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With temperatures struggling to exit the mid-40s on an unseasonably chilly and overcast morning, the action immediately began to percolate on the Churchill Downs backside outside of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s barn as championAmerican Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) readied for his final GI Kentucky Derby breeze. Accompanied by his wife Jill, Baffert, bloodstock agent...
Ed Walker trainee and G3 John Guest Bengough S. winner Lightning Moon (Ire) (Shamardal) has been purchased by Godolphin it was announced Tuesday. The deal was brokered by Blandford Bloodstock. Previously owned by M. Betamar, the 4-year-old son of Shamardal is undefeated in three starts to date and was last seen on the racecourse taking the Bengough...
by Bill Finley Everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby, but the people who usually get there shop at Tiffany. Not Jon Jazdzewski. He goes to the Dollar Store. What does it take to buy a Derby contender these days? Sometimes as much as $1.6 million, which is what was paid for Carpe Diem at...
Triple Australian Group 1 winner Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}), third in Sunday’s G1 QEII Cup in Hong Kong, has arrived at trainer John Gosden’s yard in Newmarket to prepare for the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. at Royal Ascot. Trained by David Hayes, the 4-year-old’s preparation will be overseen by Gosden’s son, Ben. “He’s just arrived there...
Sir Michael Stoute holds the record of most winners of York’s G2 Betfred Middleton S., and it would come as no surprise to see Freemason Lodge celebrating a seventh on Thursday with the progressive Bragging (Exchange Rate). Brought out just 11 days after her comeback win in the nine-furlong G3 Dahlia S. at Newmarket, Khalid Abdullah’s bay...
Bocca Baciata (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) remains firmly on course for the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh May 24. The Flaxman Stables Ireland-owned filly has been pleasing trainer Jessica Harrington since her successful seasonal debut in the Listed EBF Salsabil S. at Navan Apr. 18, form that looks even stronger retrospectively. “She’s...
Italian Champion trainer Stefano Botti will saddle a record six horses Sunday at the Capannelle in the G2 Derby Italiano. The 39-year-old Botti–who has a record of three wins, three seconds and two thirds with 17 Derby runners since he became the Master of Cenaia’s training center in 2009–holds all the aces. Three of his...
By Bill Finley The Triple Crown grind, an overwhelming, virtually insurmountable force, now threatens to chew up and spit out another one. There doesn’t appear to be a 3-year-old horse on the planet that can outrun American Pharoah. But it’s not other horses that stand in his way of a Triple Crown sweep, it is the...
Irish racing fans may be in for a rare sight this weekend as trainer Eddie Lynam is considering running his crack sprinter Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) on home soil for the first time in almost four years. Not since finishing second in the G3 Flying Five S. at The Curragh in August 2011 has the...
Sabena Power’s Irish highweight and MG1SW Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) will have his first run on home soil since August 2011 in the G2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands S. at The Curragh Saturday. Eddie Lynam’s globetrotting star last ran in Ireland in the G3 Flying Five S. at The Curragh when second to Amour Propre...
There was a time when Ireland was a bit-player at best in the major sprints, but three of the bunch to have turned that around in recent years in Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}), Gordon Lord Byron (Ire) (Byron {GB}) and Maarek (GB)(Pivotal {GB}) line up proud and tall to grace the newly promoted G2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands S. at...
While the catalogue of accomplishments of Cirrus des Aigles (Fr) (Even Top {Ire}) is thickening all over the world year upon year, there is no doubt that Longchamp is where he is happiest, and therefore hardest to quell. Of the 20 occasions the country’s most popular horse has turned his attentions to the Bois de Boulogne, he...