Gun Runner

Grade I winner Vahva (Gun Runner--Holiday Soiree, by Harlan's Holiday) has been entered in Book 1 of the November Breeding Stock Sale on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Lane's End, agent, will consign Vahva, who is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect. She will become the first Grade I-winning daughter of Gun Runner to be offered at public auction, according to a Keeneland release Tuesday. Vahva is nominated to the GII Thoroughbred Club of America on Saturday during Fall Stars Weekend on Keeneland's opening three days. "Vahva is a high-class competitor...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' and MGISW Locked (Gun Runner), a sensational winner of the GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 1, got back in the win column at odds of 6-5 in Saturday's scratched-down GII Woodward S. at the Belmont at the Big A meeting. Locked chased in second and was ridden along by John Velazquez as favored Phileas Fogg (Astern {Aus}) led the field of three through fractions of :24.89 and :48.69. All in on the far turn and appearing to be heading in the...

Multiple Grade I-winner Locked (Gun Runner) looms the big favorite in the scratch-decimated GII Woodward Stakes on Saturday at the Belmont Big A meet, but is far from the only marquee name this upcoming weekend across the country. One of three confirmed runners for Saturday's co-feature in New York, Locked comes into the race with a two-race skid to break after he missed the board May 2 in the GII Alysheba Stakes when returning to the races after a tour de force effort in the GI Santa Anita Handicap Mar....

Friday's GII Beldame Stakes, scratched down to just four horses with the morning diversion of Majestic Oops (Majestic Harbor) to Sunday's GIII Delaware Handicap, still had plenty of drama as 9-2 shot Gun Song (Gun Runner) sprung the upset on heavily-favored Randomized (Nyquist) to break a winless streak that dated back over a year. Mark Hennig's 4-year-old filly has been plenty game and plenty consistent facing the best of her division the past two years, even running reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) to the wire just...

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 Nakayama and Hanshin Racecourses: Saturday, September 27, 2025 4th-NKY, ¥14,250,000 ($95k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m FINGER (JPN) (c, 2, Gun Runner--Estilo Talentoso, by Maclean's Music) is the first foal from his dam, a $15,000 OBS June purchase back in 2019 who...

1,601 yearlings are set to go through the ring for next month's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, to be held on October 20-23, in Lexington, Kentucky. The four continuous sessions, conducted Monday-Thursday, will begin each day at 10 am. "Kentucky October is one of the most important yearling sales in the nation," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "The quality on offer continues to rise each year, as evidenced by the sire power and strength of pedigree in this year's catalogue." Sires represented by multiple yearlings include Constitution, Candy Ride (Arg),...

Editor's Note: the tables mentioned in the piece below have all been inserted into the article individually in alphabetical order. Please see those for reference. As an Englishman, I can assure my friends in the Bluegrass that America does not have a monopoly on political division. But in this rancorous age it is a comfort, either side of the water, that a mutual love of the horse can keep people not just talking, but outright friendly, who might otherwise only be yelling at each other. It is not too often...

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which set its record gross with a full six sessions to go, concluded its 12-day run Saturday in Lexington with new highwater marks for, not just gross, but also average, median and total number of million-dollar-plus offerings. "What an incredible September sale," Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. "We definitely had reasons to be optimistic going in, but the strength of the results day after day exceeded even our highest expectations. From start to finish, the energy on the grounds never waned. Buyers from...

1st-Los Alamitos, $46,000, Msw, 9-20, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:15.88, ft, 3 1/2 lengths. MEANING (f, 2, Gun Runner--Figure of Speech {GISP}, by Into Mischief) worked a sharp half-mile out of the gate in :47 1/5 (2/60) at Santa Anita Sept. 13 and was hammered into 1-5 favoritism for this debut run. Fourth in the very early stages, she rushed up to grab the lead following an opening quarter in :22.34. She was put to the test by GIII Sorrento S. third-place finisher Thank You India (Practical Joke) on the...

Sponsored by Pedigrees360. How timely, that the first starting points for the 2026 Classics should be offered at Churchill even as the big spenders were driving each other to record heights up the road at Keeneland in their quest for a horse for 2027. Admittedly Saturday's initial rehearsals offered alternatives to those who cannot spend millions at the September Sale. One winner was out of a homebred Cowboy Cal mare, admittedly using a stallion who banked 12 seven-figure sales at Keeneland; while the other was a $20,000 discovery, inevitably by...

Gun Runner, the Three Chimneys sensation whose yearlings topped the first four days of the ongoing Keeneland September sale, showed once again why he's in such demand as Spice Runner (c, 2, Gun Runner--Simple Surprise, by Cowboy Cal) captured the GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs Saturday. The one-turn, one-mile Iroquois awards the first points of the 2025-26 season to the 2026 GI Kentucky Derby starting gate on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale. Comport (Collected), who had finished in front of Spice Runner in their two previous meetings, was second, while maiden...

A colt by Not This Time (hip 1426) became the second seven-figure yearling of the session when selling for $1.4 million to Douglas Scharbauer Saturday at Keeneland The yearling is the first foal out of stakes winner Bella Runner (Gun Runner), a daughter of multiple Grade I winner Love and Pride (A.P. Indy). He was bred by Three Chimneys Farm and was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency. The last time Keeneland September's fifth session produced two seven-figure yearlings was 2011. Hip 1426 was the 13th yearling by Not This...