Gulfstream

Jockey Rajiv Maragh rode his 2000th career winner Friday at Gulfstream Park, piloting Lazio (Bucchero) to victory in Race 3. "This feels pretty surreal when you think about the whole journey since 2000," Maragh told Gulfstream media. "I've come a real long way. I've come from humble beginnings and to be able to achieve this milestone is pretty incredible. I've got to be really thankful for all the support I've had. You don't win 2000 by yourself. There are a lot of people behind the scenes." After a two-year break...

In dramatic fashion, Glorious Boy awarded his freshman sire Independence Hall (by Constitution) his first stakes winner in Friday's Pulpit Stakes. He didn't have much luck earlier in the summer on the main track at Saratoga, though he was meant for the turf initially on debut before getting rained onto the dirt upstate. But, once switched to the grass at Aqueduct Sept. 28, he found a nice improvement to his form, breaking his maiden in an optional claimer and running second most recently in the six-furlong Awad Stakes Nov. 9....

3rd-CD, 120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:56 p.m. The second of two 'Stars of Tomorrow' days at Churchill Downs features a card loaded with promise. In a battle of homebred heavyweights, POWERED BY FAMILY (Quality Road) debuts for St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds. Out of GI Personal Ensign winner Icon Project, who RNA'd at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale for 1,450,000gns in 2015, the filly is a half to GSW Fashion Business (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Out of a Grade I winner herself, Icon Project is a half-sister to...

8th-CD, 120K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 4:25 p.m. Whisper Hill Farm, along with partners Three Chimneys Farm and Resolute Racing, are surely thinking of roses as SILVER SHOT (Gun Runner) debuts at Churchill Friday. Mandy Pope went to a near sales-topping $2,200,000 to secure the son of Princesa Carolina at Keeneland September last year, a price second only to the $5,000,000 paid for the Curlin son of Cavorting (also to Whisper Hill). Princesa Carolina, a SW/GISP daughter by Tapit and out of MGISW Pure Clan, is already responsible for 'TDN...

6. SOLITUDE DUDE, GP, 11/1, 6 1/2 furlongs. (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 86 (c, 2, by Yaupon--After the Party, by Into Mischief) O-Chris Fountoukis. B-Martha Buckner and Matthew Ernst (Ky). T-Saffie Joseph, Jr.. J-Micah Husbands. Debuting as third betting choice (another Saffie Joseph first-timer was favored), he drubbed the competition by 9 1/2 lengths after setting the fractions. Joseph signed the $300k ticket in June at OBS for the son of first-crop sire Yaupon. The jury is still out on Yaupon's stamina genes, and Solitude Dude's dam was also a...

5. SKELLIG MICHAEL, GP, 10/18, 7 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure-82 (g, 3, by Battalion Runner--Miss Monk, by Blame) O-Saint Celestine Thoroughbred Management. B-St Elias Stables (Fla). T-Victor Barboza Jr. J-Ernesto Jaramillo. The 4-5 pacesetter looked beaten at the quarter pole, but responded when set down by Jaramillo and kicked away to a five-length victory. The gelding is another bargain from Vinnie Viola's blue-collar stallion Battalion Runner: originally bought for $1,200 as a yearling, then pinhooked for $17k as a June 2-year-old. 4. CONFESSIONAL, KEE, 10/16, 7 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer...

The 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) breezed a half-mile in company Thursday at Gulfstream Park in preparation for a planned start in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Breezing outside of stablemate Practically Dark (Practical Joke), they covered four furlongs on a fast track :45.86, the fastest clocking of seven recorded at the distance. "Today was 24 days out, almost three weeks, so we wanted a strong work," said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. "He put in a strong work. He...

It's not that Nicholas Tomlinson didn't have a great job. He worked for Mark Casse for 10 years, learned from the dual Hall of Famer and was around some of his best horses. But he had always wanted to see what he could do on his own and Saturday at Gulfstream will begin the next chapter in his career. That chapter starts when he send out Insolenta (More Than Ready), who is owned by Ironhorse Racing Stable LLC and Tiger Racing, Inc, in a $17,500 maiden claimer. He knows he...

Winner of the GIII Vagrancy Stakes at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet in May, Haulin Ice (f, 4, Coal Front--She's Smoke, by Half Ours) secured her trip to the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with victory in Saturday's GIII Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream Park, a 'Win and You're In' race for the championship in November. The gray speedball hustled straight to the front in Hallandale, setting uncontested fractions of :23.01 and :45.50 with her ears flicking back and forth. She didn't stop, shifting into another gear at...

2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) will target the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. confirmed Thursday. The now 6-year-old, who started the year with a win in the GI Pegasus World Cup, has returned to Gulfstream Park from Saratoga, where he is scheduled to breeze next week for the first time since finishing fourth in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Aug. 31. "Obviously, things didn't go the way we wanted in the Jockey Club. We're going to regroup in the Mile,"...

Saffie Joseph Jr. is easy to pick out. It's got to be the hair. He talks about the long locks he has on his head and what it would take for him to cut it off. He talks about Skippylongstocking going for his third straight win in the Charles Town Classic. He compares the weather of Saratoga to Florida. And, it might surprise you what actor he picks to play himself if ever there was a movie made about his life. He sat down with the TDN's Tim Wilkin to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The milestone victory came about 530 miles away from Saratoga Race Course, but that wasn't going to stop Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse from celebrating. Casse, 64, won his 4,000th career race when It's Witchcraft (Tapit) won the 11th race at Colonial Downs by a nose in a four-horse photo finish. Casse watched the race and cheered with his wife, Tina, on a television in the clubhouse at Saratoga. He then scrambled to watch the Saratoga sixth race where he saddled 2-year-old filly Charlottesuniverse (Into Mischief),...