Wandering Eyes

Just days after relocating to Cambridge from her former Opaki base, Kylie Little will aim to kick off her northern training career on a high at Rotorua on Saturday. Little will saddle last-start Parliamentary Handicap (2200m) winner Trisha Lea in the RSA Taumarunui Gold Cup (2200m), while impressive debut winner Easy Habit will line up in a supporting race. “Trisha Lea’s been doing really well since Trentham, she just about pulled my arms out galloping around Cambridge this morning,” Littl... View the full article

Star Emperor takes on the big boys View the full article

Jumbo Jet to relaunch Sky Rocket View the full article

Updates on Stewards' follow-ups to Friday and Sunday meetings View the full article

Horses' test results July 20 & 22 View the full article

Saratoga is the logical jumping-off place for hurdlers imported to compete in summer-fall championship races, and three newcomers will make their debuts July 25 in the A. P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Stakes (NSA-G1). View the full article

Graydar (Unbridled’s Song–Sweetest Smile, by Dehere) has been relocated to Linda Madsen’s Milky Way Farms in Temecula, California. The stallion had previously stood at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky. “There aren’t many Grade I-winning sons of Unbridled’s Song and we are very excited to bring one of Graydar’s caliber to California,” said Madsen. “He was an accomplished racehorse and a dominant performer on the track. He is passing on his looks, speed, and class, and two of his best horses have had success in California. He is a perfect complement to our roster.” Graydar, winner of the 2013 GI Donn H., GII Kelso H., and GII New Orleans H., is the sire of this year’s Smarty Jones S. winner Gray Attempt, as well as graded stakes winner Lombo. He is also the sire of this year’s G2 UAE Derby and GIII Indiana Derby runner-up Gray Magician and recent stakes-winning filly Wondrshegotthundr. The post Graydar to Milky Way Farms appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Following approval July 22 from the Virginia Racing Commission, Colonial Downs plans to offer low takeout rates on wagers for the upcoming Colonial Downs race meeting scheduled to open Aug. 8. View the full article

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Tacitus continued his preparations July 22 for an expected start in the July 27 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

The Maryland Jockey Club opened its eighth off-track betting facility Monday at Long Shot’s sports bar in the Clarion Inn Frederick Event Center. The opening of Long Shot’s comes 10 months after the MJC expanded its network of off-track betting sites to the MGM National Harbor, a luxury resort, retail, dining and entertainment venue in Oxon Hill and it joins facilities at Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, Greenmount Station in Hampstead, Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, GBoone’s Events Center in Boonsboro and Hollywood Casino in Perryville, as well as the Riverboat Restaurant in Colonial Beach, Va. The post MJC Opens Eighth OTB Site appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Colonial Downs, following approval Monday from the Virginia Racing Commission, has announced take-out rates for its upcoming meeting. During its 15-day race meeting, which begins Aug. 8, the track will have a win, place and show take out of 16%. Exacta, trifecta, superfecta and early and late daily doubles, Pick 3s and Pick4s will have a 20% takeout rate and the Pick 5 will feature a promotional 12% takeout. “Our team at Colonial Downs Group has worked diligently to be widely inclusive with the revival of Thoroughbred racing in Virginia and we have left no industry group behind,” said John Marshall, Colonial Downs Group Executive Vice President. “Today we advocate for the driving force behind live racing everywhere–the horseplayers. Today more than ever, optimal take-out rates are essential ingredients to a successful race meet. We thank the Virginia HPBA for its support in this effort.” The post Colonial Downs Announces Take-Out Rates appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

After withstanding oppressive heat and surviving an inquiry to prevail in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1), Maximum Security worked his way into this week's NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. View the full article

The Jockey Club requires all Reports of Mares Bred for the 2019 breeding season to be submitted by Aug. 1. “To ensure that the breeding statistics we release in the fall are as accurate as possible, we request that RMBs be submitted by Aug. 1,” said Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director of The Jockey Club. Stallion managers who submit completed RMBs by that date will be among the first to receive their Stallion Service Certificates, which facilitates the timely registration of 2020 foals. Reports of Mares Bred may be submitted via Interactive Registration at registry.jockeyclub.com or a form is available by e-mail, fax, or mail by contacting inquiries@jockeyclub.com. The post Reports of Mares Bred Due Aug. 1 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Sayjay Racing, Greg Hall and Brooke Hubbard’s One Bad Boy (Twirling Candy), a 3 1/2-length winner of the June 29 Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, will look to annex the second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown when he goes postward in the Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie Tuesday evening. The dark bay is the 7-5 morning-line favorite while facing just four rivals in the 1 3/16-mile race. One Bad Boy has been training at Woodbine since the Queen’s Plate and worked five furlongs over the track’s Tapeta surface in 1:02.60 last Tuesday. “He has been thriving at Woodbine,” said Hubbard, who has been in Toronto with the Classic winner for the last week. “He really loves the surface at the track and he’s been doing great and staying fit.” The Prince of Wales will be One Bad Boy’s third start over a dirt surface. He opened his career with a pair of starts over the main track at Santa Anita, finishing second behind GI Kentucky Derby morning-line favorite Omaha Beach (War Front) in a Feb. 2 maiden special weight before graduating over the turf in Arcadia in April. He was second in the off-turf Alcatraz S. over the Tapeta at Golden Gate May 19 before travelling north of the border for the Queen’s Plate. Hubbard, who purchased One Bad Boy for $65,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale, said she didn’t think the move back to the dirt Tuesday would be a problem. “It’s not really a concern for any of us,” she said. “We know that he trains well on the dirt and he’s run fairly well on it. So we’re just hoping that he is coming in in form, which we believe he is. The turf is definitely where we want to end up with him, but it’s a fun thing to have a horse who is good on a variety of surfaces.” The year before purchasing One Bad Boy, Hubbard had purchased the sophomore’s half-sister Ms Bad Behavior (Blame) for $75,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September sale. That filly, now a stakes winner and five-times graded placed, had only made two starts when her half-brother went through the Keeneland sales ring in 2017, but Hubbard had seen enough to want to check out the yearling. “I originally bought his sister and so I had to go and see him,” Hubbard recalled. “He has a lot more leg than his sister and he had a really great walk. Those were the two things that I liked the most about him.” The Fort Erie’s compact field is not short on talent, according to Hubbard. “It’s a pretty salty field for how small it is,” she said. “We are feeling fairly confident, but you can never be too confident. It is horse racing.” One Bad Boy faced all four of his Prince of Wales challengers in the Queen’s Plate. Ivan Dalos’s Avie’s Flatter (Flatter), last year’s champion 2-year-old and runner-up in the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, is 5-2 on the morning line. The colt, winner of the Apr. 5 GIII Transylvania S. at Keeneland, worked five furlongs over the Fort Erie surface in 1:00.20 July 11. “Avie’s Flatter skipped over the track and seemed very comfortable,” trainer Josie Carroll said of the local work. “He’s a very consistent horse across every surface.” Carroll will also saddle Di Scola Boys Stable’s He’s a Macho Man (Mucho Macho Man), fourth in the Queen’s Plate, in Tuesday’s race. The chestnut colt also went five furlongs at Fort Erie July 11, covering the distance in 1:03.80. “I’m glad we brought him down,” Carroll said. “Patrick Husbands worked him and said he was a little lost on the track because he likes to take a look at everything, so his time wasn’t very fast, but Patrick loved the way he got across the track.” The post One Bad Boy Back for More in Prince of Wales appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Owner Davis said mare's latest filly has coped well with loss View the full article

The new website for the International Thoroughbred Breeders’ Federation (ITBF) is now live. Spanning 20 member countries and the European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders’ Associations (EFTBA), the Federation aims to further expand its membership, while strengthening the international Thoroughbred industry as a whole. New features include member-designated pages, veterinary news and blogs, while the ITBF is also now active on social media, including Facebook and Twitter. “We are delighted to introduce the new interactive ITBF website and hope that it will be of great interest to our many members as well as other interested visitors to the site,” said ITBF Chairman Kirsten Rausing. “It is our ambition to post items of interest to the worldwide TB breeding industry on the site, as we prepare for the ITBF General Meeting, to be held in Paris in June 2020.” The post ITBF Launches New Website appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

For one weekend, it seemed like the good old days for the Aiken, South Carolina Training Center. In fewer than 24 hours, starting with the July 5 evening card at Prairie Meadows, horses that had trained at Aiken won the GIII Cornhusker H., the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational, the GI Belmont Derby Invitational and the GIII Kent S. For a training center whose horse population now peaks at about 110, it was a tremendous accomplishment. But such a run of success was not unusual. That is if you take a trip back in time. There was a period when Aiken was the winter home of some of the top trainers and owners in the country, many of them the so called “society stables” that were such a force in New York in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Rokeby Stable, Greentree, the Phipps Family, King Ranch, C.V. Whitney and Claiborne Farm were among the owners who had stalls at Aiken. So, too, did trainers like Woody Stephens, Mack Miler, John Gaver and Mike Freeman. Aiken opened in 1941. “It was a private club for a long time and really there was no initiative for Aiken to step up and bring new people in,” said Cary Frommer, a consignor who also breaks and trains horses at Aiken. “They were quite happy to have their private little paradise to train in.” But times change in racing and Frommer admits that Aiken failed to adjust. The role of private trainer for a wealthy owner-breeder largely disappeared and the training center found itself hard-pressed to replace the outfits that began to disappear from racing. In the meantime, Ocala became the place of choice for many horsemen who were either getting horses ready for the sales, breaking them in preparation for their 2-year-old seasons or laying up horses that needed rest. That Ocala is closer to Gulfstream and stabling facilities like Palm Meadows and Palm Beach Downs than Aiken is, gives it an advantage over the South Carolina facility. According to Frommer, Aiken once had the capacity to house 350 horses. That changed when several barns were turned over to people who were training non-race horse and focusing on other equestrian pursuits. Aiken now has room for 200 Thoroughbreds, but Frommer said the population dipped to about 110 during the winter and early spring months. With the recent death of owner Gustav Schickedanz, Aiken’s population could be even lower next year as he had one of the larger stables at the facility with 25 horses. “We’re not going to close any time soon, but it’s certainly not where it once was,” Frommer said. Yet, Frommer says that an invigorated Aiken management team is determined to see to it that not only will the training center survive but that it will begin to grow again. A new Chairman of the Board, Chad Ingram, has been brought in and he is spearheading the effort to get the word out the Aiken has assets that can’t be found at any other training center in the country. “The situation isn’t that bad,” Ingram said. “We have a wonderful track. We’re not about to close the doors. That’s not the case at all. We’ve got some new board members who are putting a lot of effort and energy into bringing the training track back to a thriving status.” Frommer said she believed they were now doing a better job of getting the word out about all that Aiken has to offer. That four Aiken graduates, including GI winners Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy) and Henley’s Joy (Kitten’s Joy), won graded stakes earlier in the month is part of a story Frommer and others are trying to get out. Frommer says that based on her experience, horses thrive in the type of climate Aiken has. During the winter and spring, it is never too hot or cold and there is a change of seasons. The same can’t be said for Florida. “I think horses need to have a change of season,” she said. “It’s good for them. They need to grow a little coat, they need to do all the natural things that they’re supposed to do. Florida is a great place, but that just doesn’t happen there. I think this is all an important part of a horse developing and growing.” She lists Aiken’s other major asset as the town itself. “I think we should reach out to young trainers who have a family and want a life and want to settle in rather than moving around all the time,” she said. “This is a really great town for a family and place for people to raise kids. The thing about Aiken, when somebody comes here they love it. It’s just getting them here.” Ingram says that the annual Aiken Trials, held each year in mid-March, bring in a substantial amount of revenue, which has helped keep the training center afloat. But he wants something better for Aiken. He wants it to once again be a major training center with stalls filled with horses that will flourish when they make it to the races. “I think we have the best possible climate to train in the country in the wintertime,” he said. “We think the surface of the track is as good as any track in Southeast. We think we’re a hidden gem. We just need more people to understand all that we have to offer.” The post Historic Aiken Training Center Battles to Restore Past Glory appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Edmondson Hall will sponsor The National Stud’s Evening Lecture Programme for the next three years, the stud announced on Monday. Edmondson Hall’s founding partner Mark Edmondson opted to sponsor the Programme after joining the Diploma in Stud Practice and Management students and other delegates at this year’s events. The lectures cover a wide range of topics pertinent to the industry, and next year’s programme will include a lecture on the complexities around bloodstock, hosted by Edmondson Hall. “Edmondson Hall has worked with the National Stud for 25 years and we couldn’t be more pleased to be involved with this great educational programme,” said Edmondson, who will also allow TNS Diploma students access free legal support during the course. “I learnt so much from the course and thoroughly enjoyed it.” “We are delighted that Mark attended the lectures in 2019 and recognised the value they provide to our full-time students and the many other delegates from local studs,” said The National Stud’s Managing Director Tim Lane. “It’s fantastic to be linking up with Edmondson Hall, who provide legal support to The National Stud and many other industry businesses.” The post Edmondson Hall to Sponsor National Stud Evening Lectures appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The catalogues for the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale and September Yearling Sale Part II are now online and will be available in print form from July 26. One of the 2019 potential top lots is a filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) (lot 297) out of MSP Holy Spring (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) from Kilcarn Park. The recent G2 Sapphire S. winner Soffia (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) as well as Grade II winner Beau Recall (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) Stateside and G1SW Time Warp (GB) (Archipenko) in Hong Kong are past graduates. A total of 480 lots will go under the hammer during the September Sale from Sept. 24-25, while 253 yearlings will pass through the ring on Sept. 26 during the Part II portion. Selling will begin at 10 a.m. local time all three days. During the 2018 September Sale, a colt by Kodiac (GB) took top honours when selling for €275,000 to Shadwell. The gross was €10,488,000, with an average of €25,518 and a median of €20,000. A total of 411 yearlings found new homes (78%). The post Sea The Stars Filly Among Tattersalls Ireland Yearlings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Polarizing New York sports talk radio host Mike Francesa can always be spotted enjoying a day at the races from the owner’s boxes at Saratoga every summer. The longtime owner and racing fan recently sat down with TDN’s Senior Editor Steve Sherack to talk about his love for horse racing, summers at the Spa and much more. Mike’s On with Francesa airs on WFAN 101.9 FM/660 AM weekdays at 3 p.m. ET. Q: How did you first get interested in racing? Did you make it out to Belmont and Aqueduct during your college days at St. John’s? MF: It really was because of St. John’s. I used to take classes early in the morning and I had time to kill before my job began late in the afternoon. I used to go over to Belmont for the fall meet and I actually gave up my job because I was better at making money at the track. That’s really how I got into it. I eventually got into ownership. It’s been a long time now. I probably owned my first horse in the 90s. I owned horses with Bill Parcells for a while. When he came to coach the Jets, we didn’t think that it was a good idea that we had horses together, so we split the stable up. He still uses that stable name-August Dawn Farm-and I changed mine a couple of times. I’ve had horses ever since. I’ve never been part of a syndicate and I’ve never owned portions of horses. Ten would’ve been the max that I ever had. Right now, I have five, and three of them I have with a friend of mine–Lee Einsidler, the Casamigos Tequila guy. We own [Kitten’s Joy S. winner & GII Penn Mile S. runner-up] Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed), who’s a nice 3-year-old. We have a couple of nice 2-year-olds with [Bill] Mott, too. I also have two or three on my own. I always dabble and keep a couple. I don’t need more than that now. I like to keep a handful. Q: The stable that you currently race under-JEH Racing Stable–is a play off your kids’ names (Jack, Emily & Harrison). Do you share the racing experience with your family? MF: My boys aren’t that into it. They think the track’s boring. My daughter really likes it. She always comes to Saratoga. My boys are busy playing ball and they aren’t old enough yet to really have gotten into it. But my daughter has gotten into it a lot. Q: Speaking of Saratoga, the new-look meet-earlier start/five-day race weeks–is off and running. You’ve been very vocal about how much you enjoy heading up there every summer. How long have you been going now? MF: I’ve been to Saratoga 39 out of the last 40 summers. There was only one summer I didn’t make it out of the last 40. I go every single year and wouldn’t miss it. I would think it would be a terrible summer if I didn’t go. It’s a different meet now. It used to be just an August meet and now it’s almost a two-month meet. I think of Saratoga being about August. To me, that’s Saratoga. You can sense the intensity of the meet pick up around Aug. 1. The sale’s week, to me, is even bigger than Travers week. That is prime time in Saratoga and that is usually when I’m there during the first couple of weeks in August. I think this year not having [racing on] Mondays is going to really hurt them. People are going to find that very unpopular. Monday has always been a great day at the track. Two [dark] days is hard. You’re going to see a lot of people jump back to the city and go back and forth. I think they should re-think that. I understand they can’t run six days a week-they just don’t have the horses-but I don’t know if them being dark on Mondays is going to be a positive thing. I don’t like it–that’s the thing that jumped out at me right away. Q: What stands out to you the most about Saratoga? It really is such a special place to all of us that love racing. MF: Saratoga is like visiting any great, historic sporting venue–whether it be Wimbledon, Churchill Downs for the Derby, Yankee Stadium in October, etc. It’s one of the great venues in all of sports. The great thing about it is–and I’m not going to say that it doesn’t change–because, you know what, now with Shake Shack by the paddock and 1863 [Club] along the clubhouse turn, Saratoga has changed plenty. But sitting in your box–I’ve had the same box for 20 something years–that, to me, never changes. That’s Saratoga. I’ve had the same people around me all those years. Owners come and go and a lot of the older ones that are gone now, I miss. Some really wonderful horsemen. I’ve had Mr. Broman to my left for as long as I can remember. You see the same faces. It’s just very special. The first time you walk in there, there’s nothing like it. I can’t even tell you how excited I get the first time I walk in there every summer. It’s a very big deal for me. It really is. It’s just a very special place. Q: You always give racing such a nice platform on your show. You have Brad Thomas on previewing big races, Bob Baffert talking about his big 3-year-olds during Triple Crown season, and you’ve also even done your show from the aprons at Saratoga and Belmont. Can you talk about your audience a little bit? They have to expect this from you by now, but what’s the response like when you’re so vocal about racing? MF: It’s a niche sport. Not a lot of people are involved. They’re involved a couple of days a year. That’s what you’ve got to understand. They’re involved for the Triple Crown, they’re especially involved on Derby Day, and they might be involved on Breeders’ Cup day. I’ve probably sent more people to Saratoga than anybody that the Chamber of Commerce could find over the last 30 years. I can’t tell you how many people that have written or stopped me through the years and said, ‘You told us to come to Saratoga.’ I have not had one ever say that they we were disappointed by going. Not one has ever said that they had a bad time. Anyone that knows that little town knows how great it is. I understand that they try to kill you with the prices and jack everything up in August. I understand they have to make a living and everything, but they can’t kill the charm of that place. It’s just special. Q: Of all the racing people that you’ve encountered through the years, or even had on your show, is there somebody that you’ve enjoyed chatting with the most? MF: I like Baffert a lot. He’s an interesting character. He really is. He’s different and looks at things a little differently. When Allen Jerkens was around, he used to like to talk to me. I liked having ‘The Chief’ on, who used to come on and only want to talk about football. He didn’t want to talk about horses. Wayne Lukas, who I’ve know for a very long time and is just ageless, is another. It’s amazing. I’ll always stop and see Wayne. I’ll see him in the morning, and I’ll see him at the track. It’s remarkable how ageless he is. To see him in his 80s doing what he’s doing, it’s remarkable the schedule he keeps and seeing him get on his horse every day. There are a lot of characters in the sport. Whether you’re talking about owners, jockeys, trainers, whomever, there’s just a lot of interesting people and there’s a lot of interesting stories around the racetrack. It’s quite a group. It really is. Red Smith said that the great stories were in horse racing and boxing. That’s why he liked those two sports. I think he was right. Boxing is kind of dead now and horse racing might be going that way. It’s never gonna die, but it’s sure hurting itself, that’s for sure. Q: That was going to be one of my next questions. What are your thoughts on the current state of horse racing? We’ve now had two Triple Crown winners since the long drought, but after a controversial Derby disqualification this year, all the recent Santa Anita breakdowns, the Jerry Hollendorfer situation, etc., is the sport at a cross roads right now? MF: It’s a very tricky thing because I understand why states want to run their horse racing business their own way. But horse racing needed a commission–a national organization to run racing–and I think that’s what the Breeders’ Cup was hoping to be the beginning of and it never happened. Boxing died because every state ran things differently. There’s no uniformity of rules and that’s the same thing in racing. Everybody does things differently. And to me, that really hurts the sport. In this day and age where the world is a very different place in terms of national television and streaming your product, you really need a national identity and racing doesn’t have one. And that really does hurt it as a sport. For someone who deals with sports that have national identities all the time, racing’s lack of a national identity hurts it dramatically. No question. Q: You talked earlier about being a longtime horse owner and it’s obviously not for everybody with the extreme highs and lows. Things can certainly turn around very quickly for the good or bad. What’s your experience owning horses been like? MF: No, it’s not for everyone. It’s a business I like, but it’s a business that I keep under realistic terms. If you try to chase racing in any big way, it will break your heart because there’s always somebody richer and always somebody who has more money than you that’s chasing it. If you think you can compete with Arab Sheikhs and guys who are billionaires, then you’re silly. So, you’ve got to run racing on your own terms. Once you realize that, you can have some fun with it. But it is the absolute most heartbreaking business. Nine out of every 10 phone calls are negative or bad news. It’s just the way the sport is. John Nerud once told me that if you stay in it and know what you’re doing, you’re going to make enough money to pay the bills. And every 10 years, you’re gonna get a good horse. That’s what I think everyone hopes for. You hope you get that one horse. I’ve had a couple of good horses, I’ve never had a great horse. But I know a lot of people who have invested a lot more money and time than me, and they’ve never had a great horse, either. So, it’s kind of luck of the draw. When you get in and you get lucky with an early horse, you don’t realize how lucky you are. It’s a needle in the haystack. There’s no planning in this. Perfect example. You’re talking about guys who do unbelievable things with analyzing horses and you have all these experts that spend hours and days… They let a Triple Crown winner [American Pharoah] walk right through that sale [$300,000 RNA 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga] and not even be sold. A Triple Crown winner went through the ring at Saratoga and was not bought by anybody! That tells you all you need to know. I’ve been an underbidder on [GI Kentucky Derby winner] Go For Gin and [GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner] Bayern. There were my great horses. But you know what? If you gave them to a different trainer, you don’t even know if they would become a great horse. [Millionaire] Upstart was another one I was an underbidder on. I actually tried to buy him as a weanling when I was at the farm and Mrs. Nielsen wouldn’t sell him. I bid on him that night when he went through the ring [$130,000 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale]. So, I’ve been unlucky a couple of times as an underbidder. You remember the ones that get away, but that’s the way this business goes. Hey, the best horse I ever bought was [stakes winner] Personal Girl. She was a terrific little filly. They even have a race named after her. I bought her for $32,000, so you never know. The post Talking Horses with Mike Francesa appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

I doubt whether anyone really needs a reminder of the long-term impact being made by Urban Sea, the 1993 Arc winner who developed into one of the breed’s most accomplished broodmares. But if you do, take a look at the TDN’s Leading Sires List, by Group 1 stakes winners. Top of the list, with seven Group 1 winners, is Galileo, Urban Sea’s first winner of the Derby, while third place, with four Group 1 winners, belongs to Sea The Stars, Urban Sea’s second Derby winner who was responsible for Saturday’s gallant Irish Oaks winner Star Catcher. For good measure, Galileo’s son Frankel is one of three stallions tied with three Group 1 winners. The weekend also provided some more black-type for the wonderful Urban Sea/Allegretta female line, with second place in the G2 Kilboy Estates S. going to Urban Sea’s granddaughter Goddess, and victory in the G3 Prix Messidor going to New Approach’s gelded son Impulsif, who is inbred 4 x 3 to Allegretta via her daughters Urban Sea and Allez Les Trois. Incidentally, the recently-retired Derby winner Masar is another son of New Approach with two lines of Allegretta, but in his case both come via Urban Sea. Of course the year could become even better for Sea The Stars on Saturday, when another of his 2019 Group 1 winners, the Prince of Wales’s S. winner Crystal Ocean, is likely to start second favourite to Enable in the King George. Then there’s the dual Gold Cup hero Stradivarius to look forward to, when he bids for a third consecutive Goodwood Cup success. For the record, Sea The Stars’s other 2019 Group 1 winner was the ex-English stayer Shraaoh, who collected a huge prize when he took the Sydney Cup over two miles in April. Sea The Stars now has an impressive total of 12 Group 1 winners from his first six crops aged three or over. They have 10 different broodmare sires, the only stallions to appear twice being Kingmambo, whose daughters produced the French-based stallions Cloth of Stars and Zelzal, and Monsun, whose daughters got off to a great start with the Deutsches Derby winner Sea The Moon and followed up with Shraaoh. Sadler’s Wells, who is the broodmare sire of the Oaks and King George winner Taghrooda, has a solid record with Sea The Stars, as his daughters’ 62 foals include nearly 10% black-type winners. Among them are the Group 2 winners Knight To Behold, Storm The Stars, Fifty Stars and Raa Atoll, the listed winner Crimean Tatar and the Group 1-placed Almodovar and Fox Tal. This is relevant to the Irish Oaks winner Star Catcher, as her dam, the highly accomplished Lynnwood Chase, is a granddaughter of Sadler’s Wells’s Grand Prix de Paris-winning son Fort Wood. Lynnwood Chase was bought as a yearling by Hugo Lascelles on behalf of the Oppenheimer family for €140,000 at Deauville in 2003. I am guessing that part of her appeal was that she was a daughter of Horse Chestnut, the South African star who was bred and raced by Harry F. Oppenheimer (a cousin of Anthony Oppenheimer’s father Sir Philip.) Sentiment wouldn’t have been the only incentive for wanting to buy a first-crop daughter of Horse Chestnut. A winner over five and six furlongs as a juvenile, Horse Chestnut proceeded to win all six of his starts as a 3-year-old, enjoying wide-margin Grade 1 successes in the Cape Argus Guineas, the South African Derby, The Classic and the J & B Met, in the process proving himself effective from a mile to a mile and a half. His outstanding talent persuaded his owners to transfer him to the U.S. He was again impressive when he made his American debut in the GIII Broward H. over 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Gulfstream Park in January 2000, scoring by more than five lengths. Unfortunately, an injury in a workout ended his career just a couple of weeks later. He immediately joined the Claiborne Farm roster but even a farm as celebrated as Claiborne, whose reputation owed a lot to imported stallions, faced an uphill struggle with Horse Chestnut in the early noughties. Whereas the Argentine-bred Forli had been one of several imports on the Claiborne roster when he retired in 1968, Horse Chestnut was the only foreigner among the team in 2000–at a time when American breeders were becoming increasingly wary of turf horses. By March 2009 Horse Chestnut was on his way back to his native South Africa, leaving just five graded stakes winners behind him, headed by the Grade I-winning turf filly Lucifer’s Stone. Lynnwood Chase did nothing to boost Horse Chestnut’s reputation, finishing no closer than fourth in a two-race career in France. However, she followed in the footsteps of several other daughters of Horse Chestnut in proving much more effective as a broodmare, at Hascombe and Valiant Studs. When Star Catcher gained the first of her two victories over Fleeting in the G2 Ribblesdale S., she became the third of Lynnwood Chase’s foals to succeed in a group race at Royal Ascot, following the brothers Pisco Sour and Cannock Chase, winners respectively of the G3 Tercentenary S. in 2011 and 2014. Like their younger half-sister, both these sons of Lemon Drop Kid went on to enjoy a more important success, with Pisco Sour taking the G2 Prix Eugene Adam and Cannock Chase the GI Canadian International. Lynnwood Chase had begun her broodmare career in Kentucky, where she made repeated visits to the Belmont S. winner Lemon Drop Kid. However, she had been transferred to England by the time she foaled the last of the partnership’s five foals, in 2014. In her time in Europe she produced three consecutive fillies, to Sea The Stars, Kingman and Frankel, and then her owners gave a vote of confidence in the National Stud’s Time Test, to whom she produced a colt on Mar. 31. Sadly the mare has since died, at the age of 17. Lynnwood Chase’s progeny are by no means the family’s only Royal Ascot winners. Star Catcher’s fourth dam, the Habitat mare Bitty Girl, won her first five starts over five furlongs, including the Queen Mary S. and Lowther S. back in 1973. Bitty Girl’s brother Hot Spark was also very fast, as he demonstrated with his wins in the G1 Flying Childers S. and G3 Palace House S. He was also second in the G1 King’s Stand S., just as Bitty Girl had been a year earlier. Bitty Girl also ranks as the third dam of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Action This Day, fourth dam of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Drefong and fifth dam of Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister. The post Pedigree Insights: Star Catcher appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Star Catcher (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will bid to follow up her victory in the G1 Kerrygold Irish Oaks by giving trainer John Gosden a groundbreaking first success in the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille at ParisLongchamp on Sept. 15. The Newmarket handler plans to give the ‘TDN Rising Star’ a short break, before readying her to try to become the first British-trained winner of the Group 1 prize since the Sir Henry Cecil-trained Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in 2010. Running out a decisive winner of the G2 Ribblesdale S. at Royal Ascot on her previous start, the Anthony Oppenheimer-owned 3-year-old backed that success up with victory in The Curragh Classic on Saturday. Gosden said, “She did lots of eating and sleeping when she got back on Sunday, she is in great form. I think the Vermeille is probably very likely. She has been to Royal Ascot and The Curragh, so freshening up and going for the Vermeille will be a good idea.” A trip to France is on the agenda for G1 St James’s Palace S. runner-up King Of Comedy (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), who will be aimed at the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Aug. 11 rather than the G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood. “He is in great form and we will be looking at the Jacques le Marois,” said Gosden. “I think the straight mile of Deauville will suit him well. We’ve freshened him up and given him a break since Ascot, as he was on the go fairly early in the spring. Physically he has done well.” Looking further ahead, Gosden plans to step the ‘TDN Rising Star’ up in trip after earmarking the Oct. 19 G1 QIPCO Champion S. at Ascot in October as the long-term target. He added, “I think in the end his best trip will be a mile and a quarter. [Owner] Lady Bamford knows the family well and they are best at that trip. I think in the end the proper mile-and-a-quarter races like the Sept. 14 G1 Irish Champion and Champion S. will be for him. The post Star Catcher to Vermeille appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Looking ahead momentarily, the race not to be missed this season is Saturday’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S. What should be the mid-season highlight doesn’t always quite live up to expectations but with the two best older horses in Europe taking on the Derby winner, and a Japan Cup winner among a strong supporting cast, then all those lucky enough to be at Ascot should be in for a humdinger of a day. There is of course one black cloud over an otherwise perfect summer spell, and that’s the news of the death of Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) following surgery to remove a tumour several weeks ago. This time last year she was the dazzling winner of the Irish Oaks and the sporting decision was made by her owner Ling Tsui to keep Sea Of Class in training for what promised to be a glittering summer of contests against Enable (GB) and the other great names of the middle-distance community. Her demise is a sad blow for the Tsui family’s breeding operation and for all who worked with her at William Haggas’s stable, and we send both parties our commiserations. Diamond Day For Oppenheimer For many years, the King George was supported by De Beers and the scion of that great diamond family business, Anthony Oppenheimer, enjoyed a particularly fine day last Saturday. The owner-breeder was at the Curragh to cheer home Star Catcher (GB)—who became the second successive victrix of the Irish Oaks for her sire Sea The Stars (Ire)—the latest Classic winner for his Hascombe & Valiant Studs. But he will have kept a close eye on events at his home track of Newmarket, where Dame Malliot (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) launched a memorable day for the breeder of Derby and Arc winner Golden Horn (GB) with her first black-type win in the listed Ric & Mary Hambro Aphrodite S. The race named in memory of the late chairman of Newmarket Racecourses and his wife Mary, who died last year, saw fillies by Champs Elysees—also sadly no longer with us—fill the first two places—ahead of a daughter of another Juddmonte stallion, Kingman (GB). Sparkle Roll (Fr), the half-sister to Wings Of Eagles (Fr), took third and Kingman was later rewarded with a new stakes winner, Fox Chairman (Ire), who turned little black type into big black type with his win in the listed Steventon S. at Newbury, continuing a memorable breakthrough season for King Power Racing. Little Fish Even Sweeter With the yearling sales season fast approaching, the weekend’s results highlighted the fact that no sale should be left unscrutinised. The speedy Bettys Hope gave the Millman family a rewarding afternoon when scorching to victory in the Weatherbys Super Sprint for her third win of the year after three runner-up finishes. In plundering such a large pot, she boosted her first-season sire Anjaal (GB) to the head of the rankings and became the latest decent juvenile to emerge from David Hodge’s Llety Farms after G2 Flying Childers S. winner Soldier’s Call (GB) (Showcasing {GB}). Hodge parted company with the daughter of the Averti (GB) mare Miss Poppy (GB), a half-sister to crack sprinter Kyllachy (GB), for just £3,000 when trainer Rod Millman, assisted by Howson & Houldsworth Bloodstock, selected her from the Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale. That same sale has also been responsible for this year’s juvenile stakes winners Flippa The Strippa (GB) (Outstrip {GB}) and Liberty Beach (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}). The Kilboy Estate S. at the Curragh on Sunday was won by the Joseph O’Brien-trained Red Tea (GB) (Sakhee). Purchased last year at the Horses-in-Training Sale for 42,000gns by Blandford Bloodstock with some decent form a 98 rating to her name, the 6-year-old was another to have been bought modestly as a yearling when sold by Shadwell for £4,000 at the then DBS November Sale to her original racing owner Ivor Fox. Tourgeville’s Continuing Excellence Extending the inexpensive yearling theme, Robin Of Navan (Fr) (American Post {GB}), who is also still racing successfully in stakes class at the age of six—even more admirable considering his high-flying antics as a 2-year-old—added more lustre to a golden spell for the Lepeudry family of Eleveage de Tourgeville, just outside Deauville. Monique Lepeudry, mother of the stud’s owner Antoine Lepeudry, owns just two broodmares but they are both Group 1 producers. Cloghran (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}) is the dam of four-time group winner Robin Of Navan, while the other, Golden Lily (Fr) (Dolphin Street {Fr}), has produced G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac winner Lily’s Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}). Not to be outdone, Antoine Lepeudry chimed in with his own Group 1 winner as breeder this year via the Queen Anne S. winner Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper), a 6-year-old son of the listed-placed Lady Glitters (Fr) (Homme De Loi {Fr}). Lord Glitters was a €25,000 yearling but, like Lily’s Candle, was sold on for a much larger sum as a horse in training. In a world of ever-polarising fashion, particularly when it comes to stallions, it is refreshing to look upon this list and see names worthy of a place among the stakes results but often overlooked by breeders. Chapeau to the Lepeudry clan, whose forthcoming draft of four yearlings at the Arqana August Sale and two for the V.2—which includes a Muhaarar (GB) half-sister to Robin Of Navan—should be paid plenty of respect. Alpinista Starts On A High Another breeder enjoying a good season is Kirsten Rausing’s Lanwades Stud, which had a particularly fruitful week, across continents and at opposing ends of the distance spectrum. On Thursday evening, the Frankel (GB) filly Alpinista (GB) will have been marked down by many as a juvenile to follow after her strong debut victory at Epsom for Sir Mark Prescott. The grey is a grand-daughter of Albanova (GB) (Alzao), a treble Group 1 winner herself and sister to the dual Champion S. heroine Alborada (GB). In Ireland, Verhoyen (GB), a son of the former Lanwades resident Piccolo (GB), represented a fifth generation of Lanwades breeding when landing a valuable sprint on the Irish Oaks card for Michael Grassick, while farther afield in Australia, Lord Belvedere (GB) (Archipenko) looked a potential Cup horse for co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace when winning at Flemington in the colours of Highclere Thorougbred Racing. The 5-year-old raced in the UK as Mister Belvedere, winning three times for Michael Dods before being sold for 100,000gns last October. A son of Diablarette (GB) (Green Desert), Lord Belvedere’s immediate family received a further boost later in the day when his half-brother Pondus (GB), by another Lanwades resident, Sea The Moon (Ger), gained black type as runner-up in the listed Steventon S. A lesser known Lanwades graduate to feature in the results pages of the weekend was the unraced but well-bred Dapper (GB). The son of Hernando (GB) is a half-brother to the aforementioned Alborada and Albanova and stood for a time at Nunstainton Stud. His 5-year-old son Alfred Richardson (GB) boosted his tally of wins to six on Saturday when scoring at Ripon for John Davies. Brown Passes Second Test Days after England’s historic victory in the Cricket World Cup, a former England cricketer was making headlines in the bloodstock world when David Brown was presented with the Andrew Devonshire Bronze in honour of his outstanding contribution to the British breeding industry. Brown, who has run Furnace Mill Stud with his wife Trish for more than 40 years, was presented with his trophy at the annual TBA Awards on Tuesday night. The former chairman of the British European Breeders’ Fund bred, among many other winners, the 1998 King’s Stand S. victor Bolshoi (Ire) (Royal Academy) from Mainly Dry (GB) (The Brianstan {GB}), whose nine winners also include the group-placed Tod (GB) (Petorius {Ire}) and listed winner Speed Lord (GB) (Royal Applause {GB}). Brown played in 26 Test matches for England in the 1960s and was captain of Warwickshire between 1975 and 1977, during which time he laid the foundations for a fruitful second career as a Thoroughbred breeder. The post The Weekly Wrap: Catching Stars appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Heider Family Stables, and Madaket Stables' Mia Mischief, a winner in three of her last four starts, carries momentum into the July 24, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap (G2) at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

John Gosden’s trio of MG1SWs Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), and Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) are well in advance of their next engagements, the trainer revealed during a media event on the Newmarket gallops on Monday. The dual Arc heroine and Breeders’ Cup victress landed her first G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. in 2017, and bids to become the third dual winner and first this century after Dahlia (Vaguely Noble {Ire}) (1973/74) and Swain (Ire) (Nashwan) (1997/98). She was most recently seen in action taking Sandown’s G1 Coral-Eclipse S. earlier this month in her 5-year-old bow. “Enable has been in good form since Sandown,” Gosden said during a media event on the Newmarket gallops on Monday. “Enable was just going through the motions [during training], but two weeks before Sandown you saw all her passion and enthusiasm come out for racing. Suddenly, Frankie [Dettori] was hanging on rather than saying ‘Can we go a little faster dear.’ She worked on Saturday with Frankie on her. We were going to work on the grass, but we did not get enough rain so she worked on the all-weather. “I think we probably have seen the best of her. Hopefully, we can get through Ascot, then you have [the G1 Juddmonte International S. at] York [on Aug. 21] and the Arc. It is a big ask for any horse, but as you saw there, right now she is proud and happy within herself.” Lord Lloyd-Webber homebred Too Darn Hot was last seen demolishing the field in the G1 Qatar Prix Jean Prat at Deauville on July 7. The ‘TDN Rising Star’ came out of that race well and was in action at HQ on Monday morning in advance of the July 31 Qatar Sussex S. “I think we have got him back in the right place now and I was most impressed with the way he hit the line at Deauville over seven furlongs,” said Gosden. “His ideal distance is probably somewhere between seven furlongs and an easy mile, I doubt we will be trying to go further than that. My only concern at Goodwood is that I will be watching the draw with anxious eyes. You need agility at Goodwood and to that extent I think it is the kind of mile that he will appreciate.” Of the races potentially on the star colt’s dance card later in the season, the master of Clarehaven commented, “I am not frightened of looking at a Prix du Moulin [at ParisLongchamp on Sept. 8] and then there is the possibility of a [GI] Breeders’ Cup [Mile at Santa Anita] at the end of year over a two-turn mile [Nov. 2]. We have entered him for the [Sept. 7] Haydock Sprint Cup over six furlongs and he will probably get an entry in the sprint on Champions Day [Oct. 19] too.” Stradivarius exits a one-length win in the G1 Gold Cup during Royal Ascot, and he is gunning for his third G1 Goodwood Cup S., which is slated for July 30. Said Gosden, “Stradivarius worked on Saturday and did his usual thing; he went a length clear and said that’s it, I have done my bit. We are very happy with him ahead of the Qatar Goodwood Cup.” The post Gosden Trio in Good Nick appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article