Eclatant

Back in the States and resurfacing on the worktab for the first time since his G1 Dubai World Cup heroics, Winchell Thoroughbreds's Magnitude (Not This Time) breezed at Churchill Downs Saturday morning. Out to work an easy half-mile, the Steve Asmussen trainee was clocked in :51.20, the 86th fastest move of 96 at the distance. It was his first published workout in North America since returning from Meydan. Also working four furlongs, among others from the barn, was MSW Braken Poppa (Aurelius Maximus), who is undefeated in 2026 from four...

He was still somewhat Gray Abarrio when first coming on the scene, but has by now been around long enough to develop the dazzling coat appropriate to his naming. So long, in fact, that there has even been time for White Abarrio (Race Day) to brighten up his pedigree, as well. Its fundamentals remain familiar: his freakish status in the resume of his own sire, who was exported to South Korea around the time White Abarrio was sold for $7,500 as a yearling; and, conversely, the early marker he laid...

There may not be a harder-working man in racing journalism that Nick Luck. In addition to his work on NBC's racing broadcasts, he hosts the podcasts Nick Luck Daily and Nick Luck on Sunday, and has covered major racing events for networks in the U.K. Australia, Hong Kong, and throughout the Middle East. In 2017, he became the BBC Equestrian commentator, and has since covered the Olympia Horse Show, Badminton Horse Trials, Burghley Horse Trials, and the Olympic Games for the BBC. Luck has been named Horserace Writers' & Photographers'...

Topping the list (technically it's at the bottom) are the 1-2-3 finishers from Keeneland's Madison Stakes, deeper in quality than any race so far this year. 6--MUNNINGS EXPRESS, AQU, Apr 4--WON, 6 1/2 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure--90 (video) (f, 4, Munnings--Freudie Anne, by Freud) O-Team Spoor; B-Fergus Galvin, Marc Detampel, Jayne Johnson & Adrian Wallace (NY); T-Linda Rice; J-Jose Lezcano. Aqueduct's runaway leading trainer Rice stuffed the entry box with 11 runners on Wood Memorial day and came away with four winners, including Richard Spoor's ascending New York-bred filly who...

The Brad Cox barn captured three of the five graded stakes on Saturday's program, highlighted by the 11-length victory by Spendthrift Farm's 'Tdn Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Further Ado (Gun Runner) in the GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. (video courtesy HBPA) "They are all doing good this morning and will most likely ship to Churchill Downs [Monday Apr. 6]," Cox a assistant Trace Messina said of Further Ado, GI Resolute Racing Madison winner Eclatant (Into Mischief) and GIII Commonwealth winner Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming). The three victories moved Cox's...

This week's rankings are topped by the fastest Beyer for any female thus far in 2026. 5) PASSAGE EAST, LRL, 2-14, Barbara Fritchie S., 7f, VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure: 92 (f, 4, Audible--Salten Sapity, by Congrats) O-Larry Rabold; B-Don Alberto Corporation (Ky); T-Hugh McMahon; J-Sheldon Russell. Trainer Hugh McMahon has won 1,227 races, but few could have given him more excitement than Passage East's gritty nostril victory after a spirited battle against odds-on favorite Takethemoneyhoney. McMahon claimed the filly for $30k out of her second lifetime start, and after a...

Whether you consider it just a random squeaking of the hamster wheel, or evidence of some latent order awaiting our discovery, these Thoroughbreds certainly know how to make us stop and think about the strange operation of life. Last Friday it was announced that Miss Macy Sue (Trippi) had died at 22. The very next day, her son Liam's Map produced a Derby contender in GIII Holy Bull Stakes winner Burnham Square. The 20 starting points banked there, moreover, matched those earned two weeks previously in the GIII Lecomte Stakes...

Stonestreet homebred Eclatant (Into Mischief) remained perfect in three starts going one turn with a late-running victory in the GIII Fasig-Tipton Forward Gal Stakes to close out the Saturday program in Hallandale Beach. The 4-1 chance was beaten for speed and settled in about midpack early on as longshot and 'TDN Rising Star' Rojo Rita (Volatile) came across from her high draw and was pressed along by Stunner (Girvin) through enervating early fractions. Three deep, but with cover on the back of The Queens M G (Thousand Words) into and...

Horse racing and bourbon intersect in so many ways, but they really form a nexus around the themes of time and patience. Without either in the breeding shed or in the rickhouse, your chances at success will be severely hampered. There is nothing quite so powerful as a statement of age in the racing form or an age statement out of the barrel. When it comes to Thoroughbreds and specifically placing a strong emphasis on homebreds, John Ed Anthony's Shortleaf Stable personifies what many in the industry think a great...

The sole Grade I winner in Saturday's GI Hollywood Derby lineup, Carson's Run (Cupid) will try to shift his East Coast form to California for Del Mar's nine-furlong turf test. A first-out winner at Saratoga at two, the chestnut took the one-mile GI Summer Stakes at Woodbine later in September. Demoted to fifth in his sophomore bow in the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct in April, the Christophe Clement trainee rebounded to win his next two-a confident score in Monmouth's Tale of the Cat Stakes before closing to a 3/4-length score...

2nd-KEE, $100k, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, post time: 1:32 p.m. ET One need look no further than the rail for the fanciest pedigree in this field of 12, as SCORPIUS (Into Mischief) is the full-brother to Mandaloun, who overcame an eventful trip on his six-furlong debut at this track to become a 'TDN Rising Star' during the fall meeting in 2020 and went on to win the GII Risen Star Stakes before going on to be promoted to the victory in both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Haskell Stakes in...

4th-CD, $120,000, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, post time: 2:13 p.m. ET YOU'LL BE BACK (Practical Joke), the second priciest filly by the sire in 2023, is unveiled for Gregory Tramontin by trainer Tom Amoss. A daughter of Advance Party (Empire Maker), the $575,000 KEESEP purchase is a granddaughter of the prolific Helen Alexander - Helen Groves's Aurora, a daughter of the stalwart champion juvenile filly Althea. A full-sister to Japanese champion 2yo filly Yamanin Paradise, Advance Party is a half-sister to UAE Horse of the Year Festival of Light (A.P....