Honor A.P.

The turn of the year always prompts us to look both forward and back, along with Janus, the god of two faces for whom January is named. And that provides a perfect context for Goal Oriented (Not This Time), graduate of a farm with an unrivalled past-and one that has dynamically reimagined its future. On the one hand, the GI Malibu Stakes winner stands for continuity and heritage. Co-bred and raised by the oldest continuously operative Thoroughbred farm in the Bluegrass, he extends one of its most patiently cultivated families....

Counting Stars (Honor A. P.) opened her account at first asking with a four-length success at Churchill Sept. 25, but could not repeat the dose at short odds when a distant fifth in the Oct. 24 Myrtlewood Stakes at Keeneland. The bay bounced back in no uncertain terms with a four-length tally in the Astral Spa Stakes here just 13 days back, but was a warm item to handle the quick turnaround and added real estate. Ridden for a bit of speed from her wide draw, Counting Stars was trapped...

Tough at the top? Try the view from the base of the pyramid, where we begin our quest for value among sires already at stud in Kentucky. We have dealt with the rookies separately, as a case apart. But while many of those standing at four figures are also younger horses, essentially unproven, their commercial luster has already faded. As we keep noting, the claim that new sires represent your only chance of catching the next Into Mischief falls apart when the same horses are abandoned precisely as they are...

Heavy favorite Comport (Collected) earned her first black type win Sunday in the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes at Ellis Park. After a debut victory going five and one half furlongs under the Twin Spires, the juvenile colt returned to Churchill Downs for start number two, finishing second in the Bashford Manor Stakes June 29. As the 2-5 choice here, Comport was positioned just off the early speed up the backstretch, with her sights on pacesetting Spice Runner (Gun Runner). As they rounded the far turn, Comport confronted her rival, sticking...

LEXINGTON, KY - The day, which began at Newtown Paddocks Tuesday with a steady renewal of the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale, ended with a record-blasting edition of the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale and it was the very last horse through the ring who made the loudest noise when stakes-winning 2-year-old Romeo (Honor A. P.) sold for $1.7 million to the bid of Mahmud Mouni. The Horses of Racing Age catalogue, down to 70 entries from 123 a year ago, may have been small, but it...

As noted last week, trainers can only amplify--not magnify--a horse's genetic legacy. D. Wayne Lukas was able to draw our attention to assets we might gladly replicate, but not even he could actually alter the genes available. In suggesting that he met his brief even more usefully with future broodmares than with sire prospects, this attorney admittedly left a star witness in the street in Serena's Song (Rahy)--whose 18-for-38 record, inside 30 months, advertised the toughness underpinning her class even more lavishly than Terlingua and others. But the point duly...

In a stakes-record performance beneath the Twin Spires, Romeo (Honor A. P.) inspired more than a few romantic notions of what could be as he gamely claimed the hardware in the Bashford Manor Stakes on closing day at Churchill Downs. In his career debut at Laurel May 3, Romeo showed a glimmer of what he can do when galloping home an easy winner by over 10 lengths as the 4-5 favorite. He claimed third in the June 5 Tremont Stakes at the Spa--where Florida-bred Mythical (St Patrick's Day) put up...

One thing is certain: there's never been a May like it. Godolphin threw down the graded gauntlet in May with such an unprecedented and historic achievement surely no one dreamed it could be possible. A Classic double in America for the operation turned into a Classic quadruple on both sides of the pond, all in the same weekend. While that feat stands tall among the month's graded races, the rest of May did its part to deliver additional drama, special moments, and superb racing. We take a look at trends...

It is a prerogative of journalism--on the basis that most people won't read what you write, and that those that do will remember only what you get wrong--that you're allowed to repeat yourself. But fear not, I won't be returning to last week's soapbox other than to offer a vote of thanks to Mike McCarthy and his patrons for their willingness to explore whether a modern Thoroughbred is actually more resilient than the timid horsemen of our time generally allow us to see. It would be nice if they could...

The only rule is that there are no rules. Some of our most expensive freshmen are entering precisely the end game that drove their purchase: Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) and Muth (Good Magic) cost $2.3 million and $2 million respectively, as juveniles; Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) was a $950,000 yearling. Yet the GI Kentucky Derby remains as likely to be won by a $30,000 claim like Rich Strike (Keen Ice) or, most recently, a son of the $10,000 cover Goldencents. Last week, we saluted the advent of a $2,500 yearling...

Golden Vekoma (Vekoma) stretched out to the metric mile following up on his sound success in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial over 1400 meters on Jan. 3, wrested command with about a furlong and a half to travel and held off the well-fancied Heart of Honor (Honor A.P.) to take out Friday's G3 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan. Drawn 13 in a full field of 16, the bay colt bounced well enough from out wide and took up a position just ahead of midfield as dirt debutant High Season (GB)...

If this seems a strangely specific category, that's because it is. There are two dozen sires standing in Kentucky at $10,000, a fee that attempts to preserve their dignity against a candid slide into the bargain basement. Though you're only a cent away from offering your stallion at four figures, you want him to look accessible without being low-rent. Only a couple are newcomers, all of which were dealt with separately in opening this series. Otherwise this is chiefly the bracket of youngish stallions whose rookie vogue is spent, anxious...