Explora

After a weekend that flashed one talent after another, like a many-sided jewel rotating in the sun, it's hard to single out a dominant facet. But having previously explored the backgrounds of Golden Tempo (Curlin) and Nysos (Nyquist), let's start with the breakout performance of Englishman (Maxfield), author of a 115 Beyer in the GI Woody Stephens Stakes. And actually this horse shares an important glint of brilliance with the other pair. Because Golden Tempo, the second consecutive Derby/Belmont winner out of a daughter of Bernardini, shares his damsire not...

'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Explora (Blame) returned to her winning ways on Sunday with a confident victory in the Leslie's Lady Stakes at Churchill Downs. Off here at even-money, Explora found herself in a familiar position at the head of affairs, but had persistent company in Brooklyn Blonde (Gun Runner) through an opening quarter in :22.72 and a half-mile in :45.07. Turning that one away heading for home, Explora dug deep to fend off an oncoming rush from On Time Girl, but kept her at bay by a...

Grade I winner Bottle of Rouge (Vino Rosso), one of two GI Kentucky Oaks hopefuls for trainer Bob Baffert, will not contest Churchill's Classic for fillies, according to the Hall of Fame trainer on Sunday. At 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Bottle of Rouge who worked a half-mile in :48.80 with Martin Garcia aboard in company with the Grade III stakes-winning filly Forced Entry (Charlatan). Last year's GI Del Mar Debutante winner started to cough shortly after returning to the barn and subsequently failed to scope cleanly, prompting Baffert to scratch...

The catalogue for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale of 2-Year-Olds In Training, to be held at the Maryland State Fairgounds in Timonium, Maryland, Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19 and featuring 593 juveniles, is now available at www.fasigtipton.com. "Our consignors have shown tremendous support for Midlantic May this year, resulting in an outstanding catalogue," said Paget Bennett, Midlantic Director of Sales. "Growth in both numbers and sire power makes this one of our strongest editions to date." There will be a series of three under-tack previews ahead of the auction...

The prep season for the GI Kentucky Oaks came to a conclusion last week and the field looks more or less set. It should be a quality, competitive race with no clear standout. The big story last week was the win in the GI Ashland Stakes by Percy's Bar (Upstart). It was a powerful, eye-opening performance, one that was good that she has moved up in this poll from the 10th spot to the top spot. So, here goes, your latest and last Top 10 for the Kentucky Oaks: 1)...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.--To quote the seemingly prim and proper Lady Mary of Downton Abbey fame, "Heavens!" When Counting Stars (Honor A. P.--Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter) was ready to take command up the backstretch, the filly was up to the task at hand and she rolled home a winner in the GII Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn--hence the use of such strong, genteel language. The chilly and overcast weather on Friday evening did nothing to dampen the spirits of owners West Point Thoroughbreds. On the twisty and winding 'Road to the Kentucky Oaks'...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.--Bearing witness to Thoropedo Anna (Fast Anna) putting on a show down the stretch at Oaklawn Park in the 2024 edition of the GII Fantasy Stakes before she became a champion was a special moment in her career. The track will honor the now-retired mare on Friday with a bobblehead giveaway, which in no uncertain terms equals immortality. On Friday in Hot Springs, the latest batch of 3-year-old fillies will take to the track in the Fantasy and chase a cut of the $1 million purse, plus a...

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's Explora (Blame), winner of Oaklawn's GIII Honeybee Stakes on Mar. 1, will miss her intended engagement in Friday's GII Fantasy Stakes at that venue after spiking a temperature, according to Horse Racing Nation. "She spiked a temperature from the trip and we had to treat her with antibiotics," Bob Baffert told HRN. "She'll go straight the [Kentucky] Oaks." Named a TDN Rising Star following a victory at Del Mar last summer, she was second in the GI Del Mar Debutante before rebounding to...

By any measure, Steve and Denise Smith's Mesingw Farm, which celebrated just its fifth anniversary in December, had a banner year in 2025. From the sales ring, where the operation sold its first seven-figure yearling, to the racetrack where it had a graded-stakes placed juvenile at Saratoga in August and a Breeders' Cup starter in November, Mesingw was hitting on all cylinders. The momentum has carried into the new year with the Mesingw-bred Explora (Blame) a leading choice for the GI Kentucky Oaks following her win in the GIII Honeybee...

Last Sunday's GII Rebel Stakes third-place finisher Litmus Test (Nyquist) will stay in Hot Springs to contest the GI Arkansas Derby March 28 for trainer Bob Baffert. Speaking of his Arkansas runners from last weekend, Baffert said that while his GIII Honeybee Stakes winner Explora (Blame) had shipped back to California, Litmus Test would remain at Oaklawn through the end of the month. "I didn't want to bring him all the way back here and ship him back," Baffert said. "He's there. I want to give him another chance. I...

The biggest move made in this week's poll was the jump made by Explora (Blame) after her game win in the GIII Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn. She jumped from seventh to third. The latest list also includes She Be Smooth (Lexitonian), who lands at No. 4 after her impressive win in the GII Davona Dale Stakes. It will be a quiet weekend for the 3-year-old filly division, but they will run the rescheduled GIII Santa Ysabel Stakes Sunday at Santa Anita. All eyes will be on last year's 2-year-old filly...

By now, no doubt, it must be among my most wearily familiar complaints. Only last week, in fact, I was again lamenting the days when old-school trainers would start Classic campaigns round one turn, gaining sharpness and conditioning without entering a stress zone. Nowadays those benefits are forfeited by the twin imperatives of hiding horses in their stalls, even as they need GI Kentucky Derby points. Those points being unavailable in sprints, the defining test of the American Thoroughbred has duly been shorn of raw speed. Other traditionalists presumably shared...