Bernardini

Good first impressions are a must in most professional situations, and Gin Gin (Hightail) stepped up in a big way for new trainer Brendan Walsh when she dominated the GIII Baird Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland Friday evening. Previously in the barn of Brad Cox, she had a stakes win in New York to her credit in 2024 by way of the Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct in mid-January, but went winless for the rest of the season including a start in the GI Kentucky Oaks. Running 12th in the premier spring...

Three juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 during the first session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sunday. A filly by Upstart (hip 75) was first to hit the bullet mark just minutes into the day's session. The dark bay is out of Lovely Marissa (Proud Citizen), a daughter of Grade I-placed Valiant Passion (Lion Heart) and a half-sister to graded-placed Nasty (Street Sense). She was consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales, which acquired her for $60,000...

Though one of his daughters lost the services of Magnitude (Not This Time) straight after his GII Risen Star romp, and another must send Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie) in from the cold this weekend, once again last Saturday the extraordinary distaff influence of Bernardini loomed behind the big Derby rehearsals on either coast. True, the winners of both the GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes and GII San Felipe Stakes were first and foremost repaying a seven-figure investment in their respective dams--each clearly having much else going for them. But the...

Okay, so possibly Magnitude (Not This Time) won't ever do anything quite like that again. But let's enjoy the moment, at least, and relish the sheer theater of his GII Risen Star performance--much, for instance, as people did the astounding sophomore debut of Dr. Carter in 1984. He had won two of seven previous starts; Magnitude, two of six. But even though so unpressured that he won by 17 lengths, Dr. Carter equalled the Hialeah track record. Their trainer John Veitch declared him better than Alydar. The stage was set...

9th-Fair Grounds, $55,000, Msw, 2-15, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.49, ft, 2 lengths. YINZER (c, 3, Twirling Candy--Rehearsed, by Tapit) got the job done here on his fourth try after finishing third on debut last November at Churchill Downs, and then fifth in his second start at Fair Grounds with first-time Lasix as well as last out at this venue Jan. 18. Sent off at 11-1 odds, the $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale graduate went right to the front after the jump and established a tempo through :23.70 and a half in...

Multiple Group/Grade I-winner Country Grammer (Tonalist) was represented by his first reported foal, a colt born in early February, at River Valley Stock Farm in New York, WinStar Farm announced via press release. Out of Bernarda (Bernardini), an unplaced daughter of Listed winner and Grade I-placed Nakano (First Samurai), the colt was bred by Scott and Debbie Pierce, who also bred Country Grammer. The dam's most recent to the races is a placed 2-year-old named Low Key (Bolt d'Oro). Bernarda is the distant female family of MGSW Carson City (My....

Our business already includes one John whose namesake signed the Declaration of Independence. (Good day to you, Mr. Penn.) But now we have another, this time on four legs, bidding to confirm that Constitution--if not a founding father--is certainly a patriarch in the making. Yet if the Sam F. Davis Stakes winner were to carve his "John Hancock" on the GI Kentucky Derby roll of honor, he would only be further magnifying two names whose Churchill achievements are already outsized. One is that of his dam Scribbling Sarah (Freud), who...

From Godolphin's 12 starters in 10 renewals of the GI Kentucky Derby, favored Essential Quality (Tapit)'s promoted third-place finish following Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s medication disqualification in 2021 has been the best result to date. With four serious contenders--all homebreds--on target for upcoming Kentucky Derby preps and fresh off a fifth consecutive Eclipse Award as outstanding owner, could this be the year for Sheikh Mohammed's powerhouse global operation? "We've been there before and we've had chances," Godolphin USA Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan said. "Who knows what's written in the stars,...

The 2023 champion 3-year-old male MGISW Arcangelo (Arrogate) has sired his first foal, born Jan. 10, at Safari North Farm, Lane's End announced via release Saturday afternoon. The filly is out of the Bernardini mare Bhoma, who earned just shy of $230,000 in her career, and who claims multiple graded winner Mom's One Strike (First Dude) as a half-sister as well as SW Otago (Speightstown) and MSP Reminder (Audible). "Bhoma has been with the program since she was a yearling and we were excited about her first foal by Arcangelo,"...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Saturday running at Kyoto Racecourse: Saturday, November 23, 2024 5th-KYO, ¥13,720,000 ($89k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600mT WILD 'N' WOOLLY (f, 2, Bernardini--Merino, by More Than Ready) looks to become the second winner from two to the races from her dam Cableknit, an Unbridled's Song...

LEXINGTON, KY -The two-session Book 3 section of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock concluded Saturday, producing double-digit increases in average and median compared to its 2023 counterpart. Keeneland sold 499 horses through the ring during Book 3 for a gross of $37,747,000. The section's average was $75,645--up 20.98% from last year's Book 3--and the median was $60,000, an increase of 20% from a year ago. During the two Book 3 sessions in 2023, 494 horses sold through the ring for a total of $30,888,000. The section average price was $62,526...

Nobody should have been to surprised when Tarifa (Bernardini) won Saturday's GII Mother Goose S. at the Belmont at the Big A meet, turning the tables on the favored Gun Song (Gun Runner). The same goes for Saturday's GII Fayette S. at Keeneland, won by the Cox-trained Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}). Starting one month ago, on Sept. 27, he's been on a tear, winning 12 of the 17 (70 % percent) stakes races he has entered in. Overall, Cox is 20-for-63 (32%) for the month of October. He ran...