Calumet Farm

With Derby weekend in the books, we take a look back at the graded races in April that led us there. The month did not disappoint with great racing from coast to coast, although Keeneland, as per usual, was the star of the show. If the top of the sport is measured by graded races, few race weeks are as packed with quality or as anticipated as the boutique meets at Keeneland. With an inevitable focus on the Lexington track, we look at trends and notable items from the country's...

Keeneland concluded its 2025 Spring Meet on Friday following 15 days of racing that produced total wagering of $192 million. The Spring Meet was slated to begin Friday, Apr. 4, but severe storms and flooding rainfall forced Keeneland officials to take the unprecedented step of rescheduling the opening two days, resulting in the GI Central Bank Ashland and the GI Toyota Blue Grass moving to Monday, Apr. 7 and Tuesday, Apr. 8, respectively. "The success of this Spring Meet is a salute to the power of teamwork, and we are...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- There's that age-old saying in the Thoroughbred business that a good horse can come from anywhere. Perhaps no equine athlete in training anywhere in the world embodies that axiom more than Tuz (Oxbow). At the ripe old age of eight, the burly dark bay gelding--he stands 16.3hh--is in career form, arguably even better than when he won the 2024 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, and that's really saying something, as he kicked away from his rivals late on that occasion to dominate by a towering 6...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- When one thinks of the Calumet Farm of old, legends of the American turf such as Citation, Whirlaway, Tim Tam and the great Alydar come to mind. The Lexington breeding and racing operation now owned by successful businessman Brad Kelley, Calumet has the distinction of being represented by a couple of horses at Saturday's Dubai World Cup meeting--one a product of their breeding operation and the other who will carry the farm's black colors and gold chevrons in the main event. Calumet is the breeder...

3rd-Tampa Bay Downs, $32,000, Msw, 2-8, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.07, ft, head. CASSIAR (f, 3, City of Light--Nellie Cashman {GSW, $349,839}, by Mineshaft), one of four first timers who made the gate, the filly proved best when it mattered most. Overlooked as a 12-1 shot here, the longshot exited the outside gate and was up near the pace rolling towards the far turn. Salted (Tapit) assumed control around the far turn, but the 3-year-old was moving within striking distance. In the shadow of the wire, Cassiar poked her head...

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will offer a Lexitonian 2025 breeding season for auction from 8 a.m. ET Thursday to 8 p.m. ET Friday. Donated by Lexitonian's trainer Jack Sisterson, this no-guarantee season with breed back to Lexitonian is to benefit Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Lexitonian stands at Calumet Farm. "He's a horse who fights," Sisterson said. "He has the talent, the will, and the heart. He's a class act winning and placing second in multiple Grade I races. I've had a tremendous amount of confidence in him throughout his career because you...

For the fourth consecutive year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin topped the list of leading individual breeders in North America in 2024, with earnings of $23,205,149. Runners listed as bred by the operation made 1,161 starts for a record of 226 wins, 169 runner-up efforts and 186 thirds. No fewer than 10 Grade I races in North America in 2024 were taken by Godolphin-breds, led by Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who won his second Breeders' Cup Turf in three years and is a finalist for the Male...

Multiple Graded Stakes winner Linda's Gift (Arrogate--Americana, by Tapit) has been retired from racing and will be offered through Taylor Made Sales Agency at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale on Nov. 4. Out of stakes-placed Americana, Linda's Gift was trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. The 5-year-old mare won last year's GIII Red Carpet Stakes at Del Mar before returning this season to win the GIII Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita. The Calumet Farm-bred mare finished fifth, beaten less than three lengths in the May 27 GI Gamely Stakes....

Godolphin's Cody's Wish (Curlin) was named 2023 Kentucky-bred Horse of the Year and older dirt male, while his dam, Dance Card (Tapit), was named broodmare of the year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. Godolphin also received awards for Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) as champion 3-year-old filly and as KTDF Owner of the Year and winner of the P.A.B. Widener Trophy as KTOB Breeder of the Year. Other Kentucky-bred champions announced Wednesday: 2-year-old male: Fierceness (City of Light) (Breeder Repole Stable); 2-year-old filly Just F Y I (Justify) (George...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Tuz (Oxbow), who like Kabirkhan (California Chrome) was purchased on the final day of the Keeneland September sale and overwhelmed his competition in Russia to earn a call up to Dubai, took a gap at the fence with 200 metres to run and bolted clear to take Saturday's G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Nakheel by a record-setting 6 1/2 -length margin. Tuz won three starts at Pyatigorsk Hippodrome by the better part of 50 lengths was making his fourth straight appearance on World Cup...

The X-Ray Files series, now in its second year and presented in cooperation with the Consignors and Breeders Association, uses conversations with buyers and sellers to contribute to the discussion on radiographic findings and their impact on sales and racetrack success. Ocala horseman David Scanlon is not just a leading 2-year-old consignor, but he has also built an impressive list of training graduates for leading owners like Godolphin, Coolmore, Don Alberto, and Calumet Farm. In both capacities, Scanlon's operation is well represented on this year's GI Kentucky Derby trail. He...

Among the winners at the last Breeders' Cup, what was it that separated White Abarrio (Race Day), Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) and Nobals (Noble Mission {GB}) from the rest? Answer: they were the only ones that had changed hands at an American yearling auction, respectively for $7,500, $170,000 and $3,500. Even that lavish investor in the yearling market, Mike Repole, won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile with a homebred. Except for a couple of European turf juveniles, the rest of the show was a parade of champions raised by "end users":...