just a neck in the GIII Gallorette Handicap on turf before closing out with a stakes win on dirt. And her own dam Woolloomooloo (Regal Intention), a leading grass mare in Canada, complemented her two stakes wins in that discipline with another on dirt. Sure enough, soon after Wente had her covered by Trappe Shot, Spanish Star's half-brother by Awesome Again won the GI Belmont Stakes as Sir Winston. Wente took the chance to cash out the mare, albeit the Trappe Shot colt did not himself exploit the upgrade when sold for just $21,000 as a yearling, admittedly in the tricky 2020 market. Nonetheless he would certainly do his bit for the page as One Timer, running away with a Grade II sprint at Kentucky Downs. His flowering was especially welcome to Gilder-Schwarz Farms, who had purchased Spanish Star for $275,000, also in 2020, when she returned to the November Sale. The Arrogate filly she was carrying that day, retained under the name Just Basking, ran away with the Iowa Oaks last year before running third in the GI Alabama Stakes. The first cover chosen for Spanish Star by her new owners was Twirling Candy, and the resulting filly, found by BBN Racing for $225,000 at the September Sale, we now know as GI Test Stakes winner Kilwin. Twirling Candy duly continues his unobtrusive rise to stardom. Just $10,000 when launching his first runners a decade ago, he has been standing for $60,000 the last four years and punched above even that weight when sixth in the general sires' table last year. Only Into Mischief can match his three elite winners in 2025 and Kilwin's inspired switch to dirt–Ag Bullet and Fionn having scored on turf–confirms his versatility. (He has had winners of dirt races as varied as the Bing Crosby Stakes, Preakness and Santa Anita Handicap.) I will always reserve a soft spot for a horse whose fourth dam is the result of allowing Alydar to cover the dam of his nemesis Affirmed! By the way, we hinted earlier that one stallion could lay a semi-meaningful glove on Blame's crazy performance as damsire last year. His name is, of course, Twirling Candy. Albeit from an even smaller footprint, his daughters represented by just 70 starters last year, he mustered no fewer than 10 stakes winners. World Beater | Tod Marks 'Doc' Has The Prescription There's quite a history to the other Grade I winner out of a Blame mare last Saturday. In fact you have to rewind to a maiden claimer at Del Mar in 1999, where a sophomore named Sharp Apple showed nothing but was eagerly claimed for $25,000. Though by Diesis (GB) out of a stakes-placed Top Ville (Ire) half-sister to the European star Apple Tree (Fr) (Bikala {Ire}), she was running in a dirt sprint. Her new owner, Dr. John Chandler, knew better than that–between his wide experience in Europe, and the fact that Diesis had come over to stand at his wife's farm, Mill Ridge–and promptly switched her to grass. Sharp Apple required some patience, but broke her maiden the following spring and eventually won a Listed race at Penn National. In her second career, she produced Pomology (Arch) to win two Group races in Europe before missing the G1 Prix Vermeille by a whisker in 2014. And it was by an equally desperate margin that Pomology's half-sister by Artie Schiller, Sassy Little Lil, would be denied the GI American Oaks two years later. At that point Chandler had just brought Sharp Apple's final foal, by Blame, home from the September Sale as a $95,000 RNA. Named Dabinett, she won a turf maiden at the Spa in a light career. And it was over the same circuit that her second foal, sold for $105,000 to Pin Oak Stud as a yearling, won the GI Saratoga Derby winner as World Beater. Quite a promising young breeder, “Doc”, also recently responsible for a Breeders' Cup winner in Nobals (Noble Mission {GB}). Happily, he has meanwhile kept Dabinett “married” to Oscar Performance, who's putting Mill Ridge back on the stallion map in such spectacular fashion–two decades after the farm mourned the loss of Sharp Apple's sire. The post Breeding Digest: Credit To Blame appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Lazio, third in both the G1 Deutsches Derby and the G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, is one of 30 lots catalogued for the BBAG August Online Auction. The son of Make Believe will be consigned by Waldemar Hickst. BBAG Auktionsrennen hero Warren Hill (Churchill) is also set to sell from the yard of Henk Grewe. The auction will run from August 13 at noon to August 15 at 3 p.m., with lots closing in two-minute increments. Entries will still be accepted through Monday, August 11. The post German Derby Third Lazio Anchors BBAG August Online Sale Catalogue appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has established a Racing Office Advisory Group comprised of senior racing officials from racetracks across the country, the organization announced Wednesday. The group will provide feedback to HISA's executive team and Standing Committees on rules, processes and operational practices affecting Thoroughbred racing officials nationwide. “Racing offices are integral to the successful implementation of HISA safety and integrity rules,” said HISA Director of Racetrack Safety Ann McGovern. “By establishing this group, we are making a direct channel available for racing office professionals to share their expertise. We are very fortunate to have some of the industry's most experienced professionals collaborating with us.” Inaugural members of the Racing Office Advisory Group are: Amber Carlisle, the Senior Manager of Racing Operations at Canterbury Park, where she also serves as Assistant Racing Secretary; Keith Doleshel, the Senior Director of Racing for the New York Racing Association; Jason Egan, the Director of Racing and Racing Secretary at Santa Anita Park; Georganne Hale, the Senior Vice President of Racing at the Maryland Jockey Club; Rick Hammerle, who currently serves as Director of Racing at Kentucky Downs, while consulting for 1/ST Racing; Eric Johnston, Director of Racing at Penn National Race Course; Mike Lakow, Vice President of Racing Operations at Gulfstream Park; John Lies, who oversees racing operations as Racing Secretary at Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows in Tulsa, while also calling races and setting morning line odds for multiple tracks; Tyler Picklesimer, the Director of Racing and Racing Secretary at Turfway Park and Kentucky Downs; and Jillian Tullock, Racing Secretary for the Maryland Jockey Club. The Racing Office Advisory Group will meet monthly and maintain an on-call advisory role to provide feedback on HISA rules and any racing office related issues. The post HISA Forms Racing Office Advisory Group appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Premier Racedays will be cut by more than two-thirds in 2026, with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) conceding that dilution of the original concept had lessened its anticipated impact. The idea was initially introduced in 2024 as a two-year pilot, with 170 fixtures designated as Premier Racedays which met certain criteria around prize-money and quality and were intended to showcase the very best of the calendar. A total of 162 Premier Racedays were scheduled for 2025, but next year will see just 52, focused on British racing's showpiece occasions. The protected two-hour window that was employed during the trial period, which limited action at other tracks, will be discontinued, in favour of gaps of at least 10 minutes around the major races on Saturday afternoons. Richard Wayman, the BHA's director of operations, said, “We wanted to make our best racing better and use that as our tool to grow interest in the sport. Part of that was making the racing as good as we could, so we invested in the racing and we have seen a real upside on that. “Prize-money on Premier Racedays in 2024 was over £7 million higher than it had been the previous year at those same fixtures, with another half a million this year, so in terms of actually supporting the quality and competitiveness of racing, making the sport at those meetings better, I think the policy has delivered.” He added, “Where clearly it has not done what we talked about two years ago was from a customer perspective, creating that brand around Premier Racedays that I think for a number of reasons didn't work. “I think one of the biggest reasons was that there were simply too many of them and it therefore diluted the message that these are genuinely elite fixtures – consumers just didn't buy that. I think moving to the 52 from 162 is a step in the right direction.” In a media briefing, Wayman confirmed that there are no plans for a marketing campaign for Premier Racedays in 2026, describing it as “a bridge” between the trial and the 2027 fixture list, which will be informed by evidence from ongoing consumer research. A total of 1,458 meetings (down from 1,460 in 2025) have been scheduled for next year, with the BHA employing measures that aim to increase the number of horses based and being raced in Britain, as well as enhancing the quality of those runners, supported by an additional £4.4 million in prize-money. The G1 July Cup, G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, G1 Sussex Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International will all get at least a £200,000 boost in 2026, while funds for developmental races will be increased, imposing minimum values for novice or maiden races on the Flat, plus added incentives for staying races. Novice and beginners' chases and maiden and novice hurdles will also have a baseline prize fund, while a bonus series for point-to-point horses is set to be introduced, with the aim of strengthening the supply of quality horses from that division to race under Rules. While the BHA continues its drive to improve competitiveness and reinforce Sunday racing, it has also made moves to try to mitigate the demands on those working in the industry, with a six-day pause (April 26 – May 1) and a 19-day break (July 27 – August 4) in National Hunt racing. The Flat action will stop on November 8-15, with rider-restricted meetings scheduled for November 16-18 and for five days in mid-winter (February 16-20). Other initiatives include a trial of 8pm finishes for all-weather meetings in the first nine weeks of the year. The post Significant Reduction in Premier Racedays as BHA Publishes 2026 Fixture List appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced juveniles from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes, sponsored by OBS Sales, highlights debuting and stakes-entered 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, including links to their under-tack previews. Here are the horses entered for Thursday at Saratoga. Thursday, August 7, 2025 Saratoga 6, 2yo, f, (R), 6f, 4:02 p.m. Horse (Sire), Sale, Price ($), Breeze Never Heather (Engage), FTMMAY, 30,000, G C-Pick View LLC, agent; B-Will Sacco, agent for Phil Wright Oscar Bound (Lexitonian), FTMMAY, 40,000, G C-JVC Training & Sales, agent; B-MEG Racing LLC Seraphina Sea (Justify), OBSAPR, 45,000, :10 2/5 C-First Call, agent; B-Naukbena Farms LLC Wander Woman (Blame), OBSAPR, 50,000, :10 1/5 C-Kinsman Farm, agent; B-Sport of Kings Racing Partnership The post Summer Breezes Sponsored By OBS: Thursday, August 7, 2025 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Cable Bay, the sire of this year's G1 July Cup winner No Half Measures, has died at the age of 14. “With profound sadness, we inform you that Cable Bay, the sire of the 2025 July Cup, Gr1 winner No Half Measures, as well as several individual black-type winners and performers, passed away last night,” read a statement posted to social media by the Northern Lights Stallion Syndicate, which brought the son of Invincible Spirit to India to continue his stallion career in 2023. “In the three years with us, he has given us quality foals and we hope that they can carry forward his legacy.” Bred by the Irish National Stud, Cable Bay was a three-time winner for the Charlie Hills yard, after being bought for €130,000 at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale. Successful in the G2 Challenge Stakes and G3 John Of Gaunt Stakes, he was also Group 1-placed as a two-year-old when filling the runner-up spot behind War Command in the Dewhurst Stakes. Cable Bay was based at Highclere Stud between 2016 and 2022, before his transfer to Dr Kehar Singh Stud in India. In 2019, his first crop yielded 25 individual two-year-old winners in Europe, including the G3 Molecomb Stakes heroine Liberty Beach and Weatherbys Racing Bank £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes scorer King's Lynn. That duo later won successive editions of the G2 Temple Stakes, with Liberty Beach striking at Haydock in 2021, before the victory of King's Lynn the following year. The multiple Group 1-placed Dragon Symbol and G2 Hungerford Stakes runner-up Laneqash feature among Cable Bay's other leading progeny in Europe, while Uncommon James was his sire's breakthrough Group 1 winner when landing the 2023 Oakleigh Plate. He was conceived during the stallion's time shuttling to Woodside Park Stud in Australia. The post Group 1 Sire Cable Bay Dies at 14 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

“We're enjoying it enormously.” Those are words racing needs to hear from every owner. In the case of Mick and Janice Mariscotti, who have been in the game long enough to have experienced both good days and bad, they know to appreciate a decent one when he comes along, and in Zavateri they look to have just that. “He's by far and away the best two-year-old we've ever had,” says Mick of the unbeaten young son of Without Parole, who now has the G2 July Stakes and G2 Vintage Stakes on his swiftly burgeoning CV. The Mariscottis are familiar figures at Tattersalls during Books 1 and 2 of the October Yearling Sales each year, always working closely in tandem with their longtime trainer Andrew Balding. In more recent years, Eve Johnson Houghton has also trained for the couple and her successful sales partnership with Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock led to the purchase of Zavateri at Book 2, for what now looks like a bargain price of 35,000gns. “It was deliberate,” Mariscotti says of Zavateri being a slightly earlier type than he and his wife have tended to race. “It's nice when a plan works. Because we have two trainers, Eve and Andrew, and we tend to buy horses at the same sales, Somerville, Book 1 and Book 2, and we felt when we were at the sales last year that we'd give Eve a slightly different brief than Andrew. That was to buy us a two-year-old that hopefully will progress, rather than just an out-and-out two-year-old. And she did.” He adds, “I think we are one of only three [horses] that have ever won the July Stakes and the Vintage, so we're in a select group.” Mick and Janice Mariscotti with Andrew Balding | Tattersalls That Vintage win at Goodwood, under a 3lb penalty for Zavateri's Newmarket success, naturally has all connected to the colt dreaming of next year's Classics. Meanwhile, of course, the phone has been ringing hot. “We were only halfway back from Salisbury after his maiden win, and we got the first offer,” says Mariscotti, who echoes the emphatic statement issued by his wife in the aftermath at Goodwood, that this one is not for sale. “Obviously, we've been blown away by the interest in him, and the figures that have been put to us are mind-blowing, but at the end of the day, we're in it to own racehorses and to enjoy them. He, at the moment, looks like he has the potential to be the best we've ever had, and we're going to stick with him. So we may regret it in due course, but no, we're going to stick with him. We don't sell everything.” He continues, “We are known for being sellers, but Masekela a few years ago was not as good as him, but he'd come second in the Superlative, and he looked like he was one of the better two-year-olds. And again, we were offered large amounts of money for him, but we decided to stick with him. So it's something that we will do. Particularly, I really don't like selling two-year-olds. It's too early in their career.” Bred by John and Tanya Gunther, and by their Newsells Park Stud-based homebred St James's Palace Stakes winner Without Parole, Zavateri is the first foal of the Aga Khan-bred mare Zeroua (Siyouni). Though she and her dam Zerkaza were both unraced, the latter's parents, Dalakhani and Zarkava, were a little bit special. Sometimes talent jumps not one but two generations. Born in Epsom, Mariscotti naturally has a Derby dream, but he would happily settle for an earlier Classic next spring. He says, “Looking at his pedigree, the Derby looks like it would be out of his range, but certainly pedigree-wise, he should be capable of getting a mile. And at the moment, he hasn't put a foot wrong. So we've got to look at the Group 1s over seven furlongs this season and stepping up to a mile next season, and hopefully he continues to develop. “Eve felt immediately after the race that a Group 1 was the right thing, and because you've got a penalty in a Group 2, they can be quite hard to win with a penalty, even though we did it in the Vintage. So I think the preference would be to go to Ireland [for the National Stakes], but it will obviously be subject to what the going is and all sorts of other things. But I think the major target this year very definitely is the Dewhurst. So that's something that we are aiming for, and it's just what the next step along the path is.” Eve Johnson Houghton has of course tasted Dewhurst success before when assisting her father Fulke in the training of Tout Seul 23 years ago. “She does a fantastic job,” says Mariscotti. “She won't want me pigeonholing her, but she's particularly good with two-year-olds, I think.” Certainly, Johnson Houghton's buying model, with Bromley, is one to be admired: their other juvenile stakes winner this season is the Windsor Castle Stakes winner Havana Hurricane (Havana Gold), who was bought for 9,000gns at the Somerville Sale. “Their approach is the same as the one we have with Andrew, which is we're buying the individual rather than the page,” Mariscotti explains. “And that opens up so many more opportunities, because you're not just putting a line through things because you don't like the breeding. And I think that's why the relationship works with Eve and Anthony on the buying front because they're as open-minded as we are, or we're as open-minded as they are. “But with both Andrew and with Eve, it's always a consensus view. So it's not a question of Eve wanting to buy something, or us wanting to buy something, or Anthony wanting to buy something. We all have to agree that we like the individual, and we've got a price, and we're prepared to go to that price.” With the rise of Zavateri, it is partly a case of one door opening as another begins to close. The Mariscottis bought the redoubtable stayer Coltrane (Mastercraftsman) at Book 1 seven years ago for 50,000gns and he has repaid them handsomely. Under Balding's care he was won nine of his 33 starts, including the G2 Doncaster Cup and G2 Lonsdale Cup, earning more than £1 million in the process. At the age of eight, he followed up this season's fifth in the Gold Cup at Ascot with victory in the Coral Marathon at Sandown's Eclipse meeting. “That was special on several levels,” Mariscotti says. “Firstly because it took him past the million pounds in prize-money, and we were delighted that he did it by winning a race. I mean, we could have run him and come in third, fourth and all the rest, but actually to win a race was great. “And I'm an ex-Coral person, so winning a Coral race was particularly special. The guys at Coral, Simon [Clare] and David [Stevens] in particular, I worked with them, and they were genuinely pleased that he won. That particular race was the first Pattern race that he won on his way up. And if it is the last one he wins as he's coming towards the end of his career, I think that's sort of perfect symmetry for me. I'm not saying that we don't want him to win another one, and he is going to run at least once more this season, but he's now eight, and there are the new guys on the block and they're quite difficult to beat. But he's tough, and he's honest, and all the things that you really want in a racehorse.” The Mariscottis, along with many other owners, will soon begin the hunt for the next bright star, though it will be hard for newcomers to walk in the hoofprints of those who have gone before, including the G2 Queen's Vase winner Dashing Willoughby (Nathaniel). “We've already booked our hotel rooms for Somerville, Book 1 and Book 2,” the owner says with relish. “Somerville, we hadn't been to, but Eve bought us one there last year, and we'll go back and have a look. Book 1 and Book 2 are typically our hunting grounds. It's becoming harder and harder to buy in Book 1 but we're there because if there is anything that slips through and takes our fancy, we want to be able to take advantage.” It is a strategy which has worked well in the past and, with their relentless enthusiasm and sustained investment in the sport, nobody can begrudge the Mariscottis their good fortune in owning Zavateri. Long may he run. The post ‘We’re in it to Own Racehorses and Enjoy Them’: Mick Mariscotti on Crack Juvenile Zavateri appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

What Ballarat Races Where Ballarat Turf Club – 72 Midas Rd, Miners Rest VIC 3352 When Thursday, August 7, 2025 First Race 1pm AEST Visit Dabble Ballarat’s synthetic course hosts an eight-race Thursday card with fair conditions typical of the surface. The opener jumps at 1:00pm AEST and the closer is at 4:30pm. Expect on-speed runners to be advantaged early over the short trips, while strong, momentum-building types tend to excel from the 1400m to 2100m. Monitor any pattern shift through R1–R3, but Ballarat’s synthetic usually rewards maps more than barriers. Best Bet at Ballarat: Delivering Delivering is airborne and gets another ideal synthetic set-up in the 1500m BM70. His last three runs read like a proper poly specialist’s profile, and with the 3kg claim he tumbles to a light impost from barrier one. That should let Zoe Waller control the race either in front or box-seating behind a modest tempo, which is gold at Ballarat when leaders lift from the 600m. He owns the best last-600m ratings in this field, handles the trip, and maps to save every inch of ground before sprinting off the bend. If Delivering begins cleanly, he’s the one they all have to catch. Best Bet Race 5 – #1 Delivering (1) 5yo Gelding | T: Ciaron Maher | J: Ms Zoe Waller (a3) (61.5kg) Next Best at Ballarat: Podargoni Podargoni keeps improving and can measure up quickly in BM70 grade at 1200m. The Hayes camp has placed him smartly and his pattern—jump, land handy, build from the 500m—fits the Ballarat all-weather perfectly. From barrier six, Harry Coffey can park just off the lead pair and control the race in clean air, avoiding kickback. His recent win showed a strong change-up speed and he was doing his best work late, suggesting the step into tougher company won’t blunt his finish. With a pragmatic ride and a race lacking deep closers, Podargoni profiles to stalk and pounce at the 200m. Next Best Race 7 – #5 Podargoni (6) 3yo Gelding | T: Ben, Will & JD Hayes | J: Harry Coffey (58kg) Next Best Again at Ballarat: Costalotta Costalotta did enough first-up when chasing hard into second at Ballarat and looks primed to go one better over 1400m. She draws out a touch but that can be a positive here: Declan Bates can slide across, find the moving line and avoid traffic before the bend. Second-up improvement is on the cards, and her action suggests the poly is no issue. With a few debutants and lightly raced rivals likely to be finding their feet late, race fitness becomes a key edge. If she lands in the first four turning, Costalotta’s sustained last-400m should make her hard to hold out. Next Best Again Race 1 – #5 Costalotta (7) 3yo Filly | T: Archie Alexander | J: Declan Bates (56kg) Thursday quaddie tips for Ballarat Synthetic Ballarat quadrella selections Thursday, July 7, 2025 1-2-3 2-3-5 4-5 1-4-7 Horse racing tips View the full article

Gemma Flitz (NZ) (Telperion) has been a model of consistency on Riccarton’s synthetic track and she capped off that form when it counted, claiming the major spoils in Wednesday’s $100,000 Polytrack Championship (1200m). The mare joined Ross Beckett’s Yaldhurst stable just under two years ago and swiftly announced herself on the synthetic circuit, winning or placing on the surface at each of her six attempts. On that form, Beckett eyed the six-figure feature for Gemma Flitz this year, and she produced a stunning dress rehearsal last start to come into the race as a $6.20 hope. As expected, the pace was fierce early as Holdem and Spartan contended for the early lead, while Gemma Flitz was forced to remain three-wide in the hands of apprentice jockey Donovan Cooper, but she found a comfortable rhythm in midfield. Spartan edged clear on the corner but the challengers were coming across the track, including Gemma Flitz, who found the perfect split down the centre alongside one of her main rivals in Tumuch. The pair came away from the field in the last 200m, and despite a late dive at the line from her higher-weighted rival, Gemma Flitz got the better of Tumuch to claim the top spot by nose. Beckett had been impressed by the mare’s progress since her last success and was rapt to collect the big prize on his local course. “She needed the run the other day and she’d done nothing but improve since then,” he said. “It’s a great result. “I said (to Cooper) to hop out, be positive and hopefully end up about fifth or sixth. I’d rather he be wide then too far back, so it worked out very well. “I’m a big supporter of the synthetic track and for the Riccarton track itself, there is a lot of good work going on here.” Gemma Flitz had plenty of support in the crowd from her syndicate, which includes her former trainer Karen Fursdon. She broke maiden status for the Matamata horsewoman before heading south, where she has now boosted her earnings to more than $145,000. “The owners called me up one day and asked if I would take her, so I did, and we’ve taken our time with her since then,” Beckett said. “She’s only had around 20 starts and she’s matured right out into a really nice mare. “We put her on the polytrack and she loved it, she goes well on the turf too, but she just doesn’t like a wet track. If we didn’t have the poly, she wouldn’t even be in work at the moment. “She’s not just a 1200m horse, I think she’ll get a mile easy enough as she can settle. We’ll get her ready for Cup Week now.” Out of a Postponed mare Lady Gaga, Gemma Flitz has won five of her 23 appearances and placed in a further seven. View the full article

Joe Waldron made the perfect start to his New Zealand return, with his first runner back collecting a winning cheque at Riccarton’s synthetic meeting on Wednesday. Waldron commenced his training career in the Waikato and has spent the last six years plying his trade in Victoria, and he has recently returned to his home region of Otago, where he trains out of Wingatui. He brought half a dozen horses back with him to New Zealand, including Secret Beau (I Am Invincible), who broke through for his maiden win in convincing fashion when taking out the Stallion Tenders Now Open Maiden (1200m). In the hands of Matt Cartwright, the son of I Am Invincible was taken straight to the front, where he was never headed, and he showed his class down the home straight when opening up a significant margin on his rivals, eventually running out a 4-1/2 length victor. Waldron was duly rapt to score with his first runner back, and he was able to celebrate the victory trackside with his partner, Sarah Fannin. “It was really cool,” Waldron said. “I thought he would improve with the run as he has had a couple of quiet weeks after he got here. “It didn’t surprise me that he was able to win, but he surprised me how he did it because he should still have good improvement coming out of the win.” Waldron purchased Secret Beau online in Australia for A$4,000 and he has proven to be an astute buy, finishing runner-up in both of his Australian starts prior to heading across the Tasman. “He has been a great wee pick-up for us,” he said. “We found him on Inglis Digital for A$4,000 after he had trialled at Hawkesbury. It was the right place at the right time.” Cartwright had ridden Secret Beau to his debut runner-up result on Pakenham’s synthetic track in June and Waldron was delighted to renew their association at Riccarton on Wednesday. “We feel very lucky to have someone of his ability riding for us down here,” Waldron said. Waldron is loving his time back in New Zealand and said the climate hasn’t been too dissimilar to his former Australian base of Pakenham. “It has been fantastic,” he said. “The horses have settled in great and the people are fantastic, they have been really helpful and really welcoming. Fingers-crossed we can keep things going. “It reminded me of Pakenham (at Riccarton) – it was cold and windy. We have been blessed with the weather, there have been some cold, frosty mornings, but lovely days. No complaints, it’s no colder than it was over there.” Waldron said many of his stable are still in the infancy of their spring preparations and Secret Beau will likely be his sole representative until spring. “Secret Beau will line-up in a couple of weeks’ time, depending how he comes through the run,” Waldron said. “A few of the other horses are early into their preps, so they are still six to eight weeks away.” While his stable is mostly made up of his own runners at the moment, Waldron has received strong interest from outside owners, and he is looking forward to building his team in the coming months. “We have had a few people get in touch, so hopefully things fall into place, which means there are a couple of more horses in the stable, which will be cool,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.” View the full article

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The record-smashing Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale steam rolled to its conclusion Tuesday night, setting highwater marks for every metric and culminating with a head-turning gross of $100,715,000. At the close of business, 160 yearlings had sold for an average of $629,469 and median of $450,000–numbers which dwarfed records set just last year when 154 yearlings grossed $82,160,000 for an average of $533,506 and a median of $425,000. It was the third straight year of across-the-board statistical records at the Saratoga sale. The buy-back rate following Monday's first session of the auction was a sparkling 12.5%, but even that figure improved during Tuesday's blockbuster session. With just 21 of 181 offered yearlings failing to meet their reserves, the cumulative buy-back rate for the auction was 11.6%. “It was a remarkable two days,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “We've been selling at Saratoga for 104 years, so it's not an overnight sensation. It's a culmination of many, many years of hard work and sweat.” Still Browning admitted the results of the 2025 Saratoga sale exceeded all expectations. “If somebody had told me even last night at 6:25 p.m. that we were going to sell $100 million worth of horses, I would have told them you've lost your mind. We knew it was going to be really tough to top last year. And we smashed all records. It was a record-smashing sale and we are so proud of that.” The Saratoga auction was just four hips from its conclusion when Coolmore and White Birch Farm went to a sale-topping $4.1 million to secure a colt by Into Mischief from the Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa consignment. The yearling was one of 25 to sell for $1 million or more at the boutique sale and one of six to sell for $2 million or more. A year ago, 12 horses sold for seven figures, with two bringing more than $2 million. The auction's 15 top-priced offerings were purchased by 15 different buying entities, reflecting a diversity that is indicative of a healthy marketplace, according to Browning. $4.1 million @FasigTiptonCo Saratoga Tuesday: Hip 218, an Into Mischief colt out of Stellar Sound, sold to Coolmore & @WhiteBirchFarm_ from the consignment of @HillnDaleFarm, agent for @hsdonalberto. pic.twitter.com/TcPu0SrkwB — TDN (@theTDN) August 6, 2025 “Someone told me before the sale that [the market] reminded them of the '80s, it's so good,” Browning said. “And I said, 'Wait a second. It's got no resemblance to the 80s.' The 80s was dominated by basically two or three buying groups. And when you are dominated by two or three buying groups, there is a fragility with that and that fragility came to fruition. Today there is a broad base of both consignors and buyers. And it makes for a much, much healthier industry.” Bidding returns to the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs for the two-day Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale which begins Sunday evening at 7 p.m. and concludes with a session beginning Monday at noon. White Birch, Coolmore Land Final Blow for $4.1M Into Mischief Colt When it appeared that the pace might finally start winding down near the end of Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale, a bay colt by Into Mischief, Hip 218, strode into the sales ring. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa on behalf of Don Alberto Corp., the first foal out of MGSP Stellar Sound (Tapit) quickly bounded to seven figures in a blink of an eye. With bids coming fast and furious from both the front and back of the pavilion, it was the tandem of Peter Brant's White Birch Farm and Coolmore partners that held fast to land what would ultimately equate to the sale's highest-priced yearling with a $4.1-million winning bid. $4,100,000 sale topper! #FasigSaratoga pic.twitter.com/3sZstMcf8I — Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 6, 2025 Stellar Sound, a half sister to GISP Luminance (Tale of the Cat) and SW Smart as Me (Malibu Moon), is a granddaughter of MGISW Versailles Treaty (Danzig), herself responsible for GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner George Vancouver. Coolmore and White Birch partnered on four yearlings through two sessions, including Hip 123, a colt by Into Mischief who realized $1.25 million, and Hip 101, a colt by Uncle Mo who brought $1 million. The duo also paired up to secure a colt by Golden Pal (Hip 78) for $275,000. “It's a surreal feeling that [Coolmore, Brant] would step up to get this colt,” said Don Alberto's Reed Ringler. “I cannot tell you how gratified I am of everyone on our farm who has poured their guts out into these horses and for them to come up here and showcase themselves like this.” He added, “All the credit to Carlos and Liliana [Heller] for building the broodmare band and the work that goes into these horses and it shows when they come up here. That surpassed their wildest dreams and we feel very blessed. We are all very proud.” –CBoss Don Alberto Takes Home Into Mischief Filly, But is Rewarded with Sale-Topping Into Mischief Colt In addition to the Saratoga sale topping $4.1-million Into Mischief colt, Don Alberto Corporation brought five other yearlings to this year's select sale, including a colt by Good Magic (Hip 117)-a full-brother to MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Muth–who brought $1 million, in addition to a Flightline filly (Hip 208) selling for $600,000. The operation also sold a Curlin filly (Hip 166) for $525,000 and a filly by Constitution (Hip 193) for $500,000. Hip 117, a Good Magic colt | Fasig-Tipton Of Don Alberto's initial seven-figure sale during Tuesday's session–a full-brother to GI Arkansas Derby and GI American Pharoah winner Muth–the operation's Reed Ringler explained, “He showed himself great. He has a lot of leg under him. He reminded me so much of his full-brother. I think everyone else saw the same thing. We gave him a little bit of time, to get into himself, and he looked like a racehorse. For a May 23 foal, he just handled everything up here so easy.” Despite the active market at the higher end, Ringler thought the colt could hit the seven-figure mark despite his late foaling date. “We were hopeful he could bring $1 million, but with the late birth date, you never know,” he admitted. “We brought him up here hoping he'd show himself well because he is still just a baby and I was hoping the buyers up here would have the imagination needed to see what this guy can grow up to look like. I think his attitude and willingness, 230 times out of his stall, was what got it done.” Ironically, the sole yearling of this year's six-horse Don Alberto consignment not to sell was one of the most talked about yearlings heading into the sale, Hip 165, a filly by Into Mischief that just failed to achieve her reserve of $4 million. The filly, a half-sister to this season's GI Preakness winner Journalism (Curlin), is out of Mopotism (Uncle Mo), who succumbed to complications arising from colic prior to Journalism's GI Haskell Stakes victory last month. Don Alberto currently has a filly by Flightline, the final foal out of Mopotism foaled earlier this season. “This one might open up some new doors,” Ringler said. “The plan had initially been to keep her. But we'll see how things go.” Hip 165, a $3.9-million RNA, gets ready | Fasig-Tipton As for Tuesday's RNA, he explained, “Ultimately, I don't know what we were rooting for. I would have been crying if we sold her because we love her so much. But at the same time, when you come up here and have a horse like this in this market place you feel obligated. She came here and jumped through all the hoops and ultimately was a little bit short of where we wanted to be. But I am happy to take this one home and Carlos [Heller] is too, especially after losing the mare. This filly is one of one. She looks so much like her mother and like Journalism, is a big, scopey horse.” He continued, “We wanted to come up here and give her a chance and see if someone would step up, it didn't happen and we're happy to take her home. I hope she becomes a stakes winner and produces foals like her mother did.” Ringler reflected on the highs and lows over the past month, on the track, at the sales and in the breeding shed. “It was an incredible roller coaster the last month. Journalism riding those highs, and then losing the mare,” he said. “To take that filly home after hoping to get $4 million for her and to turn around an hour later and get $4 million for the Into Mischief colt is unbelievable. But the bar was high and it's been a very strong market. Fasig assembled a nice group of horses and to come up here and compete, it's an unbelievable feeling. It's been a great night.” –CBoss $3-Million Into Mischief Colt Tops Resolute's Saratoga Purchases John Stewart said he was particularly looking for yearlings by Into Mischief when shopping at this year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale and, while he missed out on the half-sister to Journalism by the Spendthrift super sire, he would not be denied when bidding $3 million to acquire a colt (hip 178) by the sire for his Resolute Racing. The colt is out of stakes winner and Grade I-placed Lady Kate (Bernardini) and he was consigned by Gainesway on behalf of Stonestreet, which purchased the mare for $1.15 million at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November sale. Hip 178, by Into Mischief | Fasig-Tipton “I really was on hip 163 and it got bought back by the owners, so I had two more shots left,” Stewart said. “And I am here to find good colts that can go two turns and that's why I think there was so much action on that horse. So we are really happy with that.” Resolute Racing purchased five yearlings at the two-day auction for a total of $5,425,000. Among the group was an $875,000 son of Flightline (hip 111); a $600,000 son of Violence (hip 24); a $550,000 filly by Nyquist (hip 94); and a $400,000 daughter of Charlatan (hip 143). @JessMartiniTDN Demand for Gun Runner Yearlings Continues with $2.9M Colt Day 2 Continuing the blazing run of Horse of the Year Gun Runner, a colt out of Princesa Carolina (Tapit) realized a $2.9-million final bid from agent Donato Lanni, bidding from the upstairs balcony. Acting on behalf of Amer Zedan of Zeddan Racing, Lanni was also flanked by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Offered as Hip 179 from the Four Star Sales consignment, the Apr. 22 foal is a half-brother to GII Demoiselle Stakes winner and Grade I-placed 'TDN Rising Star' Muhimma (Munnings). The colt was the highest-priced yearling by the stallion to sell over the two days. “He was an unassuming horse, but he was impressive when he started moving,” said Lanni. “He was always automatic. The past three or four days, he just had a good attitude about everything. He looks like a racehorse. And he looks like he will go the distance and could get us to the [Kentucky] Derby. He's a Derby type of horse. Bob liked him and Amer likes to come here and buy horses. We got lucky.” Hip 179, by Gun Runner | Fasig-Tipton The grey colt was bred by Three Chimneys Farm, also where Gun Runner currently stands stud. “The horse pushed off with his hind quarters, something you just don't see often, so much so that it almost looked out of place it was so strong. He's a great individual,” said Four Star Sales Kerry Cauthen. Adding some extra meaning to the sale, Cauthen explained, “Donato is a great judge of horseflesh. He and I worked together at Walmac, so it was fun to see him buy that horse and for me a chance to sell him.” Princesa Carolina, a 9-year daughter of MGISW Pure Clan (Pure Prize), is also responsible for an unraced Gun Runner colt who brought $2.2 million at Keeneland last September. “There is a hope they will sell well, but you can't really expect that they will finish up like that,” admitted Cauthen. “We are lucky to have great owners like Three Chimneys, and the whole team, including my team, it takes everybody. I am very proud of everybody. “It was a great sale. He's a very precocious-looking horse and he's very young. He has a lot of growing to do. We are very happy with him.” During Tuesday's second session, a total of five yearlings by Gun Runner generated $8.95 million in gross receipts for an average of $1.79 million. Through both sessions, a total of eight yearlings sold for $12.65 million, averaging $1,581,250. —CBoss 'Something New at Our Age:' Boyds Add $2.6-Million Gun Runner Filly to Fledgling Stable Randy and Jenny Boyd admitted they knew nothing about horse racing, but Randy said, “Life is about living slightly uncomfortable and this is a whole new space for us.” The couple, sitting alongside bloodstock agent Billy Love and Brittany Linton in the front row of the pavilion, made the most of their new space, going to $2.6 million to acquire a daughter of Gun Runner (hip 175) from the Lane's End consignment Tuesday in Saratoga. Hip 175, by Gun Runner | Fasig-Tipton “This was something new that we could do at our age,” Jenny Boyd said. “It was something we knew nothing about. And it's very exciting.” Randy Boyd is the president of the University of Tennessee and the founder of Radio Systems Corporation. The couple's Boyd Racing now includes three horses in training, including a filly who was recently second in a maiden special weight at Saratoga. Love, a former rodeo cowboy who earned his way into the Thoroughbred industry working for Ali and Brandon Rice's RiceHorse Stables, was celebrating his biggest purchase as a bloodstock agent on his birthday Tuesday. “I met the Boyds about a year and a half ago through Brittany Linton,” Love said. “They purchased a horse privately from me, a Yaupon filly and thankfully, for extra reassurance, last week she ran a strong second in a maiden special weight in Saratoga. She ran a very competitive race. And that just made it easier for them to give me permission to buy a couple horses for them here.” The 2-year-old Tennessee Belle (Yaupon), aptly named for the Knoxville natives, was second in a July 26 special weight at Saratoga for trainer John Ortiz. Bred by Pam and Marty Wygod and Oliver and Emily Bushnell, hip 175 is out of multiple Grade I winner Paradise Woods (Union Rags). “We loved her physically,” Love said. “From the start, she caught our eye and obviously her pedigree is very strong. She is bred to be a Kentucky Oaks horse. We loved everything about her from her nose to her tail to her feet. Everything is perfect about her.” Billy Love | Fasig-Tipton Also on behalf of the Boyds, Love and Linton purchased a colt by Practical Joke (hip 9) for $350,000 during Monday's opening session of the auction. “The purchases from this sale will go down to Paul Sharp in Ocala,” Love said. “I bought them some weanlings over the winter and they are at my farm in Ocala.” Love, who offered his first consignment at OBS in 2019, admitted it was a long way from needing a partner to purchase a $2,000 horse to buying a $2.6-million yearling for his clients, but was quick to add hard work had just as much to do with his progression in the industry as luck. “People say it's luck,” he said. “They don't see all the 15-hour workdays.” @JessMartiniTDN Spendthrift Buys Out Partners for $2.6-Million Into Mischief Colt Spendthrift Farm's Ned Toffey admitted the farm had tried to buy out partners Carolyn and Fletcher Gray on an Into Mischief colt earlier this year, but the Grays resisted and that decision paid dividends in the Saratoga sales ring Tuesday when Toffey was forced to $2.6 million to acquire the yearling out of multiple Grade I winner I'm a Chatterbox (Munnings). “We bought half of I'm a Chatterbox several years ago and she is one of two mares on Spendthrift that we have a partner on,” Toffey explained. “We tried to buy him a little while ago and they were too smart to take that offer. The only fair way then is to bring him through the ring and sort it out from there.” Hip 163, out of I'm a Chatterbox | Fasig-Tipton The Grays bred and campaigned I'm a Chatterbox to wins in the 2015 GI Cotillion Stakes and 2016 GI Delaware Handicap and GI Juddmonte Spinster Stakes. “He was a colt that we raised and we obviously know a lot about him,” Toffey said of the yearling. “We thought he was as pretty as any colt in the sale and so we are really happy to have him.” Spendthrift also bought out the Grays to acquire the mare's 2-year-old filly by Into Mischief for $700,000 at last year's Saratoga sale. Now named Bad Manners, the filly has been working at Del Mar. Asked if the colt's $2.6-million price tag Tuesday matched expectations, Toffey said, “We got outbid so badly on several horses last night. We got several bought, but there were others that we tried to buy and we didn't get anywhere close. So we kind of came up here thinking he was $1.5 million and after that, we thought he might be more because the market is so strong.” @JessMartiniTDN West Point, John Oxley Team Up on First Joint Purchase During a wild run of action in the latter half of Tuesday's session, John Oxley and West Point Thoroughbreds joined forces to secure Hip 176, a colt by Horse of the Year Flightline, for $1.8 million. The bay was consigned by Lane's End on behalf of breeder Summer Wind Farm. Flightline, who stands at Lane's End Farm, is represented by his first crop of yearlings in 2025. Hip 176, by Flightline | Fasig-Tipton Out of SW and GSP Park Avenue, the Mar. 5 foal, the first for his dam, was bred by Summer Wind Farm and Sarah Farish. The mare, a daughter of Quality Road, was purchased by Summer Wind for $1.45 million at Keeneland November in 2022. This represents the extended family of Mine Only (Mr. Prospector), the dam of GSW Academy Award and GSW Statuette, herself the dam of Irish Highweight Tomahawk. “We bought a beautiful Flightline filly [Monday, $1.1 million, Hip 34] and we were trying to get a Flightline colt today and he was at the top of the list,” said West Point's Terry Finley. “We know he has been in the right hands since the day he was foaled. We are really happy.” According to Finley, the West Point/Oxley partnership represented the first joint venture between the longtime owners. “We had the honor and privilege of partnering with John Oxley for the first time and his agent Justin Casse. We crossed paths earlier today and we are really psyched,” he said. “He is a pillar of the turf. I am really glad we have a chance to partner with him.” Through two sessions, West Point purchased four yearlings, including a pair of seven-figure yearlings, for a total of $3.16 million with an average of $902,500. “The sale has been on a roll, so we wouldn't have been surprised if he went past $2 million. The top end of the market is really strong.” “There are a lot of good things going on in our industry. There is a lot of momentum right now. There are some great things to build upon.” –CBoss 'Going to Do More Next Year:' Charlatan Filly Rewards Hamlin as Nothing But Net Tim Hamlin of Wynnstay Farm was already familiar with the family when he purchased a filly by Charlatan (hip 143) on behalf of a client for $140,000 at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year. That experience paid off for Hamlin and his client when the yearling sold for $400,000 to Resolute Racing Tuesday in Saratoga. “I used to own the mare,” Hamlin said. “A friend of mine got real sick and we had to sell the mare. But when I saw her foal, I wanted to buy her.” Fasig-Tipton The filly's dam Lin Marie (Curlin) sold to Wind Hill Farm for $140,000 through the Wynnstay consignment at the 2020 Keeneland November sale. Of the mare's Charlatan filly, Hamlin said, “She was a beautiful filly. She looked fast. Just like she does now. She just grew up beautiful and she vetted perfectly. She's got a good family. She did everything right.” Hamlin said Tuesday's result exceeded expectations. “We had some good people on her,” he said. “I was hoping she would bring $300,000. But you never know.” Asked if he was happy with the result, Hamlin said, “Very happy.” And his client? “He is very happy, too. This was his first baby-to-yearling pinhook. He buys yearlings to race or pinhook. He breaks a lot of horses for end users. He's in the game, but he's really never done the pinhooking of babies to yearlings. But he says we are going to do more next year.” @JessMartiniTDN The post With $4.1-Million Into Mischief Colt Leading the Way, Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Gross Surges Past $100 Million appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

When hip 165, the Into Mischief half-sister to GI Preakness Stakes and GI Haskell Stakes hero Journalism (Curlin) was led out unsold on a bid of a lofty $3.9 million, many would have thought that the opportunity was lost for the Solari Family's Don Alberto Corporation to have offered the sales-topper at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. But as a wild second session approached the finish line after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, a colt by the Spendthrift standout assured that would not be the case when hip 218 was knocked down to Coolmore and Peter Brant's White Birch Farm for the sales-topping price of $4.1 million. The Feb. 4 foal was consigned to the Saratoga Sale by John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa and is the first foal out of Stellar Sound (Tapit), three times placed at the graded level while carrying the Don Alberto colors on the Southern California circuit. Don Alberto had acquired the colt's second dam Siren Serenade (Unbridled's Song)–a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero George Vancouver (Henrythenavigator) and close relative to GSW & GISP Saarland (Unbridled)–for $1.025 million carrying the filly that would become Stellar Sound at the 2017 Keeneland January Sale. The cross of Into Mischief over Tapit has yielded the likes of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous and the additional graded winners Hoosier Filly and Rocket Can. Hip 218 c. INTO MISCHIEF o/o Stellar Sound sells for $4,100,000 at The Saratoga Sale! Congrats to the connections: B: Coolmore & @WhiteBirchFarm_ C: @HillnDaleFarm, agt for @hsdonalberto Br: Don Alberto Corporation#FasigSaratoga @spendthriftfarm pic.twitter.com/aRinYgthzQ — Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 6, 2025 The post Saving The Best For Last At Fasig-Tipton Saratoga appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The activity in the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion reached a fever pitch nearing the 9 p.m. hour on the East Coast, with three horses selling in rapid succession, each crossing the $2.5-million threshold at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. The crown jewel in the sequence was hip 178, a colt by Into Mischief–Lady Kate (Bernardini), that was hammered down to John Stewart's Resolute Bloodstock for $3 million. Bred on the same cross as dual Classic winner Sovereignty, the bay colt is out of a stakes-winning and Grade I-placed daughter of Grade II winner Princess Haya (Street Cry {Ire}). Hip 178 was bred by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and was consigned by Gainesway, Agent for Stonestreet Bred For Brilliance. Hip 175, a daughter of the red-hot Gun Runner out of two-time Grade I-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Paradise Woods (Union Rags), equaled the price of the Into Mischief–I'm A Chatterbox colt 12 hips prior when selling to Love/Linton, agents for Boyd Racing for $2.6 million. A Feb. 8 foal, the bay was consigned by Lane's End as agent for Tranquility Lake Farms and was bred by Pam and the late Marty Wygod and Oliver and Emily Bushnell. The Gun Runner show rolled on just minutes later when a half-brother (hip 179) to Grade II-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Muhimma (Munnings) was hammered down to Donato Lanni, agent for Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing, for $2.9 million. A daughter of SW & GISP Princesa Carolina (Tapit), the gray is a maternal grandson of the excellent two-time Grade I scorer Pure Clan (Pure Prize). Bred by Three Chimneys Farm, hip 179 was consigned by Four Star Sales. John Oxley and West Point Thoroughbreds also jumped into the fray when going to $1.8 million for a colt from the first crop of Flightline. Consigned by Lane's End on behalf of Flightline breeder and co-owner Summer Wind Equine, hip 176 is a March-foaled son of the stakes-winning and GSP Park Avenue (Quality Road) and hails from a deep Peter Blum family. Fireworks at Hip 178 INTO MISCHIEF X LADY KATE We add another superstar colt to the bunch pic.twitter.com/nArwN0YrcJ — Resolute Racing (@resracingky) August 6, 2025 The post Flurry of Activity Sees Into Mischief Colt Sell For $3 Million, Gun Runner Offspring Make $2.9 Million and $2.6 Million appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Like many trainers, Raymond Connors has always dreamed of contesting the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), and reality is now starting to hit home as he prepares Trav towards to coveted race in November. The Bulls horseman has had plenty of success in New Zealand’s three feature two-mile races, with Blood Brotha winning back-to-back Gr.3 New Zealand Cups (3200m) in 2011 and 2012, before taking out the Wellington Cup in 2013 (run at Group Two-level over 2400m that year), while Trav completed the set when victorious in the Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m) at Ellerslie in March. Following that win, Connors mapped out a plan to get his charge to Flemington in spring, and that campaign began at Foxton on Tuesday where Trav trialled over 1000m. Connors was pleased with his hit-out, where he finished third over a distance far short of his best, and he believes he is on track at this part of his preparation. “I was happy enough,” he said. “It’s early days, but at least he went alright.” While Melbourne is the ultimate aim, Connors said Trav’s first couple of starts in New Zealand will dictate whether they press on and head across the Tasman. “We are going to give him the opportunity and just see where it takes us. We will try and get him over there,” Connors said. “We will give him a couple of races here and then we will head to Aussie. We will probably get him over there in early October.” The first race on the agenda is the Gr.3 The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington on October 4, with the winner gaining automatic entry into the Melbourne Cup. While excited to have a horse capable of heading towards the iconic race, Connors has his feet firmly on the ground and is remaining realistic about the task in front of him. “We are not getting too ahead of ourselves, but it is good to dream that way at this stage,” he said. “We will try and get him as best we can and see if he is capable enough. He is going as good as you would hope for at this stage.” Meanwhile, undefeated stablemate Magic Charm also made an appearance at the Foxton trials on Tuesday, having an easy hit-out over 1000m, and Connors is looking forward to heading back to the races with the son of Charm Spirit. “We are just getting him back and hopefully get him back to the races,” Connors said. “He is a promising enough horse.” View the full article

Doctor Askar (NZ) (Derryn) has had a near perfect record this year and he will be seeking to continue his golden run this spring, with several Group Ones in the crosshairs. The homebred gelding won all but one of his six starts for trainer Joanne Moss earlier this year, culminating in victories in the Listed Flying Handicap (1400m) and Gr.3 Easter Handicap (1600m), and stakes targets are once again in the pipeline. “That was pretty exciting with what he did, but we are in a new season now,” Moss said. The five-year-old gelding has had two trials so far this preparation, including a pleasing runner-up hit-out over 1000m at Foxton on Tuesday, and Moss couldn’t be any happier with the son of Derryn. “He has just had quiet trials and not much has been asked of him,” she said. “I was pretty happy with him (on Tuesday), he looked happy there with his ears pricked. “He has been a bit cheeky since he has been back in this time. I think once he starts racing, he will get into his groove again hopefully.” Doctor Askar has been tested just once outside of the Central Districts, when winning the Easter Handicap at Ellerslie in April, but he is set to be a more frequent visitor to the north this spring. Moss has covered her bases and has nominated Doctor Askar for all three legs of the spring Group One triple crown, which will take place at Te Rapa and Ellerslie, with his first start of the season set to take place at the former venue in the Gr.2 Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate (1200m) in a fortnight. “I will probably look at the Foxbridge and see what happens,” Moss said. “You have got to put him in (to the Group Ones), but anything can happen between now and then. “I’ll just see how he comes up, but he is pretty happy with himself at the moment and he was really happy after we got home from that trial, he is definitely on the up.” Meanwhile, Moss said she is ruling a line through stablemate Tai’s subpar performance at Otaki last month, with the half-brother to Doctor Askar finishing 57 lengths off the winner. The son of The Bold One had won and finished runner-up in his previous two starts, and Moss said he has taken no ill effects from his Otaki outing. “I don’t know what happened with Tai at Otaki,” she said. “He came home and was galloping around the paddock in the morning and has eaten up since. “He will probably keep going and hopefully we get a bit more rain. He is not a fast horse, he is more of a grinder than anything.” View the full article

Local gelding Heart of Gold (NZ) (Niagara) will be out to defend his crown in the $100,000 TAB Polytrack Championship (2000m) at Cambridge’s synthetic meeting on Friday, and trainer Sam Mynott believes he is up for the challenge. The eight-year-old son of Niagara was a convincing 4-1/4 length victor of last year’s race but will have his work cut out for him in this year’s edition, having been lumbered with 62kg. “He has got 4kgs more than last year, but he is in a really good place, so we have got to give a crack,” Mynott said. Sam Collett will take the ride on Friday, where they will jump from barrier nine, just one gate outside of his starting position last year. “It (draw) gives us options,” Mynott said. “We have got Sam Collett on, so that is a big positive. At the end of the day, I am not too worried about the draw, it is just going to come down to the run he gets and how good he is under that weight.” The extra weight is Mynott’s only concern, and she believes he is an improved animal on this time last year, despite having a lighter lead-in. “I think he is in a better place (than last year),” Mynott said. “He came in this prep the strongest he has ever looked and we did things a little bit differently. “He has had one run into this race, where last year we did two. We have done a lot of work at home and I am really happy with him, he couldn’t be going any better.” Following his victory in the Polytrack Championship last year, Heart Of Gold went on to compete at stakes level on the grass, and Mynott has similar aspirations this season. “He will probably have a little freshen-up after this run,” she said. “We will certainly be going for some turf races over the spring and summer. I think he is more than capable to be winning races on the turf as well.” On Friday’s undercard, stablemate Mister Meaner will be vying to clear maidens at his 14th attempt. “He is probably the unluckiest maidener in the country,” Mynott said. “He is certainly ready to win, he couldn’t be going any better, so hopefully he can get the job done on Friday.” On Saturday, Mynott will head to Te Rapa with just the one runner in Joejoeccini, who will contest the SkyCity Hamilton Mile (1600m). “I am really happy with him,” she said. “I think it was just way too wet for him last time out fresh-up, but he has improved out of sight, and he is working super. I am looking forward to seeing him out on a slightly better track again.” Meanwhile, stakes performer Electron has returned to the stable and is on target for a trip to Christchurch this spring. The five-year-old mare placed in the Gr.3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) at Trentham in March before placing in the Gr.3 Easter Handicap (1600m) at Ellerslie a month later, and Mynott is hoping the daughter of Turn Me Loose can breakthrough for an elusive stakes victory this term. “She has been back in work for four weeks and she is going super,” Mynott said. “We will just tick her along slowly. She will trial and possibly look to go towards going to the Riccarton carnival for the Group Three down there. “We will just play it by ear, but she is looking great. I am looking forward to seeing what she can do this season.” View the full article

Spendthrift Farm, the stallion home of the all-conquering Into Mischief, gave a sales-leading $2.6 million for a son of treble Grade I winner I'm A Chatterbox (Munnings) at about the midway point of Tuesday's second and final session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in upstate New York. Spendthrift also owns the year-older full-sister, named Bad Manners, after paying $700,000 for the filly during last year's Saratoga sale. Hip 163 is the 14th million-dollar seller over the course of the first session and a half and was the fifth of the evening. Spendthrift bred the colt in partnership with Fletcher and Carolyn Gray, who raced I'm A Chatterbox to eight victories from 19 career starts, including the GI Cotillion Stakes, the GI Delaware Handicap and the GI Juddmonte Spinster Stakes. She bankrolled $2,354,454. @FasigTiptonCo Saratoga Tuesday: Hip 163, an Into Mischief colt out of GIW I'm a Chatterbox, sells for $2.6 million to @spendthriftfarm. Consigned by @WarrendaleSales, agent for @spendthriftfarm & Grayson Farm. pic.twitter.com/C6grmTXXyH — TDN (@theTDN) August 6, 2025 The post Spendthrift Pays $2.6m For Into Mischief Son of I’m A Chatterbox 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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The third race off the layoff angle worked out nicely for Deep Satin in her last start. Now the 4-year-old American Pharoah filly will receive a "litmus test" that should determine the rest of her campaign.View the full article

On Aug. 9 at Colonial Downs, Duvet Day will race a little further—but not quite as far as she did during her younger days—when she steps up in class to compete in the $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes (G2T) over 1 3/16 miles.View the full article

Thursday, Leopardstown, post time: 18:23, BAHRAIN TURF CLUB DESMOND STAKES-G3, €36,000, 3yo/up, 8fT Field: Chicago Critic (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), Johan (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}), Lord Massusus (Ire) (Markaz {Ire}), Mutasarref (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Dance Night Andday (Ire) (Buratino {Ire}), Jancis (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Alakazi (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}). TDN Verdict: Course specialist Mutasarref should be a tough nut to crack, having won arguably a better renewal of this 12 months ago. Chicago Critic is capable when in the mood, as he proved when taking the course-and-distance Listed Amethyst Stakes in May. [Tom Frary]. Thursday, Leopardstown, post time: 18:53, TOTE BALLYROAN STAKES-G3, €36,000, 3yo/up, 12fT Field: Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), Layfayette (Ire) (French Navy {GB}), Sons And Lovers (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}), This Songisforyou (Temple City), Sea The Boss (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), Siege Of Troy (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}). TDN Verdict: Last year's winner Crystal Black bids to get back on track, having run only once in the interim when fourth in the G3 Alleged Stakes over an inadequate 10-furlong trip in April. Third that day was Sons And Lovers, who backed that up with a fourth in the G2 Mooresbridge Stakes and a fifth in Royal Ascot's Listed Wolferton Stakes. [Tom Frary]. Click here for the complete fields. The post Black-Type Analysis: Mutasarref Aiming For Desmond Double appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Florida-bred Thoroughbreds have won 15 graded stakes in 2025, exceeding last year's yearly total of 13, according to an Aug. 5 release from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association. View the full article