blacksmith

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack provides analysis for Saturday's pair of GI Kentucky Derby preps--the GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. Results (Weekend of Feb. 28) - Commandment (Into Mischief) ($6.80 winner of GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth) and Class President (Uncle Mo) ($19.00 winner of GII Rebel) made it a profitable weekend at the windows for this column, both delivering wins in dramatic fashion. Hammond (Charlatan), meanwhile, was a disappointing sixth at 8-1 in the GIII Gotham. GII TwinSpires.com...

5 - BLACKSMITH, SA, 2/20-3rd, 1 mile (video) Beyer Speed Figure-82 (c, 3, by Liam's Map--Sweet Achiever, by Curlin) O-Wathnan Racing. B-Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings & St Elias Stables (Ky). T-Bob Baffert. J-Florent Geroux. Distance has always been important for Blacksmith given his pedigree, and he was striding out nicely in this decisive 3 3/4-length score to make amends for a puzzling flop at odds-on six weeks ago. His unraced Curlin dam is a full-sister to former Baffert speed demon Cezanne, but her granddam happens to be Better Than...

The year 2025 was not a good one for jockey Florent Geroux. A jockey who had won at least 100 races for 11 years in a row, and won 217 races in 2016, he won only 75 races last year. The start of 2026 was no better. When he left Fair Grounds after the Feb. 14 card, he had only seven winners on the meet. Worse yet, after going 5-for-5 on Disco Time (Not This Time), he lost the mount on the 3-2 favorite in the GI Pegasus World Cup...

When the GII Los Alamitos Futurity--formerly the Hollywood Futurity, which was also known for a time as the CashCall Futurity--was renamed in 2014, perhaps it should have been labeled as the Bob Baffert Futurity, as the Hall of Famer has now won the race a record 15 times since 1997, including seven straight from 2014 to 2020. To put an exclamation point on his domination in the race, the silver-haired trainer finished one-two-three Saturday, with 3-5 choice Litmus Test (c, 2, Nyquist--Study Hard, by Malibu Moon) bringing home a Baffert...

In recent years, trainer Bob Baffert has shown an affinity for the GII Los Alamitos Futurity, winning five of 11 editions since the race was moved to Los Alamitos. On Saturday, the Hall of Fame trainer will attempt to add another notch to his belt with a trio of entrants--Litmus Test (Nyquist), Provenance (Into Mischief) and Blacksmith (Liam's Map). Owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Diane Bashor, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan, Litmus Test will be making his first...

8th-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, post time: 4:25 p.m. ET Juddmonte's MARJORAM (Quality Road) is the second foal to race from Cardamon (Pioneerof the Nile), a debut winner over this surface back in 2019 and already responsible for this year's GIII Mahony Stakes hero and similarly cleverly named Spiced Up, also a son of this Lane's End stallion. Cardamon is one of six winners out of Soothing Touch (Touch Gold), also the dam of MGISW Emollient (Empire Maker); SW & GISP Hofburg (Tapit); and SW & GSP Courtier...

6. SOLITUDE DUDE, GP, 11/1, 6 1/2 furlongs. (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 86 (c, 2, by Yaupon--After the Party, by Into Mischief) O-Chris Fountoukis. B-Martha Buckner and Matthew Ernst (Ky). T-Saffie Joseph, Jr.. J-Micah Husbands. Debuting as third betting choice (another Saffie Joseph first-timer was favored), he drubbed the competition by 9 1/2 lengths after setting the fractions. Joseph signed the $300k ticket in June at OBS for the son of first-crop sire Yaupon. The jury is still out on Yaupon's stamina genes, and Solitude Dude's dam was also a...

1st-GP, $70k, Msw, 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT, post time: 12:50 p.m. ET The produce of Machmer Hall's sensational broodmare Special Me (Unbridled's Song) have earned nearly $4.4 million to date, and KEEPSAKE BOX (Twirling Candy) is set to become her 10th runner when she debuts in the Saturday opener at Gulfstream. Since being purchased by Machmer Hall for just $6,000 at the 2009 Keeneland January Sale, Special Me has thrown seven winners, including this filly's Grade I-winning full-brother Gift Box; Gina Romantica (Into Mischief), a three-time Grade I winner on...

   To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them - Montesquieu In the past, I frequently attended riding instruction clinics of a very sought after Olympic medal winning rider and trainer who opened every session with the following statement (paraphrasing), "I have been doing this my whole life, 50 plus years. I don't consider myself an expert and if I'm not an expert, than you most certainly are not an expert." That statement always received uncomfortable laughs from the participants, most likely connected to their...