Eight Rings

Slam Dunk Racing, Deborah Baltas, and Cynthia McClanahan's British Isles (g, 5, Justify--Purely Hot, by Pure Prize), a private purchase by the team from Coolmore connections two years ago, has spent the majority of his 24-race career in allowance company, but took full advantage of the scratched-down field of five in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Handicap in Arcadia to emerge a winner at the elite level. It was not just the big blazed-faced chestnut's first Grade I win, but also his first black-type victory. Leaving from the outermost post, British...

GISW and nationally ranked fourth-crop sire Collected (City Zip) will highlight Rancho San Miguel's 2025 Open House & Stallion Show to be held Saturday, December 6. The free event will be hosted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with all regional Thoroughbred breeders, owners, trainers and enthusiasts invited to attend. Collected recently arrived at the San Luis Obispo County farm from Airdrie Stud in Kentucky, which is partnering with Rancho San Miguel and prominent California breeder/owner Marsha Naify to stand the 12-year-old son of City Zip for a $7,500 fee...

While the GI Breeders' Cup Classic may have turned out to be a jump too high for him, Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) bounced back from that effort with a workman-like victory in the GIII Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar. Despite only starting his career in mid-April this year, the son of Omaha Beach has cobbled together a respectable 2025 campaign with wins in the Los Alamitos Derby in late June and the 'WAYI' GI Goodwood Stakes two back Sept. 27 at Santa Anita. The lattermost effort guaranteed him a...

Grade I winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker) has relocated from Harris Farms to Rancho San Miguel and will stand at the new farm for a 2026 fee of $6,000 with a live foal guarantee, it was announced by press release. The son of Empire Maker claimed his elite-level win in the GI American Pharoah Stakes for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert as a juvenile and went on to be placed in four other graded contests--namely the GI Bing Crosby (second); GIII Native Diver (third); GII San Antonio Stakes (second); and...

9th-SA, $61K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 8:11 p.m. ET. The rail-drawn URBAN LEGEND (Into Mischief) is one of three Bob Baffert trainees to debut in the Santa Anita finale. Out of MSW Singing Kitty (Ministers Wild Cat), the bay colt went for $300,000 at Keeneland September before bringing $1.3 million at the OBS April Sale. He is campaigned by Morplay Racing LLC, Rosedown Racing Stables, LLC and Kerri Radcliffe. The Hall of Fame conditioner will also saddle Nysos (Nyquist), who was purchased by Baoma Corp. for $550,000 at OBS April, and...

While no singular superstar emerged from this class numbering just 60, the top-to-bottom quality separates this class from its counterparts. MGISW Guarana (Ghostzapper) was the only 'TDN Rising Star' to win multiple Grade I events in 2019. She posted three consecutive victories that year, going straight from her maiden-breaking score at Keeneland to the GI Acorn S., where she defeated GI Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and future Eclipse champion Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), and then to Saratoga's GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Second only to GISW Street Band...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Saturday running at Hanshin Racecourses: Saturday, November 12, 2022 4th-HSN, ¥13,400,000 ($94k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m CUPIDON (c, 2, American Pharoah--Chocolate Pop, by Cuvee) is a half-brother to dual-surface graded winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Airoforce (Colonel John) and was hammered...

C Z Rocket (City Zip) will be looking to earn another automatic berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint when he attempts to defend his title in the 'Win and You're In' GII Pat O'Brien S. at Del Mar Saturday night. The 7-year-old gelding has hit the board in all 10 starts--with seven wins--since being claimed for $40,000 last April. He earned his first graded score in last year's Pat O'Brien and followed up with a win in the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. before concluding the year with...

Handicappers will have a tough time tossing many horses from their tickets as a competitive nine-horse field lines up for Saturday's six-furlong GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar, a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Given a slight nod on the morning line at 5-2 is C Z Rocket (City Zip). Claimed for $40,000 last spring at Oaklawn by Peter Miller, the gelding has been a new horse since, winning seven of nine races while finishing second in the other two. That streak includes...

Four out of the five runners from the GI Woody Stephens S., topped by winner No Parole (Violence), will face off again Saturday in a loaded renewal of the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. at Saratoga. 'TDN Rising Star' No Parole won his first three races against fellow LA-breds by a combined 34 lengths. Facing defeat for the first time when trying two turns in the GII Rebel S. Mar. 14, the bay returned to the winner's circle when cut back to six panels in an Oaklawn optional claimer Apr....

Most Irishmen that go to Kentucky didn't plan to stay there. And yet, the story seems to be ripped from a template that is repeatedly recycled: they knew someone working on a farm there and decided to go for six months to a year. And then made it another year. Then 10 or 20 more. Many end up staying their whole lives. Dr. Michael Hore may have followed a well-trodden path from his birthplace in County Wexford to Lexington, but in the ensuing 15 years he has set himself apart...

Even Richard Wagner would have struggled to make anything of this particular "ring cycle". In four starts, Eight Rings (Empire Maker) has so far abruptly alternated the full works--strings, horns, kettle drums--with a timid clink of the triangle. As such, he certainly can't afford to break the cycle when surfacing for the first time since his Breeders' Cup bust in the Bachelor S. at Oaklawn Saturday. Dropping in grade and distance, in fact, he needs to produce the dominant sophomore performance of a day that also features a new stakes...