Catalina Cruiser

With a namesake from Old Norse mythology, valkyries being a group of maidens in service to Odin who guided the worthy to Valhalla, it was fitting that Valkyrie (Early Voting) fought the good fight on the front end to strike at first asking at Churchill Downs. Her graduation served dually as a coming out party for freshman sire Early Voting as she is his first starter and first winner. Given 7-1 odds for this jump, and with the heavy 7-5 favorite Cardio Cat (Catalina Cruiser) eyeballing her in the gate...

Meringue (Frosted) proved her talents could be applied to the turf and dirt as she successfully picked up her first stakes win in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes. The grey debuted June 19 at Churchill Downs, where she closed from eighth in that five-panel baby dash to win at first-asking on the grass by a neck. From there, her connections moved her to the main track for a tilt at the GIII Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga, and she ran headlong into Florida-bred titan Mythical (St Patrick's Day), who dominated...

3rd-GP, $94k, Msw, 3yo, 5fT, 1:50p.m. ET Profiled last year by our colleagues at TDN Europe, Benny The Waiter (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) has been shipped to the states to make his US debut in a turf dash at Gulfstream Park. A 280,000gns Craven Breeze-Up purchase by Repole Stables, this is the half-brother to GSP-Eng Space Legend (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) while his dam, unraced Newton's Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), is herself a half-sister to SW-Ire & GSP-Fr Treasure Isle (Ire) (No Nay Never). The group black type...

Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags--Sea Gull, by Mineshaft), a five-time Grade II winner at a variety of distances, will move from Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, to continue his stud career at Haras Porta Pia in Chile. The deal was brokered by Matt Bowling of Bowling Bloodstock and J.P. Sullivan of Sullivan Bloodstock. Winner of seven of his nine career starts for Hronis Racing and John Sadler, the 10-year-old is the sire of 53 individual winners to date and three stakes horses from his second crop, including GI Curlin Florida...

1st-BAQ, $90k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, post time: 1:05 p.m. ET SHINY LURE (Catalina Cruiser) was hammered down to Jonathan Thorne's Thorndale Farm for $320,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, making her the most expensive of her sire's 68 youngsters reported as sold that season (86 through the ring). Debuting with Lasix for the usually patient Danny Gargan barn, the chestnut is out of 2009 GII Forward Gal S. winner Frolic's Dream (Smoke Glacken), whose daughter Bode's Dream (Bodemeister) was a dual stakes winner as a juvenile. Frolic's Dream...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Chukyo Racecourses. The latter is the site of this weekend's Group 1 action, the Champions Cup, featuring US-bred Lemon Pop (Lemon Drop Kid). Look for the preview in Saturday's TDN Europe: Saturday, December 2, 2023 6th-HSN, ¥13,720,000 ($93k),...

2nd-Kentucky Downs, $256,000, Alw, 8-31, (R), 2yo, f, 6 1/2fT, 1:17.31, fm, 3 1/4 lengths. HIDDEN CLASS (f, 2, Catalina Cruiser--Noblame {MSW, $167,023}, by Blame) kicked off her career with a closing second to Gala Brand (Violence) in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden over the Saratoga turf Aug. 3 and did her part here to flatter the form of that rival, who was to take on the boys as a 7-2 shot in the GIII With Anticipation S. later Thursday in upstate New York. Favored at a little better than 3-2...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at both Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. To follow are the horses entered for Saturday at Ellis and Del Mar: Saturday, August 5, 2023 Ellis 2,...

TIMONIUM, MD - A filly by Arrogate (hip 552) and a colt by Catalina Cruiser (hip 568) set the fastest furlong and quarter-mile times, respectively, during the final session of the under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Thursday. Both juveniles were stabled in Barn A, with the filly consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds and the colt in the L.G. consignment of longtime Hartley/DeRenzo employee Luis Garcia. Hip 552 became the sixth juvenile of the under-tack show to work a furlong in...

In Thursday's TDN, we talked to four top judges of equine talent who had a divergence of opinion on who this year's leading first-crop sire would be. Who comes out on top in this edition? EDDIE ROSEN Top Pick: Vino Rosso (Curlin--Mythical Bride, by Street Cry {Ire}). Spendthrift Farm, 2023 fee: $15,000. Full disclosure, as a member of Team Repole that selected and raced Vino Rosso, I am obviously biased. However, I sincerely believe he will be the leading freshman sire. While he, as a Curlin, was slow-maturing and peaked...

With the 2-year-old sales season having kicked off and the first 'baby' races of the year ready to get going in a few weeks, laser focus will be placed on the up-and-coming first-crop stallions. Rightfully so, as we all hunt in earnest for the next breakout young sire. Could there possibly be another Gun Runner in the freshman class of 2023? A total of 16 young guns in North America have 50 or more current 2-year-olds resulting from their first covers in 2020. A great many more have fewer than...

The 2022 class of first-crop yearling sires features a diverse batch of Kentucky-based young stallions, including a pair of Breeders' Cup champions, two sons of reigning top sire Into Mischief, five graded stakes winners at two and five Grade I winners on turf. Throughout the course of the yearling sales season, we will feature a series of freshman sires as their first crop points toward the sales ring. David Ingordo has followed Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags--Sea Gull, by Mineshaft) throughout his career, but the Lane's End bloodstock agent said that...