Clark Stakes

The sun had just barely emerged above the tree line at Turfway Park when Ethan West was given a leg up onto his next galloper that morning. It was the usual late August affair--hot, humid, and deviating from the direct line of the nearest fan made it feel like one was walking through soup...or drowning in it. And yet, the barn moved to the beat of its own drum as everyone went through their usual paces. Emerging from the shedrow on the back of an eye-catching grey, West allowed the...

In what was probably America's most anticipated race in the older horse division since the GI Breeders' Cup Classic nearly four weeks ago, the 151st running of the GII Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs Friday lived up to expectations and then some. Runaway GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes winner and Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer Magnitude (c, 3, Not This Time--Rockadelic, by Bernardini), one of the most heralded 3-year-olds on the Derby Trail at the beginning of the year, put it all together in his first start against older horses to capture...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- At the age of six, Lucky Seven Stable and Sharaf Mohamad Alhairi's Rattle N Roll (Connect) is at the peak of his powers. The same can be said for his veteran trainer Ken McPeek, who is just this side of a series of achievements that anyone who does what he does for a living will have a hard time replicating anytime in the foreseeable future. For equine and human alike, Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse is a potential watershed moment. "It's...

Multiple graded winner Fulsome (Into Mischief--Flourish, by Distorted Humor) was represented by his first Kentucky-bred foal when Addadore (Star Guitar) produced a filly Jan. 23. The foal was bred by Todd and Angie Lewis's Westbrook Stables and foaled in Nicholasville. "This filly hit the ground running; stood in 34 minutes," said Todd Lewis. "Plenty of bone and a good top line." Westbrook Stables bred Soul of an Angel (Atreides), winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, who was honored with the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter...

Trainer Brad Cox sends out the top two chances on the morning line for Friday's GII Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs, and those who support the duo from a pari-mutuel perspective will be looking for some positive cashflow to get a head start on their holiday shopping. Since being acquired privately by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's Wathnan Racing earlier this season, Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) has yet to taste defeat in three starts, including the GIII West Virginia Governor's Stakes in August, a neck defeat of Cooke...

For those eschewing shopping in favor of racing on Black Friday, Churchill Downs obliges with a pair of graded events, while Aqueduct and Del Mar offer graded stakes of their own on either coast.    'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense) looked poised to join the upper echelon of the sophomore class with his win in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. in April, but the Godolphin homebred was knocked out of the GI Preakness S. and was sidelined until returning with a gritty allowance tally at Keeneland Oct. 14....

Churchill Downs will host 26 stakes races worth $8.31 million during its upcoming September and Fall meets. The 14-day September meet, which runs from Sept. 15-Oct. 2, will include 11 stakes races worth a total of $3.36 million. The line-up is led by the $400,000 GII Lukas Classic for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles and the $300,000 GIII Ack Ack S. for 3-year-olds and up at one mile--a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" race for the GI Dirt Mile--Oct. 1. The meeting also hosts the first races...