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Shared Content Archive

This is the archive of all the old shared content.

Able Friend Well After Ascot Travels

G1 Queen Anne S. contender Able Friend (Aus) (Shamardal) is adjusting well to his settings in Newmarket after traveling from trainer John Moore’s base in Hong Kong over the weekend. The 5-year-old, a four-time Group 1 winner in his native country since December and currently the world’s highest-rated horse on the Longines rankings, is being stabled with...

Bill Oppenheim: Good Gamble

When Coolmore did the deal to buy the breeding rights to American Pharoah in January, before the Eclipse Awards, they were just hoping they were buying their fifth champion 2-year-old colt in six years to stand at their Kentucky arm, Ashford Stud. They couldn’t have bought the sixth anyway; that was the gelding Shared Belief, in 2013....

Canterbury Antes Up $2M to Lure American Pharoah

By T.D. Thornton Canterbury Park in Minnesota has emerged as the latest track to take a stab at wooing Triple Crown champion American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile).  According to Eric Halstrom, Canterbury’s vice president of racing operations, track management is considering completely overhauling and raising the purse of an existing non-graded stakes race by a factor of...

A Truly International Week In Store

By Geoffrey Riddle  Thanks to Wesley Ward’s troop of ten horses that have arrived in Britain, Royal Ascot next week is set to be the most international that there has ever been. After a numerically strong challenge in Dubai on World Cup night in March, American trainers have embraced the five-day Royal meeting, which starts...

Leave the Light On Targeting Fountain of Youth

Klaravich Stable and William H. Lawrence’s Leave the Light On (Horse Greeley), last year’s GII Remsen S. winner, is nearing a return to the worktab and is being pointed for the Feb. 21 GII Fountain of Youth S. for his seasonal debut, trainer Chad Brown reported Thursday.  “We gave him a little breather after the Remsen, and now...

A ‘Hero’s’ Welcome at the Gold Coast

This week’s sales action on the Gold Coast has certainly reinforced the fact that owners are willing to dig deep into their pockets for a chance at big pots on the racetrack; However, Kennewell Racing, which campaigns yesterday’s Magic Millions 3YO Guineas winner Deiheros (Aus) (Bon Hoffa {Aus}), had to part with just A$6,500 at the 2013...

No ‘Luck’

Blind Luck (Pollard’s Vision) (hip 207), 2010’s champion 3-year-old filly and the highest-profile entrant in the Keeneland January Sale, failed to meet her reserve Monday when bidding stalled at $1.4 million. The six-time Grade I winner, who earned nearly $3.28 million on the track, brought $2.5 million at the 2011 Keeneland November sale when majority owner...

Pletcher Victors Exits Races in Fine Form

The Todd Pletcher stable had a successful weekend in both Florida and New York, with Constitution (Tapit) capturing the GI Donn H., Mshawish (Medaglia d’Oro) taking the GI Gulfstream Park Turf H., Sandiva (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) annexing the GIII Suwannee River S., and Far From Over (Blame) pulling a minor upset in Aqueduct’s GIII Withers S.  “We were hopeful that we could have a...

Steady Start To Arqana February Sale

By Alix Choppin  Trade was steady on day one of Arqana’s February Mixed Sale yesterday, which was inaugurating a new two-day format on the back of last year’s outstanding results. Of the 176 horses through the ring, 127 found new homes at a clearance rate of 72.16%, grossing €895,500. The average price was €7,051, down...

Fourth Trainer Suspended In Maryland

By Mike Kane  A fourth Maryland trainer, Jerry Thurston, has been suspended for a post-race positive for anabolic steroids.  Thurston received a 30-day suspension and was fined $1,000 for a positive for stanozolol in the horse Home of America on Dec. 12, 2014 at Laurel Park. The suspension is scheduled to run from Feb. 7...

Swift Warrior Retires

Swift Warrior (First Samurai–Afleet Summer, by Afleet), a multiple graded stakes winner, has been retired to David Spears Racing in Hartshorne, Oklahoma. The 7-year-old retires with a lifetime record of 29-7-3-9 with $651,953 in earnings. The deal to send Swift Warrior to Oklahoma was brokered by New Jersey-based bloodstock agent Michael Slezak.  “I would argue...

Vercingetorix injured, retired

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s Vercingetorix (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}), who disappointed in the G1 Jebel Hatta at Meydan Saturday when checking home sixth, has emerged from the race with a pulled sesamoidal ligament and will not race again. Trainer Mike de Kock reported on his website that Christophe Soumillon felt something was amiss with the 5-year-old...