Wandering Eyes

Homebred gelding Tobias (NZ) (Complacent) was a revelation for owner-trainer Tony Dravitzki last winter, and the Stratford horseman is hoping he can find a similar vein of form over the colder months this year. The now seven-year-old son of Complacent won four races on the bounce last winter, including the New Plymouth Interprovincial (1600m), before running fourth in the Gr.3 Metric Mile (1600m) at Wanganui. Dravitzki has been pleased with the way his seven-win gelding has come up this time in and is looking forward to kicking off his preparation in the Seaton Park 1400 at New Plymouth on Saturday. “He has matured a bit more mentally. He is more settled in his work, he is quite an excitable sort of horse,” Dravitzki said. “He is about where I want him, but he is going to take great benefit out of the run. Even though he has got a good fresh record, I don’t think he is 100 percent yet. “The track conditions (rated Heavy8 on Friday morning) won’t be any problem and he has won about four races at New Plymouth, it’s a good place to kick-off his campaign.” Depending on his first couple of outings, Dravitzki is weighing up two different paths for Tobias. “If he is not up to the top grade, I would like to get back to the Interprovincial again, but if he is going alright, he may sneak into the Opunake Cup (Listed, 1400m), which is a bit short of his best distance, he is really a miler,” Dravitzki said. While the winner of the Opunake Cup earns a golden ticket into the Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton in August, Dravitzki isn’t entertaining a trip south. “I wouldn’t have any thought of going to Riccarton, it is just too far, and he would be coming to the end of his preparation,” he said. Meanwhile, stablemate More To Be Written (NZ) (Wrote) is unlikely to gain a start on Saturday, being fourth on the ballot for the Landmark Homes 1600, and Dravitzki said he may need to be a bit creative with his targets in order to gain a start. “He’s very well,” Dravitzki said. “His run wasn’t too bad at all at Trentham fresh-up, he was only three lengths off the winner. “He is struggling to get a start. I may have to start looking to run him out of his grade just to keep him up to the mark.” While finding a start is becoming problematic for More To Be Written, Dravitzki is excited about the prospects of his half-brother Inthemickoftime (NZ) (Time Test), who will head to the Foxton trials next week before returning to the races. “He was overawed by his first raceday at Woodville three weeks ago, so I am taking him back to the trials next Tuesday at Foxton to give him a trip away and a bit more education,” he said. “I have got quite a bit of time for him.” View the full article

Wanganui trainer Jo Rathbone has taken a golden opportunity to give a number of her stable a trip away to Ellerslie this weekend. Rathbone had not initially nominated for the Sunday meeting, but after seeing the initial line-up of runners, she has accepted with four horses, including progressive stayer Overdraft (NZ) (Burgundy) and the versatile Billy Boy (So You Think). “I saw that the fields were a little bit weak up there, so as a bit of an afterthought I late nominated all of them,” she said. “Billy Boy has travelled a lot, but the rest not really, so it’s part of my reasoning for going to get them travelling a bit and giving them a trip away. Going right-handed is also good education for them.” A winner in his last two starts, including the Woodville-Pahiatua Cup (2100m), Overdraft is moving swiftly through the grades and will face open-class and Rating 75 gallopers in the Kingmakers Syndication 2200. “This is out of his grade, but he’s been going nice enough races and in a small field up there, it’s worth a try,” Rathbone said. “He’s been doing a bit of work and schooling. “He’s performed on better tracks and wet tracks and doesn’t seem to be bothered either way. There will be a bit of give in that track up there as well, so it should be nice enough for him.” The son of Burgundy will carry just 54kg under Kelly Myers with the weight swing in his favour, while stablemate Billy Boy is among the top-rated runners in the Join TAB Racing Club 2400 for highweight jockeys. “He’s very full of himself so he’s come through his last run really well, he was only a length away there and he’s getting fitter,” Rathbone said. “2400m will definitely suit him.” The least experienced gallopers heading north will be Shinagawa (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) and Thebudgiesmugla (NZ) (Redwood), both with just two starts under their belt. The pair will both have three kilograms off their allocated weight in the Network Visuals 2200m, courtesy of visiting hoops Joshua Parker and Bella Oliver. “Shinagawa has probably had slightly average runs so far, but I think she’s been looking for the 2000m,” Rathbone said. “It’s just whether she can settle a bit more, because she does try to go a bit too hard early. “Hopefully she can do so and get the trip. “I quite like Thebudgiesmugla, I think he’s a really nice horse but is just still learning at this stage. He’s on the green side, but in another six months, he’ll only have improved off what he does now. “I think he’ll be a really nice jumper in the future as well.” View the full article

Former Hong Kong galloper Compulsory (No Nay Never) has been a model of consistency for Tim and Margaret Carter since joining their Cambridge barn late last year, and he will be out to score a breakthrough victory in the JRA Trophy 1400 at Ellerslie on Sunday. The six-year-old son of No Nay Never placed in just one of his 20 starts in Hong Kong for trainers Tony Millard and Michael Chang, but has thrived since arriving in New Zealand, placing in four of his five starts for the Carters. The husband-and-wife team, who now share in the ownership of the gelding, have been pleased with his progress and are hoping the 25-start maiden can finally be rewarded for his consistency this weekend. “I am absolutely gobsmacked why he never won races in Hong Kong,” Tim Carter said. “He was sent down by the owners to try (in New Zealand) but they decided not to persevere, they had another horse in Hong Kong, so they gave us the ownership of the horse. “He is quite an impressive looking horse, he is a lovely type of horse. He is very consistent and maybe it’s a change of environment that has helped. “The draw (20) might be a bit of an issue, but his best form is when he gets back in the field and comes home anyway.” While pleased with his current run of form, Carter said they won’t be going too deep into the winter with their charge. “He is a horse that likes good tracks, so we will just keep racing him while the tracks are good. Once we get right into winter, we will have to tip him out,” he said. A day prior at Te Rapa, the Carters will have a sole representative in Pukana (NZ) (Tivaci). The Tivaci gelding was initially on the ballot for the PGG Wrightson Grain 1400, but has made the field due to several scratchings. “We have just made the field,” Carter said. “I have put (four-kilogram claiming apprentice) Hayley Hassman on. He is not a big horse, but he has got some ability the little fella. “There is no reason why he shouldn’t run a decent sort of race.” View the full article

In-form filly Belle Tribute (NZ) (Contributer) is the latest rising star from a family that Allan Sharrock has enjoyed a remarkable run of success with. The daughter of Contributer will bid to complete a hat-trick of victories when she heads a sizeable team for the Taranaki trainer at his local meeting at New Plymouth on Saturday. Belle Tribute will run in the AB Electrical 3YO (1400m) and will be shooting for Sharrock’s 40th win with the progeny of Maroof’s daughter Bellaroof. “I bought her as a yearling (for $40,000) and she has just kept leaving winner after winner, she has been a hell of a mare,” he said. Sharrock prepared Bellaroof to win on five occasions and has trained all her offspring, including the multiple Group winners Tavi Mac (NZ) (Tavistock) and Darci La Bella (NZ) (Darci Brahma). “I think the mare has a good talk to them all when they’re young because they all have that will to win,” he said. “Tavi Mac had a sway back and was about 15.1h and they’re all different, but they can all certainly gallop.” Two more youngsters out of Bellaroof are also in the pipeline for Sharrock. “She’s been a great mare to us and we’ve got more to come, a Tarzino two-year-old (Tarzi Mac) and a Sword Of State yearling so long may it continue,” he said. “I’m educating the Tarzino now and I’ll bet my bottom dollar that he’ll run as well.” Belle Tribute has won her last two starts at Wanganui and the form has stood up well as on each occasion, last Saturday’s Trentham winner Coulthard was a minor placegetter. “I really rate her and she’s now won three out of eight and hasn’t done a bad job for a filly that is going to get better and better with time,” Sharrock said. Belle Tribute’s chances will be further enhanced with the booking of an in-form apprentice. “I’ve taken the luxury of having 3kg off with Amber Riddell so it’s going to make it hard for the rest of them when she drops to 53.5kg,” Sharrock said. “I think she’s my best chance, but Malachy (NZ) (Ocean Park) has got to be tough and I Don’t (NZ) (Savabeel) won a jump-out the other day by six lengths. “There’s a few there that will be around about, they are all working well and I’ve been home from America for two weeks and the staff have done a great job. Everything seems to be going well.” Malachy has been sound in his last two appearances and will clash with a fresh I Don’t, a past first-up winner, in the Landmark Homes Handicap (1600m). View the full article

The latest fortnightly auction on gavelhouse.com offers buyers a golden opportunity to add black-type performance to their broodmare band. The catalogue for the current auction, which closes on Monday evening, features stakes performers Macaluso (NZ) (Savabeel), Expressiveness (NZ) (Shamexpress) and Miss Layla (NZ) (Burgundy). Opportunities are few and far between for buyers to get their hands on stakes-performed daughters of Hall of Fame sire and emerging powerhouse broodmare sire Savabeel, and it’s even rarer for his daughters to have the precociousness to perform up to black-type level as two-year-olds. Macaluso ticks both of those boxes. The well-related filly made her raceday debut in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Pukekohe in November of 2023, finishing a close and creditable fourth behind Velocious (Written Tycoon), Bellatrix Star (Star Witness) and Poetic Champion (NZ) (Super Seth). All of that trio went on to bigger and better things. Velocious won the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m) and was voted New Zealand’s champion two-year-old, while Bellatrix Star excelled in Melbourne last spring with victories in the Group Two Schillaci Stakes (1100m), Group Three Scarborough Stakes (1200m) and Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes (1100m) along with a runner-up finish in the prestigious Group One Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m). Macaluso herself later contested the Listed Wellesley Stakes (1100m) at Trentham in January of 2024, earning valuable black type when she finished third and only 2.2 lengths behind the subsequent Group One, Group Two and Group Three placegetter Archaic Smile (Saxon Warrior). Macaluso won a 1400-metre race worth $65,000 during a Group One meeting at Trentham last December, and she didn’t have all favours when sixth behind standout filly Leica Lucy (NZ) (Derryn) in the Group Three Eulogy Stakes (1600m) and unplaced from a wide run in the Karaka Millions 2YO. Macaluso is out of the winning Makfi mare Chiaretta (NZ), whose half-sister Members Joy (Hussonet) won the Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes (1100m) and placed in the Group Two Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m). Members’ Joy is the dam of the brilliant Group Two Furious Stakes (1200m) and Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m) winner Pure Elation (I Am Invincible). Pure Elation is also a black-type producer, while other stakes performers on the pedigree page include Jennilala (Shalaa), Rosa’s Joy (Rory’s Jester), Rosa’s Spur (Flying Spur), Rosarino (Perugino) and Indian Pacific (Zoustar). Macaluso was trained in Cambridge by Andrew Forsman, who holds the filly in high regard. “She’s always shown well above average ability,” he said. “She was stakes-placed as a two-year-old and has performed in good company at the ages of two and three. “She hasn’t had all the luck in the world either and could have had an even better record if one or two things had gone differently. “We just felt now was the right time to wind the partnership up and move her on, offering buyers the chance to pick up a really nice filly. “Being a black-type performed daughter of Savabeel, and from a great family, she has a lot going for her and has plenty of upside when it comes time to breed from her. “She has a great attitude and has always been very willing.” Savabeel is doing an outstanding job as a broodmare sire, with 60% winners to runners and 4% stakes winners to runners. He sits second behind O’Reilly (NZ) on the New Zealand broodmare sires’ premiership this season and 17th in Australia, with his daughters producing the likes of Group One winners La Dorada (NZ) (Super Seth) and Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto) in recent months. Another notable inclusion in the current gavelhouse.com catalogue is Expressiveness, who also raced under the name Express Yourself. She showed outstanding sprinting talent on both sides of the Tasman, winning six races and placing at black-type level at Trentham and Caulfield. The Shamexpress mare ran second in last year’s Group One Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham, beaten by only a nose by Mercurial (NZ) (Burgundy). Expressiveness later performed in strong company in Melbourne, placing in the Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) and Alinghi Stakes (1100m). Herself bought for just $6,550 off gavelhouse.com by trainer and part-owner Nikki Hurdle in 2022, Expressiveness returns to that platform as a Group One performer and the earner of more than $297,000. “She was a horse I had seen trialling, and I really liked her,” Hurdle told the Love Racing News Desk. “I couldn’t believe it when she was up on gavelhouse.com. We were going to buy her whatever happened. “I had set her for the Telegraph after she won at Awapuni in her previous campaign, and I thought, ‘We have got a really good horse here. “I planned a campaign based entirely on getting to the Telegraph and she nearly won it. An ounce of luck and she would have won eight in a row, but instead it was a few seconds by noses. It was a terrific campaign. “She showed us in the Lightning (1200m) at Trentham in March that she didn’t want to be there, so on that day we made the decision that she wouldn’t have to do any more. She had done us proud. “We thought it was her time to move on as a broodmare, and she will be a brilliant broodmare. She is a beautiful type and is just a natural athlete. “She has been the most wonderful horse for us. Half of the people in the syndicate were having their first experience of horse racing, and she has taken us on a fantastic ride. “We bought her thinking we could win two or three races, but we ended up in Australia and we nearly won a Group One. She owes us nothing, we love that horse, she is an absolute beauty. “She was the only one I had in work at the time and it is going to be very hard to get another one like her. You don’t come across horses with x-factor every day, and I think she had that. “Our hope is that she will go to a very good stud that will give her every opportunity. One day, if there is a foal out of her on the market, I will be moving everything to get hold of that foal.” The other black-type performer on the market gavelhouse.com is Miss Layla. The daughter of Burgundy and high-class mare La Etoile (NZ) (Thorn Park) won three races headed by the Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1600m) as an autumn three-year-old. She also returned as a four-year-old to place in the Group Three Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and Listed Timaru Stakes (1200m). The highly talented Miss Layla is the best of four winners from six foals to race out of La Etoile, who herself won five races including the Group Two Rich Hill Mile (1600m) and also placed in three black-type races in Brisbane headed by the Group Two Queensland Guineas (1600m). Miss Layla’s sire Burgundy has made a promising start as a broodmare sire, with Qali Al Farrasha (NZ) (Almanzor) recording four placings at Group One level while Nucleozor (NZ) (Almanzor) was a stakes-winning two-year-old. View the full article

After he crossed the wire first aboard Journalism (Curlin) in the GI Preakness Stakes, jockey Umberto Rispoli planned to take a few days off and bask in what was the biggest win of his career. Instead, he has found himself in the middle of an ugly controversy involving his ride and the bumping incident with Flavien Part, who was aboard 'TDN Rising Star' Goal Oriented (Not This Time). The two banged into each other in upper stretch and impeded the Steve Asmussen-trained Clever Again (American Pharaoh). While some people have blamed the incident on Prat, others believe Rispoli was at fault and rode recklessly by trying to come through a hole on the rail rather than going around horses. That group includes Clever Again's trainer Steve Asmussen. “Quit riding him like a rented mule,” Asmussen said of Rispoli on Steve Byk's At the Races radio show on Thursday. Reached by the TDN, Rispoli was clearly upset about the criticism, but claimed he did nothing wrong. He explained that he went inside because Journalism was not going anywhere and he thought there was a hole on the rail and saving ground would help. But just as he was trying to make his move on the rail, Goal Oriented and Flavien Prat took what Rispoli thought was his lane. When Goal Oriented slammed into Journalism, Journalism collided with a tiring Clever Again. “I know this has been controversial,” Rispoli said. “A lot of people are saying it was my fault and a lot of people were saying it was Flavien's fault. A lot of people said I should have gone outside, while others said I made the right move by staying inside. You're on a horse, you're going 45 miles an hour and you have to make a decision when you can. When I ducked out with my horse around the half-mile pole I was going nowhere. Nobody thought I was on the horse to beat at that point. Everybody thought I had no horse at the time. My intention was to take him out to see if he would give me any response like he did in the Kentucky Derby. In a couple of strides he didn't do it and the turn was approaching. At that point I had to make a decision.” Rispoli said that part of the problem was that he was intent on following Clever Again, who, he said, stopped abruptly near the top of the stretch. “My target from day one was Clever Again. I think everybody was saying Clever Again was the horse I had to beat to win the Preakness,” he said. ” Before the race, I thought Clever Again would keep going at least to the sixteenth pole. You never would have thought that he would be stopping before the quarter pole.” Top of the lane in the Preakness | Jeff Snyder/MJC Rispoli said his critics have failed to realize that before he made the move to the rail, Journalism was going nowhere. “People say my horse never dropped the bit,” he said. “If you think my horse didn't drop the bit you don't know how to watch a race. Just before the quarter pole I was ready for Flavien to go around Gosger and I would have tried to go around Flavien. My first thought would have been to go around, even if that meant going five or six wide. On the dirt, that's usually the best spot to be in. I just didn't have the horse.” He said he wished more people would take into account that during his time in the U.S. (Rispoli came here from Hong Kong in 2020) he has been involved in very few controversies and believes he's earned a reputation as a clean rider. “That's not the type of rider that I am,” he said. “I have been here for five years. Find me another race where people said I was reckless or find me another race where I was in that position. I am not a kamikaze rider. I have a wife and two kids and I didn't want to kill myself or see anyone get killed. It's easy for people to say that he should have one around the other horses, but if I'm ever in a position like that again and think I can win if I save ground I'm going to do it. “Flavien and I are friends but on the track we need to respect the colors we are wearing. There is no friendship on the track. Did he put me in tight? Yes. Was I already there? Yes. The gap was there and that's why I took it. I'm not going to drive my horse in a way where I put myself at risk of going down.” He said he has not spoken with Prat about the incident, but plans to do so Monday when both are riding at Santa Anita. He said he will keep that conversation private. “We definitely will see each other Monday because we'll both be riding in California,” Rispoli said. “I plan to speak to him, but it's just going to be between him and I. I don't want what we say to each other wind up on social media. There won't be any cameras, anything like that. It's something between two professional riders who are trying to do their best to win races. This is just between him and I. We are good friends. We have known each other for more than 15 years.” In the end, nobody, horse or rider went down. Rispoli is thankful for that. “Fortunately nobody went down,” he said. “My trainer is happy. My owners are happy. This happens in horse racing.” “A REMARKABLE RECOVERY BY JOURNALISM!” JOURNALISM WINS THE 150TH PREAKNESS STAKES! #Preakness150 pic.twitter.com/f2IOVEyUy9 — NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 17, 2025 The post Rispoli Defends His Preakness Ride appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

1st-Churchill Downs, $131,055, Alw (C), Opt. Clm ($100,000), 5-22, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:34.09, ft, 1/2 length. WILL TAKE IT (c, 4, Tapit–Lady Take Charge, by War Front) was the third fiddle from a pari-mutuel perspective, but was the recipient of a cerebral ride from Brian Hernandez, Jr. to spoil the return to action of dual Grade III winner and heavily favored Dragoon Guard (Arrogate). Off at odds just under 7-1, the $700,000 Keeneland September graduate was content to sit fifth down the back in the slipstream of Juddmonte's gray colt as Frosted Departure (Frosted) cut out the running from the very classy Tumbarumba (Oscar Performance). Lying in wait around the turn as Dragoon Guard came under a bit of pressure from Florent Geroux, Will Take It popped out off cover and had aim as Dragoon Guard claimed a narrow advantage inside the eighth pole. The lead was short-lived, however, as Will Take It capitalized on his recency advantage and did slightly the better work through the line. The immaculately bred colt endured a tough 3-year-old campaign, with just an Oaklawn maiden win to show from 10 starts for trainer Eddie Milligan, Jr. But he won two of three two-turn allowance tries for this barn in New Orleans over the winter and was exiting a runner-up effort to 'TDN Rising Star' Unmatched Wisdom (Cairo Prince) in a sloppy Keeneland allowance Apr. 25. In the name of her Whisper Hill Farm, Mandy Pope gave a foal sales-topping $3.2 million for Lady Take Charge at Keeneland November in 2015, and with good reason. Her three-times Grade I-winning dam Take Charge Lady (Dehere) bred eight winners from nine to race–Lady Take Charge did not face the starter–including champion MGISW Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song), GISW sire Take Charge Indy(A.P. Indy) and GISW As Time Goes By (American Pharoah). Take Charge Lady's daughter Charming (Seeking the Gold), herself a $3.2-million KEESEP yearling, has gained fame as the dam of Willis Horton's champion Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway) and treble Grade I winner and top sire Omaha Beach (War Front). Take Charge Lady is also the granddam of Pope's GSW & GISP 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit). Lady Take Charge is also responsible for the unraced 3-year-old filly Fife and Drum (Tapit) and colts by Into Mischief foaled in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Sales history: $700,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 16-4-4-1, $362,404. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. O-Willis Horton Racing LLC & Whisper Hill Farm LLC; B-Whisper Hill Farm LLC (KY); T-Dallas Stewart. WILL TAKE IT ($15.96) took the opener at @ChurchillDowns from Dragoon Guard! @b_hernandezjr was aboard the four-year-old Tapit (@Gainesway) colt for trainer @DallasStewart3. Will Take It is a grandson of multiple Grade 1 winner Take Charge Lady. pic.twitter.com/WMsWNr6FwT — FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) May 22, 2025 The post Immaculately Bred Will Take It Downs Dragoon Guard at Churchill appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Trainer Marcus Vitali, inactive running horses in New York after being suspended by NYRA in 2021 and reaching a confidential settlement agreement with NYRA in 2022, runs Crossed Sabres Farm's Classy Lass in the fifth race at Aqueduct May 23.View the full article

Kingston Pride (Kingston Hill) (lot 673) topped the final day of the Goffs Spring HIT/PTP Sale at Doncaster, when selling to Olly Murphy for £285,000. The 6-year-old gelding was one of four lots to make six figures on the day. Offered by Nicky Henderson, Kingston Pride won a Kempton novice hurdle by five lengths in March. Henderson acted as underbidder on Thursday, having paid €200,000 two years ago at the Goffs Punchestown Sale for Kingston Pride. “He's a lovely individual, all quality,” reported Murphy. “Fingers crossed he'll have a lovely career over fences. He looks like an out-and-out chaser, doesn't he? “It's obviously a good sign that Nicky was trying hard to keep him, but then his form reads very strongly, going all the way back to when he finished a close second to Tripoli Flyer in a bumper.” During the second day's trade, 177 sold from 191 offered (93%) for a gross of £3,482,000. The average rose 47% to £19,673 and the median rose 64% to £11,500. Overall, 336 horses sold from 379 offered (89%) for turnover that was on par with 2024's at £8,860,500 (-0.5%). The cumulative average and median both increased to £26,371 (+12%) and £16,250 (+30%), respectively. Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent said, “Yesterday's point-to-point day [session] was another huge success with over 180 horses offered and a top price of £300,000 – the day is a clear first choice for handlers' late season runners, plus their end of season dispersals, and we are grateful for the ongoing support. This was followed by another strong day today with a top price of £285,000 for Kingston Pride plus the ever popular Million In Mind draft that saw a top price of £145,000 for a filly [lot 629, Timetoshine (The Grey Gatsby)] to continue her career in America. “There is clearly strong demand for horses with form, as evidenced by the strong clearance rate of 89% over the last two-days and there is plenty to celebrate in this sector of the market. We would like to thank all our vendors who have supported us across the week, and we wish our buyers all the very best with their purchases.” The post Kingston Pride Brings £285k On Final Day Of The Goffs Spring HIT/PTP Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Frateli La Vita is set to defend his title May 25 in the Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella at Club Hipico de Santiago with an automatic starting position in the Breeders' Cup Mile on the line.View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday's Observations features a son of Too Darn Hot. 3.35 Haydock, Novice, £10,000, 2yo, 6f 212yT WILD DESERT (IRE) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) is the latest in a glut of significant Godolphin newcomers to step out of the Charlie Appleby stable this week, being the sixth foal out of the operation's prized mare Winters Moon. Remarkably, two of those she has produced so far are the G1 Middle Park Stakes winners Shadow Of Light and Earthlight, with both successful twice at the top level at two, so all eyes will be on this colt's progress this summer. Fitri Hay's similarly unraced Last Verse (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) is a key rival, being an Andrew Balding-trained half-brother to Galileo's multiple Group winner Armory. 2.15 Bath, Novice, £6,800, 2yo, 5f 10yT FORTIFICATION (GB) (Mehmas {Ire}) debuts for Wathnan Racing and the Archie Watson stable in the race won 12 months ago by their subsequent G2 Flying Childers Stakes and G3 Prix d'Arenberg winner Aesterius also by this sire. A £350,000 Goffs UK Breeze Up purchase, he is out of a Listed scorer who was also dual Group-placed and hails from the family of Windsor Knot. The post Relative Of Shadow Of Light And Earthlight Debuts At Haydock appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Friday, Curragh, post time: 18:55, HEIDER FAMILY STABLES GALLINULE STAKES-G3, €36,000, 3yo, 10fT Field: Emit (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), Reyenzi (Fr) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), Shackleton (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), Thrice (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Tiberius Thunder (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), Dawn Spirit (Ire) (Australia {GB}). TDN Verdict: Aidan O'Brien runs last year's G3 Zetland Stakes runner-up Shackleton in the latest Derby trial he bids to annex during a stellar period for the stable, but there is a strong case to be made for Reyenzi following his impressive five-length Navan maiden win last month. [Tom Frary]. Friday, Goodwood, post time: 15:50, BETGOODWIN FESTIVAL STAKES-Listed, £60,000, 4yo/up, 9f 197yT Field: Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Cash (Ire) (Shamardal), Exoplanet (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), Jeff Koons (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Liberty Lane (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), Meydaan (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Peace Man (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Savvy Victory (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), Sir Busker (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}). TDN Verdict: Godolphin's Silver Knott operates under a seven-pound penalty here, so despite it being a class drop for the multiple group and graded stakes winner it could be tricky. Last year's Cambridgeshire winner Liberty Lane was second to Lead Artist in Newmarket's nine-furlong G3 Darley Stakes in October and that form has taken on a new dimension this month. [Tom Frary]. Saturday, Curragh, post time: 15:40, TATTERSALLS IRISH 2,000 GUINEAS STAKES-G1, €290,000, 3yo, c/f, 8fT Field: Comanche Brave (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Cosmic Year (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Expanded (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Field Of Gold (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), Hotazhell (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), Officer (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Rashabar (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), Scorthy Champ (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), Windlord (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong, post time: 16:10, STANDARD CHARTERED CHAMPIONS & CHATER CUP-G1, HK$13,000,000, 3yo/up, 2400mT Field: Voyage Bubble (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}), Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}), Cap Ferrat (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), Ensued (Lemon Drop Kid), Moments In Time (Chi) (Lookin At Lucky), Rubylot (Aus) (Rubick {Aus}), Five G Patch (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), La City Blanche (Arg) (Cityscape {GB}), Winning Dragon (Chi) (Ivan Denisovich {Ire}), Bundle Award (Aus) (Shamus Award {Aus}). Sunday, Tokyo, Japan, post time: 15:40, YUSHUN HIMBA (JAPANESE OAKS)-G1, ¥286,000,000, 3yo, f, 2400mT Field: Arma Veloce (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), Reve de l'Opera (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}), Paradis Reine (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), Ai Sansan (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), Lynx Tip (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}), Vip Daisy (Jpn) (Satono Diamond {Jpn}), Lesedrama (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), Saturday Sunrise (Jpn) (Declaration of War), Embroidery (Jpn) (Admire Mars {Jpn}), Taisei Princesse (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), Will Survive (Jpn) (Al Ain {Jpn}), Brown Ratchet (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), Tagano Abby (Jpn) (Animal Kingdom), Savonlinna (Jpn) (Satono Diamond {Jpn}), Kamunyaki (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}), Go So Far (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), Kelly Fled Ask (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), Erika Express (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}). Click here for the complete fields. The post Black-Type Analysis: Friday’s Gallinule Holds Derby Clues, As Irish 2000 Guineas Attracts Nine appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Trainer Marcus Vitali, who has not started a horse at a NYRA track since 2021, will make his return to the Big Apple Friday when he sends out Classy Lass (Classic Empire) in Friday's fifth race at the Belmont At The Big A meet. The race is a $17,500 claimer on the dirt. The Daily Racing Form's David Grening was first with the story. Vitali, who has numerous violations on his record, reached an accord with NYRA July 1, 2022 in which he agreed to a suspension. But NYRA was vague about the details and both sides said the terms of the settlement were to be kept confidential. NYRA had attempted to bar him from its three tracks, but could not do so until offering Vitali a hearing. It appears that the “agreement” was a compromise in which Vitali agreed not to run any horses in New York for an unspecified period and NYRA agreed to not go forward in its attempts to ban him permanently. “Marcus Vitali has satisfied the terms of the NYRA settlement agreement reached in 2022 and is licensed to participate in racing activities by the New York State Gaming Commission,” said NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna. “As such, he is currently permitted to enter races on the NYRA circuit.” In an official “statement of charges” issued against Vitali in 2022, NYRA pointed to what it alleged was a long and lengthy list of suspensions and medication violations. “From between in or about 2010 and in or about 2020, Respondent amassed an extensive record of medication violations, lengthy suspensions, improperly using 'program' or 'paper' trainers during suspensions and obstructing an investigation into alleged wrongdoing,” the statement read. “In the past five years, Respondent was denied entry, ejected and/or had license applications denied by regulators of Thoroughbred racing in Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Delaware; and was sanctioned by the Jockey Club for violating a racing statute, rule or regulation relating to prohibited or restricted drugs, medications or substances seven times in a single year.” It was unclear when and why the New York Gaming Commission green-lighted Vitali's latest license application. At deadline for this story, the Gaming Commission had not answered an email from the TDN requesting information on Vitali's reinstatement. “I don't really have a comment. I just entered a horse,” Vitali said. “I renewed my license last year when I was at Presque Isle. I have this horse and I just can't find a spot for her. I thought this race at Aqueduct fit this filly and we're going to run her. I have accepted my responsibility over the years and I'm ready to move forward. We're doing what we have to do. I like racing in New York and I think she fits in that particular spot. There was nowhere else to run her.” Vitali has run only a few horses at NYRA tracks over the years and has focused his attention more on lower level tracks. All of his starters this year have come at Turf Paradise. He is 4-for-21 on the year. He says he currently has stalls at Presque Isle Downs and at Hawthorne and does not intend to ask NYRA for any stalls. The post NYRA Accepts Entry From Marcus Vitali appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Jim and Claire Limited's Heart of Honor, fifth in the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course May 17, arrived at Saratoga Race Course May 21 and walked the shedrow May 22 as he begins preparations for the $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1).View the full article

With nothing off the table, MGISW Fierceness (City of Light) could face stablemate GISW Mindframe (Constitution) in next month's GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. Fierceness worked Thursday over Saratoga Race Course's Oklahoma dirt training track in preparation for what is shaping up to be a titanic race during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. The champion colt breezed in company with GSP Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso) through a half-mile in 49.85 seconds, according to NYRA clockers. It marked the pair's second work together in as many weeks after they covered the same distance in 49 flat last week over the Oklahoma. “He looked great,” Pletcher said of Fierceness. “Another typical breeze from him, doing it very easily and impressively. I'm very pleased with him.” The winner of last year's GI DraftKings Travers Stakes, Fierceness made a successful seasonal bow in the GII Alysheba Stakes during Derby week and set a new track record. The Hall of Fame trainer said he is pleased with the way Fierceness emerged from the strong performance. “He's had a really good energy level, his appetite's been great–he's really matured as a 4-year-old and put on some weight,” Pletcher said. Pletcher noted Tuscan Sky, also owned by Repole Stable, is likely headed to the GIII Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park June 14. Mindframe wins the Churchill Downs Stakes | Horsephotos As for Mindframe, Pletcher is also considering the GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill in late June. Owned by Repole Stable with St. Elias Stable, the colt was last seen winning the GI Churchill Downs Stakes May 3 with a deep-closing rally. “We haven't ruled anything out,” Pletcher said of Mindframe's next start. “We'll give him a breeze tomorrow and see how that goes, assuming the weather cooperates. Obviously, we hate to run him and Fierceness against each other if we can keep from it, but we'll keep our options open for now.” Pletcher said it was rewarding to see Mindframe notch a Grade I victory. “That was big,” Pletcher said. “We wanted that Grade I win for him, and for him to do what he's done to win at seven-eighths, a mile, a mile and a sixteenth, be second at a mile and a quarter… he, too, is a very special horse and is very versatile. He's a pleasure to train.” The post Fierceness And Mindframe Drill With Met Mile Match Still On The Table appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

By Jordyn Bublitz After having nine driving wins across the Tasman, Brooke Wilkins will make her Kiwi debut at Alexandra Park tonight. The 27-year-old will drive Treacherous Baby in Race 1, the Alex Bar and Eatery Mobile Pace for her employers Mark and Nathan Purdon. Born in Sydney into a racing family Wilkins was always going to get involved in the sport but her racing career stalled in 2019. “I actually had a bad fall, and it put me out for quite a while,” she said, “afterwards I moved to Melbourne and worked for Emma Stewart, and she pushed me back into driving.” Across the Tasman she had 39 training wins and nine driving successes. For the past two and a half years she has been honing her craft with Purdon Racing with driving taking a back seat due to travelling often with their horses. “Since moving up to Pukekohe Nathan (Purdon) pushed to see if I’d drive a couple at the trials and it sort of went from there.” “Then this mare on Friday needed a junior driver so it worked out pretty well.” Just this week Wilkins drove comeback pacer Akuta at the Pukekohe trials. Now she gets her chance on race night with Treacherous Baby, who’s rated a $2.30 second favourite in what is just a five-horse field. “I think she’s got a good chance. She hasn’t had much luck lately and her form isn’t too hot, but I don’t think she’s run a bad race at all,” she said, “I think we’ll just drive her a bit cold on Friday and save her for one run.” Mantra Blue looks to be her main danger, having her second start back this campaign after running a game fifth in the North Island Breeders Stakes last week. “I think people probably underestimate how quick she (Treacherous Baby) is and being a small field, I think she’ll be right in it.” Herlihy with three well-favoured runners at Alex Park tonight By Michael Guerin The harness racing season may be getting close to a winter wind down but our greatest ever driver is just getting warmed up. After a frantic last two months many of the code’s biggest names are enjoying their winter break and racing in the north is returning to something resembling normal. And Tony Herlihy is ready to take advantage. Our most successful ever driver, for those keeping count he is up to 3707 domestic wins, Herlihy is also one of the north’s great all time trainers, with 1132 training wins, rarified air in the north especially as Herlihy rarely travels his horses these days. He fancies he can add to that total over the colder months ahead. “I have got a few who are racing well and aren’t that deep into their campaigns so I am hoping to sneak a couple over the next month,” he smiles. There may not be too much sneaky about the likes of Youneverknow (R2, No.1), Roy Kent (R3, No.3) or Double Parked (R9, No.3) at The Park tonight as all three are in the market, two of them warm favourites. Youneverknow really caught the eye with a huge second to Meant To Be $120,000 IRT Sires’ Stakes Championship last start and only has to race up to that form to win tonight. “He is a lovely big horse and getting better and I think he will hold his own from barrier 1 so he has to be a good chance,” says The Iceman. Roy Kent has been a victim of circumstances lately, chasing home the likes of Marketplace in elite three-year-old races while when he dropped back into the grades last start and was outsprinted by Words in a no-pressure race on the subsequently abandoned race night where the passing lane he could have used was a puddle. “Roy always goes a good race and I think he will be even better next campaign but he has gate speed and is up to these horses.” That same quote suits Double Parked who won a heat of the Metro Series two weeks ago and races in another one tonight in probably an easier field. “He has that gate speed that helps and will be really hard to catch if he can get up against the marker pegs. He definitely has more wins in him.” Herlihy suggests his other runners tonight in Sadhaka (R7, No.1) and Always Ask (R10, No.2) will both be better for their outings tonight. The meeting has some small fields but some smart horses, headlined by Mantra Blue in Race 1 who looks enormously better off in a mobile in Race 1 tonight than when she resumed off a 30m handicap last Friday. View the full article

By Michael Guerin Craig Ferguson knows he might need another miracle at Addington tonight. But the difference between the miracle the Southland driver pulled off with Marketplace last Friday and the one he needs with Wag Star tonight is this time it could be the difference between winning and losing. Ferguson has had a wonderful year in the sulky with his flagship horse being superstar three-year-old Marketplace, trained by his close friend Regan Todd. Ferguson found a pathway paved in gold in the Group 1 Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington last Friday when he weaved through from the second line to lead after 400m. In reality Marketplace probably still would have won but such was the margin at the line Ferguson’s early awareness turned a maybe into a certainty. Tonight he faces another early disadvantage with Wag Star, who he trains, starting off a 10m handicap in a capacity field in the $100,000 Hydroflow Country Cups Championship. Wag Star has been battling handicaps and poor draws all autumn, often booming home late but Ferguson says there is one key difference between his tactics tonight and Marketplace last Friday. “I think his best chance of running out a hard 3200m is being driven quiet in the first half of the race,” says Ferguson. “I wouldn’t want to be taking off on him over the long trip and usually in this race they run hard so I think it will suit him being driven that way. “But in a full field that still means he will need luck and maybe the right cart into the race.” Alongside fellow 10m marker Pinseeker, Wag Star has been a promising newcomer to the open class pool and look like be belongs, albeit Pinseeker has properly dived into that pool and made a bigger splash. Either could win tonight but while their 10m handicaps don’t sound daunting over 3200m in the full field it could mean settling 15 lengths from the leaders so if either can make a quick beginning it may enormously enhance their chances. They are joined back in the 10m mark by North Island Country Cups winner The Surfer, who has raced well at Addington before, and Betterthancash. All those off that 10m handicap are aided by the front line containing plenty of horses possibly not in their best form after the long, magnificent but tiring Country Cups series. That may allow for a rarity, a major 3200m winner coming from off the marker pegs, with the $5 Box Seat Boost for Pinseeker (available in TAB futures) looking very fair money for a pacer who finished fifth in the Race by betcha. While Fugitive is red hot to win tonight’s other Group 1, the Avon City Ford Welcome Stakes, the Group 3 Heather Williams Memorial for the trotting mares has a lot more moving parts. Favourite Eurostyle has been superb this autumn and could be an open class factor in the second half of the season as our elite trotting ranks start to reshape. Her peak performance would probably win tonight but she does meet some high class rivals in Hidden Talent, Nellie Doyle, Julie Jaccka and the returning Empire City. The latter spent the back end of last season chasing home Australian champion Keayang Zahara and comes in tonight without a trial. “I don’t think that will bother her because she is very well and ready to go,” says trainer Phil Williamson. “But she is up against some good mares who are race fit. She can win but it won’t be easy.” View the full article

On the racetrack, Godolphin is enjoying a record-breaking season after becoming the first ownership group in history to win the G1 1,000 Guineas, G1 2,000 Guineas, GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks all in the same year. Off the racetrack, the international operation founded by Sheikh Mohammed is celebrating a banner year in a different realm of the industry. 2025 marks 10 years since the launch of Godolphin's global charitable program, which was founded with the mission of growing awareness and passion for the Thoroughbred and having a positive, long-lasting impact on the industry and the communities local to Godolphin's facilities. Over time, initiatives like the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards and Godolphin Flying Start have had an international influence, but the organization has also amplified its impact by supporting a range of programs beyond its own. Diana Cooper is the Strategic Advisor of Charities at Godolphin, overseeing the work that goes on globally. Her involvement with Godolphin dates back over 30 years. When the concept for this program was launched in 2015, she transitioned from the racing and bloodstock division of the operation over to the charitable sector. “We had already created a fund for the wildfires in Australia in 2007 and likewise in Japan with the earthquakes,” explained Cooper. “So there has always been a lot of work happening, but not within a framework that meant we could build and see what was working, what wasn't, and where we could best fill those gaps.” When the program first began, one of the first steps was to designate charitable managers for Godolphin's various facilities worldwide. Today, those roles are filled in six of Godolphin's locations with Katie LaMonica in the U.S., Penny Taylor in the UK, Louise Bernard in France, Ciara Devitt and Tom Gallagher in Ireland, Emma Ridley in Australia and Yasuko Sawai in Japan. These managers coordinate local charitable efforts and collaborate with each other to address international industry challenges. The first issue the fledgling team decided to tackle in 2015 was aftercare. That year, they hosted the Godolphin Forum for Thoroughbred Aftercare, inviting leading aftercare providers from around the world to gather in Kentucky and discuss the state of the industry. The following year, Godolphin helped launch the inaugural International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) in Newmarket, bringing together many of the same organizations from Lexington along with broader industry leaders like The Jockey Club, Horse Racing Ireland, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and France Galop. Panel at the 2025 IFAR Conference | IFAR/Brittlan Wall The forum has expanded significantly since then. Every year, the international racing community gathers to discuss the importance of responsible aftercare. Last month, the ninth-annual IFAR conference was held in Lexington. “I think our industry was pretty complacent for a long time because the Thoroughbred was always part of our lives,” noted Cooper. “We didn't quite grasp what the ramifications would be until probably a little bit too late. So that's why our first thing was to help set up IFAR. The more voices that talk about it, the happier the horses will be. Our dream is that everywhere there is a racing jurisdiction, there will be an aftercare body.” Over the past 10 years, aftercare initiatives have launched and blossomed around the globe. With support from Godolphin, the Retired Racehorse Project in Kentucky became a national retraining event rather than a regional one in 2015. Godolphin also partnered in the founding of Au-Delà des Pistes, an effort that promotes and monitors racehorse in their second careers in France. A similar platform called Treo Eile began in Ireland in 2020. Godolphin helped launch Old Friends Japan the same year. “I think one of the things we're most proud of is that now, aftercare isn't a conversation that goes like, 'Oh, we'll give you some money and now go away,'” said Cooper. “It's a joyous part of the industry now. There is a growing groundswell of support for the Thoroughbred and an acknowledgment of how much they can provide in their second life.” As aftercare efforts have advanced, Godolphin has expanded its focus to include not only the horses, but also the people and the communities that make up the industry. One of Godolphin's biggest success stories has been the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, which recognize and reward the diligence of farm and racing stable staff. The project first began when Godolphin became the principal sponsor of the Stud and Stable Staff Awards in Ireland in 2015. Since then, it has expanded to four other countries and seen over 10,000 nominations, 365 winners and, most impressively, over $6.7 million awarded in prize money. This year, TIEA will celebrate its 10th year in the U.S. In other countries where the awards program is held, TIEA is supported by the national governing body of the country, like the BHA or France Galop. Katie LaMonica, the charities manager for Godolphin America, said that the support of major organizations within the American industry has been essential to its success here. “Since we have no governing body, when we brought the program here we really had to figure out how we were going to structure it,” she explained. “I went out to try to pull together what I believed were our governing bodies. We brought The Jockey Club, the HBPA, TOBA and the Breeders' Cup together. Some of those groups don't sit at the same table very often, but they have all been very passionate about this program. It renews your faith and love of this game every year when you are meeting and hearing everybody's story. I think it's the best thing we do.” Winners of the 2024 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards in the U.S. | courtesy Godolphin Industry challenges are often country-specific. In the U.S., LaMonica's focus is on education and recruitment. Godolphin supports projects like Stable Recovery and the TRF Second Chances program, which both provide vocational training to help develop a workforce for the industry. Godolphin helped with the launch of Amplify Horse Racing, the national youth arm for education in the industry, in 2019 and LaMonica is still on their board of directors today. She has also served as the chair of the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) Foundation. “Each year we are charged with looking not only within our communities–like what Lexington needs and what our broader Kentucky industry here needs–but we also have to look at the global health of the industry,” said LaMonica. “We can't solve all the problems and it's not our responsibility to solve all the problems. However, because we are the largest global racing organization, we need to do everything we can to improve the quality of life for the human and the horse.” Man of Promise educates students on a school exchange between Newmarket, England and Monasterevin, Ireland | courtesy Godolphin Godolphin-sponsored education initiatives are happening worldwide, like children's programming that incorporates stud tours in Japan and Business in the Community initiatives in Ireland. In 2021, Godolphin supported the opening of the Newmarket Pony Academy, a five-day course for elementary-aged children that focuses on teaching equine care in a way that integrates English, math and science. In 2019, Godolphin hosted the Godolphin Forum for Education, which–much like the first IFAR conference–brought industry leaders together to examine opportunities and challenges related to education and community engagement. The first forum led to the creation of Together for Racing International (TfRI), a global initiative that provides a platform to promote these important topics. Like many of the programs Godolphin has helped established, TfRI is not operated exclusively by Godolphin. Instead, Godolphin focuses on providing the resources and support needed to get these projects off the ground and sustain them over time. The goal is to empower independent efforts that align with the broader mission of strengthening the global racing community. “Philanthropist and wartime refuge Steve Shirley said, 'Philanthropy is not all about giving money. It's about energy, contacts and the experience of coming together. And when happens, so much more as achieved.' That has been the ethos of our program too,” explained Cooper. “We have a donations budget in each country for our local communities, but the sustainable aspect of our program for the industry is to create those networks, really grow the programs and enable others to come on board.” Cooper and her team rarely pause to reflect on the milestones they have reached over the past decade. Instead, they are already planning for the next ten years, envisioning new ways to expand their impact and strengthen their initiatives on a global scale. “These 10 years have been the most fulfilling thing,” Cooper said. “It's so cool to see our industry show what it is really capable of, how much more we have to offer. When you do look back on the last 10 years and see the body of work we have accomplished as a team, it is very special. I don't think we could have dreamed it.” The post Godolphin Charities Celebrates 10 Years appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

No doubt about it, the folks at Hagyards seem to have found themselves a promising intern. Still early days, mind. Richard Holder has only been there 53 years. In fact, Dr. Holder believes himself the first beneficiary of an official internship at the storied Lexington firm, founded in 1876, albeit Dr. William McGee himself was evidently granted a similar opening, less formally, by Dr. Charles Hagyard in 1940. (By 1953 the firm was renamed Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates.) In either case, safe to say that the internship model started pretty well. Holder had introduced himself, his first year at vet school, when a friend back in Corpus Christi sent him with an introduction to Craig Franks. Hoping to strengthen that connection, Holder returned as a junior–only to discover that Dr. Franks had left the practice. “So I'm walking out, wondering what to do now, when [Dr.] Jim Smith drives into the barn,” Holder recalls. “I explained what I was doing there, and he said, 'Well, why don't you hop in and ride with me.' We got to be good friends and the next year, 1972, I got the internship.” A vocation for horses had always been there, growing up in South Texas: working on ranches, rounding up cattle, playing cowboy. After the University of Texas, he proceeded to vet school at A&M–and his timing, in terms of the horse business, could not have been better. The old-school sporting programs were suddenly being supplemented by people trying to make money, big money, from breeding. An era was dawning when veterinary input could influence huge business decisions. “When I arrived, the July Sale average was $37,000,” Holder recalls. “The next year, the Japanese started coming in and it went to $55,000. And over the next 15 years it went to $700,000. The business just exploded. There were tons of horses, people buying farms, people bringing in mares. Hagyards was swamped. They probably only had 10 veterinarians, now there are probably 70-something. So I got hired on. And the theory then was to be good to kids: if they worked hard, give them a chance. So if everything worked out, you could become a partner in eight years. And it did work out.” His professional longevity qualifies Holder as one of the last links to names that still cast a benign shade over the Bluegrass, from a time when everything was done by palpation. “Dr. Charlie” retired the year Holder joined, but would regularly call by the office after a dove shoot, to take a drink and make the secretary blush with his teasing. Jane Lyon with Dr. Richard Holder | Keeneland “Dr. Davidson loved shooting, too,” Holder recalls. “As the only intern, I'd hang out with him at the racetrack and see what he'd do with the horses in training. But it was Dr. McGee who was my savior. He was trying to let up, so I hit at the right time. I got along well with Charles Nuckols–we were same age–so was able to take over Hurstland from Dr. McGee. Darby Dan, too, he kind of took me under his wing there. So just with those two, that was 300 mares off his list.” McGee's need was Holder's opportunity. “But he was also doing what I was most interested in, the 'ob-gyn' [obstetric-gynecological] stuff,” he says. “And he was extremely patient and supportive. His clients loved him: if he said I was okay, I was okay with them.” Dr. Charlie's nephew Ed Fallon (“a studious, exacting guy who took great pains with me”) maintained the dynastic core of the firm, while closer in age. Mind you, science was moving so fast that the old timers were also having to learn as they went along. And Holder would himself become associated with a breakthrough meanwhile taken for granted as a decision-making tool by farms of every size. In 1989, having expanded his clientele to include Waterford Farm and a burgeoning Lane's End account, Holder visited the man he considered the world's premier equine researcher, Dr. Oliver Ginther at the University of Wisconsin. They spoke of this and that, caught up on advances–ultrasound had just entered widespread use–until it was time to head back to the airport. Waiting for the taxi, Holder happened to make a wistful aside about embryos: “Boy, it'd be cool if we could figure out a way to tell what sex they are.” “You think people would really be interested?” said Ginther. “I know my clients would. 'Wish we knew what she's carrying.' Hell, people have been saying that ever since I got down there.” A few months later, Ginther telephoned. Thanks to ultrasound, they were learning their way round embryonic physiology, identifying nascent organs and tracking minute changes. And they had identified a barely perceptible, gender specific structure. “Two millimeters, kind of an 'equals' sign,” Ginther explained. “But if you can locate it, that genital tubercle might let you determine sex.” This examination of fetal tissue in Ginther's lab had been conducted by Sandra Curran, who came down to show Holder what to look for. All he needed now was a small, obliging program that might let him experiment on its mares. There was an obvious candidate. “Yeah, I had a little farm with a partner,” Holder recalls. “Fifteen mares. So I was my own first client for this. People don't like you just banging around in there without good reason. Then a couple for Dave Mowat at Fawn Leap. The first year, I did 25. All correct. So Dave said, 'Come on then, I'll let you charge for it.' Next year I did about 45. The year after, 80. Still all correct.” It spread like wildfire: first to Holder's clients, then the superpowers, soon even their sister farms in Europe. At first, volume was confined by assessment being restricted to the first 80 days of pregnancy. But then Holder discovered that this narrow window could be prised back open just a couple of weeks later. “At 80 days it goes out of reach but at 95, damn, there it is again,” he says. “It's a developed fetus, maybe the size of a rat, and the tubercle is no more: by now you're looking at external genitalia.” A.P. Indy | Sarah Andrew He returned to mares already sexed that year and cross-checked the later test against his original findings. Everything tallied. So now the testing spectrum had expanded radically. At one point Holder was scanning 2,000 mares a year, from Japan to Dubai. “I carted that 25lbs Aloka machine through airports for 15 years!” Holder says. “Wasn't always fun, if you were late for a flight…” Of maybe 50,000 tests across his career, no more than eight have proved wrong. So here was another transformative tool: science assisting business, but also business driving science. As the industry grew, ancillary specialisms flourished. In Holder's case, sexing fetuses ended up as 60 percent of his practice. But ultrasound was game-changing in so many other ways. Holder remembers the theatricality surrounding the firm's first machine, each farm booking its day and moving all its mares to one barn to take their turn almost ceremonially. Improved detection even prompted some of the older help to mutter that the machine “caused” twins. “I remember, one of the first mares I looked at, seeing three vesicles in there,” Holder recalls. “I thought she was full of cysts. Then next time you looked, damn, they were pregnancy vesicles. Triplets! Nobody really knew we had them. I've had as many as four or five pregnancies in a mare, but you'd never have known before.” His specialism could make heavy demands. In springtime, long days ran into long nights, as draining emotionally as physically: if you need a vet for the business end of a pregnancy, something is going wrong. The other big test of vocation comes when your arm is fully committed to that portion of an indignant mare with two lethal hoofs attached. One colleague lost a lung, ultimately with tragic consequences, attempting no more than a worming. Mostly, however, Holder has felt able to trust both his own instincts and those handling his patient. But while timeless crises abide, Holder could not have had a more dynamic environment for his long journey from intern to veteran. Now he, in turn, is fascinated by breakthroughs entering daily use among the next generation. Plenty of these, equally, have simply shown how well the old timers managed in the half-light of science. Holder has been privileged by intimate insights into the systems that produced A.P. Indy and Genuine Risk, among others. And while he takes it a little easier now, confining himself to sexing “only” around 600 a year, the professional ardor still burns. “I got here in '72, and I'm still practicing,” he says. “I think I'll have the record at Hagyards, in all the time they've been going. A lot of it's been pretty labor-intensive. But it's fun to get good results. Pregnant or not, that's different. Sexing, there's already good news: she's pregnant. Nobody blames you if it's the 'wrong' sex. But someone really wants a filly? And, yep, it's a filly–well, they go crazy. I've had such fantastic clients, over the years. So it's all been kind of nice to be part of.” The post Half A Century Holding Your Horses appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Field of Gold will face eight rivals as he bids for classic redemption in the Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1) at the Curragh May 24.View the full article

Frateli La Vita is set to defend his title May 25 in the Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella at Club Hipico de Santiago with an automatic starting position in the Breeders' Cup Mile on the line.View the full article

For the first time since 2000, Laurel Park in Maryland will host National Steeplechase Association hurdle races on Father's Day, June 15.View the full article

2nd-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, 5f, post time: 1:14 p.m. ET Winchell Thoroughbreds' SPICE RUNNER (Gun Runner) drew outside in a field of eight and is the 5-2 morning line second favorite to try to snap an unusually cool beginning to the local meeting for the Steve Asmussen barn. A March foal, the homebred is the latest to make the races out of Simple Surprise (Cowboy Cal), who won her maiden at first asking over a sloppy Churchill main track for coming up on 10 years ago for these same connections. Unsurprisingly covered by the Horse of the Year in her first year at stud in 2018, Simple Surprise produced Gunite, who needed three tries to break his maiden and celebrated his best season as a 4-year-old, defeating future champion Elite Power (Curlin) in the GI Forego Stakes before finishing runner-up to that foe in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Gunite put together a record of 4-2-1 from seven appearances beneath the Twin Spires, with three of those scores in stakes company. TJCIS PPs The post Friday Insights: Gunite Full-Brother Unveiled at Churchill appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Tattersalls Ireland, RATOATH – Oh what a feeling it is to be playing with the house's money. Eoin McDonagh, one of the most upwardly mobile handlers on the circuit, finds himself in that very position after a bonanza of a breeze-up season and he bids to end the year with a bang at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale – the sale that got him going. And he has a strong chance, too. His eight-strong Shanaville Stables draft features juveniles by Hello Youmzain, Starspangledbanner, Lope De Vega, Sioux Nation and more. And McDonagh admits to having saved some of his best bullets until last. “I have a good, solid bunch of horses and I am not afraid to support this sale,” the 35-year-old said. “This sale got me going a few years ago and it continues to go from strength to strength every year since. The footfall here last year was phenomenal and it seems to be strong already here this week again. And not just at the top end, which seemed to be strong at every breeze-up sale this year, but the market from the bottom right up to the top has historically been extremely strong at this sale. That's why we love coming back and hopefully this week will be the same.” Things have been humming along pretty sweetly for McDonagh ever since the Craven Breeze-Up Sale where his 30,000gns yearling purchase by Starspangledbanner rocked into 200,000gns. Jackpot. But the cards have kept on falling his way all year and, following another good week at Arqana, there is optimism in the air ahead of what has traditionally been known as the final big sale on the European breeze-up circuit. He said, “I've had a great year – turned simple pinhooks into good money and I'm ahead for the year. Things are good and I'm fortunate I had a few nice horses. We'd a very good sale at Arqana selling a Palace Pier filly with a nice page for €165,000 and a Blue Point that we sold for €75,000. They both made a profit. I think the best result of the year so far was the Starspangledbanner colt we sold at the Craven – he sold for 200,000gns after we bought him for just 30,000gn as a yearling but I really do hold him in high regard. He was actually named Golden Conquer this week and I think there will be big things to come from him. He's based with Roger Varian and the vibes seem to be good.” He added, “I had 15 breeze-up horses last year and we upped it to 18 this year, which is the most we have ever had. I think we bought a lot more quality last year – did a lot of shopping at Book 1 and 2. We actually bought three of the cheapest horses in Book 1 last year and they all blossomed into lovely horses so it worked out well. I took a chance on horses by sexy sires who might have been falling between the cracks.” To that extent, McDonagh has come into the breeze-up game from a different angle. Having cut his teeth in National Hunt racing, a sphere in which he knows, loves and continues to operate well in, McDonagh revealed that it did take some time to refine his eye to what the market wants and appreciates on the level. He explained, “I love National Hunt racing, I always have done, but as far as running a business goes, this works well. I spent a couple of years with Con Marnane when I was younger and that just opened my eyes to what scale there is on the Flat. We've been relatively successful at the breeze-up game throughout a short period of time but every year you are learning something new and adapting. I try to give myself a good chance with sire-power and pedigree. If you have that, you can get buyers to the door and, if they have done a nice breeze, it's an easy sell. I'm not afraid to think outside the box either.” He added, “I have always been sucked into those big-walking horses at the sales but I have learned that you don't need that big exaggerated walk for the Flat. Those horses tend to be slow so, when you come to this game from a National Hunt background, you need to adapt and change your eye to a certain degree. I'd often look at a yearling and be quite forgiving because I'd imagine what they would look like when they are trained up at the breeze-up sale. That forgiving mindset has worked in my favour. Take the Starspangledbanner for example. He was quite a heavy yearling but he came back a much better two-year-old and just transformed into a lovely horse with a bit of training. So I'm not afraid of taking a chance and trying to turn these yearlings into nice, athletic horses.” While a number of the Shanaville horses found themselves in the top 50 on the unofficial times sheets following Thursday's breeze, you won't usually find many of McDonagh's horses breaking the clock as a rule. Instead, the young handler remains committed to the later-maturing types, a modus operandi that has served him well thus far. He concluded, “I was never really tempted to get sucked into those fast, early types, because if they don't clock well, you've a long way to fall. On top of that, they are not worth much after Royal Ascot. Concentrating on the mile/mile-plus horses has served me well and I think it's the area of the market that suits us best. With those sharper, quicker horses, you have a shorter shelf life. If you have a horse with size, scope and movement, people will look at them with a view towards them being three-year-old types and some buyers might even be thinking of a horse that would go dual-purpose. I prefer to think long-term and the international market for those horses is very strong when you have a good one.” The Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale, which produced classy performers Diego Ventura and Coto De Caza last year, gets underway at 10am on Friday. The post ‘The Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale Got Me Going And I’m Not Afraid To Support It’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The deadline to nominate yearlings to the European Breeders' Fund (EBF) by a stallion not registered to the EBF is Saturday, May 31. This nomination stage largely relates to yearlings by stallions standing in the US and requires a registration fee to be paid of $600. “Owners and breeders looking to either campaign a horse in Europe or sell, should check that it is EBF nominated as over 80% of two-year-old maiden races are confined to EBF-qualified horses,” said the EBF's Kerry Murphy. “The EBF is contributing over €6 million in added prize-money throughout Europe every year.” The post EBF Registration Deadline Approaching appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article