Amerman Racing

Stark Contrast (Caravaggio), an impressive 2 1/4-length winner of the GI American Turf S. with a career-high 99 Beyer Speed Figure on Kentucky Derby day, is being aimed at the GI Belmont Derby at Saratoga July 4. The Amerman Racing homebred has worked three times at trainer Michael McCarthy's Santa Anita base since, including a four-furlong breeze in :50.20 (27/31) June 11. C R K Stable's 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Remember Mamba (Kitten's Joy), winner of the GIII UK HealthCare Transylvania S. at Keeneland and runner-up in the...

Connections of Stark Contrast (c, 3, Caravaggio--Catch the Eye, by Quality Road), second in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks Mar. 21 behind scratched GI Kentucky Derby contender Fulleffort (Liam's Map), could have entertained a Derby bid with the 50 points he earned at Turfway, but opted instead for the 35th running of the GI American Turf Stakes Saturday on the Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. And boy, did it pay off for the Michael McCarthy-trained Amerman homebred, who took home his first Grade I score. Sent as the 6-5 favorite,...

"Doing matings with my clients is very much a team thing," says Headley Bell, whose Nicoma Bloodstock has been helping clients mate their mares since 1979. "My role is to try to assist in fulfilling dreams." Nicoma got off to a quick start with mating success, and the hits just keep on coming: in late December, George Strawbridge was first and third in the GI American Oaks with Ambaya (Ghostzapper), who was closely followed by Will Then (War Of Will) in third. Previous successes include two Arc de Triomphe winners...

Stark Contrast (Caravaggio) did very little wrong during his juvenile season, and kicked off 2026 in a similar vein, winning his sophomore bow in Thursday's Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita. Stark Contrast didn't appear to appreciate the main track when finishing fourth in a six-furlong dirt maiden at Del Mar in August, but immediately turned things around to win next time going a mile on that venue's turf course on Sept. 6. Making it two-straight when coming from off the pace to take the one-mile GIII Zuma Beach Stakes...

"I think this filly's cheating on me." Well, if that was the opinion of a Hall of Fame trainer, who could argue? Least of all a woman, in the male-dominated Bluegrass of the mid-1970s. But Headley Bell remembers that when Frank Whiteley Jr. sent Nicosia (Gallant Romeo) home to Mill Ridge, his late mother Alice Chandler was not ready to give up. After all, this was a daughter of Nicoma (Nashua), whose previous foal had just won a Grade I; and Alice's husband, Dr. John Chandler, suggested that maybe the...

The last Amerman Racing homebred by Oscar Performance to carry the colors home in the GIII Zuma Beach Stakes was Endlessly, who captured the race as the 80 cents on the dollar favorite in 2023. Stark Contrast, a horse with a pair of races under his belt, duplicated the feat at Santa Anita Sunday. Like Endlessly, Stark Contrast is also from the Michael McCarthy shedrow. The colt tried turf for his conditioner at second asking over the seaside oval grass course and he won by a length Sept. 6. Set...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Counterbalance (f, 2, Caravaggio--Out of Balance, by Kitten's Joy) came flashing home to finish fourth in a race that held together quite well over opening weekend at Del Mar. Overlooked at 37-1 in her debut going five furlongs on dirt for trainer Michael McCarthy, the Amerman Racing homebred broke alertly from her inside draw, but was quickly outfooted. She was heading the wrong direction while under a...

Amerman homebred Test Score (c, 3, Lookin At Lucky--Joy of Learning, by Kitten's Joy), second to Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) in the GI American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs May 3, got his own Grade I day in the sun Friday, winning Saratoga's $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes in convincing style. For his part, Zulu Kingdom won the GIII Manila Stakes at the Spa one race prior to Test Score's Belmont Derby win. The Amermans won the Belmont Derby for the second consecutive year---they had Trikari (Oscar Performance)...

The sun is shining and the birds are singing, which means that spring has sprung and hopefully cold blasts are fixed over yonder. This kind of weather propagates the condition known to many as Derby fever, which technically has no definable cure. So, while you're tinkering with mint julep recipes or heading to the dry cleaners with your seersucker to keep the vapors in check, maybe what you need is to take a look at the weekend's graded stakes slate. The races are chock full of options, so let's not...

In the first race of the Keeneland meet to stay on the grass after torrential rains throughout Kentucky, Amerman homebred Test Score (c, 3, Lookin At Lucky--Joy of Learning, by Kitten's Joy) captured Monday's rescheduled $600,000 GIII Transylvania Stakes and gave rider Manny Franco two consecutive black-type victories on the day after winning the Lafayette Stakes one race prior with 'TDN Rising Star' Colloquial (Vekoma). Test Score broke forwardly in the Transylvania, settling into an unbothered fifth on the outside as three-straight stakes winner Mi Bago (Vekoma) showed the way...

Coming off its best year ever, Coteau Grove Farms now ranks among the leading breeders in the country. The operation, based in Sunset, Louisiana with a broodmare band of 63 head, was represented by four black-type winners from 71 starters in 2024 and the earners of nearly $3 million. The farm's advisor Andrew Cary of Cary Bloodstock gave TDN a sampling of the variety of stallions the operation is breeding to in 2025, both in Kentucky and in Louisiana. ANIMA GEMELLA (8, Ghostzapper--Naive Enough, by Street Sense) is booked to...

When bloodstock agent Bob Feld and his son Sean first saw Trikari (Oscar Performance) at the 2022 OBS October Sale, they pegged him as a definite six-figure yearling and, with no clients for whom to buy the handsome bay, they moved on to the next one. But when the father-son team saw the colt had RNA'd for $30,000, they purchased him privately for just $27,500. Now campaigned by the Amermans, Trikari is a Grade I winner with earnings closing in on a million dollars. "My son and I were at...