Wandering Eyes

Trainer Tony Pike has all bases covered with his quintet of runners set to tackle Saturday’s bumper meeting at Ellerslie. The Cambridge horseman will be represented by hardy veterans Endless Drama and Rangipo in the Gr.2 Manco Easter Handicap (1600m), while earlier on the program the stocks of his up-and-comers are set to rise. Among those progressive youngsters is the lightly-raced filly Intrigue, who tackles stakes company for the first time in the Gr.2 Valachi Downs Championship Stakes (210... View the full article

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) announced that they had filed a complaint against trainer William Morey, alleging that his assistant trainer administered a substance containing an alkalinizing agent via a “dose syringe” to three horses that were entered to race at Santa Anita Park on Friday Mar. 29, 2019. Mar. 29 was the day Santa Anita re-opened its doors to live racing after a hiatus of nearly three weeks, due to a rash of equine fatalities at the track this winter. The three Morey-trained horses—Tick Tock, Gate Speed, and Lord Guinness—were scratched about 30 minutes before the first race on Mar. 29. According to multiple sources familiar with the case, Morey’s assistant was seen administering a substance orally to the horses that morning—a violation of CHRB rules—via the video surveillance system installed throughout the Santa Anita backstretch. According to the press release, the stewards at Santa Anita will conduct a hearing on May 2. Morey, who has held a license since 2001, has not started a horse since Mar. 29. According to the DRF, Morey subsequently dispersed his stable among a variety of different trainers. Tick Tock, for example, is now with Andrew Lerner. Morey did not immediately respond to a call and text message. View the full article

Racing Minister Winston Peters says the Government will introduce two new pieces of legislation this year to revitalise the domestic racing industry. Cabinet this week considered its response to the ‘Messara Review of the Racing Industry’ as well as advice from the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Racing. “The New Zealand racing industry is in a state of serious decline,” Peters said. “The Coalition Government supports the overall intent of the Messara Report and is committed to... View the full article

Kentucky Equine Medical Director Mary Scollay advocated a multi-pronged approach to regulating and preventing improper use of bisphosphonates, which experts have linked to catastrophic breakdowns when used in young horses. View the full article

Nimble back on his feet for five-from-five bid View the full article

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has accomplished some of horse racing's greatest feats. Now 15 years after his most recent two Kentucky Derby (G1) runners, the California native is preparing to return with Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach. View the full article

In what he called the most difficult decision of his Hall of Fame career, jockey Mike Smith has chosen to rider GI Arkansas Derby winner Omaha Beach (War Front) in the GI Kentucky Derby, he told the TDN. His other choice was to ride ‘TDN Rising Star‘ and GI Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster (Quality Road). “[Omaha Beach] is coming off races where he beat two of the very best 3-year-olds out there in Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) and then Improbable (City Zip),” Smith said. “The connections of both horses fully understood my decision and there were no ill feelings. [Roadster’s trainer] Bob [Baffert] was great about it. I know how much talent Roadster has. I just hope I’m not put in a position where I see him running right by me in the stretch in the Derby.” Baffert has won five Kentucky Derbies and Omaha Beach’s trainer Dick Mandella has never had a horse finish on the board in six Derby tries. Smith said that Baffert’s record was definitely something he weighed when making his decision. Last year, Smith rode Justify (Scat Daddy) to a Triple Crown sweep for Baffert. “Bob’s record is one of the things that made this decision so difficult,” he said. “I chose to take off a horse trained by one of the greatest trainers of all time.” Via text, Baffert confirmed that he had chosen Geroux to take over on Roadster. Smith’s decision could very well tilt the odds in the Derby as his decision will carry a lot of weight with handicappers and could make Omaha Beach the race favorite. View the full article

According to Takayuki Ui, horseman's relations manager for the Japan Racing Association's New York office, a decision to allow online wagering on the May 4 Kentucky Derby in Japan was made April 15. View the full article

In a crowded and open ante-post market, Qabala jumped to the head of the betting for the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) as she defeated stablemate Mot Juste to give trainer Roger Varian a one-two in the classic trial. View the full article

Windsor Park Stud shuttle stallion Charm Spirit was provided with his third stakes winner when Qatar Racing’s three-year-old colt Kick On lead throughout to land the Listed Feilden Stakes (1800m) at Newmarket. A course maiden winner over a mile at two, the John Gosden-trained colt built on his sixth-place finish in the Gr.1 Vertem Futurity Trophy (1600m) at Doncaster in October to hold off a sustained surge from Walkinthesand by a neck, with that pair pulling four and a half lengths clea... View the full article

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has accomplished some of horse racing's greatest feats. Now 15 years after his most recent two Kentucky Derby (G1) runners, the California native is preparing to return with Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach. View the full article

NEWMARKET, UK—Four purchases, and the top four prices of the session—adding up to a third of total turnover on the night. That was the game-changing commitment made by Godolphin to the opening session of the Tattersalls Breeze-Up Sale, with the presence of its founder in person a welcome boost to the morale of a sector that had, overall, suffered such a rocky time last year. In fact any jitters were redressed within minutes of the bell, the fifth lot into the ring achieving a spectacular 850,000gns payday for Tally-Ho Stud, having been acquired for just 92,000gns in the same ring last December. Lot 6 is the most expensive filly bought at this sale, and its third highest lot ever. She contributed to a marginal increase in turnover, up to 5,261,000gns from 5,222,500gns at the opening session last year, from a smaller offering of 57 down from 66 (after withdrawals). But a considerable improvement in the clearance rate, 43 (75%) finding a new home compared with 38 (just 58%) last year, meant that the median took a small slide to 70,000gns from 75,000gns; while the average dwindled 11% to 122,349gns from 137,434gns. The record filly very soon became the subject of a straight shootout between Anthony Stroud and Kerri Radcliffe. But while Radcliffe could not see who was standing beside her rival, with a partition wall in the way, the rapidity with which Stroud answered her own quickfire bids must have given her a sinking feeling. Sure enough, on finally yielding, she may have glimpsed the Sheikh’s back as he left Stroud to sign the docket. Only a couple of hours previously the Sheikh had seen one potential Queen Mary filly make a winning debut for Charlie Appleby, up the road on the Rowley Mile, in Chasing Dreams (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). And you would like to think, at this kind of money, that she could yet be joined by this filly. “Who knows?” said Stroud with a smile. “That’s the idea anyway. She certainly looks quick, breezed very well in a good time, vetted well, and is from a good hotel.” That hotel’s Roger O’Callaghan had acquired this filly through Matt Coleman. “She was from the Blue Diamond dispersal and Roger and I thought she looked quick,” the agent said. “She was quite small and light-framed but looked very fast, very racy, and her dam had gone on to finish second in the Queen Mary after herself breezing well. She’s by the sire of the moment, did a very fast breeze, and the stars aligned really.” The dam in question is Shyrl (GB) (Acclamation {GB}), who has already produced a zippy animal by Dream Ahead in Raucous (GB), twice placed in Group 2 sprints as a juvenile. Minutes later Stroud gave 375,000gns for lot 15, a May colt by Night Of Thunder (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) out of a Street Cry (Ire) mare who won her only start, herself out of a half-sister to his patron’s Grade I winner Balletto (UAE) (Timber Country). This colt’s half-sister had earned her first graded stakes placing at Santa Anita after Christmas. Godolphin was duly the toast of another delighted pinhooker in Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables, who picked this lad out of Book 2 last autumn for just 48,000gns. “I’m a bit speechless,” Collins said. “But he was a very nice yearling who’s had some great updates since I bought him. He’s a very uncomplicated horse, very sound with a very good temperament, a pleasure to deal with. There’s been a good word for the sire, and if this one is anything to go by he is going to do very well.” And Godolphin’s own stallion, whose overall sales reception to date sits very well with a £15,000 fee, got another boost from the operation when Stroud signed a 260,000gns docket for lot 23. A February colt presented by Powerstown Stud, he is out of a Street Cry half-sister to the tragic Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles (Unbridled’s Song). He previously went through this ring as a 200,000gns December foal. But even these excellent returns for Night Of Thunder were not going to dislodge Kingman as sire of the session, with Jane Chapple-Hyam adding to his laurels by giving 250,000gns for lot 25, his son out of one of the many daughters—this one by Dansili (GB)—of the great Ballymacoll racemare Islington (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells). Consigned by Willie Browne of Mocklershill, he had been bought in for €90,000 at the Orby Sale. Farhh Colt Takes Wing for Williamson His excellent result with lot 41, a colt by Farhh (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) sold to Godolphin for 300,000gns, appeared to be a typically professional job by Norman Williamson. But the Oak Tree Farm consignor admitted afterwards that there had been an element of luck in unearthing the colt, out of a Nayef daughter of Irish Oaks winner Winona (Ire) (Alzao), for just 35,000gns in Book III here last October. “I couldn’t get a flight home,” Williamson explained. “So I had a look through and thought a Farhh could do a job, he’s going really well, and so I went to have a look. And he was gorgeous. I just thought: ‘Wow.’ He’s wintered really well and is a really beautiful horse, so let’s hope he’s lucky.” The fourth dam is none other than My Bupers, dam of the first $10-million yearling: the infamous Snaafi Dancer, who never made the racetrack. Following in Footsteps of Sand Peter Swann’s Cool Silk operation has become one of the most adept on the breeze-up circuit, and will be hoping the 230,000gns he gave through his regular advisor Matt Coleman for lot 47, a More Than Ready (Southern Halo) filly presented by Mayfield Stables, proves money as well spent as the £75,000 that secured a subsequent Group 1 winner in Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis) at Ascot a couple of years ago. A good hike in value, certainly, after she was unsold a second time for $67,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s October Yearling Sale. “We probably had to pay a little more than we wanted but that’s how it can be when one strikes you, and then does such a good time,” Swann said. “She has a good conformation, a very good page, and the way she got through that ground, when there quite a few coming up with splints and bits and pieces, you’d hope she hopefully won’t take too long to get to the track.” Swann indicated that his new recruit, whose fifth dam is the great El Prado (Ire)’s Classic-winning mother Lady Capulet, will probably join Sands Of Mali’s trainer Richard Fahey. “He just knocked into himself a bit at Meydan,” he said of his star sprinter. “But he’s fine and coming back into full training. If he is ready in time we’ll look at York but otherwise it’ll be straight on to Royal Ascot.” Rewards for a Job Well Done Ed Walker’s achievements with Stormy Antarctic (GB) (Stormy Atlantic)—a 200,000gns graduate of this sale in 2015—were highlighted by colleague Emma Berry in yesterday’s TDN and gained due recognition from that remarkable horse’s lucky owner P.K. Sui when Alastair Donald gave a similar sum on his behalf for lot 63, an April colt by Wootton Bassett (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) consigned by Kilminfoyle House Stud. A €120,000 Arqana October graduate for Five Star Bloodstock, he is from the same Aga Khan family that produced his sire’s champion son Almanzor (Fr). “He’ll be more one for the second half of the season and next year,” Donald said, after signing a 210,000gns docket. “The way he moved in his breeze reminded us a bit of Stormy Antarctic, he’s a really lovely mover.” There had likewise been a dividend for good work with a graduate of this sale for Gay Kelleway. Global Spectrum (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), picked up here last year by Charlie Gordon-Watson for 130,000gns, has won all three starts to date, including a valuable prize in Qatar last time, and today faces his biggest test yet in the G3 Bet 365 Craven S. up the road. Win, lose or draw, Kelleway has already done a fine job and was rewarded when Gordon-Watson signed for lot 45, a February colt by Kodiac (GB) (Danehill) consigned by Church Farm & Horse Park Stud, on Hon’s behalf for 150,000gns. “Better than the pennies I had to spend at Ascot,” Kelleway said. “He’ll need a bit of time, this horse, but he has a bit of size and scope for a Kodiac.” Gordon-Watson was in good fettle after watching his yearling purchase Solid Stone (Ire) (Shamardal) win the last race on the opening card of the Craven meeting—invariably a signpost to a very smart horse in the making. View the full article

A day after horses worked into a significant headwind, times picked up noticably Tuesday at the second session of the under-tack preview of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s April Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, with four horses sharing the bullet furlong time of :9 4/5 and a pair of juveniles working a quarter-mile in :20 1/5. Torie and Jim Gladwell’s Top Line Sales sent out two of the bullet furlong workers. A son of Sky Mesa (hip 242) covered the distance in :9 4/5. The bay is out of Lady Lavery (Elusive Quality), a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Skylighter (Sky Mesa). Top Line consigns the youngster on behalf of Zayat Stables, which purchased him for $75,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October sale. “When he came off the trailer after the October sale, I fell in love with him immediately,” Torie Gladwell said of the colt. “He is a beautiful horse and has always done everything right. We almost sent him a quarter today. He galloped out really good.” Top Line also sent out hip 281, an English-bred filly from the first crop of multiple Group 1 winner Make Believe (Makfi {GB}), to work in :9 4/5. The dark bay is out of stakes winner Lisselan Diva (Ire) (Barathea {Ire}) and sold for 27,000gns ($37,379) at last year’s Tattersalls October sale. “We traveled over to Newmarket to the Tattersalls sale last year and [bloodstock agent] Justin Casse showed us around and helped us short list horses a little bit,” Gladwell explained. “We ended up buying two with the goal in mind to bring them back to breeze at the April sale. We tried to buy horses that we thought were kind of turf families that we thought would breeze really well here at OBS on the synthetic track.” Also from its Tattersalls shopping spree, Top Line will offer hip 883, a son of Pivotal (GB) who was purchased for 65,000gns ($89,756) last October. “We went over there to focus on fillies because I think there is a demand for European-pedigreed fillies here for broodmares to cross with the American stallions,” Gladwell said. “But we fell in love with the Pivotal colt over there as well. He’s just a beautiful colt altogether.” Make Believe, who stands at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland for €12,000, won the 2015 G1 Prix Le Parisien and G1 Prix de la Foret before concluding his racing career with a fifth-place effort in that year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Mile. His first-crop daughter has impressed Gladwell. “She is a really compact filly,” Gladwell said. “She is smart and laid back and does everything right. She actually surprised us–we didn’t know she was going to go that fast today. That was a pleasant surprise.” Due to quarantine restrictions, the two European imports got a later start in their training than their American counterparts. “These horses were all a little bit behind the eight ball just because the quarantine process took so long to get them over here,” Gladwell explained. “We didn’t actually start breaking them until November and the other horses get broke pretty soon after the yearling sales. That’s why they are a little behind everybody else. That was reflected in [hip 281’s] gallop-out. She went fast, but then she kind of got tired on the gallop-out and that’s probably because she’s a month behind everybody else that we have. She’s a May foal, so we tried to go pretty easy on her getting her ready for the sale. She does everything right and does it easy, so we didn’t have to over-train her.” Hip 319 also worked the furlong in the co-fastest :9 4/5. Consigned by Crupi’s New Castle Farm, the bay colt is by Blame out of Marie Antoinette (Stormy Atlantic), a half-sister to stakes winner Crimson China (Giant’s Causeway) and from the family of Elusive City. Completing the :9 4/5 bullet furlong workers was hip 386, a filly by The Factor out of multiple stakes winner My Redbyrd (Royal Academy). The 2-year-old is consigned by Nice and Easy Thoroughbreds. A filly from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Commissioner (A.P. Indy) (hip 365) shared the quarter-mile bullet breeze time of :20 1/5 Tuesday. She is out of Money Madness (Rahy), a half-sister to stakes placed Feminine Girl (Kingmambo) and Payday Peril (Officer), and is consigned to the April sale by Jenn and Quincy Adams’s Q Bar J Thoroughbreds. The Adamses purchased her for $40,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton July Sale. “We believed she was very fast and she’d prepped very well,” Quincy Adams said of the filly. “She has been a rock star all year.” Of the youngster’s appeal as a yearling, Adams said, “She had all the pieces she just needed to grow and come into herself. And she has. She has filled in in all the right places and is just a beautiful filly to look at on the shank.” Also working in :20 1/5 was hip 240, a colt from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Amira’s Prince (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). Consigned by Blue River Bloodstock, the dark bay is out of Lady Halite (Medaglia d’Oro). Adams said conditions had improved for the preview’s second session Tuesday. “The headwind was a little tough to fight through Monday, but I thought it was pretty even all day today,” Adams said. “No headwind today made all the difference in the world. When that headwind blows in the babies faces, it’s hard on them.” Gladwell agreed the wind had a major effect on Monday’s works. “People were talking about the track surface, but I think it was mostly about the headwind,” she said. “Today there was a tailwind all day and yesterday the headwind was just brutal. Horses that are immature, they really haven’t experienced anything like that on the farm before. I think it shocked a lot of horses and it rattled them.” The under-tack show for the April sale continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. Hips 407 through 608 are scheduled to breeze Wednesday. The four-day auction will be held next Tuesday through Friday with bidding beginning each day at 10:30 a.m. View the full article

The ITV racing team are bringing us a nice mixture of action on Wednesday with four races from Newmarket and a Grade 2 from Cheltenham. This should satisfy both lat and jump racing enthusiasts. The opening day’s action was very exciting with Qabala looking impressive in the Nell Gwyn to provide trainer Roger Varian with […] The post Newmarket Craven Meeting Preview – Wednesday appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday’s Insights features a son of Oaks heroine Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). 4.10 Newmarket, Mdn, £10,000, 3yo, f, 7fT OJOOBA (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) debuts for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum who has long held much store in this Rossdales Maiden Fillies’ S. which he has won six times since 2000. This time, it looks to be the Owen Burrows-trained daughter of the G1 Epsom Oaks third Rumoush (Rahy) who carries the hopes of her owner-breeder and she is bred to be smart as a full-sister to the group-winning Muntazah (GB) and half to the classy Wadilsafa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Talaayeb (GB) (Dansili {GB}). She will have to be to get the better of Juddmonte’s Wolverhampton third Clerisy (GB) (Kingman {GB}), a Sir Michael Stoute-trained half-sister to the high-class Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}). 4.45 Newmarket, Novice, £10,000, 3yo, 10fT JALMOUD (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) was second on debut on Newcastle’s Tapeta in November, which could be the tip of the iceberg given that he is a son of the G1 Epsom Oaks heroine Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). Charlie Appleby saddles Godolphin’s February-foaled half-brother to last year’s G1 Fillies’ Mile third Magic Lily (GB), who is met by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s Newcastle scorer El Misk (GB) (Dansili {GB}), a John Gosden-trained son of the owner-breeder’s South African luminary Igugu (Aus) (Galileo {Ire}). 5.45 Dundalk, Mdn, €15,000, 2yo, 5fT KING NEPTUNE (War Front) is Ballydoyle’s second 2-year-old runner of the season and highly significant on breeding, as a full-brother to the highly-regarded ex-Shadwell runner Faydhan who failed to meet his potential with just a placing in the Listed European Free H. to show at the end of his career. A late May foal, he faces a decent form standard in the recent course-and-distance runner-up Yesterdayoncemore (Ire) (No Nay Never), a Fozzy Stack-trained filly who races for Deron Pearson, Paul Shanahan and M V Magnier. View the full article

An Arizona bill to direct 1% of pari-mutuel handle to Arizona-bred purse awards that got vetoed by Governor Doug Ducey (R) last week will have its language resurface again in a separate racing bill. Representative David Cook (R), who is backing the new amendment after the veto of his original bill, told the Arizona Mirror Apr. 15 that a subsequent stakeholders’ meeting among horse breeders, track operators, and the governor’s office has resulted in an agreement to allow the measure to go forward after the parties resolved confusion over what “in-state handle” meant in the original legislation. It had been unclear if Arizona-based wagers on out-of-state simulcast races were part of the formula. According to the negotiated clarification, they aren’t. “We want to make sure… if you’re [betting] on another track in another state, that those aren’t part of this formula that is going to fund the breeders’ award,” Cook told the Mirror. “We have our agreement. We will be sending it back up there, with their blessing.” The existing bill (SB 1144) that is slated to include the new language has nothing to do with breeding awards or purses. Its purpose is to clarify who may be ejected or excluded from race meets for conduct “detrimental to the integrity of horse racing.” View the full article

Churchill Downs’ second-annual Champions Day presented by Twinspires.com will be held on Tuesday, Apr. 30 during GI Kentucky Derby week. In addition to a full racing card, the day will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Triple Crown and honor its winners. Triple Crown-winning jockeys, trainers and owners including Bob Baffert, Mike Smith, Victor Espinoza, Steve Cauthen, Jean Cruguet and Elliott Walden will be on hand to sign autographs; fans will have an opportunity to pose with rare Triple Crown memorabilia from the Kentucky Derby Museum vault; and a special handicapping seminar will be held. Tickets starting at $12 can be purchased here. View the full article

Blue Grass Farms Charities (BGFC) announced Julie Berry as their new executive director, effective Mar. 28. Berry came from Kentucky Educational Television (KET), bringing fundraising, event planning, and administrative experience to the organization. “I am excited to be working for the Blue Grass Farms Charities, which provides health and human services to the those who work in Thoroughbred industry,” said Berry. BGFC provides assistance to farm workers, including the fulfillment of day-to-day needs like non-perishable foods and household products, while also helping with rent, utility and medical bills. “Many farms and training facilities are burdened with the high cost of feed, veterinarian and training bills, and maintenance costs. They appreciate their help but sometimes need a hand,” said Berry. “We are here for the industry. We give the farm workers stability when needed along with goodwill throughout the year.” Besides benevolent care, Blue Grass Farms Charities hosts gatherings and events for farm workers and their families. Each year the charity has a week-long soccer tournament where area farm workers can compete. This year’s tournament will run June 9-15 at Tower Hill Sports located at 3025 Blake James Drive in Lexington. View the full article

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced Tuesday that she has formed a task force to investigate the rash of 23 horse deaths that occurred at Santa Anita Park from December through March. “I have formed a task force of experienced deputy district attorneys and sworn peace officers with varied expertise within my office who will thoroughly investigate and evaluate the evidence to determine whether unlawful conduct or conditions affected the welfare and safety of horses at Santa Anita Park,” she said in a statement. View the full article

‘TDN Rising Star‘ Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief–Reina Maria, by Songandaprayer), who entered his 3-year-old season with a perfect three-for-three record, which included a win in the GII Remsen S., has been retired due to a soft tissue injury. The news was first reported by the Daily Racing Form. Trained by Butch Reid, the $340,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old started his 2019 season off with a third-place finish at odds-on in the GII Fasig-Tipton Holy Bull S. “It’s a real shame,” said Chuck Zacney, whose Cash is King Stables owns the horse in partnership with Glenn Bennett’s LC Racing. “We had high hopes for this horse. It’s a tough sport, a tough game.” The connections did not give up on the colt after the Holy Bull and kept him in training in an attempt to make the GII Xpressbet Fountain of Youth. He even had a workout on Feb. 24, 22 days after the Holy Bull. But Reid could see that his horse was not right and he was soon thereafter taken out of training. “Quite frankly, it’s tendon tear,” Zacney said. “We went to vets and looked at it and they said he would need a minimum of six to nine months off. Then there would be training after that. We had already been getting calls from farms in Kentucky, so we had to make a choice between retiring him and trying to get him back racing. It was very unlikely that he would come back to his old status; it was highly unlikely he’d be as good. They said he’d be maybe 80 to 90% of what he was and it would not have been fair to do that to the horse.” Maximus Mischief is currently at Eisaman Equine in Ocala, FL, and Zacney said they will begin showing him to farms starting next week. It is too late in the breeding season to rush him off to stud this year. “We had raised the possibility that he might race again,” Zacney said. “Now that that is off the table, we’re hearing again from farms in Kentucky and looking forward to finding him a nice home there and him having a great breeding career there.” Zacney, who owned 2005 GI Preakness and GI Belmont winner Afleet Alex, appeared poised to have a spectacular 2019. He is also the co-owner of 2018 2-year-old filly champion Jaywalk (Crosswalk). She is still on target for the GI Kentucky Oaks, but will come into the race off defeats as the heavy favorite in the GII Davona Dale and the GI Ashland. “With Maximus Mischief, it ended way too soon,” Zacney said. “We came into the year thinking we had the best 3-year-old on the East Coast and we certainly thought we’d be in the big race in early May. It just wasn’t meant to be.” View the full article

John Gosden has revealed a decision on Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire})’s participation in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas could be made early next week. The Dubawi colt was the undoubted star of the juvenile division last season–winning each of his four starts including a brilliant victory in the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket in October. The ‘TDN Rising Star’has spent the winter at the head of ante-post lists for both the Guineas and the Derby at Epsom, but there was a bump in the road last week after Too Darn Hot was found to have heat in a splint bone–a setback which ruled him out of last Saturday’s G3 Greenham S. at Newbury. Speaking on the opening afternoon of the Craven meeting at Newmarket on Tuesday, Gosden said he was hopeful Too Darn Hot would be fit to run in the first colts’ Classic of the season on May 4, but expects to have a clearer idea after the weekend. Gosden told ITV Racing, “He’s fine and coming along the right way. We’re going to make a decision, probably, just after the weekend. The heat is pretty well out of it altogether now, but I just want to be content that I’ve got the two clear weeks in which to bring him up to the race [2000 Guineas]. I’ll be consulting with the owners. I’m very much hoping he will run at this stage.” View the full article

Terry Hamilton’s multiple Grade I winner Heart to Heart (English Channel–Ask the Question, by Silver Deputy) has been retired at the age of eight. The streaking Brian Lynch trainee, who racked up more than $2 million in earnings and whose highest-level wins came in the 2018 GI Gulfstream Park Turf and GI Maker’s 46 Mile, most recently finished seventh in defense of his Maker’s 46 Mile title at Keeneland last week. The bay, who sports a distinctive heart-shaped marking on his head by which he got his name, posted an overall record of 41-15-6-4 including 11 graded stakes victories and two more at the listed level. The Ontario-bred was named Canada’s champion 3-year-old colt in 2014, and retires sound. “I’m very proud of that,” Lynch told the Keeneland press department. The C$25,000 CTHS yearling is currently at Hidden Brook Farm in Paris, KY as he awaits stud plans. View the full article

It’s been 37 years since foals from an American Triple Crown winner raced on U.S. soil, going back to when Seattle Slew’s initial crop of 2-year-olds hit the track in 1982. The wait is over, as American Pharoah’s first two Stateside runners are entered in the Wednesday opener at Aqueduct for trainer Wesley Ward. Only one is expected to run, however, and the filly will try to follow in the auspicious footsteps of Monarch of Egypt, who kicked things off for ‘Pharoah’ progeny Saturday at Naas in Ireland and was promptly named a ‘TDN Rising Star’ with a 2 3/4-length debut score (video). With morning-line favorite and GISW Hootenanny (Quality Road) half-sister Lady Delaware expected to scratch, that leaves Ice Wine Stable’s TESORINA to carry the flag. The chestnut, bred by Ward, is out of GISW Nonsuch Bay (Mr. Greeley) and shares a second dam with MGSW/GISP Samraat (Noble Causeway). She’s trained steadily, and got a feel for the local track with a half-mile breeze in :50 flat (2/14) Apr. 14. “She is quick,” said Ward of Tesorina. “I trained a Scat Daddy that also is out of Nonsuch Bay [Brittas Bay]. Body wise, she appears to be more a sprint type of filly.” Overall, Ward was beaming for the opportunity to train American Pharoah’s first North American runner, who he hopes can get the Coolmore stallion’s second career off to a sharp start in his native land. “I’m excited,” Ward said. “Coolmore has always been good to me. American Pharoah was a tremendous racehorse and hopefully [will be] a tremendous sire as well.” Elsewhere in the field, the precocious Fast Anna also gets his stallion career off the runway with Rudy Rodriguez pupil Women Not Easy. Owned by Frank Calabrese, Fast Anna won his first two starts by a combined 15 1/4 lengths at Gulfstream in 2014 and was a neck second in that summer’s GI King’s Bishop S. He also ran well to be fifth, beaten just 2 1/2 lengths, after setting blistering fractions of :21.19 and :43.34 in the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint two starts later. Standing for $7,500, his progeny have been generally well received in the sales ring, and Women Not Easy hammered for $130,000 after breezing a furlong in :10 2/5 at OBS March. The New York-bred is a half to multiple state-bred SW Miss Narcissist (Freud) and has the same second dam as GSW/GISP Faypien (Ghostzapper). View the full article

6th-Newmarket, £8,000, Mdn, 4-16, 2yo, f, 5fT, 1:00.09, g/f. CHASING DREAMS (GB) (f, 2, Starspangledbanner {Aus}–A Huge Dream {Ire} {SP-Fr, $116,920}, by Refuse To Bend {Ire}), who was all the rage at 4-9 for this debut, was soon in front and in control as all the forecasts suggested. Pulling clear of Good Vibes (GB) (Due Diligence) up the hill to the line, the hooded chestnut had five lengths to spare there to get her owners off the mark with their European 2-year-olds. “She took the preliminaries very well and had been showing up well at home,” jockey William Buick said. “That was a lovely performance and she’s bred to be fast. She has a high cruising speed and although she got a little bit lost running down into the dip you’d expect that. I liked everything she did and she’ll certainly stay six in time. She’s a very forward-going filly who wants to please you-she has a great mind.” Charlie Appleby has Royal Ascot in mind. “She’s a big-striding filly and so she had to organise herself in the dip and she is a scopey filly. I thought this might come a bit soon, but felt it was right to do it now and hopefully win so we could let her down after. She can enjoy herself now and head straight to the [G2] Queen Mary [S. at Royal Ascot June 19]. She needs a bit of time to furnish and hopefully will get quicker as she gets stronger. She’s far from the finished article.” The winner is a half-sister to the speedy triple listed scorer Mrs Gallagher (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). The listed-placed dam is a half to the dual G1 Champions Mile hero Xtension (Ire) (Xaar {GB}) and to Beatrix Potter (Ire) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}), who achieved notoriety as the dam of the brilliant Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). As a result of his heroics, A Huge Dream visited Dark Angel and came up with a yearling colt who could make waves if offered up at auction later in the year. Sale history: 750,000gns Ylg ’18 TATOCT. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $6,778. O-Godolphin; B-ORS Bloodstock & Stanley House Stud (GB); T-Charlie Appleby. View the full article

Trainer John Gosden is eyeing the G3 Pavilion S. at Ascot as a likely comeback target for the long-absent ‘TDN Rising Star’ Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}). The Kingman colt looked every inch a future superstar when winning the G2 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot last June, but missed the rest of the season through injury. Gosden reports Calyx in rude health ahead of his return to action, but feels it would be unfair to ask his charge to run in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas first time out on May 4 and views the six-furlong Pavilion S. on May 1 as a more suitable starting point. “He’s in good form and is getting close. I don’t think you’d bring him straight to a Guineas, but I’m very happy with him and he’s probably about two weeks off a race now,” said Gosden. “I think he’ll be put in both the [G1] Commonwealth Cup and the [G1] St James’s Palace [at Royal Ascot]. We’ll discuss it with the owner [Khalid Abdullah] and everybody as to which way to go. “You might want to start him out over a little shorter. He’s been off a very long time since sustaining an injury last July, so to that extent it would make an awful lot of sense to start over the six at Ascot in the Pavilion S.” View the full article