Bob Baffert

News last week about the loss of this year's GIII Bob Hope Stakes after receiving just three entrants--all from the Bob Baffert stable--wasn't exactly a shock. But is it a canary in the coal mine concerning the health of California's horse inventory? Not on its own. It is, however, one among a flock of important indicators. Growing attention has been spent on the implications from the consolidation of top bloodstock between fewer and fewer stables, with many observing how a greater distribution of horses among more stables would help the...

8th-Del Mar, $61,500, Msw, 11-23, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.75, ft, 1 3/4 lengths. NIMAH (f, 2, Gun Runner--E. T. Indy, by A.P. Indy) went right to the front on this debut and led the pack through an opening quarter in :22.49 and four furlongs in :45.07. Clearing her inside rivals and challenged by Miss Watermelon (Cairo Prince) at the three-eighths pole, she was called on for more at the head of the lane to keep that rival at bay by 1 3/4 lengths. The victress is a half-sister to...

While the GI Breeders' Cup Classic may have turned out to be a jump too high for him, Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) bounced back from that effort with a workman-like victory in the GIII Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar. Despite only starting his career in mid-April this year, the son of Omaha Beach has cobbled together a respectable 2025 campaign with wins in the Los Alamitos Derby in late June and the 'WAYI' GI Goodwood Stakes two back Sept. 27 at Santa Anita. The lattermost effort guaranteed him a...

5th-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 2:10p.m. ET After heavy winds cancelled the card he was originally going to debut on last week, OTTINHO (Quality Road) looks to make it second-try lucky for his unveiling here. Most notably out of Quiet Giant (Giant's Causeway), who is famous for her son, Hall of Famer Gun Runner (by Candy Ride {Arg}), the bay is a Three Chimneys homebred who goes postward for the barn of trainer Chad Brown. Drawn in the middle of the field, he enters this race with a healthy worktab...

The GIII Bob Hope Stakes, which was postponed from last Sunday to Nov. 21, has now been cancelled entirely after attracting just three entrants, according to a report in Daily Racing Form. "It's disappointing, obviously, to not have a stakes race go, which is extremely rare here," Del Mar's racing secretary David Jerkens told DRF's Brad Free. "It's a dose of reality with 2-year-olds on the dirt right now. It's been a frustrating category all summer." Ten juveniles were nominated for the Bob Hope, including Bob Baffert trainees Boyd (Violence),...

Grade I winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker) has relocated from Harris Farms to Rancho San Miguel and will stand at the new farm for a 2026 fee of $6,000 with a live foal guarantee, it was announced by press release. The son of Empire Maker claimed his elite-level win in the GI American Pharoah Stakes for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert as a juvenile and went on to be placed in four other graded contests--namely the GI Bing Crosby (second); GIII Native Diver (third); GII San Antonio Stakes (second); and...

The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale concluded its two-day Book 3 Saturday, already surpassing the total gross of the 2024 sale with still three days remaining in Lexington, KY. Through five days, the gross for 1,125 horses sold through the ring is up 31.54% from the same period last year when 1,055 horses sold for $163,353,500. Average price rose 23.25% from $154,837 to $190,996. The median of $130,000 increased 36.84% from last year's $95,000. On Saturday, Keeneland sold 259 horses through the ring for $25,328,500, a 29.55% jump from the...

The World Championships concluded Saturday with sterling efforts and drama abound, and the connections of the newly crowned took Sunday morning to provide updates on their charges as they look ahead. Trainer Michael McCarthy reported that all six of his Breeders' Cup horses came out of their races in good order, and plans for MGISW Journalism (Curlin)--whether to continue racing or retirement--will be finalized in the coming week. The colt finished fourth in the Classic under new rider Jose Ortiz. "This is more or less what we've seen from him...

It looked like a close contest on paper, and in the end, the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile turned into one of those events where it deserved no loser, but there had to be one. The juvenile champion of 2024, Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) set 'supersonic' splits early (as Larry Collmus called them at one point), and ran the race of his life, but it was stablemate Nysos (Nyquist) who ultimately played the spoiler as he nailed the photo to win the Dirt Mile in one of the closest finishes...

Derived from the Latin word 'splendor', Splendora (Audible) equates in the dictionary to magnificent brilliance or a dazzling display of beauty. Putting in a performance worthy of her name, the 4-year-old daughter of Audible upset her favored stablemate Hope Road (Quality Road) to capture the GI PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, the first Breeders' Cup race of the card Saturday. Perhaps a true horse for course and certainly a hometown girl for California, three of Splendora's four previous wins have come over the Del Mar dirt. Campaigned...

DEL MAR, Calif. - Super Corredora (Gun Runner) cleared her eight rivals beneath an aggressive Hector Berrios heading into the clubhouse turn, and never looked back in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar. Favored 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Explora (Blame) was second. Fellow 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Percy's Bar (Upstart) was third. Super Corredora becomes the fourth Breeders' Cup winner for trainer John Sadler and first for Berrios. "She's a filly we had really high hopes for," Sadler said. "We're in our own...

Eclipse champion and Grade I winner Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg})--Indyan Giving, by A.P. Indy) has been relocated permanently to Haras Fazenda Mondesir in Brazil after standing there for the 2025 Southern Hemisphere breeding season, according to a press release from Lane's End Farm. Game Winner is the sire of four crops with 202 foals of racing age. Led by 3-year-old colt Gaming, the Lane's End sire claims a pair of graded winners and has netted four black-type scores. Owned and raced by Gary and Mary West, Game Winner was...