Wandering Eyes

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC), the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the American Association of Equine Practitioners Foundation have issued a call for research proposals to investigate bisphosphonate administration in racehorses and in young racing prospects intended for sale at public auction. They seek to understand how bisphosphonates affect the long-term health and soundness of equine athletes. No research exists regarding the medication’s influence on horses under four years of age. “The expeditious development, funding and execution of targeted tactical research will be critical to our industry’s efforts to effectively regulate the use of bisphosphonates and prevent their abuse,” said RMTC Chair Alex Waldrop. The areas of requested research are: •Improving existing detection methodologies, including the potential use of alternative matrices such as hair and biomarkers in addition to the traditional testing matrices of urine and blood. •Understanding the effects of bisphosphonate administration on bone healing and remodeling. •Assessing the analgesic properties of bisphosphonates in the horse. The complete Request for Proposals can be read here. The deadline for submission is Oct. 1, 2019. The post Industry Groups Call for Bisphosphonate Research Proposals appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Little Red Feather Racing will host a LRF Partner Handicapping Tour with 10 private contests for partners only on www.horseplayers.com. The winner of each tournament receives entry into the weekend’s NHC qualifier on the same website. To participate in these exclusive contests, you must be a member of the NHC Tour. The LRF Tour Dates are: Thursday June 20; Thursday June 27; Thursday July 4; Thursday July 11; Thursday July 18; Thursday July 25; Thursday August 1; Thursday August 8; Thursday August 15; Thursday August 22. In addition, the $1,000,000 LRF/NHC bonus is back for a second season. The highest LRF partner on the NHC tour Leaderboard who qualifies for the NHC will subsequently earn a $1,000,000 bonus if he/she goes on to win NHC 2020. Last year Joe Rosen nearly took down the bonus, finishing 56th in 2019 NHC. The post Little Red Feather to Offer NHC Bonus to Partners appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The 2019 limited edition Maker’s Mark bottle for the Champions for Charity program will feature Mike Smith, the Breeders’ Cup and Maker’s Mark announced Thursday. Fans can secure the bottle by clicking here and proceeds will go towards Old Friends and the Permanently Disable Jockeys Fund. Past bottles have featured Zenyatta and D. Wayne Lukas. The post Maker’s Mark Unveils Mike Smith Bottle to Benefit Charity appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

As impressive as Mr. Money's 5 1/4-length victory in the Pat Day Mile Stakes Presented by LG&E and KU (G3) looked May 4 at Churchill Downs, the effort has only been flattered in the weeks that followed. View the full article

6th-WO, $71k, 2yo, f, 5f, AWT, 3:50 p.m. EST Adena Springs’ homebred MAGIC FLUTE (Point of Entry), the daughter of Grade I winner Romance is Diane (In Excess {Ire}), tackles a field of maidens this Saturday. Under the tutelage of Canadian Hall-of-Fame trainer Sid Attard, the filly has been breezing steadily towards her debut at Woodbine, including a May 15 three-furlong bullet work in :35 3/5 (1/7) over the Toronto oval’s synthetic surface. Recent GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winning trainer Mark Casse enters two promising first-time starters in Quality Heat (Quality Road), a full brother to MGSW and $520,965 earner Frank Conversation and Beyond Mybudget (Munnings), a filly who rung up a $200,000 price tag at the OBS March Sale after breezing in :21 1/5. The post JUNE 15 INSIGHTS: ADENA SPRINGS HOMEBRED OUT OF GRADE I WINNER DEBUTS AT WOODBINE appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The city of Baltimore has dropped a lawsuit against The Stronach Group and the Maryland Jockey Club over the future of Pimlico Race Course. View the full article

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hakodate and Hanshin Racecourses: Saturday, June 15, 2019 5th-HAK, ¥13,400,000 ($124k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1000mT NILKANTA TESORO (JPN) (c, 2, Speightstown–Vapour {GB}, by Galileo {Ire}), by the sire of 21 winners from 24 to race in Japan, including US-bred GSWs Mozu Superflare and Matera Sky, was offered in utero at Keeneland November in 2016, but was led out unsold at $385K. Subsequently exported and foaled Feb. 17, the chestnut was purchased by Kenji Ryotokuji for ¥54 million ($473,685) at the 2017 JRHA Select Foal sale. The colt’s dam is a half to SW Quenched (GB) (Dansili {GB}), herself responsible for Australia Group 3 winner Excess Knowledge (GB) (Monsun {Ger}). The further female family includes MG1SW & 2003 G1 Prix de Diane victrix Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat). B-Kuwata Bokujo Sunday, June 16, 2019 2nd-HSN, ¥9,550,000 ($88k), Maiden, 3yo, 1200m FIR BOLG (c, 3, Invincible Spirit {Ire}) is a son of Fairytale Ending (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) a full-sister to GSW Aloof (Ire) ($3.9m KEENOV) and a half-sister to SW & GSP Meow (Ire) (Storm Cat), dam of champion and English/Irish 2000 Guineas hero Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G1SW Clemmie (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Virginia-based Audley Farm acquired Fir Bolg in utero for $575,000 at KEENOV in 2015 and returned the colt to KEESEP in 2017, where he fetched $240K. Group 1-winning second dam Airwave (GB) (Air Express {Ire}) is a half-sister to the ill-fated G1SW Jwala (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). B-Audley Farm Equine LLC (VA) 11th-HAK, Hakodate Sprint S.-G3, ¥74.6m ($688k), 3/up, 1200mT ASTER PEGASUS (c, 3, Giant’s Causeway–R Heat Lightning, by Trippi) returns to the scene of his victory in the G3 Hakodate Nisai S. last July, his most recent trip to the winner’s circle (see below, gate 6). R Heat Lightning, winner of the 2010 GI Spinaway S., was purchased by Stonestreet for $1.6 million in foal to Bernardini at KEENOV in 2013 and Aster Pegasus repaid some of that bill when hammering for $150K at KEESEP in 2017. Aster Pegasus exits a sharp runner-up effort in the Listed Aoi S. May 25 (video, gate 13). B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY) The post appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Tracy Farmer, owner of Shadowlawn Farm in Midway, Ky. with wife Carol, is a native Kentuckian with a distinct accent that blends hints of the American Midwest in a gravelly southern drawl. He wasn’t feeling well enough to travel to Belmont Park for the last leg of the Triple Crown series, instead watching the proceedings with interest with Carol from their home on the farm. No one else was present, he said. His homebred colt Sir Winston (Awesome Again), born and raised at Shadowlawn, was the 10-1 half of trainer Mark Casse’s entry with Gl Preakness winner War of Will (War Front), but Farmer thought the distance of the 12-furlong Gl Belmont S. would suit his colt. “The [GIII] Peter Pan [S.], when he had the 100 [Beyer], and he had to close, the jockey, [Joel] Rosario, said he could do it. He could close a mile and half. He said distance didn’t hurt him at all, he could run right on,” Farmer said. “And you and I know, Awesome Again won the [GI] Breeders’ Cup Classic and gets those types. So, Rosario said he could win, and he did.” Farmer reflected on the fact that anyone could have purchased Sir Winston as a yearling from Denali Stud’s consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September sale, when he was a $50,000 RNA. “We didn’t even get a bid on him,” Farmer said. “It was me that bid him in. People said he’d bring a fortune, but you know how that goes. They want to make people happy that sell horses, you know how that goes. It was a mistake putting him in there. He wasn’t huge, he wasn’t small. He was just all horse; he was like Commentator, when you saw him you just said, ‘Wow.’ Just think of the people that paid millions of dollars at the sale, and they could have had that one. That shows you the knowledge in our industry.” And what was it like for the Farmers watching the race, far from the madding crowd? “We like doing that, because when you invite other people, they always ask you so many questions,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe I’m not being sensible about it, but we enjoyed it. We couldn’t believe it. Then our phones started [ringing], so many messages and voice mails, I couldn’t even answer my phone, it had a life of its own for about 30 minutes. It’s been a good ride.” At 80, Farmer is a longtime owner and breeder who has invested substantially in racing and is a member of The Jockey Club. A successful businessman before he entered the sport, he’s been involved in state and national politics with the Democratic Party, has served on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Breeders’ Cup board of directors, and has deep interests in preserving the environment through the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment at the University of Kentucky. In short, he’s accomplished in many arenas and is nobody’s fool, is spare with his words, and can be blunt–ideal traits for texting or emailing from his iPhone, at which he’s adept. It’s how he primarily communicates with me. Via email from my phone, I’d wished Farmer luck in the Belmont S. On the Wednesday morning before the race, and he’d responded with a one word, “thanks,” almost immediately, from his phone, too. After Sir Winston had won the Classic, I’d sent him, like others had, a congratulatory email. Very graciously, he’d responded right away again, with the following message: “Could not have done it without your help.” Farmer had reconnected with Werk Thoroughbred Consultants in the fall of 2014 after a period away from the company following the 2010 death of WTC founder Jack Werk. He wanted advice on the matings of his best mares for the 2015 breeding season, La Gran Bailadora (Afleet Alex), the dam of Sir Winston, among them. Until Sir Winston won the Belmont, La Gran Bailadora was Farmer’s last homebred graded stakes winner. First in six of 25 starts and the earner of $338,416, La Gran Bailadora had won the Glll Kentucky Cup Distaff S. at Turfway in September of 2011 and was later placed in the Gl Spinster S. at Keeneland at 27-1. Both races were on all-weather surfaces–her specialty. After La Gran Bailadora, Farmer, a shareholder in Gainesway’s Afleet Alex, bred another graded winner, Called to Serve, by the sire, but he was sold as a yearling for $290,000. Called to Serve won the Glll Discovery S. at Aqueduct in November of 2012 and placed in the Gl Santa Anita H. the following year behind Game On Dude, a son of Awesome Again. Earlier, Farmer had raced (among others) such notable auction purchases as Commentator (Distorted Humor), a popular and extremely fast New York-bred gelding who won 14 of 24 starts and $2,049,845, including the Gl Whitney H. in 2005 and 2008; Sun King (Charismatic), a Grade ll winner of six of 28 starts and $2,240,008; and Albert the Great (Go for Gin), who earned $3,012,490 by winning eight of 22 starts, including the Gl Jockey Club Gold Cup. Farmer bred and raced Grade ll winner Sir Shackleton (Miswaki), who earned $1,051,500 from seven wins in 22 starts, and he’d bought into Robert Clay’s champion mare Hidden Lake at the end of her career. He’s been used to success, and now, after about 25 years of breeding horses–he began his foray into breeding with millionaire Fit for a Queen (Fit to Fight)–he has his first Classic winner, with a homebred no less. The Affirmed Factor… At WTC, we live and die with our clients. A pall was palpable in the office after Gary and Mary West’s Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) was disqualified in the Gl Kentucky Derby, because we’d assisted the Wests and their racing manager Ben Glass with the mating. But after Sir Winston won the Belmont S., we at WTC couldn’t have been happier for the Farmers. “”We have 10 people in the company, and everyone was so thrilled for you,” I said to Farmer, who I spoke with Tuesday in advance of this column. He was gracious again. “Well, you should have been. You’re the reason he’s here,” he said. But then he put me on the spot and became the interviewer. “Why did you recommend Awesome Again?” he asked, bluntly. It came down to the presence of Affirmed–the sire of Sir Winston’s second dam–in the pedigree. This is exactly what I told him over the phone: “If you look at the most recent recommendation, we recommended him again. I’ll tell you why. One of the main reasons is because Affirmed is a difficult horse in a pedigree. He was a tremendous racehorse and a good stallion, but if you notice, he doesn’t appear a lot in the pedigrees of stakes winners. Sometimes, when they [horses like Affirmed] get into the second and third generations of a pedigree, they exert a negative influence. So we were looking at stallions that worked with Affirmed in the pedigree, and Awesome Again stood out.” WTC’s Roger Lyons co-developed eNicks with Jack Werk and is a brilliant researcher. He’d also developed what we call the LyonScore, a program that acts as a pedigree MRI scan, if you will. It was his research that highlighted the problematic Affirmed in La Gran Bailadora’s pedigree and discovered that Awesome Again was the perfect antidote. “Well, you hit a home run,” Farmer said, before he hung up. Actually, he did, and it was well deserved. Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks. The post Taking Stock: Tracy Farmer’s Classic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Maximum Security (New Year’s Day), disqualified from first and placed 17th in the GI Kentucky Derby, will make his highly anticipated return to the races in Sunday’s $150,000 TVG.com Pegasus S. at Monmouth Park. The Pegasus, run at a mile and a sixteenth, is the local prep for the $1-million GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational July 20. “He’s going to run,” trainer Jason Servis said. “The horse had a really good day today and I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t run.” The Gary and Mary West homebred, first across the line in all five of his career starts, including the GI Florida Derby, became the first Kentucky Derby winner to be disqualified after his 1 3/4-length victory over Country House (Lookin At Lucky). Servis had blood drawn from Maximum Security on Monday as a precautionary measure. “Maybe I was over-reading things a little too much, trying to be overly cautious,” Servis said. “He’s acting really good and training good and his bloodwork came back good. So maybe I just over-reacted a little bit.” The Pegasus attracted a field of six. The post Maximum Security to Return in Sunday’s Pegasus appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The City of Baltimore has dropped a lawsuit against The Stronach Group and the Maryland Jockey Club over the future of Pimlico Race Course. View the full article

Leopardstown, €17,500, Mdn, 6-13, 2yo, 7f 30yT, 1:35.60, gd. JUSTIFIER (IRE) (c, 2, Free Eagle {Ire}–Pale Orchid {Ire}, by Invincible Spirit {Ire}), the 9-2 second favourite for this debut, travelled easily behind the leading trio throughout the early stages. Staying on to overhaul Potala Palace (GB) (Dansili {GB}) inside the last 100 yards, the chestnut had a length to spare over that rival at the line. In doing so, he becomes the first winner for his first-season sire (by High Chaparral {Ire}) who stands at the Irish National Stud for a fee of €12,500. The useful sprinting dam, who has a yearling filly by Mehmas (Ire), is out of the G1 Moyglare Stud S. scorer Chelsea Rose (Ire) (Desert King {Ire}) who in turn produced last year’s G1 St Leger and G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the G3 Prix de Ris-Orangis winner and G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest runner-up Thawaany (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}). Sales history: €60,000 Ylg ’18 GOFOR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $12,170. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. O-Sean Jones & David Spratt & Mrs Lynne Lyons; B-Tally Ho Stud (IRE); T-Ger Lyons. The post First Winner For Free Eagle At Leopardstown appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Menifee (Harlan–Anne Campbell, by Never Bend), a perennial leading sire in Korea since his first crop of runners hit the track in 2010 and whose impact on the Korean breeding industry has drawn comparisons to Sunday Silence in Japan, died June 13 from a reported heart attack at the KRA Stud Farm on Jeju Island. He was 23 years of age. Bred by Arthur Hancock and raced in partnership with James Stone, Menifee was conditioned by Elliott Walden to win the 1999 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and runner-up efforts to Charismatic (Summer Squall) in the 1999 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. He added a popular victory in that year’s GI Haskell Invitational H. and was retired to stud following a second-place finish to stablemate and future Korean stallion Ecton Park (Forty Niner) in the GI Super Derby. Retired initially to Stone Farm, Menifee sired seven crops of racing age in the U.S. and accounted for 25 black-type winners, six of which came in graded company, including GI Princess Rooney H. winner Game Face and other graded winners Just Jenda, Taittinger Rose, Wow Me Free, Burnish and Letgomyecho. Sold to the Korean Racing Association in 2007, Menifee was the leading freshman sire and leading sire of 2-year-olds in Korea in 2010 and topped the leading general sires list each year from 2012 through 2017. He finished second to Ecton Park in 2018, but was leading the table at the time of his death. From seven crops to race in Korea, Menifee, who overcame a potentially life-threatening bout with urinary tract stones in 2011, has sired 255 individual winners, chief among them Power Blade (Kor), who won the Korean Triple Crown in 2016 and has added two victories in races officially recognized as black-type subsequent to a decision to award Part II status to a half-dozen Korean feature races in July 2016. Menifee is represented by 45 current 2-year-olds, 40 yearlings and 59 foals of 2019. The post Multiple Classic-Placed Stallion Menifee Dies in Korea appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Trainer Jason Servis said he is entering Maximum Security in the June 16 TVG.com Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. View the full article

Trainer Jason Servis says he is entering Maximum Security in the June 16 TVG.com Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. View the full article

Before his homebred Sir Winston scored in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park, owner Tracy Farmer had not won a graded stakes since 2011. The horse who won that 2011 race? La Gran Bailadora—dam of Sir Winston. View the full article

Frankie Dettori will no doubt have an enviable book of rides next week at Royal Ascot, and the 48-year-old Italian has nominated the G1 Gold Cup title defender Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) as “the one I’m looking forward to riding.” Stradivarius was one of Britain’s most admirable horses in training last season, sweeping all five starts and clinching the inaugural £1-million stayers’ million bonus. Dettori was aboard the chestnut for a successful reintroduction in the G2 Yorkshire Cup on May. 17 and he said, “He is doing very well and is very fresh. He has become the people’s favourite horse. The great thing about him is that he wears his heart on the sleeve, and he never goes down without a fight and people appreciate that. “The Queen only comes down to give the trophy out for the Gold Cup and Diamond Jubilee, so it is an honour to receive the trophy from her,” Dettori added. Stradivarius’s Yorkshire Cup win means a chance at a second stayers’ million bonus is alive and well, but Dettori stressed the Gold Cup is the priority at the moment. “[Owner] Bjorn Nielsen’s priority is to win a second Gold Cup,” he said. “The million, we will only think about if we get to the last leg.” Dettori’s rides will also include Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who is on a recovery mission, in the G1 St James’s Palace S. “We’ve been unfortunate, because we’ve had to rush to get him on a racecourse,” said Dettori referring to his setback early in the spring. “We tried the Dante. But he didn’t stay, and that was perhaps a lack of fitness. We tried the Irish Guineas–and he was not last, he was second. I feel I’ve not got him where I want him to be. Hopefully at Ascot on Tuesday, you see the old Too Darn Hot. I feel he has got more to give and you haven’t seen the real him yet this season. He looks well and came out of the Irish 2000 Guineas well. He is an amazing horse to ride in the mornings–I sit on him once in a while.” Trainer John Gosden, who has 47 Royal Ascot wins to his name, also shed some light on Too Darn Not’s preparation. “Too Darn Hot has probably been the worst managed horse this year, by me and the manager,” he said. “He missed the Guineas which was tragedy because that would have been a perfect race. He then had to walk for two weeks before going for the Dante, when he was quite frankly about 80% fit. Frankie was trying to settle him further back and ignored the pacemakers and consequently got there to be second. “Then, as we seemed to be missing the Classics, we went over to Ireland nine days later. Due to the rules, he had to have a flu vaccination–he was perfectly eligible to race in the UK but not in Ireland as they changed the rules so he had to have a flu vaccination on the Saturday after the Dante before the Irish 2000 Guineas the following Saturday. He ran really well in Ireland and finished second, but we all ask horses to do impossible things and I think it would have been much better if we had targeted the Irish Guineas from the outset. From the horse’s point of view, that has not been very clever. “Having said that, Too Darn Hot is coming into the St James’s Palace S. in good form and I hope that he can put in a quality performance as he certainly has not had the opportunity to do that so far this season with his more than interrupted preparation through the spring. I think I am the happiest I have been with him so far this season. Last year went so smoothly it was almost ridiculous, a maiden followed by a Group 3, a Group 2 and a Group 1. This year has been quite the opposite. The good news is that we are only halfway through the season so there is still a lot to look forward to.” Another Group 1 mount for Frankie Dettori next week will be Crystal Ocean (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S., and as per usual trainer Sir Michael Stoute heads to Ascot with a strong team that also includes G1 Lockinge S. winner Mustashry (GB) (Tamayuz {GB}) and exciting 3-year-old filly Jubiloso (GB) (Shamardal). “Crystal Ocean will go in the Prince of Wales’s S.,” Stoute said. “He has to go for Group 1 races now and he has won plenty of Group 2 and Group 3 races. He has run creditably in Group 1 races and has decent 10-furlong form. It is a very tough race, but he goes there in great form. Frankie Dettori rides him and sat on him yesterday morning. “Mustashry runs in the Queen Anne. I was thrilled with him in the Lockinge and his preparations have gone fine. He is impervious to ground conditions which is very handy, and we are hopeful. “It will be a big step up for Jubiloso in the Coronation S. as she has only won a maiden and a novice race. But she has been very impressive and is progressive. She is a classy filly. One of Crystal Ocean’s chief rivals in a loaded Prince of Wales’s will be the filly Sea of Class (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), and her trainer William Haggas could be faced with finding a last-minute jockey should Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) elect to run, requiring James Doyle. “James Doyle will ride Masar if he runs in the race, but according to James, no decision has been made yet,” Haggas said. “Hopefully, he is available, but if not I’ve got my ideas on some jockeys who could ride as does the owner Mrs. Tsui, who has had jockeys ringing her up, so we will cross that bridge when we come to it.” The post Stradivarius Number One For Dettori appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Chantal Sutherland plans to ride at Ellis Park this summer. View the full article

Godolphin’s Summer Romance (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) faced just three rivals in Thursday’s British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Fillies’ S. at Great Yarmouth and outclassed what was placed before her to earn ‘TDN Rising Star’ status at the first attempt. The grey had already earned a degree of fame when bettering a 300,000gns price tag at last year’s Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale with the second-highest price, €800,000, at last month’s Arqana Breeze-Up sale and doubled up in style on the Norfolk coast. The 8-13 favourite bowled along in second as €230,000 Goffs November foal Huboor (Ire) (More Than Ready) set a modest pace. Angled into the clear and shaken up with 1 1/2 furlongs remaining, the response was immediate and she quickened impressively to seize control passing the furlong marker before running on powerfully under negligible cajoling in the closing stages to easily account for Bredenbury (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) by two lengths. “It’s nice to see Kingman’s progeny doing so well, he’s already had some nice winners and is set to be a great stallion,” said James Doyle, who rode the winner’s sire to victory four times at the highest level. “She breezed very well and, quite rightly, cost a small fortune, but I was keen not to give her a hard race on this sticky ground. She’s got small feet so we were a little concerned with the going beforehand, but she coped with it fine. Both sire and dam handled similar conditions well and, once we delved into the pedigree, it gave us a little bit of confidence. I knew from her breezing days that she’d be able to drop down and quicken in a short space of time and that’s exactly what she did. She’s been working well with winners at home and there’ll be some nice races coming up for her.” Summer Romance becomes the third scorer for Serena’s Storm (Ire) (Statue of Liberty) and the grey is kin to G1 Moyglare Stud S. and G1 Coronation S. heroine Rizeena (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). Serena’s Storm is a winning half to last month’s G1 Prix d’Ispahan hero Zabeel Prince (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), MG1SP dual Australian Group 2 winner Puissance de Lune (Ire) (Shamardal), last month’s Listed Haras de Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial victress Queen Power (Ire) (Shamardal), the dual stakes-placed Majesty (Ire) (Shamardal) and a yearling filly by Iffraaj (GB). The winner’s third dam Serena’s Sister (Rahy), who produced MGSW & MGISP sire Doubles Partner (Rock Hard Ten) and the stakes-winning Stormy Venus (Stormy Atlantic), is a full-sister to storied MGISW US champion Serena’s Song, who in turn is the dam of even stakes performers is headed by G1 Coronation S. victress Sophisticat (Storm Cat). 2nd-Great Yarmouth, £5,800, Mdn, 6-13, unraced 2yo, f, 6f 3yT, 1:21.41, sf. SUMMER ROMANCE (IRE), f, 2, by Kingman (GB) 1st Dam: Serena’s Storm (Ire), by Statue of Liberty 2nd Dam: Princess Serena, by Unbridled’s Song 3rd Dam: Serena’s Sister, by Rahy 1ST-TIME STARTER. Sales history: 300,000gns Ylg ’18 TATOCT; €800,000 2yo ’18 ARQMA. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $4,761. O-Godolphin; B-Roundhill Stud (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby. Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. The post Kingman Filly Earns Rising Star Tag at Yarmouth appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Churchill Downs Racetrack today unveiled the official Kentucky Derby 146 logo and announced that Keith Anderson will create next year's "Official Art of the Kentucky Derby." The 2020 Kentucky Derby (G1) will take place May 2, 2020. View the full article

NEWMARKET, UK—In a week in which astronomical prize-money has been a topic of debate in international racing, the record £7.3 million on offer at Royal Ascot may not stand up against some newer carnivals but the five days of first-class racing at the Queen’s home course remains the meeting with the greatest prestige, never mind its 251-year history. Horses representing nine different nations will line up at Ascot next week, with the home guard being challenged by a regular strong team from Ireland, as well as France, the Czech Republic, America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore. International raiders arrived in Britain as early as March, led by the Australian mare Houtzen (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}), who, along with Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) from Japan, New Zealand sprinter Enzo’s Lad (Aus) Testa Rossa {Aus}), and the Singapore-based Lim’s Cruiser (Aus) (Casino Prince {Aus}), is currently resident at Abington Place in Newmarket, which has been a temporary home over the years to Royal Ascot winners such as Black Caviar (Aus), Takeover Target (Aus) and Scenic Blast (Aus). With Wesley Ward’s team of eight being stabled at Manton in Wiltshire along with Breeze Easy LLC’s Imprimis (Broken Vow), it was left to the Abington Place quartet to parade before the media during Ascot’s official press event on Thursday morning. After an extremely dry spring, the heavens have opened over the last few days in the south of England. The visitors have had to cope with unusually cold and wet weather in the week building up to the Royal meeting, while two race meetings in the country were abandoned through waterlogging on Thursday. However, the conditions have been welcomed by Ascot’s Clerk of the Course Chris Stickells, whose team has been spared the extra task of watering the course. He said, “Clearly it’s not going to be lightning fast ground. We’ve had 80mm so far this week but the rain band is disappearing, and after Saturday we’re unlikely to see much rain, so it’s highly likely that we will have good ground for the meeting.” It is also not of concern for Joe Orseno, trainer of the multiple-winning turf sprinter Imprimis, for whom this is a first runner in Britain. His 5-year-old gelding, who arrived in Britain on June 2, holds entries for both the G1 King’s Stand S. on Tuesday and Saturday’s G1 Diamond Jubilee S. “He’s run over a hard surface and he’s taken it well, and last year at Pimlico he handled a really wet surface well,” said Orseno, who travelled to Newmarket to join the press conference. “He doesn’t have to take his track with him. I’d rather run over a good track but if it rains we’ll still be there.” He added, “I had him training in Florida and it’s a little warm there so when he got here he welcomed the chillier weather. It’s really quiet at Manton. He’s blossomed since he got here and his coat is dappled, so I’m really happy.” Toby Edmonds trains the sole Australian runner this year, the G3 PJ Bell S. winner Houtzen, whose extended stay in Newmarket has been overseen by his son Trent. The mare’s most recent run came on Jan. 12, but her trainer is not overly concerned by her absence from the track and she will be ridden by fellow Australian Kerrin McEvoy, who has also been called up for a number of Godolphin rides in the absence of the recuperating William Buick. Edmonds said, “Our filly is very, very sharp. She hasn’t had a barrier trial, which we would have done in Australia, but she’s very good fresh. One of the reasons we came here so early was for her to get seasoned enough with the testing tracks here, which we just don’t have at home. I think The Everest, with its big prize pool, has taken away some of the [other Australian] challengers for Ascot but we thought we’d come here and take our chance.” Edmonds, who revealed that his stable star was supposed to have been named after glamour model Doutzen Kroes, added, “We name our horses pretty late and I asked my son for a suggestion. He sent me a text with the name and it was auto-corrected to Houtzen. They are both gorgeous anyway.” Houtzen may have travelled farther but the Ascot challenger with the most airmiles surely has to be Japan’s G1 Shuka Sho winner Deirdre, whose three appearances this year have come in her home country, followed by Dubai and Hong Kong after she finished a fast-closing second when splitting the brothers Glorious Forever (GB) (Archipenko) and Time Warp in the G1 Hong Kong Cup in December. For all her travels, Toji Morita’s 5-year-old mare appears to be coping well with yet another new country and she has been the model of calm professionalism in the mornings on Newmarket Heath since her arrival in Britain. She has been exercised on the same ground over which her sire Harbinger was trained in his three seasons with Sir Michael Stoute. In 2010, he won the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot in record time after his Royal Ascot victory in the Hardwicke S., and while his daughter Deirdre looks to have fierce competition in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S., she will have the benefit of the experience of her similarly well travelled compatriot, Yutaka Take. Speaking through a translator, her trainer Mitsuru Hashida said, “Deirdre is a mixture of European and Japanese bloodlines. She comes from a great Japanese female line. We’d like to see her on a comfortable surface: not too heavy and not too hard. We are always fortunate to be supported by the huge passion of the Japanese fans. We had 110,000 people in attendance at the Japanese Derby last month. Deirdre has travelled not just around the world but around as Japan as well, so she is very popular. I hope her fans don’t drink too much sake before midnight for her race. We are looking forward to seeing how our horse can compete against such strong competition.” Another to have experienced Hong Kong’s international meeting in December is Lim’s Cruiser, who started his racig career in Australia before being exported to Singapore in 2015. The 7-year-old, who will be ridden by Australian jockey Vlad Duric and is trained by ex-pat New Zealander Stephen Gray, is the most recent arrival in Newmarket having only left his home country on June 8. “At home he is in a big barn and the horse is used to be in a confined space. He is enjoying the open space on the training grounds and looking out of his door,” said Gray after watching Lim’s Cruiser exercise with Duric on board. “The trip over will have been like a race for him, and we have just got to keep him ticking over and keeping him healthy. He had a blood test last night, and it was good. I was happy out with him on the gallops this morning. There are another couple of races for him after this, probably the July Cup at Newmarket and then Goodwood.” The star turn of the morning came not from any of the horses, all of whom undertook routine steady canters, but from Michael Pitman, the 64-year-old trainer of Enzo’s Lad, a back-to-back winner of the G1 JR & N Berkett Telegraph in New Zealand. Pitman has had his fair share of adversity to overcome. He was hit by a car in his first year with a training licence and spent 26 weeks in hospital while recovering from severe injuries, which included his left leg having to be amputated below the knee. Just less than six years ago, greater tragedy visited Pitman and his wife Diane when their 28-year-old son Jonny took his own life, while last May the trainer was diagnosed with bowel cancer. “There’s a bloke down the end there that keeps telling me I should be dead, but I’m a survivor,” he said. “I had an operation on October 8 and they took 17 inches out of my bowel, but they obviously did a good job because I’ve just been given the all-clear.” He added, “I have an artificial leg so I hate going through airports but I’ve had the best life of all. I’m lucky, I’ve trained a lot of winners and most of my owners have been with me from the word go. I’ve been on the best drug of all for years, and that’s winning races.” Enzo’s Lad, who was bought for NZ$15,000 as a yearling—the equivalent of roughly £7,750/€8,700— is owned by the trainer in partnership with seven friends and the dual Group 1 winner carries a ‘J’ on his racing colours in memory of Jonny Pitman. “He’s a real cool dude, he’s so laidback,” the trainer continued. “John Egan came in and galloped him for us and he worked on his own down the Al Bahathri. I’ve had so much help from everyone over here, especially Jane Chapple-Hyam, who has been fantastic.” The ride next week—or possibly rides, as Enzo’s Lad is entered in the two big sprints and could contest both—will go to Egan’s son, 19-year-old David, who was runner-up in the 1000 Guineas with Qabala (Scat Daddy) on his first ride in a Classic in May. “I’m going to give a young, local fella a go. I’m not against giving young people a chance—they’ve got to start somewhere and he’s a great young fella,” said the trainer. “I’ve travelled horses to a lot of places and I’ve never had a reception like I’ve had here. Someone asked me if it was on the bucket list to be here for Royal Ascot and I said ‘yes, but also on the bucket list was to go to the moon and that’s totally unachievable.’ That’s how I felt about this too, it’s completely unbelievable to be here.” The post International Crew Adds Colour To Royal Ascot appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Three-year-old filly Pure Zen (Fr) (Zoffany {Ire}), winner of the Listed Prix Francois Boutin last August and second in the G2 Prix de Sandringham on June 2 when beaten just a head by Obligate (GB) (Frankel {GB}), has been added to Monday’s Goffs London Sale. The catalogue, complete with race footage and walking videos, is now online. The post Stakes Winner Added To Goffs London appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

A series of three hurdles races will be staged across Ireland this summer that will be restricted to horses solely owned by syndicates or racing clubs. The ‘Tote Backs Your Team Handicap Hurdles’ will be staged at Cork, Bellewstown and Gowran Park, with the first taking place on July 12. The horses must have run for the same ownership group on their previous starts. Amber Byrne, owner development manager for Horse Racing Ireland, said, “This is a pilot scheme. Syndicate and club ownership is recognised as the growth area in the domestic market. These dedicated races give us an opportunity to invite potential owners to the races and promote multiple ownership to our target market. We are grateful to both the Tote for supporting the races and the HRI Programmes Committee for allowing us to trial the scheme.” The post Ireland To Stage Jumps Races For Syndicate and Club Owned Horses appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

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Addressing your thoughts, questions and statements about Hong Kong racing. Have something to say? Send a tweet to @SCMPRacingPost.Touch Of Luck ran a blinder with his pacifier about to fall off from 800m till 200m – @bentamudoIf it isn’t already hard enough for punters to find a winner, here’s another way to do your dough.The John Moore-trained four-year-old was a $1.5 favourite for the first section of the Class Four Tong Fuk Handicap (1,650m) at Sha Tin on Wednesday night but nothing went… View the full article

Frankie Lor Fu-chuen may have swept this season’s lucrative four-year-old series but his thoughts have quickly moved to the next one with his acquisition of former Australian galloper Thinkin’ Big.The three-year-old, who comes to Hong Kong with a rating of 90, is a two-time Group Three winner in Australia and also boasts a Group One placing under star trainer Gai Waterhouse.Lor’s quest for back-to-back success in the four-year-old series will begin on Sunday with Thinkin’ Big having his first… View the full article