Grade I races

Pop quiz: what do 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and Atomic Blonde, dam of last week's GI Preakness Stakes winner Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map), have in common? Both are by Scat Daddy, both were bred by the Gunther family, and both were raised at Glennwood Farm near Versailles, Kentucky. Justify and Atomic Blonde also have something else in common with a number of other Glennwood-bred and -raised Grade I winners such as Vino Rosso, Tamarkuz, First Samurai, and Stevie Wonderboy. "We do tend to raise some good chestnuts on this...

That must have been a good sandwich. It was certainly a memorable one. Walker Hancock of Claiborne Farm distinctly remembers eating subs from Jersey Mike's one fall afternoon in 2021 with Daisy Phipps Pulito and Claiborne's farm manager Bradley Purcell in Claiborne's conference room. The three of them sat down over those sandwiches to hash out mating plans for the Phipps mares for 2022. "It all goes back to some Jersey Mike's subs," said Hancock with a laugh. "We did the matings for her mares for that following year that...

Elite winners are always cause for celebration. With racing at the highest levels quickly ramping up for 2026, we continue to spotlight some of the special Grade I producers of the last several months. Up today, we get a glimpse into a quartet of mares who produced homebred stars. Stormy Welcome, dam of Raging Sea "Great families might sleep, but they don't die, and she's a great example of that," said Mill Ridge's Price Bell last summer when musing over the unraced Stormy Welcome (Storm Cat), a now-20-year-old mare whose ninth...

Sometimes, you might as well just buy the factory. It was the fall of 2023 and Glenn Bennett already had two of Adorabella (Ghostzapper)'s three foals, the oldest of which (Girl Trouble, by Fast Anna) was a stakes winner for him and partner Swilcan Stable at Parx, and the youngest of which he'd just bought as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sale. He'd twice tried to make a deal for the third, the mare's then-2-year-old named Book'em Danno (Bucchero), who'd caught his eye after winning his first three starts at...

We continue to spotlight a few of the extraordinary mares--and some of the people behind them--who produced the Grade I winners of 2025. The two mares we highlight today are responsible for the last two GI Kentucky Oaks winners, with the 2024 Oaks victress adding to her laurels in 2025 and the 2025 Oaks winner returning to the track for 2026 in hopes of doing the same. Both are also finalists for this week's Eclipse Awards.  Sataves, dam of Thorpedo Anna By any measure, Judy Hicks is a smart woman....

Last summer, we began "The Producers" as a way to spotlight a few of the extraordinary mares--and some of the people behind them--who produced the Grade I winners of 2025. With 83 individual North American Grade I winners in the books for the 2025 season, we return to it now, continuing with two mares who each made a massive impact at the fall breeding stock sales. Galloping Ami, dam of Kopion Galloping Ami (Victory Gallop) is a mare accustomed to making headlines. Named Outstanding Broodmare in Canada in 2016 after...

California racing just got dealt another brutal blow. In a year when this sport should be doing everything possible to stabilize a fragile circuit, the loss of Grade I status for the Frank E. Kilroe Mile and multiple downgrades at Santa Anita and Del Mar is very concerning. When you strip premier events in the middle of a wagering and field-size crisis, you're not "protecting the integrity of the pattern," you're accelerating the decline of one of the game's few remaining flagship jurisdictions. This outcome might look neat on a...

Last week in this new series, we put the spotlight on some of the trends--or lack thereof--among the mares that make up the Grade I-producing ranks of 2025 and spent time with multiple Grade I winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner)'s dam, Luna Rosa (Malibu Moon). We asked her connections about her story and the thoughts behind her matings. This week, we do the same with the dams of two Grade I-winning 3-year-olds of 2025: GI Curlin Florida Derby star Tappan Street (Into Mischief) and GI Toyota Blue...

In this new series, we'll spotlight the dams and connections of some of 2025's racetrack superstars. First up, we'll set the scene by explaining our objective and search for trends, then for a curtain raiser we'll kick off the series by checking in with the dam of one of the top older horses of 2025. Tabbed to be something special from the start, 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) is a multiple Grade I stakes winner and future Gainesway stallion. Grade I-Winning Trends The end of June marked the halfway...

Santa Anita's Winter/Spring Meet, which opens Sunday, Dec. 26, will be highlighted by 10 Grade I stakes among the 59 graded races on tap for the season. Three Grade I events will be featured on opening day: the Runhappy Malibu S., the La Brea S., and the American Oaks. The $750,000 GI Santa Anita Derby will be held Apr. 9. A total of 94 stakes will be offered throughout the season, which ends June 19. "We have added a significant amount of money to our stakes program along with some...