Churchill

Last week's maiden races produced yet another budding Juddmonte star plus a potential Royal Ascot candidate. 5--MOVIE NIGHT, CD 2, 5-16, 6f Beyer Speed Figure- 84 (video) (f, 3, Speightstown--Savvy Star, by Medaglia d'Oro) O/B-WinStar Farm (Ky); T-Will Walden; J-Luan Machado. As she charged to the quarter pole with an eye-catching rally, her second start looked eerily similar to her runner-up debut at Keeneland--sloppy track and all. But she caught a much softer field last week and stormed away by eight lengths at 3-5 odds with a Beyer one point...

OGMA Investments LLC, JR Ranch and High Step Racing LLC's The Puma (Essential Quality) tuned up for a scheduled start in the May 2 GI Kentucky Derby Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park during a maintenance-style half-mile breeze. "It was getting him back into his routine two weeks after a race. It was pretty easy. Maybe the exercise rider got a little too comfortable, but next week is when he'll have his important work," trainer Gustavo Delgado's son and assistant Gustavo Delgado Jr. said. "We're planning to do that Friday or...

The prep season for the GI Kentucky Oaks came to a conclusion last week and the field looks more or less set. It should be a quality, competitive race with no clear standout. The big story last week was the win in the GI Ashland Stakes by Percy's Bar (Upstart). It was a powerful, eye-opening performance, one that was good that she has moved up in this poll from the 10th spot to the top spot. So, here goes, your latest and last Top 10 for the Kentucky Oaks: 1)...

When Nu What's New (Munnings) started his career last year a sixth-place finish in a maiden race at Churchill and followed that with a seventh-place run in a maiden on the turf, trainer James DiVito couldn't have been happy. He had paid $300,000 for the horse at the 2024 OBS April sale and Nu What's New just wasn't performing. Fast forward several months later and Nu What's New is among the most improved horses in racing, and has a shot to defeat the favorite in Saturday's Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn...

And on we go, to a sector of the market that will have great appeal to the shrewd and smaller breeders (you can certainly be both), with the next part of our Value Sires series devoted to those standing in the bracket of £7,500 to £14,999 (approximately €8,500 to €17,000).  There are always deals to be struck in the stallion market, and perhaps that is especially true within the lower price tiers, where your bartering power may also depend on your previous support of a particular stallion or stud, and...

8th-Churchill Downs, $117,975, Msw, 11-22, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:19.17, sy, 3/4 length. MARJORAM (f, 2, Quality Road--Cardamon, by Pioneerof the Nile), a Juddmonte homebred and full-sibling to this summer's GIII Mahony Stakes winner Spiced Up, debuted Saturday at 3-1 under Louisville's twin spires. The bay juvenile was a joint and distant last through the :22.68 first quarter, rushed up to fourth going into the far turn, continued to advance as the clock stopped in :46.25 for the half, and swung wide to take command down the lane. Frontrunner Kayla's...

Survie, runner-up by a head in the G1 Prix de Diane, will be offered during the Sceptre Sessions at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale from December 1-3. She will sell as lot 1723 on Tuesday, December 2. The daughter of Churchill will be consigned by co-trainers Nicolas Clement and Frauke Hermans on behalf of owners China Horse Club International and Gerard Augustin-Normand. A winner of the G2 Prix de Malleret at three, the four-year-old was third in the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes, second in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet and...

G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein hero Ridari (Churchill) has been purchased privately by John Stewart's Resolute Racing, Arqana announced. Set to be trained by Miguel Clement, the former Aga Khan Studs' runner's sale was facilitated by Clement's uncle, Nicolas Clement. Previously marked as a €950,000 buy-back during the October 4 Arc Sale, the three-year-old colt sold for that amount to Stewart's operation. From eight starts, the son of G1 Prix de l'Opera heroine Ridasiyna (Motivator) has won three, with a tally in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau joining his Wildenstein score....

Sponsored by Pedigrees360. How timely, that the first starting points for the 2026 Classics should be offered at Churchill even as the big spenders were driving each other to record heights up the road at Keeneland in their quest for a horse for 2027. Admittedly Saturday's initial rehearsals offered alternatives to those who cannot spend millions at the September Sale. One winner was out of a homebred Cowboy Cal mare, admittedly using a stallion who banked 12 seven-figure sales at Keeneland; while the other was a $20,000 discovery, inevitably by...

There are moments in every great industry where legacy is forged not in silence, but through bold, decisive action. As we approach the 2025 Keeneland September Sale, this is one of those moments. In last week's Thoroughbred Daily News, two pieces struck a deep and unsettling chord: the Thoroughbred Rescue Alliance's open letter titled "When Does a Thoroughbred Earn a Safe Retirement?" (Aug. 25), and Pat Cummings's "Aftercare Not Meeting The Need" (Aug. 28). As an industry of excellence, prestige, and tradition, these letters were hard to read--not because they're...

'TDN Rising Star' Gulfport (Uncle Mo--Fame and Fortune, by Unbridled's Song) will join the Pleasant Acres Stallions roster ahead of the 2026 breeding season, the farm announced. The 5-year-old earned his 'Rising Star' with a debut win at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old and followed that up with a next-out victory in the Bashford Manor Stakes. He then ran second in the both the GII Saratoga Special Stakes and the GI Hopeful Stakes before capping his juvenile campaign with a third in the GI Champagne Stakes at Belmont. Raced only...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Sigh No More in the Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth. Boiling Springs Stakes To Sigh No More Heider Family Stables' Sigh No More ran out a 1 1/2-length winner of Monmouth Park's Boiling Springs Stakes at the end of last month (video). Conditioned by Brendan Walsh, the daughter of Starspangledbanner was making her second US start. Bred by Barronstown Stud out of the...