Bob Baffert
Kentucky Downs will host six graded events Saturday, led by the 'Win and You're In' $1-million GII Fanduel Turf Sprint S. and $1-million GII Kentucky Turf Cup S. NBC Sports will broadcast both live on CNBC. After successfully defending his title in Saratoga's GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer S. Aug. 27, Gufo (Declaration of War) returns on short notice for the Kentucky Turf Cup. He is the 7-5 morning-line favorite. The 8-year-old Arklow (Arch) looks for his third win from five attempts in this contest following victories in 2018...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-DMR, $80K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 6:44 p.m. Making his first start Saturday for trainer Bob Baffert, FORT BRAGG (Tapit) was a $700,000 FTKOCT yearling purchase for the large ownership group of SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Rob Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC & Catherine Donovan. Bred in partnership with SF Bloodstock LLC, this is the first...
Midnight Memories made her two-turn and stakes debut a winning one when resolutely holding off favored Desert Dawn to capture the GIII Torrey Pines S. Sunday at Del Mar. Scoring first out at 4-5 with a 95 Beyer going 6 1/2 furlongs Apr. 30 at Santa Anita, the homebred repeated by a neck after stumbling at the start in an allowance/optional claimer there June 5 before disappointing when a well-beaten third as the chalk with blinkers added here July 28. Taking the blinkers off for this test, the dark bay...
1st-Del Mar, $81,000, Msw, 9-4, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:03.59, ft, 6 3/4 lengths. HUNTINGCOCO (f, 2, Practical Joke--Sulis, by Maria's Mon) was dismissed at odds of 36-5, largely due to the presence of $950,000 Keeneland September grad and 1-2 chalk Carla (Medaglia d'Oro), slipped through inside entering the final eighth of a mile and kicked away to best her heavily favored stable companion by a convincing margin in Sunday's opener from Del Mar. Away without incident, Huntingcoco showed ample speed and chased from along the inside in second as...
6th-Del Mar, $82,500, Msw, 9-3, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:16.62, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. NATIONAL TREASURE (c, 2, Quality Road--Treasure, by Medaglia d'Oro) dispatched at 3-1 in this debut, was hustled out of the gate by John Velazquez, hitting the front just before the first quarter went up in a lively :21.89. Hounded by Practical Move (Practical Joke) through a :44.37 half-mile, the $500,000 FTSAUG buy showed the way into the lane and held off a late bid from stablemate Massimo (Uncle Mo) to score by 1 1/2 lengths. Practical Move...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:51 p.m. EDT Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's $725,000 KEESEP acquisition MINDTAP (Tapit) makes his career bow in this spot for trainer Todd Pletcher. Hailing from the same breeding program that produced unbeaten sensation Flightline (Tapit), the gray is a half to MGISW Curalina (Curlin), who summoned $3 million from Shadai Farm at the 2016 FTKNOV Sale. Summer Wind Farm's Jane Lyon purchased their Grade II-winning dam Whatdreamsrmadeof for $1.65 million at that same auction carrying a full-sibling to...
There is no such thing as a sure thing in horse racing, but 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) will be bet as if Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic--a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 5--is already the proverbial fait accompli. And why not, really? His four towering victories in as many trips to the races have come by an average winning margin of better than 13 lengths. His lowest Beyer Speed Figure is a downright pedestrian 105 earned for his debut just...
Just a few days short of exactly two years after her third-place finish and eventual disqualification in the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks, Gamine (Into Mischief) was brought to the forefront once again when Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert made his second appearance on the witness stand during the final session of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's appeal hearing. Baffert originally filed the appeal that led to this six-day hearing to clear from his record a 90-day suspension that he has already served and to also reverse Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s...
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's hearing to address Bob Baffert's appeal came to a crossroad early in its fifth session on Monday in Frankfort, Kentucky following a three-day break over the weekend. After the KHRC closed their case at the start of the session, the appellants began their case by calling for a partial directive verdict in their favor based on their claim that the KHRC never proved how Medina Spirit (Protonico) received the betamethasone that led to his positive test and subsequent disqualification from his 2021 GI Kentucky Derby...
It was a relatively quiet Thursday last week when jockey John Velazquez registered his 1,000th victory at Saratoga, extending his record as the winningest jockey in Spa history. Sifting through the archives to get a feel for what was going on in the sport when Johnny V. won his first career race at Saratoga back on Aug. 5, 1990, yields a heady mix of nostalgia tinged with kismet. Although not considered a truly "historic" day of racing at the Spa, there are enough intriguing nuggets buried within the charts and...
The GII Pat O'Brien S. was billed as a softer spot for GISW Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) to land after facing leading older horses Flightline (Tapit) and Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in his last two starts, but apparently the lightly raced Laurel River (Into Mischief--Calm Water, by Empire Maker) didn't get the memo as he stormed home to take the seven-furlong Del Mar sprint, a "Win and You're In" race for the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Laurel River broke smoothly and immediately attended the pace...
Unbeaten sensation Flightline (Tapit) set fractions of :12.80, :24.60, :36.40, and stopped the clock at :59.60 for the five furlongs in his final work at Del Mar Saturday ahead of next week's GI TVG Pacific Classic. "Last work today, it was very nice," trainer John Sadler said afterward. "The idea today was not go very hard a week out. So what we try to do is just maintain his rhythm, keep him in the same place he's been in. We were thrilled. He did a minute effortlessly and he's essentially...