Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile
Coolmore and partners have acquired an interest in 'TDN Rising Star Presented by Hagyard' and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos (Nyquist). Upon his retirement from racing, the colt will stand at Ashford Stud in 2027, the farm announced Friday. A no-brainer 'Rising Star' in his 10 1/2-length Santa Anita romp in October 2023, Nysos then picked up two straight graded stakes wins before enduring a significant break in training from Feb. 2024 through to May 2025. He returned in a thrilling edition of the GI Churchill Downs Stakes...
RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Bob Baffert may have won two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, 21 Breeders' Cup races, and four Dubai World Cups but there is an itch that still needs to be scratched: the Saudi Cup. "We've gotten pretty close," he said Thursday morning from King Abdulaziz Racecourse, and he's not wrong. Baffert has been represented in five of the six runnings of the world's richest race and has finished second twice, with Charlatan (Speightstown) then Country Grammer (Tonalist). Last year was his sole omission, and...
White Abarrio (Race Day), listed as the even-money favorite in Saturday's GIII Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream, will be scratched, reports co-owner Mark Cornett. Cornett said that the ownership team and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. have decided instead to train the veteran up to the Jan. 24 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational. White Abarrio was an easy winner of the 2024 Pegasus. "We don't want to run in the Mr. Prospector anymore because we have come up with a plan for him," Cornett said. "The main goal has been the...
When 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) was scratched in the moments before the field loaded into the starting gate for Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, it was on the recommendation of the on-track veterinarian in a call to the stewards. Some of the horse's connections--comprised of C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable--have been vocal on social media and in the media in the days since about their disagreement with the call. Tuesday afternoon, C2 Racing Stable posted the...
Yes, it's purely hypothetical, but imagine a GI Breeders' Cup Classic without the rabbit, Contrary Thinking (Into Mischief). That's a race Fierceness (City of Light) probably would have won. Yes, he got free in the stretch and had every chance to run down Forever Young (Jpn) (Reel Steel {Jpn}) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) but he couldn't get the job done, finishing third, losing by 1 1/2 lengths. But too much had gone wrong for him at that point, and he could not recover. Unlike what happened in the GI...
C2 Racing Stable LLC, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) went a half-mile Thursday morning at Gulfstream Park as he continues his preparations for the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Saturday, Nov. 1. Winner of the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita, the 6-year-old took to the main track following the renovation break and drilled a half-mile in :46.56 (1/7) before galloping out five furlongs in :59.29. A latest fifth, but placed fourth, in a rough-and-tumble renewal of the...
Baoma Corp.'s 'TDN Rising Star' Nysos (Nyquist) breezed a half-mile in :48 flat (10/32) Monday morning at Santa Anita, his first move since being scratched from an expected appearance in the GI Pacific Classic on Aug. 30. According to a text from trainer Bob Baffert to TDN's Sue Finley, the colt's Breeders' Cup target remains a bit up in the air. "He breezed today, pointing to [Dirt] Mile," he texted. "I could change my mind between now and then. The [Dirt] Mile probably more realistic right now. Was hoping to...
The hits just keep on coming for the infinitely likeable Book'em Danno (Bucchero), who stamped his authority on Saturday's GI Forego Stakes at Saratoga, where he has now won four times from five trips up the Thruway. His lone blemish came when a gallant third in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Stakes on this very program 12 months ago. One of the most popular horses in training, Book'em Danno has literally matured before the eyes of the horse racing public. Through a very successful sophomore season, which included a victory...
Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast), unraced since springing a 13-1 upset in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar Nov. 2, is nearing a return. "We're hoping we see him at Del Mar," owner Kosta Hronis said. "If there's a race for him there that he fits in, that's what we're gonna shoot for. We'll see how he does and go from there. The focus is Breeders' Cup. If he can handle the Classic, that would be the ultimate goal." Full Serrano has posted four workouts for trainer...
DEL MAR, CA - With the sun setting on another Breeders' Cup weekend, it was a familiar sight with the dark green silks of Hronis Racing being carried home to victory in the finale. Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast), drawn on the inside in post three, stalked and pounced his way to a 1 1/2-length victory over Post Time (Frosted) in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. It was another 2 1/4 lengths back to favored Domestic Product (Practical Joke) in third. Hronis and Sadler, of course, closed out the...
National Treasure (Quality Road), who gave eventual Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) everything he could handle before going down grudgingly in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, will miss this year's event with a foot issue, Daily Racing Form reported Friday afternoon. Winner of this year's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. and GI Metropolitan Handicap either side of a close fourth in the G1 Saudi Cup, the 4-year-old may have struggled with an off track when sixth to Arthur's Ride (Tapit) in the GI Whitney Stakes...
For the first time in the relatively brief history of the races, the G3 OBS Korea Cup and G3 OBS Korea Sprint were welcomed into the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, offering the winners a free ride into the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, respectively. And for the first time, the races' defending champions each returned to Seoul to win for the second year in succession, stamping themselves as legitimate contenders at Del Mar, if connections indeed make the trip over. Teruya Yoshida's Crown Pride (Jpn)...