Today's Edition:  Record-Setting $1.4M Justify Filly Leads The Way at OBS · Baeza Set for Summer Showdown · Royal Ascot Coverage 2

Chad Brown

Plot Thickens for Undefeated Valid Point

"Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland" is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale who have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages. 'TDN Rising Star' Valid Point (Scat Daddy) isn't exactly following the script his owners envisioned when they bought him as a $140,000 yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. But the improvised rewrite this undefeated colt is orchestrating just might turn out better than the original story line, because the plot thickened considerably last Saturday when Valid Point roared home a length...

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From Arizona To Ascot

Charles Briere's Fairway Consignment seems to have sailed a smooth upward trajectory since its establishment four years ago, hitting one target after the next. This June, a significant milestone was achieved when Fairway pinhook graduate Arizona (Ire) (No Nay Never) took Royal Ascot's G2 Coventry S. Fairway Partners purchased the dark bay for 65,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale and sold him to MV Magnier for €260,000 at last year's Arqana August sale. From the second crop of No Nay Never, Arizona is out of the placed English Channel...

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The Week in Review: At Saratoga, So Much for Conventional Wisdom

Two trainers seemed to have lost their minds Saturday at Saratoga. The result? Two graded stakes wins. In an era in racing where trainers can't space the races for their horses far enough apart, Mark Casse was setting himself up to look foolish when he dropped Got Stormy (Get Stormy) into the entry box for the GI Fourstardave H. It wasn't just that he was running a filly against boys, he was running her back off one week's rest. Seven days earlier, she had romped in the Fasig-Tipton De La...

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Secretariat, Turned Back to Mile, Draws Competitive Group

Arlington's GI Secretariat S., contested at a mile and a quarter since 1985, has been turned back in distance to a one-mile event this year, and drew a competitive nine-horse field for Saturday's running at the Chicago area oval. True to form, Chad Brown has a pair of imposing runners in Peter Brant's Fog of War (War Front) and e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Mike Ryan's Valid Point (Scat Daddy). Fog of War, who followed up a debut victory with a popular score in the GI Summer S. at Woodbine,...

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Sistercharlie Looks Primed for Bev D Repeat

Champion and win machine Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) looms large as she looks to defend her title in an expected seven-horse renewal of Saturday's GI Beverly D. S., the first of three Grade Is at Arlington. A winner of three of four to start her career in France, the bay earned a trip to America with a second at 12-1 in the G1 Prix de Diane Longines two summers ago. Since then, she's a neck and a head from being undefeated in seven U.S. starts, all except one coming at...

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Brown Trio Tops Fourstardave

Trainer Chad Brown brings a three-pronged attack in the latest renewal of the GI Fourstardave H., headed by a pair of Grade I winners--Uni (More Than Ready), winner of the GI Matriarch at Del Mar last December and GI Hollywood Derby victor Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) on the same weekend. Since those victories, Uni has added another victory to her resume in Belmont's June 29 Perfect Sting S., while Raging Bull finished fourth in both Keeneland's Apr. 12 GI Maker's 46 Mile S. and the nine-furlong GI Turf...

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August 9 Insights: Well-Bred Casse Pair Make Ellis Debut

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-ELP, $50k, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 5:42 p.m. ET Trainer Mark Casse sends out a pair of regally bred fillies in Friday's fifth event at Ellis. CRYSTAL GLACIER (Curlin), a daughter of the same stallion that lit up the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sales ring during Monday's session with three seven-figure colts, was acquired by Live Oak for the sum of $500,000 as a yearling at that sale a year ago. The dark bay hails from the family of Grade I winner and sire Majestic Warrior...

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Spa Event Launches Saudi Cup Countdown

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The countdown to next year's inaugural Saudi Cup officially began Wednesday evening with a gala organized by the race's officials in the walking ring at the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds in Saratoga. The race, scheduled to be run next Feb. 29 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, will be run over 1800 meters of the dirt track and will be worth $20 million--making it the world's richest race. The field will have a maximum of 14 runners, with $10 million going to the winner. Hosted by television...

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Down and Possibly Out, Bricks and Mortar Has Climbed to the Top

At this time last year Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway) was starting over, re-learning the lessons that had enabled him to become a standout 3-year-old turf runner in 2017. Though he was nine months removed from career-saving surgery performed by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., there was no guarantee that he would be able to regain the brilliance. While sport is littered with tales of athletes who never could make a full comeback from injury, Bricks and Mortar is an unqualified success story....

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Lope de Vega Firster Put Up at the Spa
Lope de Vega Firster Put Up at the Spa

4th-Saratoga, $90,000, Msw, 8-4, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.17, fm. SKETCHES OF SPAIN (IRE) (f, 2, Lope de Vega {Ire}--Janicellaine {Ire} {GSP, $130,051}, by Beat Hollow {GB}), trained by Chad Brown, was one of two well-meant firsters for the trainer, the other being the 9-5 favorite Situation Room (Summer Front). Both the Brown runners settled behind the early pace as Sawanage (English Channel) and Osaka Girl (First Samurai) slugged it out early through initial fractions of :23.16 and :47.99. While the favorite appeared to idle a bit approaching the quarter...

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July 28 Insights: Half-Sis to Arrogate Debuts at Del Mar

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-SAR, $90k, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, post time: 4:21 p.m. ET The powerful owner/trainer combo of Klavarich Stables and Chad Brown unveil NEW AND IMPROVED (Cairo Prince) on Saratoga's Sunday card. A $320,000 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September Sale, the gray's dam High Style (Giant's Causeway), is a daughter of the multiple Grade I winning turf specialist Tout Charmant (Slewvescent). TJCIS PPS 7th-ELP, $50,000, 2yo, f, 7f, post time: 4:40 p.m. ET Three Chimneys Farm homebred PRINCESINHA JULIA (Pioneerof the Nile), a daughter of multiple...

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Midnight Bisou Lays Over Molly Pitcher Crew

Fans at Monmouth Park for Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational will be treated to a look at a multiple Grade I winner on the undercard, as Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) towers over seven rivals in the GIII Molly Pitcher S. Never out of the trifecta in 15 outings, the dark bay captured the GI Santa Anita Oaks before running third in last spring's GI Kentucky Oaks. Romping in the GII Mother Goose S., she rebounded from a dull third in the GI...

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