Wandering Eyes

European invader Deauville (IRE) returns to the United States for a third straight season to target the $500,000 Old Forester Turf Classic (G1T), where an old foe is waiting May 5 at Churchill Downs. View the full article

As far as first season efforts go, they don’t come much better than Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s rookie campaign, in fact there has been only one better, and the apprentice is fast closing in on his master John Size’s all-time record for most wins by a freshman trainer. A dirt track double with Furious Pegasus and Turin Redstar at Sha Tin on Wednesday night left Lor with 51 wins, just seven short of Size’s record set in 2001-02, but way ahead of his own preseason expectations... View the full article

Two wildcards have been added to Arqana’s Breeze-Up Sale on May 12, including a War Front half-brother to G1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National S. winner Pathfork (Distorted Humor). The colt, who will be offered by Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm as lot 100, is out of the stakes-winning Visions of Clarity (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), a half-sister to the multiple Group 1-winning miler Spinning World (Nureyev). Also added to the sale as lot 170 is Powerstown Stud’s Dabirsim (Fr) filly out of the stakes-winning Jambalaya (Ger) (Samum {Ger}). The dam has already produced the stakes-placed Jimmu (Ger) (Dalakhani {Ire}), a Classic hope in Germany this year. View the full article

As part of the undercard of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), the John Oxley-owned pair will meet on the track for the one mile test for 4-year-olds fillies and up over the Churchill Downs turf. View the full article

Zoustar will stand permanently at Widden Stud after a court case surrounding Australia’s leading first-season sire came to a close, according to Racing.com. Zoustar had split his first four seasons between Widden in the Hunter Valley and Woodside Park Stud in Victoria after those entities partnered to purchase him prior to his win in the 2013 G1 Coolmore Stud S. Widden’s Antony Thompson told Racing.com that China Horse Club and Gerry Harvey of Baramul Stud have been involved in the purchase of Woodside’s shares in the stallion. Also part of the court case was an ownership dispute in the horse involving the failed BC3 Thoroughbreds, but that claim with withdrawn. Zoustar, a son of Widden’s much-missed champion first-season sire Northern Meteor (Aus), will stand at Widden for A$60,500 this year. “It’s fantastic to have been vindicated and have the cases behind us,” Thompson told Racing.com. “We are excited that Zoustar will remain at Widden permanently and we look forward to him cementing his position as the most exciting young stallion in the Hunter Valley.” View the full article

Just as it should be, this year’s Guineas is a pedigree war of the biggest and boldest and most successful bloodstock manoeuvres of recent times and it is no surprise that Coolmore are at the forefront. The race’s most intriguing horse is without question Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who represents a brand new Japanese experiment by one of racing’s biggest thinkers, John Magnier. Deep Impact has always been considered a monster in terms of his racing career and at stud, but he needed a wider international stamp of approval to truly launch and that is beginning to happen now. Saxon Warrior’s dam, Maybe (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), represents a genuine European pedigree, with Derby and Oaks winners Dr Devious and Dancing Rain in there, but there is a hint of outside enterprise involved too as the former went for the Kentucky Derby en route to Epsom. That sense of adventure and pushing the limits is what lies behind most of the scene-changing moments of European racing since Dr Vincent O’Brien opted to place his faith in Northern Dancer in the late sixties. Along came Nijinsky and the momentum shifted entirely. It is nearly 50 years since that great and last Triple Crown winner set foot on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile to justify 4-7 favouritism before heading to Epsom and Doncaster to complete British racing’s holy trinity of monuments. Saxon Warrior will be more around 5-1 on Saturday, so it is impossible to say whether he will tread down that kind of path but there is a sense of the unknown where he is concerned at present. He was not expected to do what he did on debut at The Curragh in August, when his biggest advocate, Donnacha O’Brien, enjoyed as fun a joyride as is possible from a racehorse in the final two furlongs. It was Ryan Moore on board for the G2 Beresford S. and G1 Racing Post Trophy, where he had bigger fish to fry but managed it in a manner suggesting he was just doing what was necessary. The latter race used to be all about stamina, but since Doncaster switched it to a straight mile and drastically altered their drainage system it is no longer a hotbed of died-in-the-wool Derby types. In 2011 Camelot (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) became the first since High Top in 1972 to win that and the Guineas the following year and Saxon Warrior showed miler speed as well as determination in the most recent renewal. His dam Maybe, who was sent off the 13-8 favourite for the 1,000 Guineas in 2012 only to be left trailing by stablemate Homecoming Queen, was one of the “fast Galileos” that Aidan O’Brien and Jim Bolger first exploited with her debut success coming over six furlongs. That said, she got a mile and a half well when fifth in the following year’s Oaks and represents a pedigree that is a perfect blend of speed and stamina which is also true of the freakish Deep Impact. Has Shadai Stallion Station’s heir to Sunday Silence created another in his own image? Ballydoyle’s helmsman is not ruling out the thought. “We’ve probably never had a horse to change so much over a winter as he has–he’s turned into a monster of a horse–big, powerful and strong,” O’Brien said. “He’s going to run a long way off his 2-year-old weight, but his work is very nice and we are very happy with him.” O’Brien admits to being in the dark as to what will come forward on Saturday, where it will be all about natural ability. Saxon Warrior has been allowed to come forward in his own time at Rosegreen and although that may not be enough for a win against some race-fit and possibly harder-trained peers, it will provide a jumping-off point for what could be a momentous 3-year-old campaign. “We think he will get further than a mile. It will be a nice place to start him and we look forward to him for the rest of the year. He looks a very unusual horse at the moment in how much he has changed from two to three, but we have to start somewhere.” Whereas Saxon Warrior’s pedigree is a step into a new frontier, Gustav Klimt (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) embodies a time-honoured approach to breeding a true Guineas type. Descending from Prince Faisal’s Prix de Diane heroine Rafha (GB) (Kris {GB}), he is also a mix of sprint and staying class but his family is proven time and again on the main stage of Europe. Invincible Spirit (Ire) is in there taking a prominent role and it is his half-sister Massarra (GB) (Danehill) who is responsible for this year’s likely favourite. A speedy and precocious sort for John Dunlop, she generally gets milers at the most but with the influence of Galileo it is highly probable that Gustav Klimt has the ideal blend for victory in this Classic. Interestingly, his full-brother Mars (Ire) was a real talking horse in Co. Tipperary in his time and lined up in the 2013 edition of this on only his second racecourse start at just 9-1. He was sixth and well-beaten, but was third in the St James’s Palace S. a month later. Gustav Klimt was prepped in the newly-remodelled Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Trial last month and showed a great deal more than any of his stable’s other runners to have been seen so far this term by beating the smart, race-fit Imaging (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) despite the testing ground and run of the race being against him. He is all class on that showing and he demonstrated there and in the G2 Superlative S. when things got tough that he has that will-to-win his sire is so effective at stamping on his progeny. It is something that Aidan O’Brien talks about a lot and has decided the outcome of so many tight finishes in the top events of recent years. He is the sole colt in the line-up by Galileo, whose 10 representatives since 2008 have yielded three wins and three places with the successful triumvirate of Frankel (GB), Gleneagles (Ire) and Churchill (Ire) interestingly all out of fast mares. With normal improvement from Leopardstown, Gustav Klimt will be a tough nut to crack and his trainer is full of hope. “We were anxious to get a run into him, as he had not run since Newmarket in the middle of the summer,” he explained. “We would have liked to have run him in the Dewhurst to find out a little bit more about him, so were a little bit in the dark. It was soft ground, very heavy really, and probably not ideal but we felt we needed to run him. We always thought he would prefer better ground and he did well to quicken in the ground. Ryan [Moore] rode him in the July meeting last year and was very, very full of him. You are never sure, but we were delighted with his run in Leopardstown. We think and hope he’s in good form.” Despite all of his prior eight 2,000 Guineas previous winners making their seasonal bow in this, O’Brien is quick to point out that that is just coincidental. “This is the first time we had the seven furlongs at Leopardstown,” he added. “For us, the Craven is too close and maybe the race in Newbury is a little bit close as well. And then we had a Guineas trial at Leopardstown over a mile, which is too far, and the Gladness is against older horses and too tough. So up until now we’ve never had a prep. I suppose [the previous winners] were good 2-year-olds and they had done plenty and learnt plenty.” Another foray for Coolmore in recent years has been the move to support War Front and despite two notable disappointments in this in War Command and Air Force Blue, who was 4-5 when 12th two years ago, two of his sons have been fourth in the last two renewals and he has a live contender this time in US Navy Flag who is bred more for this task. Out of the stable’s Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Misty For Me (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who was beaten out of sight in the 2011 1,000 Guineas before turning herself inside out in three weeks to The Curragh equivalent, he has already achieved notoriety as one of very few to have completed the Middle Park-Dewhurst double. The highest-rated in this line-up as a result, his distant last of four on desperate ground in the Leopardstown Guineas Trial means very little in this context. If Saxon Warrior has the feel of Hawk Wing about him, then US Navy Flag could be this season’s Rock of Gibraltar–a tough and top-class juvenile who went through some big tests and kept getting better and stronger. “U S Navy Flag is a very solid horse and improved with racing,” O’Brien commented. “He’d love really nice ground, fast ground and he could be an exciting horse this year. The ground wasn’t ideal [at Leopardstown], but we felt we needed to run him because the more we ran him last year the better he got. If it’s going to get too slow he might not run, we might wait.” O’Brien Reveals Riding Assignments… With Ryan Moore at Churchill Downs, O’Brien is keeping riding arrangements in-house. “At the moment it looks like Seamus [Heffernan] might ride Gustav, and that Donnacha [O’Brien] will ride Saxon Warrior. That’s what we are thinking at the moment, but all those things can change,” he said. View the full article

Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, the 3-year-old colt may have never made the trip to the Bluegrass, but he's certainly no stranger to steep competition. View the full article

As a self-made businessman, Mick Ruis has seen a number of his dreams come true. But when it came to running a horse in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), those thoughts were typically interrupted by a dose of reality. View the full article

Only Win has more and bigger options ahead View the full article

Curvature takes aim at four-in-a-row View the full article

Chris McCarron has joined Team Valor International and will be part of the executive team of the far-flung organization. He starts this week and will be involved at Churchill Downs, where the operation races three runners (two in stakes) this week in Louisville. “As a Hall of Fame inductee and as the rider of such legendary racehorses as Alysheba and John Henry, Chris is one of the most recognizable people in racing,” CEO Barry Irwin said. “But it is for his abilities as a communicator, his horsemanship and his drive as an organizer that he has been brought aboard. “I have worked alongside Chris as part of the initiative to introduce Federal legislation to rein in the use of legal and illegal drugs in our sport and I have been very impressed with his communication skills and his passion for the best aspects of our game.” McCarron said “I’m excited to be joining Team Valor International. TVI is one of the most successful syndicate operations in the history of our sport and I hope to add value to the efforts in acquiring and racing some of the finest horses in the world, as well as getting to know its racing partners and helping to introduce newcomers to horse racing.” The legendary rider’s most recent major career achievement in racing came when he realized a nearly lifelong dream of establishing and nurturing America’s first school for jockeys. Named the North American Racing Academy, it is the only school where aspiring jockeys can earn a college degree. McCarron started NARA in 2006 and left it in safe hands in 2014. After retiring from a record-breaking and storied career as a jockey, McCarron served a stint as general manager at Santa Anita. He regularly serves as an on-air personality and is a popular speaker at corporate events throughout the country. Irwin said “I saw firsthand the dedication and energy that Chris brought to the task of establishing the riding academy. I don’t know too many people that had the unique skill set to pull off that venture. We would like to tap into those talents at Team Valor.” The Hall of Fame jockey rode many of TVI’s most successful runners, including Grade 1 winners Golden Ballet and The Deputy, best in the Oaks and Derby at Santa Anita. But their mutual involvement began in 1978 when McCarron upon arrival in California won back-to-back races at Del Mar aboard Irwin’s second racehorse, a filly named Sorcerer. McCarron will continue to be based in Lexington, Kentucky, where he has family and has lived for the past several years. He is, however, expected to travel to races and various promotional events as a spokesperson for Team Valor. Team Valor is in the process of reshaping aspects of the company. Recently, Godolphin Flying Start student Jessica Berry, who graduates in July, was hired as part of the executive team. Also, TVI announced last week that it would start unwinding its involvement in South African racing and breeding which is comprised of 65 horses. The international racing stable currently campaigns horses in the United States, England, France, Germany, South Africa, Canada, Australia and South Korea. Eight individual TVI runners have earned black-type in 2018, with its three biggest European stars ready to return to action this month. View the full article

The directional aviation company Sentient Jet will sponsor Combatant (Scat Daddy) in Saturday’s GI Kentucky Derby in an effort to promote awareness for Homes for Our Troops, a non-profit organization supported by the colt’s owners, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing. Homes for Our Troops builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 veterans. Sentient Jet will host a group of veterans on the backside of Churchill Downs Thursday and at the races Saturday. “As we head into our third year as the preferred private aviation partner of the Kentucky Derby, we are excited to mark this milestone with a special contribution to the community. We are honored to support Team Combatant and the important cause this impressive horse represents,” said Andrew Collins, president and CEO of Sentient Jet. View the full article

Finley'sluckycharm aims to keep her Louisville streak going when she faces six others in the $300,000 Humana Distaff Stakes (G1) May 5, part of the undercard of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). View the full article

There would be no more fitting race for a Churchill Downs Racing Club-owned horse to win than the Churchill Downs Stakes presented by Twinspires.com (G2). On May 5, Warrior's Club will try and do just that. View the full article

While Steve Asmussen acknowledges Combatant will have to run the best race of his career in what the Racing Hall of Fame trainer believes is a particularly tough Kentucky Derby field, he does think some factors are working in his favor. View the full article

As a self-made businessman, horseman Mick Ruis has seen a number of his dreams come true but when it came to running a horse in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) those thoughts typically would be interrupted by a dose of reality. View the full article

LOUISVILLE, Ky – A few hours before being installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the 144th renewal of the GI Kentucky Derby, all eyes were on the unbeaten ‘TDN Rising Star’ Justify (Scat Daddy) Tuesday morning beneath the Twin Spires. With temperatures a bit more comfortable in the high 40s and rapidly on the rise (the mercury hit as high as 81 in the afternoon) during the 15-minute training window reserved exclusively for Derby/Oaks horses at 7:30 a.m., the GI Santa Anita Derby hero quickly made his presence felt jogging the wrong way. He was accompanied to the track by Bob Baffert’s longtime right-hand man Jimmy Barnes, who was aboard a stable pony. Under a snug hold while making his first trip to the track since shipping in from Southern California Monday afternoon, the physically imposing $500,000 KEESEP graduate put on a show while displaying that massive stride of his during a routine gallop of about a mile beneath Humberto Gomez. The equally lightly raced Juddmonte homebred Hofburg (Tapit) of three career starts, meanwhile, stood by the chute and took in the hectic scene for a bit, which included a couple of peeks back at the long line of photographers and media lined up by the rail on the backstretch. Hall of Famer Bill Mott watched from horseback as one of this week’s ‘buzz horses’ turned in another very good-looking gallop. The aforementioned Justify wasn’t the only blaze-faced, flashy chestnut to make a striking appearance Tuesday morning. Last year’s champion 2-year-old colt Good Magic (Curlin) wasn’t to be outdone as he came roaring off the clubhouse turn during his 1 1/2-mile gallop. Two-time Grade I winner and Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) was another who quickly caught the eye. Sporting a pair of bell boots, he had a very nice bounce in his step as he made his way on from the Lukas gap and jogged along the outer rail. Currently on the outside looking in, Derby also-eligible Blended Citizen (Proud Citizen) couldn’t be looking any better physically for two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill. He was a troubled fifth last time in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. Exercise rider Nick Bush–also the regular a.m. partner of last year’s Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister)-was all smiles exiting the track aboard the unbeaten ‘TDN Rising Star’ Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon). And you can certainly see why after watching the GI Arkansas Derby hero train at Churchill Downs the past few days. The fillies were also out in full force and strutting their stuff during this time frame, including leading Oaks contenders and GI Central Bank Ashland S. one-two Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Eskimo Kisses (To Honor and Serve) and G3 UAE Oaks heroine Rayya (Tiz Wonderful). It was quite the scene back at the Baffert barn once it was time to get the big horse cleaned up. One of the major story lines of this year’s Derby-and rightfully so-is how the inexperienced Justify will handle everything thrown his way on gameday before a crowd of 150,000 plus. Well, he certainly passed this first test with flying colors as he never even turned a hair as he was surrounded by an American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) type of a crowd back at Barn 33 while getting his bath. Even his barnmate Solomini (Curlin), runner-up in last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, had to wait for the seas to part to get back inside his own barn. Welcome to Derby week. View the full article

Like everything else in the brief career of grade 1 winner Justify, his first morning at the site of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) was handled with beyond-his-experience poise. View the full article

4th-SRO, €15,400, NWC, 5-1, 2yo, c&g, 1000m, :59.60, gd. BLURY (IRE) (c, 2, Olympic Glory {Ire}–Marablu {Ire}, by Invincible Spirit {Ire}) provided a first win for his first-season sire Olympic Glory (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), a four-time Group 1 winner who stands at Haras de Bouquetot. The colt raced prominently and responded well when asked by jockey Pierantonio Convertino, holding the strong challenge of the favourite Coming Soon (Ity) (Sakhee’s Secret {GB}). The two most recent winners of this race went on to deliver a stakes win. Blury is the second winner out of Marablu (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a juvenile-scoring full-sister to Moonlife (Ire), who won the Listed Fleur du Lys S. and ran second in the G3 Oh So Sharp S. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. VIDEO. O-Genets; B-Azienda Agricola Valdirone (Ire); T-Antonio Marcialis. View the full article

While Steve Asmussen acknowledges Combatant will have to run the best race of his career in what the Racing Hall of Fame trainer believes is a particularly tough Kentucky Derby field, he does think some factors are working in his favor. View the full article

Plusvital has renewed their partnership with The Curragh Racecourse for another year, and the Irish equine science company will sponsor the second day on the opening weekend of The Curragh’s 2018 schedule on May 12. The G3 Plusvital Blue Wind S. will anchor that card, which will also include the Plusvital EnerGene-Q10 H., the Plusvital Speed Gene H. and the Plusvital Racing Syrup Maiden. As an added benefit, the company will offer all runners in their sponsored races either free genetic testing to predict optimum race distance or products from their supplement range. “We have a long-standing relationship with The Curragh Racecourse and we are delighted to sponsor the Plusvital Race Day featuring the G3 Plusvital Blue Wind S. this year,” said Plusvital Sales Director Ciara Watt. “We believe that this partnership reinforces our commitment to both the racing and bloodstock industries, while supporting our valued customers and the industry at large. We wish all connections the very best of luck on the day.” View the full article

Two lots have been added to the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up and HIT Sale scheduled for May 3-4 at Newmarket. Ventura Dragon (Ire) (Dragon Pulse {Ire}) (lot 94), a winning 3-year-old gelding for trainer Richard Fahey, will be offered by Fahey’s Musley Bank Stables on behalf of Middleham Park Racing. The chestnut is rated 80 and landed his seasonal bow at Doncaster on Mar. 25. The breeze-up wildcard is a filly by Bated Breath (GB) as lot 169A, who is offered by Church View Stables. Her dam is a winning Zafonic half-sister to champion Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa), G1SW Galikova (Fr) (Galileo {Ire}) and four other group winners. The breezes will occur on the Rowley Mile on May 3, with the sale beginning at 10 a.m. on May 4. For the full catalogue, go to www.tattersalls.com/guineas-sale-overview. View the full article

Bob Baffert-trained Justify, who has made just three starts, was made the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) after drawing post 7. View the full article

The new deadline to nominate yearlings to the European Breeders Fund is now May 31. Any yearling by a sire not registered to the EBF and standing outside Europe can be made eligible to run in the EBF programme of races–worth an additional €5 million in prizemoney–throughout Europe for a cost of $600 per yearling. “We review our nominations process annually and as the yearling sales landscape has changed over the years we felt that it is now possible to move this deadline out to May 31st, giving breeders that intend to race their yearlings or those that are consigning them to a sale plenty of time to nominate,” said the EBF’s Kerry Murphy. “This nomination stage is mostly applicable to breeders using American or Japanese stallions that are not registered to the EBF. Thanks to increasing support the list of internationally registered stallions has grown significantly and we advise breeders to check with us to see if their yearling does need nominating.” To nominate a yearling, go to www.ebfstallions.com or contact the EBF office. View the full article

John and Tanya Gunther’s Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is out of Saturday’s G1 2000 Guineas with a foot bruise. Trainer John Gosden said the homebred, who won a novice race at Yarmouth by six lengths on Apr. 24, is likely to target the G1 St James’s Palace S. at Royal Ascot. “It could have brewed up from the race at Yarmouth,” Gosden said. “Like any little bruise it comes there and pops into a little abscess form.” “I think with a horse like this we will get a nice race in before Royal Ascot, that is the way to look at it I think,” he added. “He is a very nice type of horse and we will treat him with respect. Hopefully we’ll freshen him up for the Heron S. at Sandown on May 24 and look at the St James’s Palace S. at Royal Ascot.” The defection of Without Parole means that Gosden’s number one rider Frankie Dettori is free to ride the George Scott-trained James Garfield (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the Guineas. “I feel for the connections of Without Parole, who clearly has a massive future regardless of missing the Guineas,” said Scott. “I felt it was hugely important to have Frankie on board. He knows the horse so well and he has a lot of confidence in the horse. He is the magic man and if anyone can pull it out the bag he will.” Scott was speaking after James Garfield worked over the Cambridge Road Polytrack gallop on Tuesday morning, and he said, “He didn’t really have a blow and he was bright and fresh after the work. I’m delighted with that.” View the full article