Josie Carroll

Equine or human, history is always about the six degrees of someone in racing's world. For instance, at 100-1 Jim Dandy beat Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox in the 1930 edition of the Travers S., which only featured four entries total. The horse who set up the longshot by engaging in a speed duel with the favorite over the mud was Whichone, a colt owned by Harry Payne Whitney (yes, that important family). And what other Thoroughbred did Whitney own? Well, that would be Upset, who did just that, when...

4th-Mth, $55K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5fT, 2:02 p.m. AMO Racing's MADAME MISCHIEF (Into Mischief), out of a half-sister to MGISW Divisidero (Kitten's Joy), went for $550,000 at OBSMAR after clocking .10 flat during the under-tack breeze show. The Jorge Delgado trainee gets Isaac Castillo in the irons. TJCIS PPS 1st-HAW, $35K, Msw, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, 3:30 p.m. Another recent OBSMAR grad who fetched $500,000, Dorothy Crowfoot (Audible) makes her first start for trainer Larry Rivelli. Her dam, Enjoy This Moment (Midnight Lute), is a half-sister to MGSW Sum of...

They talk about the glass ceiling, though back in 1992 Shelley Riley ran into something more like a glass wall. For a few strides, it looked as though she was going to make history as she watched Casual Lies--a Lear Fan colt she had found as a short yearling for $7,500--lead into the stretch with most of the Kentucky Derby field in trouble. But then that invisible barrier came down, and Lil E. Tee ran by to win by a length. Her reward? Later that year, somebody claiming to represent...

Tall Oaks homebred Avie's Flatter (Flatter), 2018 Canadian champion 2-year-old, is retiring from racing to stand stud at Ontario's Colebrook Farms. Winner of the Cup and Saucer S. and the Coronation Futurity at two, he went on at three to win Keeneland's GIII Kentucky Utilities Transylvania S. and place in each leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. From ages four to six, he took both the GII Neartic S. and the GII Connaught Cup and also placed in the GII Eclipse S. and the GIII Bold Venture S. He retires...

The Roth family's LNJ Foxwoods announced plans to move its Southern California-based horses east and re-focus its racing stable on the East Coast, Canada and Kentucky circuits. A Sunday afternoon tweet from Jaime Roth read, "LNJ Foxwoods has made the difficult decision to take a break from having horses stabled year-round in Southern California. With our family based in New York and one of our advisors, Alex Solis, II of Solis/Litt, having relocated to Lexington, we would like to focus on the East Coast, Canada and Kentucky circuits at this...

Eugene Melnyk, the owner of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League and a prominent horse owner and breeder who was a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, has passed away at age 62. His death was announced Monday by the Senators, which posted a statement from Melnyk's family on its website, which noted that he died "after an illness he faced with determination and courage." The team did not disclose the exact cause of death. He underwent a liver transplant in 2015. A native of...

'TDN Rising Star' Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), three-for-three on turf to start her career, will try all-weather racing for the first time Saturday at Woodbine, going seven furlongs on the Tapeta in the GII Bessarabian S. A sharp 3 3/4-length frontrunning winner debuting on the local turf last August to earn her 'Rising Star' badge, the Chuck Fipke homebred quickly backed up that distinction with a score in the GI Natalma S. The chestnut was sidelined for nearly a year after that, however, before returning with an optional claiming success in...

What a singular coincidence, and literally so, that two of the best horses recently bred in Canada--and that has never been a negligible distinction--should both have only one eye. True, the origins of Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun) and Mighty Heart (Dramedy) could scarcely be more diverse. The 2019 GI La Brea S. winner, who was retired a few weeks ago, graduated from one of the most admired breeding programs in North America, which routinely sends yearlings to Keeneland as coveted as any making a shorter trip from the...

While the U.S. Horse of the Year race was all but decided when Authentic (Into Mischief) won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 7, the race for the Canadian title remains wide open entering a Saturday card at Woodbine that will feature the four top contenders for the year-end honor. The sentimental favorite is the 8-year-old Pink Lloyd (Old Forester), but he will face one of the toughest tests in his career when he goes in the GII Kennedy Road S. A loss could open the door for 3-year-olds Belichick...

Heading into Saturday's final jewel in Canada's 2020 Triple Crown, trainer Josie Carroll appeared poised to collect the 129th renewal of the Breeders' S. And while most thought that Queen's Plate S. and Prince of Wales S. hero Mighty Heart (Dramedy) was the most likely to accomplish the feat as even-money choice, it was his stablemate Belichick (Lemon Drop Kid) who landed the Canadian Classic in fine style. Given a 3-1 chance here, Belichick raced two wide in mid-pack as his favored barnmate-prompted by longshot Kunal (Temple City)--blazed through swift...

The tale of a one-eyed horse who has come from nowhere to sweep the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown has been the feel-good story of the year at Woodbine, but the next chapter could end with an uncomfortable twist. Mighty Heart (Dramedy) is the even-money favorite in Saturday's Breeders S., a role he earned after decisive victories in the Queen's Plate and the Prince of Wales S. But there's a rapidly improving, dangerous horse in the field named Belichick (Lemon Drop Kid) who should relish the mile-and-a-half...

It's not often that a double-digit longshot romps by 7 1/2 lengths in a million-dollar race, but that's the feat Larry Cordes's Mighty Heart (Dramedy) pulled off in the Queen's Plate. Sept. 12 at Woodbine. Tuesday, the homebred will look to prove that was no fluke in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales S., at Fort Erie. Bearing out badly in two unsuccessful tries to open his career in the winter at Fair Grounds, Mighty Heart was given nearly four months off and came...