Constitution

2nd-Gulfstream, $44,000, Msw, 5-9, 2yo, 4 1/2f, :52.63, ft. HYPERFOCUS (c, 2, Constitution--Discreet Meating, by Hat Trick {Jpn}) became the 50th worldwide winner for his second-crop sire, who scored both of his top-level victories at Gulfstream for winning trainer Todd Pletcher. Sent off at 5-2 in this career bow, the $100,000 KEESEP purchase raced off the fence in mid-pack as Breakthrough (Nyquist) and Peppi (Cajun Breeze) dueled through a swift first quarter in :22.07. Aggressively ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., the bay ranged up outside the top two turning for...

11th-GP, $46K, Alw, N1X, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 5:57 p.m. ET AURELIA GARLAND (Constitution) was the first of what would be 29 winners from her phenom sire's first crop last term, and she'll finally look to pick up where she left off here, almost exactly a year since her head-turning unveiling. The $185,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad aired by five lengths at Belmont last May for Wesley Ward to garner the 'TDN Rising Star' distinction, but has since been transferred to Rodolphe Brisset. Third in her debut race was Sweet Melania (American...

Top GI Kentucky Derby contender Tiz the Law (Constitution) had his first breeze since winning the GI Curlin Florida Derby two weeks ago, covering a half-mile in :52.80 (66/69) at Palm Meadows Saturday morning. "He was just stretching his legs," owner Sackatoga Stable's managing partner Jack Knowlton said. "We obviously don't have anything on the horizon, but we have to keep him in training. That's his first work back. In a normal world he'd work back in 10 days, 11 days. We don't want to go backwards on him, but...

The New York Racing Association has yet to announce if it will move the date of the GI Runhappy Travers S., but at least one owner of a top 3-year-old has weighed in. Jack Knowlton, whose Sackatoga Stable owns GI Curlin Florida Derby winner Tiz the Law (Constitution), said it would be "suicidal" to run the race on its scheduled date of Aug. 29. An Aug. 29 Travers would mean that it would be run one week before a rescheduled GI Kentucky Derby Sept. 5. Considering that top horses very...

Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law (Constitution) dominated a full and talented field in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby to cement his status as one of the top contenders for the GI Kentucky Derby, which was recently moved to the First Saturday in September. With many of what was supposed to be the final round of Derby preps canceled or postponed due to COVID-19 track closures, Gulfstream's marquee race attracted 13 colts, but only nine remained by post time. Favored at 7-5 off his success in the GIII Holy Bull S....

How innocent we all were, in hindsight. Maybe you, like me, were in town from colder climes; feeling your whole soul opening, flower-like, to the unaccustomed warmth of the Miami springtime. From the upper arcade I gazed superciliously at Maximum Security (New Year's Day) as he strolled round the parade ring. The hometown upstart had won three sprints by an aggregate 35 lengths, but you could have claimed him for $16,000 on his debut. Yes, everyone cautioned that Jason Servis, at a 45% clip through the meet, could do unexpected...

Since its inaugural running in 1952, the GI Curlin Florida Derby has always been a stop along the journey for GI Kentucky Derby hopefuls--a chance for fine-tuning and finishing touches before horses take their best shots to Louisville. But this year, due to the postponement of the Run for the Roses and general uncertainty about what the rest of the racing calendar will look like as the world grapples with the coronavirus crisis, the Florida Derby is now a point of disembarkation for 3-year-olds, and it fittingly drew a stacked...

LNJ Foxwoods's Covfefe (Into Mischief--Antics, by Unbridled), who last month was named champion 3-year-old filly and champion female sprinter at the Eclipse Awards, has been retired from racing and will be bred to boom sire Constitution for the upcoming breeding season. She will reside at Gainesway Farm. Bred in Kentucky by Alexander-Groves Thoroughbreds, Covfefe was a $250,000 purchase out of the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale by Alex Solis II and Jason Litt of Solis/Litt Bloodstock on behalf of Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods. Turned over to...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols 6th-TAM, $27K, Alw/Opt Clm (75k), 3yo, 1m 40yds, 3:16 p.m. Team Valor International and WinStar Farm's GOUVERNEUR MORRIS (Constitution), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following a nine-length debut win at Saratoga Sept. 2, makes his first start since finishing second behind Maxfield (Street Sense) in the Oct. 5 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. Trainer Mark Casse sends out Untitled (Khozan), a sharp debut winner at Gulfstream in December who returned to finish a troubled fourth in the Feb. 1 GIII Swale S. in his first start for...

Kayce Lu (Lonhro {Aus}), a 6-year-old mare in foal to Constitution, has been supplemented to this week's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, the half-sister to graded stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Comical (Into Mischief) will be offered as hip 651. The Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale will be held Monday and Tuesday, with bidding beginning each day at 10 a.m. at Newtown Paddocks. The supplemental catalogue will be offered Tuesday following the conclusion of the main catalogue.

Undefeated and impressive in all three of his career starts thus far, Independence Hall (Constitution) has earned respect as one of the top early choices for the GI Kentucky Derby. Saturday, fans will get a much clearer picture of whether that stature is justified, as the Mike Trombetta trainee heads south to take on a quality field in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa Bay Downs. Sent off as a 7-5 favorite debuting in a seven-furlong event on the GI Pennsylvania Derby undercard at Parx, the dark bay...

After surveying the four intakes since, each still safely immune from judgement on the track itself, today we finally reach the first group of stallions who have actually tested their ability to replicate the talent that first earned them--however marginally, in some cases--a place at stud. Their first juveniles, last year, at least permitted some initial response to any erosion of their reputations, through the notoriously jittery and impressionable consensus of the yearling market. Yet there are few more instructive indices of the odds against them than the contrast between...