Curlin

Curlin's Americathegreat Breaks Through at Churchill Downs to Graduate

5th-Churchill Downs, $120,000, Msw, 9-27, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:37.31, ft, 3/4 length. AMERICATHEGREAT (f, 2, Curlin--America {GSW & MGISP, $580,532}, by A.P. Indy) started her career at this venue May 15 and finished second to 'TDN Rising Star' Color Comin' In (Rock Your World). She would see that familiar face June 29 in the Debuntante Stakes and the fillies would finish third and fourth with the 'Rising Star' getting the better placing. She made a third effort to break her maiden Aug. 29, this time at Saratoga, but would come...

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Courting at Saratoga
Saturday's Racing Insights: $5-Million KEESEP Topper Courting Debuts at Belmont at the Big A

1st-BAQ, 85k, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 12:35 p.m. ET Courting (Curlin), the 2024 $5-million Keeneland September topper and full-brother to MGISW Clairiere, debuts for Whisper Hill Farm, breeder Stonestreet Stables and Windancer Farm and trainer Todd Pletcher going a one-turn mile. Produced by MGISW Cavorting (Bernardini), Courting is also a half-brother to SW La Crete (Medaglia d'Oro) and a full-brother to MGSP Judge Miller. Rebel Instinct (Into Mischief), a son of GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic heroine Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song) and a half-brother to two-time champion Unique Bella (Tapit), debuts...

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Stewart Is Sticking To His Guns, Puca Will Be Sold

Coming into the GI Pennsylvania Derby, Puca (Big Brown) may already have been the most valuable broodmare on the planet. But in the 1:48.03 it took to contest that race, she became worth even more. Baeza (McKinzie) won and is now the third son in a row out of Puca to capture a Grade I race. Puca's owner is John Stewart's Resolute Racing, who announced in August that Puca will be sold at this November's Fasig-Tipton "Night of the Stars" sale. As much as he'd like to keep Puca, he...

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Fasig-Tipton Catalogues 1,601 Hips For Kentucky October Yearling Sale

1,601 yearlings are set to go through the ring for next month's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, to be held on October 20-23, in Lexington, Kentucky. The four continuous sessions, conducted Monday-Thursday, will begin each day at 10 am. "Kentucky October is one of the most important yearling sales in the nation," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "The quality on offer continues to rise each year, as evidenced by the sire power and strength of pedigree in this year's catalogue." Sires represented by multiple yearlings include Constitution, Candy Ride (Arg),...

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Thursday Insights: A New Songbird Takes Flight At Churchill

5th-CD, 120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 6:59 p.m. SOARING HIGH (Curlin), the latest "baby bird" out of dual champion Songbird, debuts for Cherie DeVaux as a Whisper Hill Farm homebred Thursday at Churchill. Mandy Pope went to a sales-topping $9,500,000 to acquire the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro back in 2017 at Fasig-Tipton's November Sale. Of seven foals, she's had three to race and one winner being her 4-year-old daughter Rumours Have It (Tapit). Songbird has one other foal by Curlin, the 3-year-old colt McCorvey who is yet to break...

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Keeneland Bonanza Continues Into Book 2; $1.9-Million Gun Runner Leads The Way

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis, and Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY -The only thing that could slow down the momentum of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale was a brief interruption in Wednesday's action when the fire alarms late in the day caused the evacuation of the pavilion. "We joked in the back ring the market was so hot, it set the fire alarms off," Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said with a chuckle after the dust had settled on another competitive day of bidding at the first of two...

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Mike Ryan Picks Up Curlin Colt for $1.4 Million

A colt by Hill 'n' Dale's Curlin out of SW & GISP Cherry Lodge (Bernardini) sold for $1.4 million to Mike Ryan Wednesday during the third session of the Keeneland September yearling sale. Consigned by Gainesway and sold as hip 652, the chestnut was bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds LTD. The March colt's dam is a full-sister to GSW Gala Award and a half-sibling to GISW Stormello (Stormy Atlantic) and to additional GSW My Best Brother (Stormy Atlantic), as well as to the dam of Canadian champion Curlin's Voyage...

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'An Incredible Horse Sale': $3.3-Million Gun Runner Colt Leads Keeneland September Opener

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis and Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY - Led by a $3.3-million son of Gun Runner, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale powered through a record-setting opening session Monday in Lexington. When the dust had settled after the first of two elite Book 1 sessions, 106 yearlings had sold for $69,240,000. The average was $653,208--the highest ever at a single September session--and the median was $537,500. With just 28 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 20.90%. Those figures are ahead of last year's opening session, when...

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Sierra Leone Tops Red-Hot Renewal of Jockey Club Gold Cup

Just how deep is Sunday's running of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in a little more than two months' time? Well, six of the eight remaining horses--GII Charles Town Classic winner Banishing (Ghostzapper) will be scratched--have recorded at least one Beyer Speed Figure of 104 or higher this year and three of the entrants are already Grade I winners this term. It is the very definition of a hot race. The field is led by...

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Mindframe outside Operation Overlord at Saratoga
Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Pletcher's Big Guns Running on Both Coasts This Weekend

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - All summer long, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has fielded questions, seemingly daily, about the two marquee older horses that live in his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. The goal, Pletcher said, was to keep Fierceness (City of Light) and Mindframe (Constitution) as far apart from each other as possible. On the racetrack that is. Mission accomplished. That weekend is here, and the two 4-year-olds are spending it on opposite ends of the country. Fierceness is in California to run in the GI, $1...

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Journalism Makes Latest Trackside Appearance as Pacific Classic Deadline Inches Closer

Multiple Grade I hero Journalism (Curlin) was out over the Del Mar racetrack Saturday morning for his latest move as his connections continue talks about entering in the GI Pacific Classic. Out on an overcast day, the son of Curlin put in a five-furlong breeze in 1-minute flat, the 30th fastest of 69 that morning at the distance, with regular rider Umberto Rispoli in the irons. The pair went in company with SP Phosphorescence (Fr) (City of Light). It was the longest of his three works at the track in...

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Curlin's Himika Effortless in Sorrento Victory

'TDN Rising Star' Himika proved that her impressive first-out victory at Santa Anita in June was no fluke, followed up with an equally effortless victory when taking Del Mar's GIII Sorrento Stakes Sunday. Of a touch slow from her inside draw, the bay bullied her way through the tightly-knit pack heading through an honest :22.11 quarter. Edging past longshot My Kat (Gato Del Oro) approaching the home turn, she fired all boosters late, drawing off to score by a geared-down 4 1/4-length margin over Mo' Em Down, clear of Thank...

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