John Ennis

Undefeated Taj Mahal (Nyquist) has been all the rage in the lead up to the GI Preakness Stakes, and his move Saturday morning will have done nothing to cool those feelings as the Brittany Russell trainee posted his fourth consecutive bullet move. Sent out to work five furlongs with exercise rider Alex Beitia aboard, he went in company with stakes winner Regalo (Maximus Mischief) early in the morning at 6:15am. Taj Mahal cruised through splits of :12 1/5, :24 1/5, :36 2/5, and :48 flat while leading his workmate throughout....

Trainer John Ennis said Great White (Volatile), who reared up and fell before he was loaded into the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby and was scratched, escaped without a scratch and is a strong possibility to run in the GI Preakness Stakes. "I've taken worse falls out of bed," Ennis quipped by phone Monday. Regular rider Alex Achard, who also escaped injury in the incident, is scheduled to ride. According to Ennis, the hulking colt will work an easy half-mile Saturday at the trainer's home base--The Thoroughbred Center in...

The winner of the GIII Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Silent Tactic (Tacitus) has scratched from the GI Kentucky Derby after battling a bruised foot according to his trainer Mark Casse on Wednesday morning. The defection allowed Great White (Volatile) into the big race where he will carry the number 21. DRF was the first to report the story. Silent Tactic, a colt owned by John Oxley, was dealing with a sore foot before the GI Arkansas Derby. He came to Churchill Downs after serving as the runner-up to Renegade...

There will be no missing Great White (Volatile) when he heads to the starting gate for Saturday's GI Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Trainer John Ennis reports that the gray gelding towers at over 17.2 hands tall, but he insists that any "Jaws" comparisons are a reflection of his imposing frame and not his disposition. "He weighs a ton, but he's just a big, kind old boy," Ennis explained on Wednesday after shipping Great White in from the Thoroughbred Center for a paddock schooling session. "His demeanor is fantastic. Nothing...

Three Chimneys Farm's Great White (Volatile) tuned up for his dirt racing debut in Saturday's GI Toyota Blue Grass by working a half-mile in company in :47.60 over a fast track a Keeneland Sunday morning. Working with the 3-year-old maiden Just Munny (Justify), Great White, accompanied by rider Omar Torres, started two lengths behind his stablemate and finished two lengths in front with fractions of :35.60, :47.60 and galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.20. "He started off slow but then flew down the lane and Alex [Achard] had a hard...

Luan Machado secured his second straight riding title--and fifth overall--at Turfway Park's Winter/Spring Meet, which concluded Saturday. Mike Maker earned his record-extending 24th trainer's title at the Florence, Kentucky oval. Machado finished the meet with 51 wins from 277 starts and more than $2.5 million in purse earnings. "It was a great meet," Machado said. "I'm so thankful for everyone who's helped support me to get to this point. My agent Cory [Prewitt] has worked hard to keep our business going strong. There were so many people on the backside...

Opening an occasional series focused on Irish expatriates in Kentucky, TDN meets a son of Co. Meath testing the GI Kentucky Derby water with his impressive Leonatus S. winner. As migrations go, one is rather less surprising than the other. On the one hand, over the past two years the synthetic circuit at Turfway has consecutively delivered the winner and runner-up in the definitive test of a dirt Thoroughbred. On the other, the trainer hoping to produce another GI Kentucky Derby horse from the same unlikely platform is only the...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, bolstered by the last-minute addition of a newly crowned graded stakes winner, marches into its second decade with its 11th renewal Monday at Newtown Paddocks. Bidding on the first of 245 catalogued offerings is slated to begin at 2 p.m. A common refrain from consignors heading into the one-session auction was timeliness, as the sale's place on the calendar puts it right in front of a busy summer of racing, both regionally and at boutique meets on both...

He was hardly the first horseman who couldn't afford to be wrong, and he won't be the last. And he knows that another day, with another horse, the high-wire might not have taken the weight of the gamble. But if John Ennis duly needed a share of luck to make it across, then everything that has happened since suggests that he did so principally through his own dexterity. The trainer remembers trembling as he signed a $7,000 docket for a Yes It's True colt at the Fasig-Tipton October Sale in...

3rd-Churchill Downs, $114,814, Msw, 4-28, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.75, ft, 3 lengths. MOLLIE KATE (f, 2, Tapizar--Forbidden Brew, by Milwaukee Brew), sent off at 4-1 for this unveiling, broke sharply and soon led Tranquil Times (Firing Line) through a crisp opening quarter in :22.19. Clear of her rival and moving easily straightening for home, the John Ennis trainee was given moderate encouragement by James Graham in the stretch, cruising home an unchallenged three-length winner over Murgatroyd (Brody's Cause). The winner, a half to Paige Anne (Take Charge Indy), MGSP, $114,540,...

2nd-Keeneland, $55,240, Msw, 4-8, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :52.04, ft, 1 length. SHESGOTATTITUDE (f, 2, Tiznow--Mackenzie Capri, by Eskendereya) was allowed to drift up to 21-5--better than twice her morning line--in the face of the heavily backed Wesley Ward 3-5 firster Twilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense {GB}) and ran to some eye-popping morning trials to provide trainer John Ennis with his second debut winner of the meet. Exiting a bullet three-furlong blowout in :34 flat (1/32) over this main track Mar. 30, the bay filly hit the ground running and...

1st-Keeneland, $56,787, Msw, 4-2, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :52.15, ft, 3 1/2 lengths. BOHEMIAN FROST (f, 2, Frosted--Toast of Mayfair, by Speightstown) blasted out of the gate and never looked back to become the first winner at Keeneland's spring meet Friday afternoon. Having prepped for this with a :46 2/5 bullet from the gate here Mar. 21, the grey was pounded down to 9-5 into the face of a 4-5 Wesley Ward shot and soon proved why. With Ward's runner Dream Fly (American Pharoah) missing the break from the rail, Bohemian...