Army Mule

2nd-Kentucky Downs, $132,803, Msw, 8-30, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:34.43, fm, 3/4 length. GROUND SUPPORT (f, 2, Army Mule--Arch Support {GSP, $159,835}, by Arch) was completely friendless in the market at 100-1 and capitalized on an inside trip to cause a massive--if not entirely surprising--boilover. A bit slow to begin from gate one, the dark bay quickly mustered for speed and was all the way up into a handy position on the back of pacesetting second-time starter La Dolce Vita (Not This Time) through the opening half-mile. Going along under a...

2nd-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 7-26, 2yo, 6f, 1:11.87, ft, neck. SOLDIER N DIPLOMAT (c, 2, Army Mule--Diplomatic Miss, by Violence) had his fair share of admirers at this year's OBS March Sale, ultimately hammering to St. Elias for $950,000 after gliding over the synthetic track in :10 flat (see below) during his under-tack preview. Having logged five breezes at Keeneland at the back end of the spring, he trained forwardly once transferred to the Spa in late June and was duly dispatched as the 9-10 chalk in a field of eight...

4th-DMR, 100K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 6:33 p.m. Amr Zedan went to an eye-watering OBS record $3,000,000 to acquire BRANT (Gun Runner) from consigner Eddie Woods back in March and the colt makes his debut at Del Mar for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Working in an impressive time of :9 3/5, he was a huge pinhook for St. Clair Stables who picked him up for just $200,000 as a yearling at Keeneland last September. Brant is out of a winning Liam's Map half-sister to GSW/GISP and young stallion Pappacap...

Mae Town (Mo Town) made it three wins in a row with her first stakes win in the Pea Patch Stakes Sunday at Ellis Park. The Cave Brook Farm homebred broke her maiden going five furlongs at Churchill Downs May 9, and repeated against allowance company under the Twin Spires June 11. After a good break from her far outside post, the filly found herself towards the rear of the field up the backstretch, several lengths off the swift early tempo set in :20.92. With plenty of work to do,...

One of two fillies in a scratched down field of six for Thursday's Kentucky Juvenile Stakes, Pinky Finger (Army Mule) made those that swallowed the 1-2 starting price sweat it out in the waning strides, but was home narrowly best to run her record to two wins from as many appearances. A 7 1/2-length debut winner at even-money at Keeneland while also facing the boys Apr. 7, the $90,000 Keeneland November weanling hit the ground running here and dueled through the early stages with Monster (Leinster) before opening up some...

1st-Keeneland, $82,854, Msw, 4-7, 2yo, 4 1/2f, :52.56, gd, 7 1/2 lengths. PINKY FINGER (f, 2, Army Mule--Bird Map, by Liam's Map), the lone filly in the field, was sent off at even money and never gave her backers any doubts. The bay shot out to the early lead and had a clear advantage in a matter of strides. She was some three lengths in front at the top of the stretch after a quarter in :22.10 and, with jockey Joel Rosario glancing back for challengers more than once, extended...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training opened Tuesday with a colt from the first crop of Grade I winner Maxfield (hip 119) leading the way when selling for $1 million to Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida. The colt was consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables. At the end of the session, 117 juveniles had sold for $15,902,000 for an average of $135,915 and a median of $85,000. At the conclusion of last year's opening session, 152 head...

California Burrito (Army Mule) is the newest player on the 'Road to the Kentucky Derby,' earning 20 points with a gate-to-wire win in Saturday night's John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park. Shaken up for the lead from mid-gate, the 7-2 shot, who came off a 7 1/4-length win going just a 1/16th shorter on the local Tapeta Jan. 24, showed the way along the inside through fractions of :24.50 and :49.41 with 37-1 longshot Maitre D (Game Winner) keeping him honest to the outside and 2-1 race favorite Baby...

George Adams of Housatonic Bloodstock discusses the 2025 mating plans for the Wasabi Ventures' broodmare band. Now with its own Kentucky farm, Serendipity Springs, Wasabi Ventures Stables & Stallions continues to try to improve the quality of its breeding program and the commerciality of its foals. Everyone knows that freshman sires tend to be the most commercial, and Wasabi will be supporting several of them in which we have shares. Specifically, we're sending five mares to Speightstown's only 2-year-old Grade I-winning son, Prince of Monaco at Claiborne. We love Speightstown...

8th-GP, 94K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 3:49 p.m. Debuting for Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and trainer Brian Lynch, SHRED THE GNAR (Into Mischief) is a full-sister to MGSW/MGISP Owendale. Purchased for $610,000 at FTSAUG in 2023, the filly is out of a Bernardini half-sister to GI Lane's End Breeders' Futurity winner Great Hunter (Aptitude). This is the family of champion 3-year-old filly Stellar Wind (Curlin). Just to her outside, Kapoor (Uncle Mo) is a Godolphin homebred out of a Medaglia d'Oro half-sister to Japanese MG1SW Mozu Ascot (Frankel {GB})....

In yesterday's edition of Value Sires for 2025, Chris McGrath profiled the stallions standing between $20,000 and $29,999, awarding the gold medal to Darley's Hard Spun (read more here). Here, we asked the breeders to hand out their top picks for this category. Carrie Brogden Gold: Hard Spun (Danzig x Turkish Tryst, by Turkoman), Darley, $25,000 My top value sire in this bracket is Hard Spun. Even though he doesn't always throw the most commercial physical horses, if you choose your mare wisely, you can get a sales horse that...

This tier of the market, between $20,000 and $29,999, offers particular value through its more established names: horses that have walked the walk sufficiently to clear the basement level, while somehow failing to achieve due commercial prestige. Indeed, our podium is dominated by the two eldest of the eligible stallions, while the only candidates considered for the third step were all in the process of consolidating strong starts. That said, the case for the three young sires at the other end of the spectrum--whose first foals are about to slither...