Wandering Eyes

John Mok Chun-wa died as a result of injuries suffered doing a job he loved and left behind not only a young family but also a horse racing community grieving the loss of a well-liked and exceptionally talented horseman. Trackwork riders are often the unsung heroes of the racing world, waking before dawn each day to face the risks associated with working with racehorses, but without the fame and adulation trainers and jockeys receive on race day. Yet trainer Caspar Fownes said his stable’... View the full article

Kelly Brinkerhoff and Bob Grayson Jr.'s Restrainedvengence didn't show much in the first two stakes starts of his career, but something clicked July 18 at Del Mar in the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes. View the full article

The stunning rise of Frankie Lor (September 3) Frankie Lor Fu-chuen collected a winner with his first runner and he never stopped – finishing the season with an astonishing 65 winners to set a record for a first-year trainer. Lor had a terrific grounding after working for John Size and John Moore and he has put it into practice, finishing a clear second in the trainers’ championship. He started with a host of “hand-me-downs” and got most of them firing and now he has a... View the full article

BRILL (f, 2, Medaglia d’Oro–Hung the Moon, by Malibu Moon), who topped last year’s Fasig-Tipton July sale at a cool $1-million–$690,000 more than the next-priciest lot–entered this opening day baby race with significant steam and she ran to it despite a less-than-perfect journey. Showing an upbeat series of drills at Santa Anita, the bay opened at 3-5 and never drifted up. Awkwardly away, she settled into a mid-pack behind an opening quarter of :22.07. Getting going with a nice move as they spun for home, Brill continued on into the lane and out-kicked game longshot Del Mar May (Jimmy Creed) to score by a promising two-length margin, stopping the clock in :57.86. Brill is the first foal out of Hung the Moon (Malibu Moon), who just missed with a troubled trip on debut at Oaklawn in January of her sophomore season before reeling off two subsequent scores on the stretch-out. She’d add a two-turn stakes victory at Prairie Meadows the following season, and the Pin Oaks Stable homebred was eventually scooped up for $280,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale with Brill in utero. Hung the Moon’s Curlin filly of last season was a $420,000 Fasig-Tipton November weanling purchase by John Dowd, an advisor to Brill’s owner Larry Best. She produced a Laoban filly Mar. 8. Brill is bred on a version of the Medaglia d’Oro–A.P. Indy cross responsible for the likes of Grade I winners Plum Pretty, Bolt d’Oro and Dickinson. Best and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer also boast one ofthe most promising juvenile colts in the country in $1.2-million FTFMAR grad Instagrand (Into Mischief), named a ‘TDN Rising Star‘ himself for a 10-length drubbing at Los Alamitos June 29. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. O-OXO Equine LLC. B-Southern Equine Stables (Ky). T-Jerry Hollendorfer. View the full article

Taking the homegrown Approach with jockey Lee Hyo Sik View the full article

Korea Racing Authority Trophy tracknotes Thursday July 19 View the full article

Walker aims for back-to-back KRA Trophy wins View the full article

A wide-open field of 10 juvenile fillies will take center stage in Friday’s co-featured GIII Schuylerville S. on Saratoga’s opening day card. Nonna Madeline (Candy Ride {Arg}) earned her ‘TDN Rising Star’ badge after scoring impressively first out at Monmouth Park June 23. Trainer Todd Pletcher has won this race six times, and saddled 2016 heroine Sweet Loretta (Tapit), who also graduated on the Jersey Shore on debut. Catherinethegreat (Uncaptured), the 5-2 morning-line favorite, boasts the field’s highest Beyer Speed Figure after earning an 80 rating in her 10 1/4-length graduation at second asking in the Gulfstream slop June 23. “She’s training well and we’re happy with her,” trainer Mark Casse said. “I would have liked a post a little further out, but we’ll take it. A lot of times our horses tend to improve from the first start.” Casse’s son and former assistant Norm will saddle Fightress (Tapizar), a sharp debut winner after a slow start in a muddy off-the-turfer at Churchill June 22. “It’s a little surreal,” Norm Casse said. “Everyone gets caught up that I’m running against my dad in a stakes, but I don’t see it that way. I have a 2-year-old running in a stakes at Saratoga against Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen, and my dad is in there. So I’m here with people I looked up to my whole life, so I’m very proud of that.” Only two-the maiden Lady Apple (Curlin) and Eyeinthesky (Sky Mesa)–enter with stakes experience after finishing a close second and third, respectively, in the Astoria S. at Belmont Park June 7. View the full article

A Hong Kong Jockey Club track rider has died a day after falling off a horse at Sha Tin Racecourse. Mok Chun-wa, a 39-year-old former apprentice jockey, suffered head injuries during the accident on Tuesday morning. He was taken to nearby Prince of Wales Hospital, where he died on Wednesday afternoon with his family by his bedside. In a statement, the Jockey Club expressed its “deepest sympathies” to Mok’s family and said it was offering them its support in “the... View the full article

The four major United States professional sports leagues and the National College Athletic Association have collectively fired a return legal salvo in an attempt to dismiss a claim by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NJTHA) that Monmouth Park and the state were allegedly deprived of nearly $150 million in revenue while the legality of sports betting was fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case dates to October 2014, when Monmouth’s operator, Darby Development LLC, first believed it had the authority to take sports bets on National Football League games. The leagues joined forces and filed a lawsuit in an attempt to halt the bet-taking, but had to post a $3.4 million bond, which the court deemed to be Monmouth’s projected revenue losses for a month while the temporary restraining order (TRO) was in effect. But the case ended up taking 42 months—as opposed to just the one month that the bond covered—to resolve. And when the Supreme Court finally issued its landmark decision to strike down the federal law barring wagering on team sports on May 14, 2018, Monmouth soon after sought damages in U.S. District Court based on all the bet-taking revenue it allegedly lost, extrapolating the initial $3.4 million bond to extend over the entire time frame from when the TRO went into effect until Monmouth was legally allowed to begin accepting wagers. The leagues’ July 16 memorandum of law in opposition to the NJTHA’s motion for judgment states, in part, “NJTHA is not entitled to recover anything from the TRO bond, and its motion should be denied for several reasons,” outlined as follows: “First, as a matter of law, NJTHA may not recover damages allegedly sustained after the expiration of the TRO on November 21, 2014. “Second, NJTHA’s effort to recover more than the amount of the bond for damages allegedly sustained after the expiration of the TRO by asserting that the Leagues acted in bad faith in pursuing their rights under PASPA is frivolous and should be rejected. “Third, NJTHA is not entitled to recover anything under the bond because, as a matter of law, it was not “wrongfully enjoined” by the TRO. “And fourth, NJTHA has not proven the existence or amount of any alleged damages during the four weeks that it was restrained by the TRO.” The NJTHA now has until Aug. 13 to file its reply in federal court. View the full article

‘TDN Rising Star’ Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy-D’ Wildcat Speed, by Forest Wildcat), the fleet filly who won Group 1 races in both England and France, has been retired. The news was first reported by TVG. According to trainer Wesley Ward, the filly is sound and doing well, but owners Stonestreet Stables and Peter Leidel thought that since her recent form had been a bit below norm it was a good time to call it a career. Lady Aurelia last raced in the G1 King’s Stand S. at Royal Ascot June 19. As the 2-1 favorite, she finished seventh. She was also beaten in her prior start, the Giant’s Causeway S. at Keeneland. She was the 3-5 favorite in that race and finished second. “This morning she was bucking and kicking and playing in her stall,” Ward said. “It was probably selfish of me to do so, but I pitched them to let me keep going with her because I thought she still has that fire in her. She’s feeling good and is perfectly sound and the Breeders’ Cup is at Churchill this year. She’s trained her whole life right down the street at Keeneland. Ward continued, “Maybe cooler heads prevailed. Looking at the bigger picture she hasn’t been the same lately. Mentally, physically she seems to be fine, but when she had laid it down on the racetrack in her last couple of runs she hasn’t been as good as she was last year. In the last race at Ascot, she just didn’t fire on the day, for whatever reason.” To Ward, Lady Aurelia is the type of horse every trainer dreams of having. “If you’re lucky, you get blessed with something like her maybe once in your career, so I was very lucky and fortunate to be able to train her,” he said. “She’s been very special to me and my family and she gave us life-long memories from what she accomplished at two and three going over to Royal Ascot. She had a fantastic run. She’s certainly the most accomplished horse I’ve ever trained and the best 2-year-old I ever trained.. To come back and be vindicated at three (with a win in the King’s Stand) was very special. I’ve had some great horses and she’s certainly at the top of that list.” Lady Aurelia is the only American-based horse to win a Cartier Award, Europe’s version of the Eclipse Awards. She was named champion 2-year-old filly in 2016 thanks to wins in the G2 Queen Mary S. at Royal Ascot and the G1 Prix Morny in France. Her 2017 King’s Stand win made her a two-time winner at Royal Ascot. The $350,000 KEESEP yearling, bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, won five of 10 career starts, good for $834,945 in earnings. She ran more times in Europe (6) than she did in the U.S. (4). The owners have yet to decide who she will be bred to. View the full article

Multiple graded stakes winner Proctor's Ledge aims to earn her first career top-level win when she faces the usual Chad Brown-trained arsenal and three other rivals in the $500,000 Diana Stakes (G1T) July 21 at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

Having already announced an historic extension of their winter meeting into May for the first time, officials at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, said Wednesday that the GII Rebel S. will see its purse boosted by $100,000 to join the GI Arkansas Derby as seven-figure events to be staged in 2019. New to the stakes schedule are the $250,000 Oaklawn Invitational S., a nine-furlong test on Kentucky Derby day May 4, and the $200,000 Oaklawn Mile, the centerpiece of the track’s May 3 program. “The Rebel S. has become a significant prep in its own right and warrants a one-million dollar purse with runners like Smarty Jones, Lookin at Lucky, Curlin, Oxbow, Will Take Charge, American Pharoah and Creator,” Oaklawn President Louis Cella said. “We’re extremely proud to offer the richest and most proven path to the Triple Crown.” Oaklawn is the only track in the country to offer a pair of seven-figure lead-up races into the Triple Crown. Some of the track’s other black-type races have seen their purses increased. The GIII Fantasy S., the local prep for the GI Kentucky Oaks contested on the opening day of the Racing Festival of the South, will be worth $500,000 in 2019, up $100,000 on 2018, while the GIII Bayakoa S., a steppingstone to the GI Apple Blossom H., sees its prize money hiked to $200,000 from its previous level of $150,000. The Bayakoa is part of a triple-stakes card on President’s Day, Monday, Feb. 18, sharing the bill with the $500,000 GIII Southwest S. and the $500,000 GIII Razorback H. “We couldn’t be more excited about our new stakes and racing schedule,” Cella said. “We are now able to present some of our best racing during the best time of the year weather-wise in Arkansas. While the Racing Festival of the South will remain the focal point of the season, we look forward to growing the new stakes races and providing our fans with world-class racing into May.” Oaklawn will stage 30 stakes events worth $8.85 million during the 2019 season, which runs Jan. 25 through May 4. View the full article

Churchill Downs Incorporated has received approval from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to increase from 600 to 900 historical racing machines for the opening of its new Derby City Gaming facility. The nearly complete 85,000-square-foot $65 million facility is scheduled to open in September. “We’re overwhelmed by the support we’ve received since announcing Derby City Gaming—it’s clear that Kentuckians are passionate about how the new HRM facility will strengthen the Commonwealth’s horseracing industry,” said Kevin Flanery, President of Churchill Downs Racetrack. “Derby City Gaming will support Kentucky’s equine industry through larger purses and greater incentives for breeders and owners. That’s important because a stronger horse racing industry means a stronger Kentucky.” View the full article

Many racetracks across the U.S. are expected to celebrate the 5th annual “PDJF Day Across America” Sat., July 28. In past years, Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund Day activities have included jockey autograph sessions, jockeys taking turns in dunk tanks, wrestling in sumo suits, racing each other on foot, and riding inflatable horses. PDJF invites all media, tracks, jockeys, and fans to use Twitter hashtag #PDJFDay throughout the day and to follow @PDJFund on Twitter and Facebook (www.facebook.com/jockeysfund) to keep up with all the festivities across the country. View the full article

Southern Equine Stable and Calumet Farm's unique white-headed Thoroughbred Southern Phantom will make his debut in a maiden special weight July 21 at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

Southern Equine Stable and Calumet Farm's unique white-headed Thoroughbred Southern Phantom will make his debut in a maiden special weight race July 21 at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

Jockey James Doyle quashed any stamina doubts about July 21 Darley Irish Oaks (G1) contender Sea of Class and could hardly contain his excitement about getting back on board the "feisty" daughter of Sea The Stars. View the full article

It’s been 11 years since the first yearlings from Tapit, Candy Ride (Arg), Medaglia d’Oro and Speightstown hit the market. That epic sire class now has 68 Grade I winners between them, according to the TDN Sire Lists, and no fewer than 88 active sire sons. We haven’t seen a comparable group since–and really, not many before. But the incoming freshman, those with their first yearlings in 2018, hold as much latent promise as any of the past three decades, and it wouldn’t be a shock if we look at them the same way 11 years from now. American Pharoah is the runaway market leader, and for obvious reasons. His first-crop weanlings–the first available by a Triple Crown winner in 36 years–averaged $467,307 from 13 sold in 2017. That’s a massive figure about 3 1/2 times the average number of the crop’s leading sire for the past five years. He is joined by Honor Code, Tonalist, Liam’s Map, Carpe Diem, Constitution, Palace Malice, and Bayern, each one a multiple Grade I winner. A month ago, we launched a videos series that put a spotlight on these stars, and spoke with connections about what to expect now that their first foals are yearlings. In this last installment of the series, we’ll focus on some of those freshman sires who stood for $15,000 or less. These are sires that, though without the big price tag, aren’t exactly short on credentials. They include Gainesway’s GI Breeders’ Cup Mile hero Karakontie (Jpn), WinStar’s Grade I winner Daredevil and the impeccably bred Commissioner, and the Grade I winners Mr Speaker and Lea, who stand at Lane’s End and Claiborne, respectively. Lea (First Samurai) was maybe the surprise sire of the lot last year, when 17 of 21 weanlings on offer sold for an average of $88,294. A $230,000 session topper at Keeneland November was notable, and that off a $12,500 fee (he’s now down to $7,500). Lea’s race record reflected his transatlantic pedigree. Out of a Galileo (Ire) mare, he was first or second in 13 of 19 starts and earned $2.3 million; he beat Will Take Charge in the GI Donn H., ran third in the G1 Dubai World Cup, and was a close-up second in the GI Woodbine Mile on turf. “He’s very versatile, and I think that’s what led his weanlings to sell so well,” said Claiborne’s Walker Hancock. “I think a lot of buyers saw that potential in his offspring, that he could be dirt or turf, and that’s very attractive.” Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein) is another with an international pedigree, hailing from the family of the current phenom Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). The Japanese-bred Flaxman colorbearer is a great-grandson of Miesque, so his second dam is a half to Kingmambo. A Group 1 winner at two, Karakontie emulated Kingmambo’s victory in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains as a sophomore. Then, like Miesque, he shipped to Southern California to win the BC Mile while still a 3-year-old. His 2017 weanlings average $68,866 off at $15,000 fee. “I think his stock have progressed very well,” said Gainesway’s Michael Hernon. “They have plenty of size. He dominates his mares, and I think [his yearlings] strongly resemble him. He got very strong initial support from [Gainesway owner] Antony Beck, who really gave this horse a huge chance, breeding 40 of his own mares in year one. Maria Niarchos has also supported the horse well through the first three years.” WinStar has four freshman sires in 2018. Carpe Diem and Constitution headline, but both Daredevil and Commissioner have offered breeders bang for the buck. Daredevil (More Than Ready), at $12,500 initially, very much fit the mold of that explosive Todd Pletcher-trained 2-year-old who looks like any kind. In fact, he’s not completely dissimilar from his sire, another Pletcher pupil. Daredevil romped in his six-furlong debut at Belmont in 1:09.87, then beat Upstart by 2 1/2 lengths in the GI Champagne S. with a huge 107 Beyer. “More Than Ready has established himself as one of the best 2-year-old sires, year in and year out, not only here in America, but worldwide,” said WinStar’s Sean Tugel. “His 107 Beyer in the Champagne was the fastest 2-year-old mile in over 20 years. So he set himself apart from many other sons of More Than Ready with his early speed and Grade I ability.” {"id":3,"instanceName":"Articles No Playlist","videos":[{"videoType":"HTML5","title":"Depth of Class--Rest of the '18 Freshman Sires","description":"","info":"","thumbImg":"","mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/280548193.hd.mp4?s=a72ef2d115961fac939c4fb9823979b60e5df0bd&profile_id=174","enable_mp4_download":"no","prerollAD":"yes","prerollGotoLink":"prerollGotoLink","preroll_mp4_title":"preroll_mp4_title","preroll_mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/280548157.hd.mp4?s=2bc67913446081a62a332454f5f3599d47698bb2&profile_id=174","prerollSkipTimer":"5","midrollAD":"no","midrollAD_displayTime":"midrollAD_displayTime","midrollGotoLink":"midrollGotoLink","midroll_mp4":"midroll_mp4","midrollSkipTimer":"midrollSkipTimer","postrollAD":"no","postrollGotoLink":"postrollGotoLink","postroll_mp4":"postroll_mp4","postrollSkipTimer":"postrollSkipTimer","popupAdShow":"no","popupImg":"popupImg","popupAdStartTime":"popupAdStartTime","popupAdEndTime":"popupAdEndTime","popupAdGoToLink":"popupAdGoToLink"}],"instanceTheme":"light","playerLayout":"fitToContainer","videoPlayerWidth":720,"videoPlayerHeight":405,"videoRatio":1.7777777777778,"videoRatioStretch":true,"videoPlayerShadow":"effect1","colorAccent":"#000000","posterImg":"","posterImgOnVideoFinish":"","logoShow":"No","logoPath":"","logoPosition":"bottom-right","logoClickable":"No","logoGoToLink":"","allowSkipAd":true,"advertisementTitle":"Ad","skipAdvertisementText":"Skip Ad","skipAdText":"You can skip this ad in","playBtnTooltipTxt":"Play","pauseBtnTooltipTxt":"Pause","rewindBtnTooltipTxt":"Rewind","downloadVideoBtnTooltipTxt":"Download video","qualityBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Close settings","qualityBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Settings","muteBtnTooltipTxt":"Mute","unmuteBtnTooltipTxt":"Unmute","fullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Fullscreen","exitFullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Exit fullscreen","infoBtnTooltipTxt":"Show info","embedBtnTooltipTxt":"Embed","shareBtnTooltipTxt":"Share","volumeTooltipTxt":"Volume","playlistBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Show playlist","playlistBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Hide playlist","facebookBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Facebook","twitterBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Twitter","googlePlusBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Google+","lastBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to last video","firstBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to first video","nextBtnTooltipTxt":"Play next video","previousBtnTooltipTxt":"Play previous video","shuffleBtnOnTooltipTxt":"Shuffle on","shuffleBtnOffTooltipTxt":"Shuffle off","nowPlayingTooltipTxt":"NOW PLAYING","embedWindowTitle1":"SHARE THIS PLAYER:","embedWindowTitle2":"EMBED THIS VIDEO IN YOUR SITE:","embedWindowTitle3":"SHARE LINK TO THIS PLAYER:","lightBox":false,"lightBoxAutoplay":false,"lightBoxThumbnail":"","lightBoxThumbnailWidth":400,"lightBoxThumbnailHeight":220,"lightBoxCloseOnOutsideClick":true,"onFinish":"Play next video","autoplay":false,"loadRandomVideoOnStart":"No","shuffle":"No","playlist":"Off","playlistBehaviourOnPageload":"opened (default)","playlistScrollType":"light","preloadSelfHosted":"none","hideVideoSource":true,"showAllControls":true,"rightClickMenu":true,"autohideControls":2,"hideControlsOnMouseOut":"No","nowPlayingText":"Yes","infoShow":"No","shareShow":"No","facebookShow":"No","twitterShow":"No","mailShow":"No","facebookShareName":"","facebookShareLink":"","facebookShareDescription":"","facebookSharePicture":"","twitterText":"","twitterLink":"","twitterHashtags":"","twitterVia":"","googlePlus":"","embedShow":"No","embedCodeSrc":"","embedCodeW":720,"embedCodeH":405,"embedShareLink":"","youtubeControls":"custom controls","youtubeSkin":"dark","youtubeColor":"red","youtubeQuality":"default","youtubeShowRelatedVideos":"Yes","vimeoColor":"00adef","showGlobalPrerollAds":false,"globalPrerollAds":"url1;url2;url3;url4;url5","globalPrerollAdsSkipTimer":5,"globalPrerollAdsGotoLink":"","videoType":"HTML5 (self-hosted)","submit":"Save Changes","rootFolder":"http:\/\/wp.tdn.pmadv.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/Elite-video-player\/"} Daredevil had three sell at Fasig-Tipton July for an average of $63,000. It’s easy to remember Commissioner (A.P. Indy) as the Classic-performing 3-year-old he was. The striking colt was just touched off a head by Tonalist in the GI Belmont S., and returned at four to win a trio of graded stakes, the GII Hawthorne Gold Cup H. among them. But the half to the good sprinter Laugh Track (Distorted Humor) was early enough to break his maiden at Saratoga as a 2-year-old, albeit in a rare nine-furlong main-track event for juveniles. He went for $7,500 in his first year. Commissioner had a big group of 10 at July. Seven sold for an average of $60,714, led by a pair of colts who made $100,000 each. “Being by A.P. Indy, sometimes you can get labeled as a little bit later-developing horse,” said Tugel. “But the fact that there [was] such a large cross-section of his crop in the first sale shows that there’s quite a bit of precocity to him. Not only to himself, but to his first crop of yearlings.” Lane’s End’s Mr Speaker (Pulpit) was bred to be a sire. He’s out of a Grade II-performing Unbridled daughter of Personal Ensign and thus shares a cross with Tapit. As a runner, he was a versatile sort for Shug McGaughey. He aired by four lengths in the GIII Coolmore Lexington S. on the Poly at three, then upset a deep field in the GI Belmont Derby over turf a few starts later. Backers of Mr Speaker, who stands for $10,000, had to be encouraged by the $180,000 yearling colt that sold at Fasig July. (Another by the sire was bought back for $95,000.) “He’s got a great syndicate behind him and the support has been excellent,” said Lane’s End’s Bill Farish. “I think certainly being bred the way he is, you’d think that dirt is a real possibility, and the fact that he was a really good turf horse himself, I think he’ll be versatile. I think what we’re seeing in his yearlings is not making us thinking any differently.” To view the entire videos series on this year’s freshman class, click here. View the full article

Oaklawn Park, which this year announced a significant change to its race dates, turned it up another notch July 18 with news it will raise the purse of the Rebel Stakes (G2) from $900,000 to $1 million for 2019. View the full article

Multiple group 1 winner Lady Aurelia, the first American-trained horse to win a Cartier Award, has been retired, Stonestreet Farm bloodstock adviser John Moynihan confirmed July 18. View the full article

Multiple group 1 winner Lady Aurelia, the first American-trained horse to win a Cartier Award, has been retired, Stonestreet Farm bloodstock advisor John Moynihan confirmed July 18. View the full article

David Nunn’s biggest success as a trainer came when Withgreatpleasure (Hold That Tiger) came home first in the 2013 GII Ruffian H., but that was just one memorable moment in his long association with the filly’s family. Withgreatpleasure is out of a half-sister to a hard-knocking horse named Go Chandler (Its Acedemic), who gave Nunn his first-ever win as a trainer before going on to a successful dressage career. Now 25, the gelding has a permanent home at Nunn’s New Jersey farm. “I was an assistant trainer for Valerie Blethen and they actually bred him,” Nunn recalled of his first meeting with Go Chandler. “He came to the track back in the Garden State Park days, late in his 2-year-old season. I remember getting him ready for his first race in New York. Doug Thomas rode him. That was in April and he won the first race of his life as a 3-year-old at Aqueduct in 1996. That summer we went to Saratoga with him and he won an allowance race.” Go Chandler was third for Blethen in that year’s Bergen County S. at the Meadowlands and, although he was sold privately the following season, Nunn continued to keep tabs on the chestnut. “I was watching him and he came down the ladder,” Nunn said. “When he finally hit the bottom for $5,000, I bought him. I was training on my own by then and he was running that bad, I thought I could buy him privately. And I did.” In all, Nunn and his brother and fellow trainer Doug Nunn, lost Go Chandler seven times through the claim box, but they always got the gelding back. “There was no way I was ever going to let him go,” Nunn said. “We always had a connection. We used to call him ‘Booger’ because he was just a little booger in your back pocket–always playing with you, always wanting attention. He always had to be the horse in the barn. Since I was just starting out, he was my only horse for many years. I only had him and maybe one other horse. And when somebody claimed him, they always knew I was going to come get him back. There was never a question he was mine.” Ultimately, the gelding made 105 starts, hitting the board 55 times and earning $278,813. He made his final start at Monmouth Park in August of 2003. “When he got up there in age, I finally claimed him back for the last time,” Nunn said. “I went all the way up to Finger Lakes and claimed him back and brought him back home. I ran him one more time to get some professional pictures done. And then I retired him.” Go Chandler was 10 when he retired from racing, but his competitive career wasn’t quite finished. After taking a year off, Go Chandler started his second career. “My wife at the time, Dina Donahue, decided we were going to make him into a dressage horse,” Nunn said. “He ended up winning the championship in the training level at the Horse Park of New Jersey. It didn’t matter what he did-he had to be the best at whatever he did. He was just that kind of horse. There was never second best. He had to be number one at whatever he did and he was just beautiful.” Go Chandler, who celebrated his 25th birthday in April, continues to enjoy his retirement. “He’s still my pet,” Nunn said. “I still jump up on him bareback, with no halter or bridle, and I ride him around. He still loves the attention and he loves the peppermints. If you put a saddle on him, it’s game time, but if you ride him bareback, you can lope around the field just holding on to his mane. He’ll play around and take you around the field. But don’t put a saddle on him. He knows the difference.” Nunn also keeps tabs on other members of the family. “Go Chandler started it all and the whole family just always took care of me,” he said. “I had the brother also, a horse called Heat (De Niro). He might have been the slowest one of the bunch, but I kept in touch with him. I found him a home and he was a lesson horse for handicapped children. He actually just passed away. And there was also another one called Go Mercedes (Gold Fever). I had her and she couldn’t run very fast either, but she had heart. We gave her away to a little girl who still has her.” And now there is another generation to watch over. Withgreatpleasure, who Nunn saddled to win the Ruffian for Valerie and David Blethen, sold for $290,000 at that year’s Keeneland November sale. She was purchased by Spendthrift Farm for $485,000 while in foal to Tiznow at that sale in 2014 and recently had her first starter when Princess Becky (Itsmyluckyday) finished fourth on debut at Los Alamitos July 6. The mare also has an unraced 3-year-old named Tizger (Tiznow). “I’m still trying to get more,” Nunn said with a laugh. “Withgreatpleasure has a 2-year-old who just ran out in California and she has a 3-year-old in Ocala. Believe me I will have another one.” As he watches over Go Chandler’s retirement, Nunn acknowledged he was just fulfilling his obligation to the family. “These horses give us everything they have,” he said. “We owe it to them to give back. If you bring these horses into this world, then you owe it to them to do right by them until they leave this world. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it should be.” View the full article

Jockey James Doyle quashed any stamina doubts about July 21 Darley Irish Oaks (G1) contender Sea of Class and could hardly contain his excitement about getting back on board the "feisty" daughter of Sea The Stars. View the full article

Oaklawn Park, which earlier this year announced a significant change to its race dates, turned it up another notch July 18 with news it will raise the purse of the Rebel Stakes (G2) from $900,000 to $1 million for 2019. View the full article