Wandering Eyes

Champion and five-time Grade I winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) is recovering from a mild case of colic and will miss a planned start in the May 4 GI La Troienne S., co-owner Sol Kumin confirmed to TDN Wednesday. The story was first reported by Blood-Horse. The Brad Cox trainee, last seen capturing the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff to wrap up her Eclipse-winning season, has been shipped to WinStar Farm for a brief respite and is expected to return to training soon in preparation for a potential 4-year-old debut in the GI Ogden Phipps S. June 8. “Brad moved her from Fair Grounds to Kentucky to go to Churchill, and when she got there she got a little colicky,” Kumin said. “Obviously with a filly like that, we didn’t want to screw around, so we figured we’d just give her a little time. If there are no complications, the plan would be to ship her back to Brad in three weeks.” Annexing the GII Rachel Alexandra S. and GI Ashland S. to begin her sophomore campaign, the chestnut scored a gutsy triumph in the GI Kentucky Oaks and kept it rolling with victories in the GI Acorn S. and GI Coaching Club American Oaks. She crossed the wire first in the GI Cotillion S., but was disqualified to second before exacting revenge in the Breeders’ Cup. Monomoy Girl was sent to Ocala after that for a full two months off. She returned to the worktab Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds and breezed five times, most recently going five furlongs there in 1:03 flat (18/21) Mar. 23. “We went to Paul Sharp [Stables] and felt because she had a long campaign and started early, we should just give her 60 days,” Kumin said. “It was the right thing to do, so we gave her the time and she came back to Brad, he galloped her for a while and she had five breezes. We were deciding between the Apple Blossom and the La Troienne and our gut was to run in the second race rather than face Midnight Bisou and Elate second, third off the layoff when we were first off. That was the target as of 10 days ago, but stuff happens.” Monomoy Girl was briefly considered for a start in the GI Pegasus World Cup after her Breeders’ Cup triumph, but ownership ultimately elected to pass after the intense nature of her 3-year-old campaign. With a much less taxing season expected for her this year, Kumin said a start in the 2020 Pegasus remains a distinct possibility. “The Breeders’ Cup is 100% our goal for the year, but we talked about the Pegasus last year and we decided to give her time,” he said. “This year, she’ll be starting later, and we wouldn’t give her as much time off since she’ll only run two or three times before the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll have to see and we’ll talk to all the partners.” Kumin also sounded cautiously optimistic about bringing Monomoy Girl back for a full 5-year-old campaign, while allowing that a lot can happen before then and saying a decision would be made by her entire ownership later on. “This is a group that really enjoys racing,” he said. “All the partners love racing, so if she’s in good form and wants to run, I would think that this group would consider bringing her back. We’re all racing guys and if the horses are in good condition and want to run, we’ve generally run them in the past.” View the full article

As Jamie Osborne put it, after signing for the top lot at the Tattersalls Ascot Breeze-Up Sale yesterday, “Time will tell.” The Lambourn trainer then gave that broad grin of his, and added, “Hopefully not too much time.” And indeed the premise of this sale, the first of the European juvenile calendar, is precisely that you might be able to bring a sharp and early animal back over the road, in little more than a couple of months, and win at the royal meeting. Hence the new £100,000 bonus offered to any graduate that manages to do just that. Even within that brief window, however, time will also have shown whether yesterday’s proceedings (though largely, and candidly, focused on blue-collar pedigrees) might again serve as a barometer for the rest of the breeze-up market. It did so two years ago, with a bumper session; and likewise last year, when conversely signalling stormy weather ahead. The hosts had responded not only with the new bonus, but by streamlining the catalogue from 146 last year (a giddy jump from 99 in 2017) to just 91. But vendors will not exactly be filled with optimism by some of yesterday’s returns, with the median—which shrank last year from £21,000 to £16,000—dwindling further to just £13,000 (-x%). The average was also down, from £24,117 to £20,552 (-x%). In fairness, however, indices of this kind tend to be at the mercy of the clearance rate and, after their bruising experiences on the circuit last year, there were signs that vendors were better prepared to take a hit. The sales company should also be given due credit for sieving out horses that would struggle. In 2018, only half the lots offered here found a new home; this time round, the clearance rallied splendidly to 86%. But while the number of horses actually sold advanced to 67, from 59, turnover subsided from £1,422,900 to £1,377,000. “Achieving a healthy clearance rate was our foremost priority,” said Richard Pugh, director of Horses-in-Training Sales. “This was achieved following a notable effort from the entire team since last year’s sale. The £100,000 Royal Ascot Bonus caught the imagination of both vendors and purchasers, and a reduced catalogue ensured vibrant trade from start to finish. “The Tattersalls Ascot Breeze-Up Sale has celebrated some notable graduates over the years including Group 1 winners The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and Sands of Mali (Fr) (Panis) and is an established date in the breeze-up calendar. “We would like to thank Ascot Racecourse for producing an ideal breezing track yesterday and GBRI who have assisted us greatly in attracting overseas clients.” Time had certainly told for the very last animal into the ring, lot 91, a February colt by Swiss Spirit (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) presented by Thomond O’Mara of Knockanglass Stables. He had produced the fastest breeze of the 82 clocked by various private timing systems the previous day. As nowadays seems nearly automatic, the top time duly produced the top price as Osborne gave £110,000 to see off a sustained challenge from Matt Coleman. “He’s a gorgeous horse with plenty of scope,” Osborne said. “The downside is that he’s by a pretty cold stallion. But let’s see. Thomond is a good friend and has been recommending the horse for a long time.” This was a smart pinhook, the colt having been sold for €15,000 in a private sale to Kilronan Stud at Goffs last October. He is a half-brother to the group-placed juvenile March (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) out of a half-sister to 18-time winner (including in the Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar) Dubai Dynamo (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}). Osborne, who duly bookended the sale after also buying the first horse under the hammer, was acting in this instance for a new syndicate of speculators focused on the breeze-up sector. “It’s a trading partnership,” he explained. “Hopefully we’ll be active at the other sales. We want to roll the dice and see where we end up.” He had made the group’s first purchase when giving £60,000 for lot 28, a son of Gutaifan (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Having assembled a staggering debut book of 203 mares, the Yeomanstown rookie is not going to be short of ammunition this season. But Osborne is convinced that there will be quality as well as quantity. “I have a handful of Gutaifans at home,” he said. “And if I have a representative sample—and it’s always possible that I don’t—I think he’s clearly a sire that’s going to work. In my mind, anyway. And this is a beautiful moving-horse.” Consigned by the Slattery family’s Meadowview Stables, the same academy that produced the outstanding hurdler Faugheen (Ire) among others, this colt is out of a winning Bernstein granddaughter of GI Starlet S. winner Creaking Board (GB) (Night Shift). He was pinhooked for €12,000 in a private sale at Fairyhouse last September. Guitafan was retired to stud after track career extending just four months, in the course of which he won two Group 2 races by a head. Following in the Footsteps of Sands Though disappointed to surrender the top lot, Matt Coleman of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock had already made his customary impact here on behalf of the Cool Silk Partnership, having found a subsequent Group 1 winner at this sale two years ago for just £75,000 in Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis). The Haydock Sprint Cup winner duly adorned the front of this catalogue, and Coleman hopes that the same silks can be in contention for the Royal Ascot bonus through lot 58, a Coach House (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) colt whose £85,000 docket represents a spectacular dividend on the £2,000 given by consignor Robson Aguiar here last September. Aguiar has been so taken with this colt that he has since acquired both his dam—who is out of a half-sister to G2 Coventry S. winner Hellvelyn (GB) (Ishiguru), himself standing alongside Coach House at Church Stud—and his half-brother. “I think he won’t just break his maiden but can be a listed horse,” he said. “I liked him as a nice, scopey yearling, whose dam had won twice over six furlongs. He’s very forward, he’ll be ready to run in three or four weeks.” Like Sands Of Mali, this colt will be sent to Richard Fahey. “Let’s he can do just as well,” Coleman said. “He breezed very well, and obviously here it’s more about the breeze than the pedigree. But Rob’s sold some pretty good horses, and he’s usually pretty accurate in his assessment—and he’s very sweet on this one.” Fahey will also be receiving lot 84 in the same cause. A Hot Streak (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) filly presented by Dunsany Stables, she is out of a Marju (Ire) half-sister to German 1000 Guineas winner Hawksmoor (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}). “She’s small but looks very fast,” Coleman said after signing a £60,000 docket. “She breezed well and looks like she thinks she’s bigger than she is. She has a great attitude, and it’s a fantastic family of fillies. Let’s try and win that bonus in the Queen Mary.” Hot Streak, who registered a number of healthy dividends at the yearling sales last autumn, also had a colt warmly received in lot 79. Another Knockanglass knockout, he raised £55,000 from Tom Morley, an astute patron of an astute trainer in Stuart Williams. “Tom liked the way he breezed, and we’ve had luck from this sale before,” said Williams. “And also when we’ve bought from Thomond.” Collins Opens a New Front Summer Front (War Front) is a young stallion who can definitely repay the interest of Europeans sufficiently imaginative to go prospecting in Kentucky and one such, Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables, demonstrated as much when lot 51 raised £85,000 from Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock. This colt was imported in a private deal after being knocked down for just $12,000 at Keeneland last September and his conduct since is not the only reason Collins was able to give such a warm endorsement of his Airdrie sire. “I saw plenty of Summer Fronts over there and they’re really good-looking horses,” he said. “I’ve another very good one going to Doncaster, and this fellow is a lovely, uncomplicated horse who hasn’t put a foot wrong since the day we got him. All the good judges liked his breeze.” “Delighted to get him,” enthused Brown. “He was the one horse we were picking out from the whole sale, in my mind anyway. Lots of quality, a really good-moving horse. And he did a very good breeze on ground he’d have hated. He’ll be going to Richard Hughes, but wouldn’t necessarily be a whizzbang. He might want a little time and maybe start at six before going seven furlongs.” Houldsworth Using His Eyes How refreshing to hear at least one agent holding out against the infatuation with breeze times, Matt Houldsworth professing indifference to the clock after giving £55,000 for lot 49, a February colt by Cable Bay (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). “I’m more interested in how they finish off, if they hit the line going hard,” he said. “I thought this was a standout, a good-looking horse with a good pedigree. Hopefully he can make up into an Ascot horse. It helped that the stallion had his first winner yesterday [for Archie Watson at Lingfield], and he’s from a good hotel we’ve had some luck with in the past.” That was Kilminfoyle House, which had also presented the colt when he was knocked down (actually for twice as much) at Doncaster last August. Houldsworth was acting on behalf of John Guest and was standing alongside trainer George Margarson, who also sounded optimistic of meeting his patron’s brief for a Royal Ascot horse. He certainly has the page, relative to some in this sale, his dam being out of a half-sister to G1 Moyglare S. winner Necklace (GB) (Darshaan {GB}). And the fourth dam is none other than Colorspin (Fr) (High Top {GB}), herself a Classic winner and dam of champions by Sadler’s Wells in Opera House (GB) and Kayf Tara (GB). View the full article

Horses galloped and worked at Santa Anita Park the morning of April 3 as the racing office took entries for the April 6 card that will include the Santa Anita Derby (G1). It wasn't all business as usual, however. View the full article

Each year owners face the challenging task of finding and assigning appropriate names for their younger stock. Stud farms, in particular, are often keen to find ‘marketable’ names for colts that have potential stallion profiles. TDN‘s Gary King chatted with The Jockey Club’s Shannon Luce to find out more about the naming process. GK: Have you made any changes to the naming process over the last few years? SL: No. The naming rules have remained steady for the past decade. However, while the rules have remained the same, we make better use of available technology such as Google searches and Dictionary.com to ensure that name selections adhere to established rules. GK: How have you integrated technology in this process? SL: Technology plays a big role in the process. About 90% of the names are submitted via our website or through The Jockey Club’s Naming App. Internally, we use software written by The Jockey Club Technology Services to rank the phonetic score of every name submitted versus the 313,000 that are currently unavailable to avoid names that sound alike. The reason for this is to avoid confusion in the industry. You don’t want two horses at the racetrack, or even two broodmares, with similar-sounding names. GK: Sometimes names are not permitted for ‘commercial reasons’. What does that mean? SL: Names that have clear commercial significance are not available for use in naming a Thoroughbred. Thus, you will not see Pepsi Cola racing against Coca Cola at your local Thoroughbred track. GK: When it comes to the names of places, historical figures, celebrities, etc., do you have to get certain permission in advance? SL: Names of places such as cities or states are generally available unless already taken. If naming the horse after a living person, written permission from that person is required. This is true if it is a famous person, but also if the horse is being named after a favorite teacher, coach, neighbor, or even a relative. GK: What names are simply not allowed? SL: There are rules that pertain to horses being marked as historically important, such as horses in racing’s Hall of Fame or Eclipse Award winners. Once marked, those names are permanently unavailable, so names such as Northern Dancer, Secretariat, Personal Ensign, and Justify will never be allowed again. GK: A lot of farms and organizations reserve names. Can these names be reserved indefinitely, or do they have to be used in a certain period of time? SL: Names are generally reserved for a year and most people apply the reserved name to a horse within that first year. However, name reservations can be extended for an additional year(s) if the owner pays an additional fee to keep the name(s) reserved. Some breeders spend a good deal of time and effort to reserve names that work well with their broodmares or stallions, and they sometimes wait for years for just the right foal to come along to match that perfect name. View the full article

Fourteen colts, led by Godolphin’s GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Sheikh Hamdan’s unbeaten G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile S. victor Madhmoon (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), have been added as second entries for the 240th G1 Investec Derby, Epsom Downs announced on Wednesday. These second entries brings the total entered for the £1.5-million 1 1/2-mile Classic to 107. Charlie Appleby, who won the 2018 edition with Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), has also entered undefeated Dubawi (Ire) colts Al Hilalee (GB), who won the Listed Criterium du Fonds Europeen de l’Elevage and the debut winner Space Blues (Ire). The first and second finishers of the G3 Eyrefield S. have also been added to the Derby entries in the forms of Guaranteed (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), a Jim Bolger-bred who is part-owned by his wife Jackie and Aga Khan homebred Masaff (Ire) (Raven’s Pass), respectively. The MSP Nate The Great (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) for trainer Archie Watson and Phoenix Thoroughbred Ltd’s first-out winner Kadar (Scat Daddy) from the barn of Karl Burke have also been included. Ralph Beckett, a two-time winner of the G1 Epsom Oaks, has put forward the dual winner Nivaldo (Ire) (Archipenko), who added to his Sept. 16 Ffos Las victory with another tally in his all-weather bow at Kempton on Nov. 6. Sir Michael Stoute, the only trainer to date to have won the Derby with a second entry (Workforce {GB} {King’s Best}) in 2010, has entered Saeed Suhail’s winning Almania (Ire) (Australia {GB}). The other four colts entered are: King Ottokar (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) for Charlie Fellowes, Goodwood maiden winner Pablo Escobarr (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) for William Haggas, Richard Hannon trainee King Of Change (GB) (Farhh {GB}) and High Commissioner (Ire) (Australia {GB}) for Paul Cole. The second entry cost was £9,000, with a wildcard entry available for the horse winning the 10-furlong Listed Investec Blue Riband Trial S. at Epsom on Apr. 24, if not already entered in the Derby or a gelding. The final entry stage is the five-day confirmation stage on May 27, with a supplementary fee of £85,000. View the full article

Horses galloped and worked at Santa Anita Park the morning of April 3 as the racing office took entries for the April 6 card that will include the Santa Anita Derby (G1). It wasn't all business as usual, however. View the full article

Horses galloped and worked at Santa Anita Park the morning of April 3, as the racing office took entries for the April 6 card that will include the Santa Anita Derby (G1). It wasn't all business as usual, however. View the full article

5th-KEE, $83K, Alw, 4yo/up, 1mT, 5:12 p.m. OXO Equine’s INSTILLED REGARD (Arch) makes his seasonal bow on Keeneland’s opening day card. Winner of last term’s GIII Lecomte S., the $1.05 million OBSMAR buy rallied to be fourth behind Justify (Scat Daddy) in the GI Kentucky Derby last May while under the care of Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer. Switched to the Chad Brown barn following that effort, the dark bay was next seen in the GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 22, where he finished a well-beaten ninth. Switched to the grass next out for the Dec. 1 GI Hollywood Derby, Instilled Regard finished third behind stablemate Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and he gives turf another try in easier company Thursday. TJCIS PPs View the full article

All roads will lead to a shot at the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for last year’s G1 Investec Derby hero Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) when he returns from injury, according to trainer Charlie Appleby. The 4-year-old Godolphin colt has been sidelined since meeting with a setback after his victory in the Epsom Classic last June, during his build up to a planned tilt at the G1 Eclipse S. at Sandown. An outing in the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot has been mentioned as a possible starting point for Masar, but his Newmarket trainer warns he will not be rushing him back for the sake of lining up in the Group 2. Appleby said, “I mentioned the Hardwicke at Ascot as a potential comeback, because that is the most obvious race for him. That is what we would like to do–and at the moment timing-wise, it looks potentially achievable. At the end of the day the biggest disappointment last year was missing the Eclipse and the second half of the season with him, and an outing in the Arc. If we didn’t make Royal Ascot it wouldn’t be the be all and end all, because the Arc is my main aim–and that is what we are working back from. Having sent Masar over to Dubai for the winter to help him recover from his injury, Appleby is pleased with the progress he has seen. He said, “He has pleased us week on week in Dubai. He is cantering away now on the treadmill and we can control his pace on there and what we want him to do. We’ve still got a bit to go yet before we start to press any buttons. Until you get to a certain level of fitness, you don’t know how that injury is going to stand up–but at the minute all the signs are very positive.” 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. Thursday’s Insights features a half-brother to G1SW Zarak (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}). 2.25 Saint-Cloud, Mdn, €25,000, unraced 3yo, c/g, 8fT His Highness The Aga Khan’s ZARKALLANI (FR) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), representing Alain de Royer-Dupre in this firsters’ test, is a son of undefeated MG1SW European Horse of the Year Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar) and thus kin to G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud victor Zarak (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) and stakes-winning G1 Prix Vermeille third Zarkamiya (Fr) (Frankel {GB}). His opposition includes Flaxman Stables Ireland Ltd’s homebred Tiki (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who is a Pascal Bary-conditioned half-brother to last term’s G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero Study of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}); Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Mustabeq (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), who is a half-brother to GI Gulfstream Park Turf H. victor Almanaar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) out of GSW G1 Falmouth S. third Baqah (Ire) (Bahhare), from the Freddy Head stable; and Haras d’Ecouves and Henri de Pracomtal’s Bliss For Ever (Fr) (Slickly {Fr}), who may find this trip on the sharp side being a half-brother to leading staying hurdler and G1 Prix du Cadran winner Kasbah Bliss (Fr) (Kahyasi {Ire}). 3.35 Saint-Cloud, Mdn, €25,000, unraced 3yo, f, 8fT Alain and Gerard Wertheimer’s CELTIC (IRE) (Speightstown) is a homebred daughter of GI American Oaks and GI Del Mar Oaks heroine Lady of Shamrock (Scat Daddy), and faces 10 opponents in this debutantes’ contest. Rivals to the Andre Fabre trainee feature Juddmonte representative Wild Rye (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who is a Pascal Bary-trained half-sister to five black-type performers headed by G1 Grand Prix de Paris-winning sire Zambezi Sun (GB) (Dansili {GB}). View the full article

New Zealand’s Cambridge Stud has secured the Southern Hemisphere breeding right to MG1SW, Cartier Horse of the Year and Longines World Champion 3-year-old Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy in 2019. Roaring Lion will join Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on the roster, the three-time Group 1 winner and champion European 3-year-old who stood his first New Zealand season in 2018. “To be able to secure two European champions in two years is extraordinary and very exciting for Cambridge and Australasian breeders,” Cambridge Stud Chief Executive Officer Henry Plumptre said. “Roaring Lion is hugely sought after in the United Kingdom in his first season at stud, standing at £40,000. European breeders have recognised his brilliance and he is over subscribed. His sire, Kitten’s Joy, is a two-time champion sire in the United States and has been Champion Turf Sire for the past six years. “By El Prado (Ire), he has a similar profile to the champion Medaglia d’Oro, also by El Prado, who sired Vancouver (Aus), Astern (Aus) and the recent G1 New Zealand Derby winner Crown Prosecutor (Aus). Turf Bloodlines Added Plumptre, “Roaring Lion has got Street Cry (Ire) on his bottom line and I managed Medaglia d’Oro when he came out for Darley and they’re bloodlines that work specifically on turf. Medaglia d’Oro’s strength is that he gets good turf horses so there are a lot of positives in the pedigree. “Roaring Lion isn’t going to be a difficult horse to mate, he’s very correct and well-balanced. There are no congenital issues at all.” Roaring Lion enjoyed a stellar 2018 winning four Group 1 events–the Eclipse S., Juddmonte International S., Irish Champion S. and the Queen Elizabeth S.–all at weight-for-age against older horses from 1600 to 2000 metres. He earned a Timeform rating of 130 for his achievements. “What really impressed me about Roaring Lion was the tougher the races, the more he would answer the call,” his trainer John Gosden said. “I’ve never trained a horse that had the constitution he has, he has just got bigger and stronger. He was a trainer’s dream. I never had a moment’s worry with him.” A US$160,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, he was signed for by Tweenhills owner David Redvers, who is also bloodstock advisor to Sheikh Fahad’s Qatar Racing operation. The Horse of a Lifetime “Roaring Lion is a horse of a lifetime. He is a remarkable horse; tough and durable beyond equal, but his turn of foot and will to win set him apart and we believe he will prove a genuine breed shaper,” said David Redvers, Qatar Racing manager and owner of Tweenhills. “We look forward to working with Brendan, Jo, Henry Plumptre and the Cambridge Stud team and watching Roaring Lion and this incredible farm flourish together.” Qatar’s retained jockey Oisin Murphy was equally effusive about Roaring Lion. “He has been a wonderful horse to be involved with and I feel incredibly honoured to have ridden him on some of the biggest stages this year,” he said. “He gave me an amazing day at Sandown when winning my first British Group 1 and we’ve had some extraordinary days since. He’s an incredible horse who I will remember for the rest of my life.” Roaring Lion was also an exceptional 2-year-old, sealing a hat-trick of wins with victory in the G2 Royal Lodge S. His only defeat was when beaten a neck in the G1 Racing Post Trophy. The arrival of Roaring Lion in New Zealand announces the dawn of a new association between Sheikh Fahad, Tweenhills and Cambridge Stud with Redvers committing up to 20 mares on behalf of the Sheikh to Roaring Lion in the Southern Hemisphere each year. A New Association “My brothers and I have enjoyed our greatest days on the racecourse courtesy of Roaring Lion,” Sheikh Fahad said. “To own a horse like him is truly incredible and we believe he will prove a magnificent influence as a sire in both hemispheres. We are delighted by the support breeders have shown in Europe and, feel confident he will be as popular in the Southern Hemisphere and look forward to seeing Roaring Lion’s first progeny both here and around the world. “Cambridge Stud appealed to us due to the combination of heritage and Brendan and Jo Lindsay’s amazing commitment to the New Zealand thoroughbred industry. Their determination to secure our world champion was beyond admirable and we are committed to assist them realise his potential worldwide.” Brendan and Jo Lindsay were at Ascot to see Roaring Lion win his last Group 1 and were from that point on determined in their pursuit of the stallion. “Jo and I would like to sincerely thank David Redvers and Sheikh Fahad for giving us the opportunity to bring a horse of his calibre to Cambridge Stud,” Lindsay said. “We were there on Champion’s Day and his ability to drop back to a mile and still beat the best in Europe left us in no doubt that we had to secure him for New Zealand.” Roaring Lion is a son of Vionnet (Street Sense), who won three times and was Grade I placed. She is a half-sister to the stakes winners Schiaparelli (Ghostzapper), Moulin De Mougin (Curlin), Alexis Tangier (Tiznow) and Bronson (Medaglia d’Oro). Their dam Cambiocorsa (Avenue Of Flags) was a dual North American Grade III winner and a sister to a five-time Grade III winner in California Flag. Roaring Lion will stand for an introductory fee at Cambridge Stud of NZ$35,000 + GST. “We want to try and give New Zealand breeders a chance,” Plumptre said. “They are sending hundreds of mares to Australia because the calibre of stallions here isn’t good enough, there are two or three signature stallions and that’s about it. He’s standing at a service fee to persuade breeders to keep their mares here.” View the full article

An annual financial contribution totaling €123,000 was pledged by the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) to support the Irish Injured Jockeys (IIJ) over a three-year-period, Horse Racing Ireland announced on Wednesday. All 26 racecourses have committed to this scheme-with donations on a scale basis depending on racecourse grade–which will cover running the costs of the charity, with all donations and fundraising efforts to go directly ti IIJ service users. “Jockeys are the cornerstone of racing and providing racegoers with great days out and brilliant racing memories, however, we are acutely aware that it is a high risk sport and the extraordinary physical demands our jockeys face for our sporting pleasure,” said Chairman of the AIR and CEO of Punchestown Racecourse Conor O’Neill. “All 26 racecourses have a brilliant relationship with jockeys and greatly value the time they give us to promote our wonderful sport. In recognition of that, the Association of Irish Racecourses is delighted to formally demonstrate our commitment with €123,000 per year for the next three years to support the incredible work the Irish Injured Jockeys do.” View the full article

Tuberculosis is not a disease usually associated with horses but a common treatment has brought the best out of the David Ferraris-trained General Dino.The gelding arrived in Hong Kong in November 2016 after winning his maiden in France, but has struggled to make a big impact, with just six placings from 24 starts in his new home.Ferraris revealed General Dino had these persistent little illnesses that were holding him back and he didn’t know what to do.“He kept on getting these low-grade… View the full article

There are few topics in racing debated so intensely and passionately as that of raceday medication in the U.S., and in particular Lasix. Those who are for it stress that it is the only humane and effective treatment for horses who suffer from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhaging. Those against it believe that America must come into line with international standards and appease the expectations of a society where public perception is becoming rapidly more relevant. What side one is on is no longer relevant; the Stronach Group–with its sweeping reforms with the abolition of raceday medication at its California tracks at the forefront-has ensured that change is afoot. There are fears from some camps that the removal of Lasix from American horses would result in higher incidences of serious bleeding attacks, and thus depleted fields, plummeting handle and the demise of the sport. It is worth looking as a point of reference, however, at South America which, within the last six years, has phased out Lasix in black-type races-and in some cases even beyond–in its Part I countries. And the general consensus? It’s been business as usual. Beginning in 2013, South American countries with Part I racing were required to begin phasing out Lasix in black-type races; ie., those races with international implications. Those countries were Argentina (the continent’s largest producer of Thoroughbreds with a foal crop of around 7,000 annually), Chile, Peru and Uruguay. Raceday medication was already outlawed in Brazil in all black-type races and in horses younger than 3 1/2 years. The requirement was enforced by OSAF, an umbrella organization that represents South America on the world’s stage and that has governing organizations from each country as members. Each country handled the phase-out a bit differently; Argentina, for instance, began with Group 1s and Group 2s. By 2015 the ban was expanded to all black-type races. Finally, it was removed from all 2- and 3-year-old races. Raceday medication (Lasix and bute) remain allowed for 4-year-olds and older in non black-type races in Argentina. John Fulton, an American-born horseman and former trainer who has conducted international business from his base in Argentina for 35 years, said that South America’s races medication-free races actually tend to draw larger fields than those where medication is still permitted. “What I’ve seen down here is that the field sizes haven’t decreased. Here in Argentina, 2- and 3-year-olds can’t run on medication and in no black-type races can you run on medication, yet we have full fields. “I owned a Scat Daddy horse [in Chile] with a group of friends that was a Grade I winner, but at age eight had lost a step or two,” Fulton continued. “We had to decide whether to go for a Grade I or a non-black type stake, where you could use medication. There were four horses entered in the non-black type race, but in the Grade I, where there was no medication allowed, there were 16 or 18 horses. So the decision was made to run him in the race where medication was allowed-he didn’t use any medication, we didn’t have any issue with it. “People have learned to deal with it and they’ve accepted it. If you look at the stakes races they’re generally full fields. For the most part people have dealt with it and there’s almost no issue. To say that the U.S. is unique in the fact that they can’t run without medication, that’s something that’s hard to swallow for me.” Trainers Taking It In Stride San Isidro’s training center-located adjacent to the racecourse of the same name that is home to the G1 Carlos Pellegrini, South America’s most important race-is home to some 2,000 equines and is surely one of Argentina’s busiest training facilities. Champion trainer Enrique Martin Ferro holds court at San Isidro, as does his son Nicolas, an ambitious and worldly 32-year-old who counts among his patrons Haras Abolengo, one the country’s leading stud farms and the breeder of Candy Ride (Arg). Roberto ‘Coco’ Bullrich has recently been brought on as a trainer for Don Alberto, a dominant force across the continent with some 400 horses in training. Nicolas Martin Ferro, perhaps with youth on his side, seems to have taken the medication phase-out in his stride. Asked what his feelings were six years ago when told the practice would stop, he shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly, “It was a little bit tough at first. As always we don’t like change, but I think we got used to it and I think it’s alright. “I think we had to do it because otherwise we’d lose some faith [internationally]; I think the whole world is going that way. The Americans were the ones that stayed a bit out of it but all the other industries were going that way-no raceday medication.” Martin Ferro said neither field sizes nor his stable numbers-which sit around 80–were affected by the ban, and that instances of horses being completely unable to race because of bleeding were “very rare-it wouldn’t happen once in a year.” In fact, Martin Ferro said he “doesn’t like” Lasix and in the old days would not administer it simply as a rule. “I don’t think it’s an advantage,” he said. “If I had a horse that didn’t bleed, I wouldn’t use it. I don’t like it. I wouldn’t give Lasix just in case.” Bullrich–who is also a veterinarian–said that while he agrees now with keeping the black-type races free of raceday medication, he would like to see it permitted in all lower-level races. He said those horses have a much larger market share in South America than they do in Europe, and helping those horses and owners win races, and thus encouraging them to reinvest, would be to the benefit of the industry. As it stands now in Argentina, horses of non-stakes class cannot use Lasix until they turn four. “The big mistake is to compare our racing to European racing,” he explained. “You talk about the genetic selection of French horses and British horses, and it’s very different from here. It’s a very select group in Europe with only strong mares and stallions. Here it’s very different. There is a very big group of owners and trainers who operate because they just want to win a little race worth maybe $2,000. I feel very strongly that you should help those people because they work for us to maintain that sector of the industry.” Alternative Measures As all three trainers concurred, no Lasix doesn’t mean no bleeding-it just means coming up with alternative methods of managing it, and they said injecting dextrose (a simple sugar) into the bloodstream is a widely used practice in Argentina. Horses will be given a serum that is 50% glucose and causes their blood sugar levels to spike, which causes the horse to urinate and shed water weight. Dr. Jim Prendergast, a racetrack veterinarian in New York and Florida for more than 40 years, said dextrose was used in the U.S. in the pre-Lasix days, but that it “doesn’t work very well.” “It’s 50% glucose and it acts like a mild diuretic,” he said. “They don’t want anybody treating the horses the day of the race, and dextrose is a short-term thing, so it wouldn’t be applicable as far as helping to keep a horse from bleeding. Dextrose is a step back in time.” Dr. Pamela Wilkins of the University of Illinois’s College of Veterinary Medicine, however, said dextrose can actually be more harmful than Lasix. “I’m sure it’s effective, but it’s worse for them than Lasix is,” she said. “Fifty-percent dextrose is hyperosmolar, so it pulls water from the cells into the bloodstream, and then the dextrose is filtered by the kidney and pulls water with it. However, 50% dextrose is very irritating to the blood vessels and it will throw their insulin and glucagon regulation way off. It’s worse for them than Lasix; it damages their blood vessels. I think using 50% dextrose is going to be more harmful than using Lasix ever was. “It’s a repetitive stress injury,” Wilkins added of bleeding. “All horses at maximal exertion, no matter how fit or unfit they, are likely to bleed, whether it’s a little bleed or a big bleed, it’s going to happen. I think one option to try is low-dose Lasix. You don’t need to use 10ccs–once those receptors are loaded, they’re loaded. Tons of things have been tried in basic science studies and clinical studies, and the only thing that works is Lasix.” Dr. Rob Holland is a Kentucky-based veterinarian specializing in respiratory and infectious disease. Holland stressed the fact that an onset of EIPH is multi-factoral, and thus the ways to help minimize it are the same. “It can be a puzzle, just like lameness,” he said. “You have to figure them out. And when you do figure it out and get it right, it’s fun to watch a horse when they can breathe really well. And you don’t need a lot of drugs to do that; it’s about cleaning up their environment and stuff.” Holland suggested that pre-existing conditions like dynamic throat issues, a cold or pneumonia, or even body soreness that causes the horse to lock up could contribute to instances of EIPH. He said that good biosecurity measures like reducing exposure to dust and proximity to muck pits in troubled horses can help, and he advocates for productive discussion surrounding the heated topic of Lasix. “I know many owners, vets and breeders who want to talk about whether Lasix is needed or not needed, and I think getting everybody in a room would probably be helpful,” he said. “I think that good, clean dialogue and maybe bringing people from Argentina would be good for the industry. Right now, there are people that are pro-Lasix or not pro-Lasix. I’m more pro-therapeutic in trying to figure out why they’re doing it, and then putting medications and other things together that will help them, like wetting their hay, or nebulizing with saline to keep their airways clean. I’d like to have some Argentinean vets come up and talk to us about it. “I think everyone goes into their corners. The veterinarians, we want to make sure therapeutic medications can be used to help the horse, but at the same time if owners and the betting public have issues, we need to talk about that. We need to be realists and sit down and discuss if there are other ways we can handle it, whether it’s nebulizing, trying to reduce inflammation, or cleaning up the environment where the horses are and trying to reduce the allergen load. “I think the step going from 10 to 5ccs [of Lasix permitted at Santa Anita] is a good one,” Holland added. “I think we need a lot more data, but I can tell you there are many jurisdictions in the world that don’t run on Lasix. Their training is different; they run them for a mile kind of coasting and the last quarter mile they’re really running hard. That seems to work.” Dr. Steve Jackson, an equine nutrition consultant based in Kentucky and with clients all over the world, said he had never heard of dextrose. He said research has been done on vitamins and supplements that could help reduce EIPH by strengthening capillary walls, but that he doesn’t think there is going to be a ‘magic’ product from a nutritional standpoint. “There’s been a lot of work done on Vitamin K that probably isn’t very fruitful,” Jackson said. “There’s been a lot of work done on Vitamin E because it’s a biological antioxidant. My concept of the thing is that if you have a ration balanced correctly with adequate amounts of Vitamin K and Vitamin E, additional is probably not going to help. “There’s some interest now in Omega-3 Fatty Acids, particularly the ones that are derived from deep water fish, DHA and EPA that are long chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids. There are a couple studies from Kansas State where they thought they saw a decrease in EIPH with DHA and EPA and even from flax oil, linseed oil, which is a fairly high vegetable source in Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Nitrous oxide they looked at, and it was actually detrimental; it caused an increase in EIPH. I really don’t know that anybody has found anything, from a nutritional standpoint, that actually significantly reduces bleeding.” Jackson described Lasix as “a big crutch for trainers.” With that crutch being removed, he said, trainers are likely to be more conscious of how and when they feed their horses, and what is in their environment. “I don’t think anybody would suggest that a horse that is inclined to bleed isn’t helped by Lasix,” Jackson said. “The problem is, people aren’t going to allow it anymore. I don’t think in this day and time, the public is going to stand for the thought of us giving drugs to a horse to run. Lasix is the baby that’s going to get thrown out with the bath water, and people need to accept it, because it’s going to happen. Look at greyhound racing. Who would have thought in Florida there were enough [animal rights activists] to get greyhound racing banned? “We’re probably going to go back to where people had a strategy for reducing gut fill and body weight prior to the race, and that’s going to involve half feeds in the morning, removal of water, and less hay because that’s going to stimulate thirst. I used to run 10ks. I was never as good an athlete as I thought I was, but I know I didn’t try to go eat three waffles with maple syrup before I went out and ran a 10k. I think we’re going to rely more on gut management, nutrition management pre-race, time of feeding pre-race, because the crutch is going to be taken away.” Jackson said that in Japan–where he does work for Koji Maeda, the breeder of Lani (Tapit), among others–maintaining a well-ventilated environment is paramount. “It’s cold there in the winter time, but they never close the doors,” he said. “It’s about fresh air, ventilation and reducing inflammation. And maybe that’s why they don’t typically have as many bleeders. It’s interesting, in our shedrow society here, some of the stalls are poorly ventilated. How do you keep them dust-free? Japan has fewer lung problems, less pneumonia, less inflammatory airway disease, and the environment there is harsh in the winter. In the summertime they have fans and run misters to reduce dust. The approach there is to reduce particulate matter that may cause inflammation of the airways. When you don’t have the crutch, when you don’t have Lasix, then you find different modalities that give you some relief.” Fulton: America Must Assimilate In nearly 50 years in the Thoroughbred business–early on as an assistant to Horatio Luro, the trainer of Northern Dancer, and more recently as an agent based in Argentina with an international reach–John Fulton has seen plenty. He said he is adamant that his home country needs to come into line with international standards, and also, considering what was done in his adoptive country, that it is very possible. “Raceday medication should be eliminated, in my mind,” Fulton said. “I think it would be better for the horses and it’d make better horsemen out of us and honestly create a better ambiance for the fans and bettors. “The trainers will learn to adjust,” he added. “Almost all the trainers training today have had the use of raceday medication. I’m old enough where I can remember where we didn’t have it, and of course down here [in South America] we’ve seen it for a good number of years where in the big races there is no medication allowed, and even to the point where they send the tests to France and Australia and other parts of the world, just to make sure the horses are running clean.” Fulton said he thinks the American style of training could make horses more prone to bleeding. Whereas Americans tend to have easier routine training and harder works, European and South American horses generally do the opposite: a bit more in their day-to-day training but less intense works. “I don’t profess to have been a great trainer and I’m not a vet, but in 49 years in this I’m an observer, and these are things that I’ve seen that I think can affect it,” he said. “The horses in South America and Europe tend to run a bit lighter; they’re fit to the ultimate, where I think we see horses in the States that are carrying more weight than what we would see in other parts of the world where there is no medication used, and I think that can be a contributing factor. We do a lot of good, strong, open gallops in South America, whereas the American horses tend to do less during the week and faster works. The horses that do a stronger gallop and slower works tend to be more relaxed. They learn to get into a comfortable pace and they’re not as high strung when they go to the races. “You can make adjustments in training, and in the States there are a lot of really good horsemen. They’ll learn to deal with it.” Fulton also pointed out that U.S.-breds race with a high level of success in all parts of the world with no raceday medication. “American horses go from sales in the U.S. to Europe and they race fine,” he said. “It’s not that we’ve created a breed in 30 years that’s fragile-I don’t believe that, I believe it has more to do with training and feeding and eliminating bad bleeders from the gene pool. “Luro, when I was with him, when we had a horse that had a tendency to bleed we tried changing the feed, and one of the things we did was change the bulk food, alfalfa and that stuff, to beet pulp. We fed a lot of that in place of hay and it decreased their tendency to bleed. If we couldn’t control it then they were turned out, and if they came back and still had problems then more than likely they weren’t going to enter the gene pool. I do believe it is inherited to some degree.” American-bred and raced stallions have historically done well in South America-with Scat Daddy and Roman Ruler just two examples-and while interest in American sires is still strong, European stallions are showing up with greater frequency in Argentina. The reason for that, Fulton said, is a desire to reintroduce stamina and durability to the breed. And a lack of raceday medication is a significant factor in the Europeans’ favour. “I think we got to the point where we realized we were losing a lot of our strengths down here, which is durability and stamina, by bringing in a lot of pure speed horses,” he said. “People wanted to bring more stamina back into the gene pool and to do that you lean more to Europe. And the fact they run clean is a factor beyond a doubt. It’s just one more ingredient that goes into the decision-making on who you’re going to bring in. “Sheikh Mohammed has asked me to buy mares for him down here because we have a reputation for soundness and durability, and I’ve had other owners do the same. The Japanese have been hugely successful buying mares here and producing top horses, and it’s because of this reputation for soundness, durability and stamina. So we’re in a situation where we have to swing a bit back towards that, and when you do that you go to Europe.” But the U.S. has much more at stake than losing favour with shuttle stallions. “The other side of the situation that’s even more grave is that we could have racing shut down,” Fulton said. “People don’t believe that, they don’t want to believe it, but it can happen. “The industry is a crossroads now where we have a chance to say ‘look, do this or we’re gone.’ I was talking to a friend the other day and he said, ‘this is going to give us more opportunity to sell horses into the U.S. because our good horses run clean, so we can sell our horses to California trainers.’ I said, ‘that is if there are races in California.’ It could end up that way and people don’t want to admit that, but I can see from a distance that it could be snubbed out. That’s a real threat. We need to take some action, make some changes and take charge of this situation that [before raceday medication] we always dealt with fine. “What happened in California, I don’t blame it on Lasix or probably any other type of medication,” Fulton continued. “I think part of it was coincidence and part of it was the rain and the track change and maybe there were some holes in the track, that kind of stuff. I don’t think medication is likely the cause of the breakdowns, but right now is the point where we need to make a dramatic change or we’re going to go downhill fast.” View the full article

In a letter to the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Tuesday, California Senator Dianne Feinstein called for racing to be suspended at Santa Anita until an investigation into the 23 horses that have died at the track since late December has been completed, according to the LA Times. “I believe that racing at Santa Anita should be suspended until the cause or causes of these deaths can be fully investigated,” wrote Feinstein, the Times reported. “I also ask for more information about what the California Horse Racing Board is doing to both investigate this matter and address some of the concerns that these incidents have rightly raised.” The Stronach Group COO Tim Ritvo, however, told the TDN Tuesday afternoon that racing was running as scheduled this weekend. Racing is set to resume Thursday. The weekend’s card contains the $1 million GI Santa Anita Derby and the G1 Santa Anita “Big Cap” H., both of which were to be run in March, but were rescheduled due to a hiatus of racing of nearly a month at the facility while investigations into the track surface were conducted. The resumption of racing last weekend at the track was marred Sunday by the fatal injury sustained by the Peter Miller-trained Arms Runner. In a further development Tuesday, the CHRB announced a special meeting on Friday, Apr. 12 to discuss a possible relocation of race dates granted to Santa Anita. “Chairman Winner said the California Horse Racing Board under California law does not have the authority to suspend racing,” wrote CHRB chief information officer, Mike Marten, in an email. “He said any action with regard to racing dates requires a public hearing and 10-day public notice under California law.” Marten also wrote that Winner “has not yet received a letter from Senator Dianne Feinstein,” but that he is aware of it. “He believes it would be inappropriate to comment before having a discussion with Senator Feinstein,” Marten wrote. Feinstein wrote that she is “appalled that almost two dozen horses have died in just four months,” and that she asked the CHRB whether it was “considering other changes to improve the safety of horses after it agreed to phase out race-day medications and limit the use of whips on horses,” according to the Times. “While these are positive initial steps, please let me know whether the Board is considering other actions that have been proposed by trainers and animal welfare advocates, including the complete elimination of medications such as Lasix and the use of synthetic track surfaces,” Feinstein wrote, according to the Times. “In your view, would these or other steps be reasonable measures to prevent horse injuries and death?” View the full article

Meagher bold enough to Dream View the full article

Early scratching April 7 View the full article

Diversify, who registered a victory in the Aug. 4 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, was named the 2018 New York-bred horse of the year during the April 1 festivities at the Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga Springs. View the full article

Stephanie Hronis, part of the Eclipse Award-winning ownership family that has campaigned champions Accelerate and Stellar Wind, has joined the board of directors of the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation, EJGF President Jenine Sahadi announced Tuesday. “Stephanie’s lifelong background in education and her passion for the betterment of the backstretch community make her a perfect fit for the mission of the Gregson Foundation,” Sahadi said. Hronis spent more than 20 years in education as a school counselor, faculty member at the graduate and community college levels, and as a Family Resource Center Director for the Lindsay Unified School District. The goal of the nonprofit Gregson Foundation is to develop programs to benefit and enhance the quality of life of California’s backstretch workers by providing resources to attend college through the Edwin J. Gregson Scholarship Fund. Since it was established in 2001 by California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), the Gregson Foundation has awarded over 600 individual grants totaling approximately $1.3 million. “I have great respect and appreciation for the hard work and talent of those taking exceptional care of the horses,” Hronis said. “I am very honored to be a part of the Gregson Foundation, and I look forward to advocating for and assisting family members of backside workers seeking post-secondary education or training.” View the full article

When a colt by The Big Beast (hip 418) sold for $450,000 at last month’s OBS March Sale, it marked the biggest result to date for Gina Fennell, who had purchased the youngster for $45,000 at the 2018 OBS October Yearling Sale. Fennell, who has been pinhooking for some 10 years now, will look to keep the success going at next week’s Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Through Luis Garcia’s L.G. consignment, Fennell will offer a colt by Wicked Strong (hip 154) during the one-day auction. “A friend introduced me to Luis Garcia,” Fennell explained when asked how she first became involved in the Thoroughbred business. “He works for Hartley/DeRenzo. We’ll get together and get a couple of horses a year and then we just kind of go from there. Once he is done working for Hartley/DeRenzo, he has spare time, so whatever we get he starts to work on and get going for some of the sales.” Fennell usually picks out only one or two pinhooking prospects at the yearling sales, but last year found herself taking six yearlings home to Ocala. “We decided to branch out this year,” Fennell said. “We didn’t expect to get so many, but we love the industry and just ended up getting more.” She hit a home run with first of the group to go through the sales ring this year. The colt from the first crop of The Big Beast turned heads when working the fastest furlong (:9 3/5) at the March sale’s under-tack show. “I really didn’t think he was going to be that fast,” Fennell admitted. “We really honestly didn’t have any idea. He was a nice big, good-looking horse. We were hoping that he’d work a :10 flat. That was kind of what my expectations were and then we’d just see what happened from there.” Fennell, who owns the Ocala-based Gator Truck Center, is no stranger to the horse world. But her main experience with racing is in the barrel racing venue. “I still compete with NBHA and PRCA on the rodeo division,” the New York native said. “I don’t do it very often anymore because [the Thoroughbreds] have gotten to be a little bit more my ambition. And I have a truck center in Ocala. I’ve been in business four years now on my own and that takes a lot of my time. But I know about horses and every year I seem to learn a little bit more about the Thoroughbreds and the Thoroughbred industry.” Fennell said she has been able to put the knowledge she has developed with Quarter Horses to good use in the Thoroughbred industry. “You are looking for an athlete no matter which way you’re going, whether it’s a Quarter Horse or a Thoroughbred,” she said. “So you’re looking at the conformation and the way the horse moves. You have to have horsemanship to be able to get an idea. But with the pedigrees, it’s a total different world than the Quarter Horse world. But every year, I learn more and more about Thoroughbred pedigrees.” Fennell’s next step on the juvenile sales calendar is the Keeneland April sale, which returns Tuesday after a four-year absence. Her lone offering at the auction is another colt from the first crop of a Grade I winner. Hip 154, a colt by 2014 GI Wood Memorial winner Wicked Strong (Hard Spun), is out of The Right Bird (Birdstone)–a half-sister to Grade I winner Karlovy Vary (Dynaformer) and graded placed Rocket Legs (Dynaformer). The bay colt was purchased for $10,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. Of expectations for the youngster, Fennell said, “I am hoping he is fast–I’m hoping he’s wicked fast.” Following the Keeneland auction, Fennell will offer a pair of juveniles through the Circle D Thoroughbreds consignment at the OBS April Sale and another at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in May with L.G. She also purchased a pair of short yearlings at the OBS Winter Mixed Sale in January and expects to offer both colts at the OBS October sale. In addition to her expanded pinhooking roster this year, Fennell’s Thoroughbred interests are also widening into the breeding industry. “We claimed back one of our early pinhooks, Silver Sashay (Eurosilver),” Fennell said. “We purchased her for $4,200 [at the 2012 OBS January sale] and we sold her for $27,000 [at the OBS April sale]. She went on to win $390,000 on the track and then we claimed her back. We bred her to Vancouver (Aus) (Medaglia d’Oro) and she just had a filly.” Expect to see that foal in a sales ring somewhere in the future. Fennell, who started with one pinhook prospect some 10 years ago, is looking forward to expanding her operation further in the years ahead. “Hopefully, with the little extra money we’ll have from The Big Beast, we will be able to buy a little nicer pedigree and a nicer page this year,” she said. “And we’re hoping to have more success with the four horses still to sell this year.” Keeneland will host an under-tack preview of its April sale Monday, beginning at 11 a.m. The sale, which opens with a horses of racing age section, will be held Tuesday beginning at 2 p.m. View the full article

Handle at the 60-day Aqueduct winter meet, which ran from Dec. 7 to Mar. 31, generated all-sources handle of $335,521,091, a 14.2% increase over 2017-18, NYRA announced Tuesday. On-track handle was $40,881,947, a 20.1% increase over the corresponding dates in 2017-18, which included 53 days of live racing. Average daily handle over the course of the 60 days of live racing was $5,592,018, a 1% increase over 2018. The 12-day Aqueduct spring meet begins Friday. View the full article

Sophomore turf horses star in Keeneland's April 5 feature, the $150,000 Kentucky Utilities Transylvania Stakes (G3T) run at 1 1/16 miles. Bloom Racing Stable's Henley's Joy tops the field of 11. View the full article

Holiday Disguise is one of five New York-breds in the nine-horse line-up for the April 5 Distaff Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct. Linda Rice trains the daughter of Harlan's Holiday, as well as two others in the cast. View the full article

Somewhat remarkably, just one horse trained by Kiaran McLaughlin was nominated the 2019 Triple Crown. But for having a single chance to enter battle with, the stable could do worse than Haikal (Daaher), who looks to punch his ticket to the GI Kentucky Derby in Saturday’s GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct. A homebred half-brother to the mercurial ‘TDN Rising Star’ Takaful (Bernardini), Haikal closed fast to just miss in his seven-furlong debut Nov. 10, then came got home in :24.07 to graduate by a neck in a six-furlong maiden Dec. 15. That same tenacity and determination was on display when proving a head best in the Feb. 9 Jimmy Winkfield S., setting him up for the GIII Gotham S. stretching out to the one-turn mile Mar. 2. Well back behind a cracking pace, Haikal looked to have it all to do even as deep into the race as the final furlong, but he hit another gear and raced over the top of his rivals to best ‘Rising Stars’ Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) and Instagrand (Into Mischief) by a widening length. “He stepped up big time against graded stakes horses and finished the way he’s been finishing, except he passed better horses,” McLaughlin told an NTRA national teleconference Tuesday, referring to the Gotham. “It was exciting to see him finish that way and run so well. Obviously we’re not going to get a :44 half in the Wood, but hopefully there will be plenty of speed and he’ll not be so far back. Every start he’s finished well the final three-sixteenths and hopefully he will going a mile and an eighth.” The conditioner acknowledges that Saturday’s nine-furlong trip is a bit of an open question, but that no conclusions should be drawn through the single-minded and tempestuous Takaful. “His brother was very difficult. He was a run-off and was very tough to train,” McLaughlin said of GI Vosburgh S. hero Takaful. “This horse is the opposite–he does everything right, different horse, he’s got a great mind. We feel like he might be even better going further and he should be at least able to handle the nine furlongs. We just hope that there’s a decent pace.” McLaughlin is optimistic–if not 100% certain–that Haikal, whose paternal grandsire Awesome Again won a GI Breeders’ Cup Classic and whose damsire Distorted Humor was responsible himself for a GI Kentucky Derby winner, will thrive at Saturday’s journey and beyond. “[I’m] not convinced, but we feel like he will get the distance and we’ll certainly find out more Saturday afternoon, because we’ve gone six, seven, eight and now nine furlongs,” McLaughlin said. “His attitude is great, he stands over a lot of ground, he’s got a lot of scope and he just does everything asked of him. We don’t think that nine furlongs should be a problem, but we’ll find out. We like him at the nine furlongs.” McLaughlin went agonizingly close to winning the Derby when Closing Argument (Successful Appeal) was just outfinished by Giacomo (Holy Bull) in 2005. Add that near-miss to his long and fruitful relationship with Sheikh Hamdan and it’s clear McLaughlin relishes the opportunity at hand. “It would be fabulous to get there and to perform well,” he said. “We’ve been fourth three times also [with Shadwell’s Jazil (Seeking the Gold, dead-heat, 2006); Frosted (Tapit, 2015); and Mohaymen (Tapit, 2016). Getting there would be unbelievable. To even run well we’d be happy, but we’re there to win it if we’re good enough.” Baffert Feeling Little Pressure This Year… Though he has trained two Triple Crown winners in the span of four years and though his two best chances this season-arguably-lost their undefeated records in separate divisions of the GII Rebel S. Mar. 16, trainer Bob Baffert is welcoming the chance at another run at this year’s Classics. “No, not really,” he replied when asked if the pressure is off given the defeats suffered by his ‘TDN Rising Star’ pair of champion Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Improbable (City Zip). “We wanted to win those races [in Hot Springs]. Improbable–now he needs to run lights out in the [GI] Arkansas Derby. He needs to run first or second if he’s going to get into the Derby, so I think there’s even more pressure now. If they’re good enough, they’ll get it done.” Game Winner has done well since his loss at the hands of Omaha Beach (War Front) and indicated his readiness for Saturday’s GI Santa Anita Derby with a six-furlong work that was timed in 1:13.40 (1/11) Apr. 1. A repeat of his last, win or lose, would be just fine with Baffert. “If he ran the same race [as he did in the Rebel], we’d be fine with it, because the next one–that’s when we really want him to take the big step,” Baffert explained. “We just want him to stay healthy and we really don’t want a blowout race the race before.” Speedway Stable’s Roadster (Quality Road) is yet another of the Baffert gaggle of ‘TDN Rising Stars’ and he gets his crack at a Derby berth at Santa Anita this Saturday. Third to Game Winner as the odds-on favorite in last year’s GI Del Mar Futurity, the $525,000 Keeneland September purchase returned to the races with a strong 2 1/2-length victory over the well-regarded Nolo Contesto (Pioneerof the Nile) in a one-mile allowance Mar. 1. He worked a bullet six panels in 1:12.60 (1/19) Mar. 31. “His comeback race was off the charts,” said Baffert. “I was so happy with it, Mike Smith was really happy with him. He’s coming into this race really well, he’s been working well, he looks healthy, he’s fresh. He’s a very light horse and that’s why I didn’t want to ship him anywhere. I expect him to run a big race.” Baffert added that ‘Rising Star‘ Dessman (Union Rags) was under consideration for Saturday’s Wood Memorial, but would pass the race after working only fairly (6f in 1:14.80) Apr. 1. “His work was nice, but I was looking for something over the top, so I’m just going to wait a little bit on him,” he said. Much Better (Pioneerof the Nile), fourth after setting a fast pace in the Gotham, cuts back to seven-eighths for Saturday’s GIII Bay Shore S. at Aqueduct. Despite the flurry of activity coming over the next several weeks, the recent events in California have weighed heavily on Baffert’s mind, and he took a few minutes to reflect on the situation. “We’ve been under this dark cloud and hopefully we can move forward,” he said introspectively. “It’s supposed to be fun. This is our version of ‘March Madness.’ There’s been a lot going on here, unfortunately, in California, we’ve been getting beat down pretty good. But you know what? It’s a beautiful sport, people don’t really understand it. We’ve had some bad luck here and it’s very unusual what’s going on. He continued, “You’re always concerned about the negative publicity. They don’t know really how it works here. They don’t know how we take care of these horses. My job is not to worry about them, I’m worried about these horses. These horses–they’re not our livelihood, they’re our way of life. We have to make this work. I have a lot of employees, I worry about their families. Racing needs to do well. This last month has been, I would say, a little stressful.” 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 full-sister to Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). 3.30 Leopardstown, Mdn, €16,000, 3yo, f, 10fT HEAVEN ON EARTH (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) is the latest progeny out of the G1 Coronation S. heroine Lillie Langtry (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) to appear for Ballydoyle and will be accorded great attention as a full-sister to the operation’s G1 1000 Guineas, G1 Epsom Oaks and G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Minding (Ire). She is joined by fellow newcomer Invitation (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a half-sister to the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.-winning sire Novellist (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}). 5.30 Leopardstown, Mdn, €14,000, 3yo, f, 7fT MAGIC FOUNTAIN (War Front) is another fascinating newcomer for Ballydoyle to be ridden by Ryan Moore, being the first foal out of the stable’s G1 Irish Oaks heroine Bracelet (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}). Therefore a close relative of the high-class Athena (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and Wading (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), dam of the leading 1000 Guineas hope Just Wonderful (Dansili {GB}), she is joined by the yard’s similarly unraced Dress (War Front), Evie Stockwell’s half-sister to the pair of Group 1 winners Eishin Apollon (Giant’s Causeway) and Master of Hounds (Kingmambo). Dermot Weld also supplies an intriguing debutante in Moyglare Stud Farm’s 420,000gns TATOCT purchase Acapella Blu (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), whose dam is a listed-winning full-sister to Red Rocks (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). View the full article