Churchill Downs
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 12th-CD, $127K, Alw/OC, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 6:25 p.m. ET Just a mid-May foal, WISH YOU WELL (American Freedom) was purchased by Redwings for $160K at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase and improved into a $550K Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream juvenile after working a furlong in :10 flat (see below). The most expensive of her sire's 39 first-crop 2-year-olds reported as sold last year, Wish You Well made a giant impression in her career debut at Gulfstream Apr. 2, defeating the well-meant Inventing (Union Rags) by...
2nd-Churchill Downs, $71,943, Msw, 5-5, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.09, ft, 5 1/2 lengths. DEVIOUS DAME (f, 2, Girvin--The Shady Lady, by Quality Road) was sent off the 21-10 second choice just a handful of weeks after fetching $240,000 at the OBS March and became the first winner for her freshman sire (by Tale of Ekati) with a powerful 5 1/2-length debut success Thursday at Churchill Downs. The Florida-bred jumped away well and showed good early speed, but favored Empire of My Own (Classic Empire), herself a $170,000 OBSMAR purchase, speared...
Godolphin's progressive Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) goes for a third consecutive victory and second at the graded level when she lines up against nine sprinting sophomore fillies in Friday's GII Eight Belles S. at Churchill Downs. An easy first-out winner at Ellis last August, the homebred was second to Marissa's Lady (Violence) in this track's Fern Creek S. Nov. 27 ahead of a distant runner-up effort behind GI Longines Kentucky Oaks hopeful Secret Oath (Arrogate) in a one-mile Oaklawn allowance Dec. 31. The bay returned to winning ways with a...
It seems nearly inconceivable that there is a stakes race for 3-year-old fillies that has not been won by trainer Chad Brown, but such is the case with Friday's $500,000 GIII Edgewood S. at Churchill Downs. It will be equally surprising if that statistical anomaly is not corrected, as the conditioner is represented by the top three choices on the morning line, though Mother Nature might have something to say about it, with daylong rains predicted. Klaravich Stables' McKulick (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was a poignant debut winner at Saratoga last...
Whisper Hill Farm, Qatar Racing and Flurry Racing Stables' Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) is expected to jump a warm favorite as she goes in search of a third Grade I success beneath the famed Twin Spires in Friday's GI La Troienne S. Upset winner of the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks, the bay outfought Envoutante (Uncle Mo) to win this event by a length 53 weeks ago and atoned for a third-place effort behind champion Letruska (Super Saver) in the GI Odgen Phipps S. with a 3 1/4-length score in the GI Clement...
LOUISVILLE, KY - As the all-time leading trainer at Churchill Downs, no one has won more races beneath the Twin Spires than Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Just not on the first Saturday in May. Heading into GI Kentucky Derby 148 with 7-2 morning-line second choice Epicenter (Not This Time), as expected, Asmussen's well-documented 23-0-2-2 record in the 'Run for the Roses' has been a major topic of discussion. "I don't know if it's healthy to want anything that much," Asmussen said. "I grew up in horseracing. We've been unbelievably...
LOUISVILLE, KY - Crown Pride (Jpn) (Reach the Crown {Jpn}) had Wednesday morning's 'Dawn at the Downs' crowd buzzing just three days out from the GI Kentucky Derby. With the G2 UAE Derby winner continuing to warm up with his popular dressage-like jogging routine in the chute on a very cool and overcast morning, Todd Pletcher's troops of Charge It (Tapit), Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Pioneer of Medina (Pioneerof the Nile) were the first to hit the track for the special Derby/Oaks training period at 7:30 a.m. Owner Jerry...
The sports marketing and technology startup OpenLocker, Inc. has launched OpenStable marketplace, a fan-friendly blockchain platform designed to engage a new generation of Thoroughbred racing fans. The Legendary Racing Prospects Collection of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) will initially include GI Kentucky Derby contender Epicenter and GI Kentucky Oaks hopeful Echo Zulu. OpenLocker is looking to expand its Bone Yard Huskyz Club for sports fans at the University of Connecticut with a platform which allows racing fans to become part of an exclusive community. "We are excited to bring together the technology...
Sentient Jet is back for a seventh year as a corporate partner of the Kentucky Derby and Oaks and Churchill Downs and the private aviation company will team up with Derby contender Epicenter and Oaks hopeful Echo Zulu. Both horses will wear Sentient Jet branded blankets. "The Kentucky Derby is tradition at Sentient Jet which is why we are excited to be partnering with Winchell Thoroughbreds once again in supporting Epicenter and Echo Zulu come Oaks and Derby Day. Under the training of Steve Asmussen, we are confident they will...
Churchill Downs has become an Ed Brown Partner, the organization announced during a press conference with Governor Andy Beshear in attendance Wednesday morning. The Ed Brown Partnership of $50,000 is the highest level of participation in support of the work of the society, which is named in honor of Edward Dudley Brown, who was born into enslavement in Lexington, and went on to become one of the most accomplished horsemen in the history of Thoroughbred racing. The society is dedicated to increasing minority participation in the industry. Wednesday's press conference...
The speed of legal sports betting's expansion across America in the last four years has surprised even the most bullish advocates. On any given day in a majority of states, Americans can bet on just about any outcome in the world of sports. The next point in a game of tennis. The total runs in the next inning of a baseball game. The number of corner kicks for a team in a soccer match. But if you legally wanted to bet on the Kentucky Derby other than the day before...
An unraced 2-year-old filly by Street Sense (hip 1) topped the first phase of the dispersal of the Estate of the late Glen Todd--conducted on Fasig-Tipton's Digital Platform--when selling for $200,000 to NJP Racing. Named Adiva, the dark bay filly is out of Black Diamond Girl (Hard Spun), a half-sister to graded winner Big Truck (Hook and Ladder) and graded placed Logic Way (Freud). She was purchased by Todd's North American Thoroughbred Horse Company for $230,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. Adiva has been working up to two furlongs...