Brendan Walsh

Del Mar will play host to a pair of competitive juvenile events Sunday in the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity and GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf. The day's main event looks to be Bob Baffert's race to lose as the conditioner sends out three well-regarded runners in 'TDN Rising Stars' Newgate (Into Mischief) and Cave Rock (Arrogate), and unbeaten GIII Best Pal S. winner Havnameltdown (Uncaptured). Cave Rock produced the field's best Beyer Speed Figure of 101 when blitzing the field in his Aug. 13 debut at this venue. The...

There was no Million Lane 5, no foreign contingent--Aidan O'Brien accounted for the only two overseas nominations--and only a fraction of the fans that would have passed through the turnstiles at the now-shuttered Arlington Park a handful of hours to the north. That Saturday's GI Arlington Million took place at all is something of a 'miracle', as Churchill Downs had not hosted a race on the turf since early June. The GII Secretariat S. and GIII Pucker Up S. for 3-year-old males and females, respectively, were canceled so as not...

Irish-bred Ocean Road, making her third start in North America, picked up her first stakes win at the highest level with a last-to-first score in Monday's GI Gamely S. at Santa Anita. Graduating second out on the Lingfield all-weather in December of 2020, the bay was third in a pair of British stakes before shipping in for Hugo Palmer to run sixth after a slow start in the GI Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf before finishing full of run to get up in the last stride of a Keeneland...

The GII Edgewood S. on the Kentucky Oaks undercard became a milestone victory for owner Marc Detampel when his 'TDN Rising Star' New Year's Eve (Kitten's Joy) rallied from last to first in a competitive 10-horse field to claim the $500,000 turf contest. Detampel, who hails from Chicago, doesn't get the chance to see his racehorses on a regular basis, but when he visited New Year's Eve two weeks ago at Brendan Walsh's barn, his anticipation for the filly's next start grew. "I hadn't seen her in a while and...

Adding blinkers proved quite fruitful two days in a row for Brendan Walsh. 'TDN Rising Star' New Year's Eve (Kitten's Joy) donned blinkers for the first time Friday when registering an upset score in the GII Edgewood S. The additional equipment was even more lucrative for Walsh Saturday when Santin became the latest Grade I winner for his timeless sire Distorted Humor with a gutsy victory in the GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic S. at Churchill Downs. Away alertly from the outside post in this 10-horse affair, the 7-1...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-GP, $50K, MSW, 3yo/up, f, 1 1/16mT, 2:09 p.m.    From the first crop of the late champion Arrogate, USURPED debuts Sunday for trainer Brendan Walsh and owner/breeder Bridlewood Farm. The 3-year-old filly is out of the El Corredor mare Concinnous, making her a half-sister to millionaire & MGISW Iotapa (Afleet Alex), who sold for $2.8 million to the China Horse Club at the 2014 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Usurped is also a half-sister to GSP Saintly Joan (Northern Afleet), a $625,000 purchase at...

Karma, football, a wild longshot in the Santa Anita Oaks, and one of the industry's oldest farms striving to break new ground in new areas. Let's also not forget the big Twin Spired shadow looming over us. Here's how the controlled chaos went down this week. Defying the odds...again Taiba will be up against all sorts of historical norms by forging ahead to the Kentucky Derby off just two lifetime starts. Since 1937 (the advent of detailed start statistics), only four horses have ever even attempted the Derby in career...

'TDN Rising Star' Prevalence made the grade Saturday with a good-looking score in the Commonwealth at Keeneland. Away well from post 10, the bettors' second choice raced in a joint second as favored fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Nashville zipped through an opening quarter in :22.12. The bay turned up the heat on the chalk a bit through a :44.61 half-mile and they turned for home on even terms. Nashville threw in the towel at the top of the stretch, fading fast to the back of the field, but Prevalence had...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-GP, $60k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 2:01p.m. ET Beautifully bred and sporting the royal Godolphin blue, LOVED (Medaglia d'Oro) will be unveiled by Brendan Walsh, a conditioner well-versed with her family as the trainer of the filly's half-brother, MGISW and new Darley sire Maxfield (Street Sense). Out of a daughter of Caress (Storm Cat), Loved hails from the female family of leading sires Bernstein (Storm Cat) and Sky Mesa (Pulpit), as well as MGSW & GISP Golden Velvet (Seeking the Gold), the dam of two...

Space Traveller (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who ran well enough in his last two over nine-furlong trips that likely stretch him, cuts back to the mile and rates a long look in Saturday's GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. at Santa Anita. Trained in Europe by Richard Fahey, the 6-year-old was a five-time winner from 19 starts, including the G3 Jersey S. over a straight seven furlongs at Royal Ascot in 2019 and a narrow victory in that year's G2 Solonaway S. going a mile around the relatively flat and...

1st-Tampa Bay Downs, $28,600, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($75,000), 2-19, 3yo, 7f, 1:24.10, ft, head. BELGRADE (c, 3, Hard Spun--Miss Prytania, by Eskendereya), a $700,000 KEEJAN purchase earlier this year off the heels of a six-length debut graduation for owner Randy Bradshaw and trainer Brendan Walsh in a maiden special weight reserved for horses that sold or RNA'd for $45,000 or less at auction at Fair Grounds Dec. 18, delivered as the 1-2 favorite after some anxious moments in his first start for his new connections at Tampa Saturday. Off to...

Extravagant Kid (Kiss the Kid--Pretty Extravagant, by With Distinction), winner of the 2021 G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan, has been retired from racing at the age of nine. Trained by Brendan Walsh, the gelding retires with $1,704,683 in earnings from 56 starts, which includes 15 wins, 18 runner-up finishes and seven thirds. David Ross, racing under the banner of DARRS, Inc., claimed the horse four years ago. "We had him scanned and it looked like he was starting to get the beginning of a bone spur," Ross said. "We...