Horse Racing
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, post time: 4:38 p.m. Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables has successfully shopped the Tattersalls October sale over the past several years, using the services of Mike Ryan to acquire MGISWs Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and GISW Digital Age (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). INFINITE POTENTIAL (IRE) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was purchased by Ryan for 300,000gns at the 2018 October sale, a handful of months after her half-sister Ejtyah (GB) (Frankel {GB}) finished...
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 Sunday's horses of interest for this weekend running at Niigata and Tokyo, the site of the G1 NHK Mile Cup, featuring GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington)'s son Grenadier Guards (Jpn): Sunday, May 9, 2021 1st-NII, ¥9,680,000 ($89k), Maiden, 3yo, f, 1800m ELEPHANTINE (JPN)...
Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.'s Grenadier Guards (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}), a son of GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington), will look to return to winning ways as one of the top couple of betting choices in Sunday's G1 NHK Mile Cup at Toyko Racecourse. The bay colt graduated at third asking over 1400 metres at Hanshin last November, then belied odds of 16-1 to upset future G1 Satsuki Sho third Stella Veloce (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity going this distance in mid-December....
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. Plenty of U.S.-bred activity, so we begin with Saturday's runners at Chukyo and Tokyo on what shapes up as a potentially productive weekend. Sunday's notable horses will appear in Saturday's TDN: 1st-CKO, ¥9,680,000 ($89k), Maiden, 3yo, 1800m CAREERISM (c, 3, Upstart--Out of Goodbyes, by Out of Place) has run too good...
Joel Rosario, who guided Japan's France Go de Ina (Will Take Charge) to a troubled sixth-place effort in the G2 UAE Derby when last seen Mar. 27, will retain the ride aboard the colt for the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 15, his agent Ron Anderson confirmed Wednesday. France Go de Ina landed at Los Angeles International Airport early Wednesday morning, the first leg of his journey to Old Hilltop for the second leg of the Triple Crown. According to Kate Hunter, a Triple Crown recruiter who frequently accompanies...
As the Triple Crown trail came to an end, with many tracks hosting important Kentucky Derby preps, and with Keeneland staging its Spring meet in its regular spot on the calendar, wagering on U.S. races exceeded $1.1 billion, according to statistics released Wednesday by Equibase. Year-over-year comparisons are largely irrelevant, as the effects of the coronavirus really made their presence felt in April 2020. Keeneland was left no choice but to postpone its meet to July, racing at Santa Anita was dark into late May and in New York, it...
This is Part 7 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity." Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity, along with increased transparency of the wagering business and its participants over time. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult...
A total of 21 added-money events, 12 at the graded level, have been scheduled for the autumn meeting at Santa Anita Park, set for Oct. 1-31. Fully one-third of the stakes races serve as 'Win and You're In' races for the Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held Nov. 6 and 7 at Del Mar. The opening day of the meet features the GI American Pharoah S. for the 2-year-old males at a mile and a sixteenth, the corresponding 2-year-old filly race--the GI Chandelier S.--and the $100,000 Speakeasy S. for...
LOUISVILLE, KY - Face masks and all, the fans were back at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May--an announced 51,838 of them--and louder than ever. The mint juleps were flowing, the sun was shining and it was Bob Baffert standing in the winner's circle for a record seventh time, passing the legendary Ben Jones at the 147th GI Kentucky Derby. Zedan Racing Stables overachieving Medina Spirit (Protonico), just a $1,000 OBS Winter Mixed Yearling turned $35,000 OBS July breezer, set the pace and dug down gamely beneath Johnny...
Six months ago, Klaravich Stables' Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) was the leader of a very strong group of turf sophomores, having won the valuable Saratoga Derby over the summer before a year-ending defeat of Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) in the GI Hollywood Derby. But while that one was given his winter's rest, Robert and Lawana Low's Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), a progressive sort who finished within three-quarters of a length of Domestic Spending at the Spa last summer, had assumed 'King of the Hill' status, courtesy of a...
LOUISVILLE, KY - Flagstaff (Speightstown) kicked on gamely in a wild, blanket finish to lead home a one-two for his leading sire in the GI Churchill Downs S. Saturday. It was a head back to Lexitonian (Speightstown) in second; and another nose to champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) in third. "I'm thrilled," winning trainer John Sadler said. "He's a real hard knocker; he always runs his race. He knocked it out today." Flagstaff, a last out winner of Keeneland's GIII Commonwealth S. Apr. 3, his first win in 13 months,...
Du Jour worked out a perfect trip under Flavien Prat to provide Bob Baffert with a rare graded stakes winner on the turf. A debut second on the Del Mar lawn last November behind next-out stakes winner Cathkin Peak (Ire) (Alhebayeb {Ire}), the bay was third when switched to the Santa Anita main track Jan. 3 behind subsequent GIII Robert B. Lewis S. runner-up Roman Centurian (Empire Maker). He broke through back on the lawn in Arcadia Feb. 19, and doubled up after setting pace in a Mar. 28 optional...