Gainesway

A colt by Karakontie (Jpn) (Hip 2814) achieved a very rare feat in Keeneland September's Book 5 opener Tuesday, summoning a session-topping $500,000 from Marsha Naify. The Gainesway stallion had another yearling in the top five lots of the day with a full-sister to graded stakes-bound Spanish Loveaffair (Karakontie {Jpn}) (Hip 3161) bringing $220,000 from Ballyfair Bloodstock. A total of 253 yearlings brought $6,484,100 Tuesday with an average of $25,629 and a median of $15,000.Fifty-five horses failed to meet their reserves Tuesday. Throughout the first nine days of trade, 1,880...

Talented 'TDN Rising Star' Sharing returned to winning ways back on this side of the pond as the public's pick. Beaten a neck in third in her Saratoga unveiling last July, the well-bred chestnut romped in a seven-furlong off the turfer there in August before justifying heavy 1-2 favoritism in Laurel's Selima S. in September. She was let go at 13-1 for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita Nov. 1, but the result was the same, and she picked up right where she left off when...

Sean Tugel, who served WinStar Farm as its director of bloodstock services and assistant racing manager for the last decade, and Lakota Gibson, who spent the last five years working alongside David Ingordo in the bloodstock department at Lane's End Farm, have joined the team at Gainesway. A native of Rochester, New York, and a Lexington resident since 2004, Tugel has been named the director of stallion sales and recruitment. He has also served in management roles at Hill 'n' Dale Farm and Paul's Mill. "We're excited about adding Sean...

Birdstone (Grindstone--Dear Birdie, by Storm Bird), who sired the winners of two-thirds of the 2009 Triple Crown with runners from his first crop to race, has been retired from stud duties at Gainesway. He will live out his days at Old Friends Retirement Center in Georgetown, KY. Bred by the late Marylou Whitney and trained by Nick Zito, the year-older half-brother to GI Kentucky Oaks winner Bird Town (Cape Town) won two of his three starts as a juvenile, including a 2 1/2-length success in the GI Champagne S. Eighth...

Longshot Drop Anchor (Anchor Down) started slowly but finished up strongly to become the first winner for his freshman sire (by Tapit) Sunday at Ellis Park. With just an abbreviated worktab on display, the grey was let go at 12-1 and was a bit sluggish from the blocks. He was shuffled back to last entering the turn, but got back into the bit to tug his way slightly closer heading for home. Guided very wide for the stretch drive, Drop Anchor shifted in sharply when switching leads but leveled off...

Japanese champion miler Hat Trick (Jpn) (Sunday Silence-Tricky Code, by Lost Code) has died aged 19 in Brazil. The news was first reported by Turf Diario. The winner of the G1 Mile Championship in Japan and the G1 Hong Kong Mile, Hat Trick was based for most of his stud career in the U.S., starting out at Walmac International before relocating to Gainesway, where he stood for five years before being sold to South America, to where he had already been shuttling, in 2017. Hat Trick is best known for...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable's Sharing (Speightstown), winner of last fall's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, remains on course for Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation S. June 21. Sharing, winner of the May 23 Tepin S. at Churchill Downs, is trained by Maryland-based Graham Motion. "She is doing really well since she last ran," said Motion. "The weather here has been beautiful and I think that has really helped. Everything has been going pretty smoothly so far." Victorious in three of four starts last season, including...

LNJ Foxwoods's Covfefe (Into Mischief--Antics, by Unbridled), who last month was named champion 3-year-old filly and champion female sprinter at the Eclipse Awards, has been retired from racing and will be bred to boom sire Constitution for the upcoming breeding season. She will reside at Gainesway Farm. Bred in Kentucky by Alexander-Groves Thoroughbreds, Covfefe was a $250,000 purchase out of the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale by Alex Solis II and Jason Litt of Solis/Litt Bloodstock on behalf of Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods. Turned over to...

GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) was represented by his first foal Jan. 27. The colt out of Anna Elizabeth (Animal Kingdom) was born at Waymore Farms in Kentucky. Tapwrit stands at Gainesway for $12,500.

Mahmoud is interred in the same soil. So, too, are Broomstick and his son Whisk Broom II--both born in the first years of the last century; Tom Fool, Vaguely Noble, Blushing Groom; the great matriarch La Troienne. Stop The Music, the horse who owed his Champagne S. success to the disqualification of Secretariat, lasted to 35 before he had to be euthanized in 2005. And let's not forget The Axe, gray son of gray Mahmoud: the sire of Foggy Note, fourth of nine gray dams behind the farm's modern colossus...

Empire Maker (Unbridled--Toussaud, by El Gran Senor), who gave Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms its lone American Classic winner in the 2003 GI Belmont S. before going on to be a sire of sires and grandsire of two Kentucky Derby winners--including a Triple Crown winner--passed away Saturday, Jan. 18 at Gainesway Farm in Lexington. He was 20 years old and succumbed to a rare disease that compromised his immune system. "The passing of Empire Maker will leave a tremendous void not only in the breeding industry as we know it, but...

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 weekend running at Kyoto and Nakayama Racecourses as the JRA ushers in the new year with Sunday and Monday racing this week: Sunday, January 5, 2020 1st-KYO, ¥9,680,000 ($90k), Maiden, 3yo, 1200m ASTER HORN (c, 3, Speightstown--Arania, by Dynaformer), a half-brother to MGSW...