Curlin

Quality Mares, Commercial Matings Key for Grovendale at Fasig-Tipton

Grovendale Sales describes itself as a boutique Thoroughbred consignor. So it may not always have the quantity of some others when it comes to the November breeding stock sales. But they do have quality. And, this year, plenty of it. Grovendale, which is run by James Keogh and Chance Timm, will sell five quality broodmares, all in foal to top stallions, at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars sale. They will also be selling a weanling. The roster of sires the mares are in foal to reads like a...

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Praying Has Spread Blessings

Did you hear the one about the wrestler who opted for three foals and a submission? Understandably, Jeff Kerber feels a little conflicted about the "submission." In his youth, as Iowa's first high school wrestler unbeaten through four years of varsity competition, everything came down to what he could do with his bare hands. In lately discovering a flair for a second walk of sporting life, however, Kerber had to make a pragmatic concession to the economic odds against him. His entire Kentucky program comprised four mares, and one of...

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Fasig-Tipton Kentucky
Record Crusher: Fasig-Tipton October Sale Concludes with Massive Gains

LEXINGTON, KY - Demand continued high right to the very end of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, which concluded Thursday in Lexington with new records for gross, average and median. Through four sessions, 1,097 horses sold for $71,843,500, dwarfing the previous record gross of $58,575,500 set just last year. The 2025 auction average of $65,491 eclipsed last year's previous record figure of $52,206, while the median of $30,000 broke the record of $25,000 set in 2022. "It was a tremendous success," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said of the sale....

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Ultimate Love
Unbeaten Ultimate Love a 'Logical Player' in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf

Live Oak Plantation's blue-blooded homebred Ultimate Love (Curlin) will put her perfect record on the line in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar Oct. 31. She will look to emulate Sharing (Speightstown), who followed a win in Laurel Park's Selima S. with a 13-1 upset at the 2019 Championships at Santa Anita. "I think she fits and hopefully she's a logical player to give it a try," trainer Mike Trombetta said. Ultimate Love has won her first three career starts--all on grass--by a combined margin of...

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'Great Start': Fasig-Tipton October Sale Opens With a Bang

LEXINGTON, KY -- The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale powered through its opening session in Lexington Monday, with figures up significantly from its record-setting 2024 renewal. "It was a great start to the October Yearling Sale in Kentucky," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said at the close of business Monday. "All of the statistical categories produced significant increases and we saw a continuation of the trends that we've seen from July carried through August, carried through September and now in October. There was tremendous demand at more levels than we've seen...

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Curlin Colt to Legion Bloodstock for $900k at Fasig-Tipton October

A colt by Curlin (hip 268) lit up the board at the first session of the Fasig-Tipton October sale when bringing a final bid of $900,000 from Legion Bloodstock's Kristian Villante. Villante was bidding on behalf of a partnership of Legion clients led by the Hudson family's Hoolie Racing. Bred by Alpha Delta Stables and consigned by Mill Ridge Sales, the yearling is the first foal out of Canadian champion Munnyfor Ro (Munnings). Alpha Delta purchased the mare, with the colt in utero, for $900,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton November...

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'Rising Star' Himika Returns to Winning Form in Anoakia Stakes Romp

The betting public wagered that the Anoakia Stakes would be a return to winning form for Himika (Curlin), and she gave them no reason to worry in the lane as she powered home with ears pricked. A stylish victress at first-asking June 12 at this venue, the newly minted 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' was asked to take on graded company in her second lifetime start, and she passed that test with grace to land the GIII Sorrento Stakes by over four lengths. From there, she ran an even...

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Ground Support at Belmont at the Big A
Army Mule Gets Slight Bump, Curlin, Good Magic Remain at Six Figures at Hill 'n' Dale

Two-time Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike) and his champion son Good Magic will stand the 2026 breeding season for $225,000 and $125,000, respectively, at John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, the Lexington area nursery announced Thursday. Curlin, who turns 22 in 2026, remains the only stallion to have supplied three Breeders' Cup winners on a single program and the only sire to account for four Eclipse Award winners in the same year. Good Magic, who was represented by a quartet of $1-million yearlings in 2025, is the...

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Tamara, Kopion Among Breeders' Cup Hopefuls on Santa Anita Worktab

Stablemates Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) and Kopion (Omaha Beach) were among several Breeders' Cup hopefuls to make an appearance Monday morning on the worktab at Santa Anita ahead of a multi-day rainstorm that's expected to arrive in the area later in the evening. Trained by Richard Mandella, Grade I winners Tamara and Kopion both worked three furlongs with the former being clocked in :37.40 (7/19) on the main track while the latter went to the synthetic training track and was timed in :39.80 (4/4). Kopion wears glue-on shoes, according to Mandella,...

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TRF Launches Journalism Halter Raffle To Support Retired Racehorses

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) is rolling out a special fundraising raffle giving racing fans an opportunity to own a shadowboxed halter worn by MGISW Journalism (Curlin) during his 2024-2025 campaign, according to a press release from the non-profit on Friday. Each ticket--priced at $100--offers a direct way to support TRF's mission of dignified lifetime care for nearly 400 retired Thoroughbreds across the country. The raffle, which is limited to 100 tickets, will close Oct. 31. "Every ticket helps us continue our mission of providing dignified lifetime care for the...

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Slugfest! Curlin's Believable Stern Late At The Big A

7th-Belmont The Big A, $85,000, Msw, 9-28, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:37.28, ft, nose. BELIEVABLE (f, 2, Curlin--Temptress, by Tapit), an $800,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling sale grad, may not have made the front in her debut race as an 8-1 shot here, but she certainly remedied that by the time the field exited the chute and hit the main track. The 2-year-old held sway up the backstretch and around the far turn, but entering the lane she was challenged by a bid to the outside from Concurrently (Amercian Pharoah). Duking it...

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Week In Review: 3-for-3 Filly Flies Under the Radar, but 'Ultimately' Not for Long

The weekend stakes featured plenty of outcomes with Breeders' Cup implications. But while top-level races in California, Kentucky and New York yielded headline horses bound for the big Saturday of championship weekend, an ungraded $125,000 grass route for 2-year-old fillies in Maryland produced one of the more intriguing, under-the-radar candidates for Future Stars Friday. Ultimate Love is now 3-for-3 after her stylish, four-length, going-away score in the Selima Stakes at Laurel Park, and the chestnut daughter of Curlin could be bound for the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf. A homebred from...

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