Gun Runner

7th-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, post time: 3:20 p.m. While the focus of the Thoroughbred world Saturday afternoon will rightly be on Santa Anita, SIERRA LEONE (Gun Runner), the $2.3-million topper out of the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, provides ample reason to click over to the Aqueduct feed between the running of the Filly and Mare Turf and Filly and Mare Sprint. The Mar. 31 foal was bred by Debby Oxley and is a son of her homebred 2017 GI Darley Alcibiades S. romper Heavenly Love (Malibu Moon). There was...

The five days between last Wednesday's pre-entries and Monday's official draw for the Breeders' Cup afford a brief window of opportunity to examine a few subtleties that emerged from the early version of the match-ups for this weekend's championships. The decision by the connections of Practical Move (Practical Joke) to aim for the GI Dirt Mile instead of the GI Classic tops the list. The Classic, which lost Mage (Good Magic) and Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) to illness and injury, respectively, over the weekend, lacks a standout favorite,...

Surely there's not much that hasn't been said about the inimitable Gun Runner. A top 3-year-old--Grade I winner who placed in the Kentucky Derby, Travers, and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile--he was nearly perfect at four. After a runner-up finish behind Arrogate halfway across the world in the Dubai World Cup, he never lost again, reeling off a string of Grade I scores which included the Breeders' Cup Classic. He hasn't broken stride at stud either, currently and remarkably ranked second on the U.S. general sires list with only his third...

Closing out her sixth year in the training ranks, Cherie DeVaux added yet another notch on her belt, collecting her first Keeneland stakes victory in Saturday's feature, the GII Lexus Raven Run S. Helping her achieve that goal, DeVaux was represented by GIII Charles Town Oaks winner Vahva (Gun Runner), who was accompanied by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, also aboard in her last-out score in West Virginia. "I don't know if there are words to really describe that," said a visibly moved DeVaux following the win. "Our team...

On the spectrum of Thoroughbred stallions, you won't find too many either side of Gun Runner and Despot. One, charging $250,000 a dance at Three Chimneys, is the most immediately accomplished sire of recent times. The other was claimed for $350 at Waterford Park, some 50 years ago, before being set to work annually producing a handful of half-breds in rural Maryland. "Liver chestnut son of Stevward," says the man whose career unites this unlikely pair. "You should have seen us trying to figure out how to breed mares on...

8th-Keeneland, $96,906, Msw, 10-13, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:47.33, ft, 3 1/2 lengths. INTRICATE (f, 2, Gun Runner--Complex Analysis, by Distorted Humor) made belated progress to finish a never-nearer fifth, beaten just over two lengths, on six-furlong debut at Churchill Sept. 16, and was the 2-1 second choice stretching out to a distance of ground for the first time. Prominent through the opening exchanges, the chestnut eased back to sit midfield, but close, as they turned up the backstretch. Steered out into the four path entering the second bend, Intricate...

Gun Runner has joined Into Mischief and Curlin on top of the roster of 2024 stallions with a $250,000 fee, Three Chimneys announced Friday morning. He is the first sire in history to have sired nine individual millionaires with just two full crops. He currently ranks second on the TDN's General Sire list, behind only Into Mischief, with over $14 million in progeny earnings. Counted among his 13 stakes winners and 31 stakes performers in 2023 are Grade I winners Gunite and 'TDN Rising Stars' Echo Zulu and Locked, the...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (c, 2, Gun Runner--Luna Rosa, by Malibu Moon), a flashy Saratoga maiden winner at second asking Sept. 1, showed his class as the 3-5 favorite while overcoming a wide trip in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland. Drawn widest of all in post eight, the chestnut didn't get off to the sharpest of beginnings and raced five to three wide around the clubhouse turn. He was out in the clear and one from the...

Rancho Temescal Thoroughbreds and Dan Agnew's Chatalas (f, 2, Gun Runner--Indian Safari, by Indian Charlie), fourth last month behind ultra-impressive 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) in the GI Del Mar Debutante, looks like she'll get another shot at that rival after winning the GII Chandelier S. at Santa Anita Saturday and earning a 'Win and You're In' berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Co-owner Agnew also bred the filly. "Cloud nine, now that would describe it," said Agnew. "Especially with a homebred like this, it is a...

1st-BAQ, $90k, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:35p.m. ET Whisper Hill Farm has been enjoying a fruitful year on the track and in the sales ring, and SPEED RUNNER (Gun Runner) looks to add his tally to the operation's banner year. A half-brother to the brilliant GISW Brilliant Speed (Dynaformer); SW & GSP Souper Speedy (Indian Charlie); and SP Bank (Bernardini), the Pletcher-trained chestnut comes into the race with a bullet move Sept. 27 over Belmont's training track--a five furlong work in a co-fastest minute flat. His dam Speed Succeeds is a...

A trio of Breeders' Cup-bound horses trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen had their first works at Santa Anita Friday. Drilling easy half miles under the watchful eye of assistant Scott Blasi were Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), who went the distance in 50.80 seconds and Society (Gun Runner), who completed her move in 50.20 seconds. Also working for Asmussen was Private Creed (Jimmy Creed), who was officially clocked going three furlongs in 37.40 seconds. "This was their first work on the racetrack so we didn't want to do a...

The apartment glistens with the quiet discernment of its owner. Lexington spreads below the great windows and balcony, its urban grid seamed green by the many old trees that endure downtown. In somewhat the same way, amid all the artwork, the gleaming décor, Scott Heider draws on Nature to explain his love of this business. He gestures towards a rose in a vase. "That's the best analogy, you know," he says. "Beautiful, but it doesn't last forever. I look at the wonderful broodmares we've been blessed with--these living, breathing creatures--and...