Gun Runner

And so we come to the group standing on the brink. The group facing the moment of truth, when their most precocious stock enters the gate and offers some initial indication as to their competence for the task for which, ostensibly at least, they were bred. As such, this should perhaps be the moment we double down. That's what we would do, at any rate, if we had real faith in the choices we have made for our mares. If we have selected their mates well, then people will be...

Two years ago, dual Eclipse Champion Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) joined the Three Chimneys' stallion program after collecting six Grade I wins for the farm and partner Winchell Thoroughbreds. This year another Three Chimneys-owned racehorse in Volatile, a son of Violence campaigned by Three Chimneys and Phoenix Thoroughbred III, has been added to the roster for 2021 and will stand for an initial fee of $17,500. Before even stepping on a racetrack, the imposing gray was one to watch. [tdn_vimeo_embed title="Volatile at Three Chimneys" admp4="https://player.vimeo.com/external/487235114.sd.mp4?s=25a5c5a8313ed81787e24e23ea3117880258e35a&profile_id=165" videomp4= "https://player.vimeo.com/external/489919593.sd.mp4?s=d1494459006ee327070e97ab1900642eb941ccf7&profile_id=165" thumbnail= ""]...

Three Chimneys Farm is the second stud farm in as many days to release a roster of reduced stud fees for the 2021 season due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The historic farm's 2021 roster is headlined by Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) at $50,000 LFS&N. The six-time Grade I winner, who was represented by his first yearlings this season, stood for $70,000 in 2020. "The industry finds itself in unusual times," said Three Chimneys Chairman Goncalo Torrealba. "One can take comfort in knowing...

TIMONIUM, MD - With action building throughout the day, the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale concluded with a bevy of six-figure transactions Tuesday and statistics nearly on par with the 2019 auction in Timonium. "Overall, it was a very, very solid sale statistically," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said at the close of business Tuesday evening. "The average is virtually identical to last year and the median is identical to last year. The RNA rate overall is just slightly over 20%. The gross is up significantly because of the bigger...

Beau Lane has been in the horse business for half a century. He came to Lexington 23 years ago with six broodmares in tow and $50 in his pocket. Not long after, three of those mares became stakes producers--a harbinger of things to come. Since then, the veteran horseman has grown his band of breeding stock and now has 30 broodmares at his Woodline Farm near Paris. While he's never been able to sign tickets on million-dollar broodmares, he said he doesn't find it necessary. "I usually don't spend over...

by Jessica Martini & Brian DiDonato LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale continued to see strong action at the top, but an elevated buy-back rate at the first of two Book 2 sessions Wednesday in Lexington. A colt by Uncle Mo from the Gainesway consignment brought the day's highest bid when selling for $950,000 to bloodstock agent David Ingordo. In all, 185 yearlings sold for $40,861,000. The average was $220,870 and the median was $180,000. Through three sessions, 394 head have grossed $126,076,000 for an average of $319,990...

by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--Fasig-Tipton's two-day Selected Yearlings Showcase concluded Thursday with solid enough trade--especially on flashier offerings--given the global uncertainty leading up to the first major yearling sale in the year of COVID-19. The auction, necessitated by the cancellation of the July, Saratoga and New York-bred sales, featured 348 transactions for gross receipts of $61,765,000 at an average of $177,486 and median of $120,000. The buy-back rate was 33.7%. The sale topper came on Wednesday when Robbie Medina, bidding on behalf of Joe Allen,...

  Although it will look quite different this year, the start of the yearling sales season is finally around the corner and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner would appear to be poised at the head of his class if stud fee and weanling average are anything to be. The son of Candy Ride (Arg) led all sires of first weanlings with an average of $275,923 with 13 of 14 sold, including a filly out of two-time Grade I winner Love and Pride (A.P Indy) who was the highest-priced...

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen surpassed Dale Romans as the winningest trainer in the history of Churchill Downs Friday, sending out Drop Dead Gorgeous (Strong Mandate) to win the opening race on the program. The victory was his 738th at the historic Louisville oval. "If anyone knows American horse racing, they know what Churchill Downs means to the sport," Asmussen said. "This is a very significant honor. I know the people who have been in this spot before, and been here consistently, and for us to have won the most...

The disruptions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic have messed with the Thoroughbred industry's decades-long racing, sales, and breeding schedules. However, some of us who subsist on data and are under social distancing now have some time to explore the less obvious trends that might be going on by plumbing various databases--in our case, the breeding sector. Each year around this time we would be delving into the results of the first 2-year-old sale of the season to begin to sort out the performances of juveniles by freshman sire that might...

2nd-FG, $45K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 6:28 p.m. FORTUNE TICKET (Candy Ride {Arg}), a full-brother to Horse of the Year Gun Runner, makes his debut for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. The Three Chimneys homebred, tabbed as the 7-2 morning-line favorite, worked five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 (3/35) at Fair Grounds Mar. 1. Established (Constitution), a $400,000 KEESEP yearling and half-brother to GISW Sweet Loretta (Tapit), has been assigned post one in this debut run for trainer Mike Stidham. TJCIS PPs

We've taken a breather in this series during the January Sale, where I shared many conversations on themes raised in its first two parts--notably the market's addiction to unproven stallions. Time after time, it was the same story. A shrug of the shoulders, a helpless spreading of the hands: "Yes, we know it's nuts. But we have to make the game pay." Fair enough. It's a bit like the individual who asks why he or she should make a massively inconvenient personal sacrifice, with regard to the climate crisis, when...