Keeneland

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, 5fT, post time: 5:13 p.m. ET Ranlo Investments' TALKIN PHAROAH (American Pharoah) acquitted himself well enough in his 4 1/2-furlong bow over the Keeneland main track, finishing a well-backed runner-up Apr. 20, but a surface switch is in the offing, and with good reason. The bay colt is the first foal to the races from the Randall Lowe-bred Just Talkin (Midshipman), five times placed in sprint stakes company--four of those on the grass--and a full-sister to the outstanding GSW and GI...

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 the horses of interest for this weekend running at Chukyo Racecourse. The penultimate Group 1 event of the spring racing calendar is set for Sunday at Tokyo, which hosts the G1 Yasuda Kinen. Two-time G1 February S. hero Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) tries the grass for just the second...

Wayne Lyster always knew it to be miracle enough, for a farm this size, simply to get both into the starting gate. The Derby-Oaks double hadn't been accomplished since the heyday of Calumet, 70 years previously, and at Ashview, they foal out no more than a couple of dozen mares every spring. As such, Lyster can justly take pride in the fact that both Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Nest (Curlin) finished their races so well, for fifth and second, respectively, that they are now converging instead on the GI...

A filly from the first crop of Grade I winner Army Mule (hip 437) zipped a quarter-mile in :20 2/5--fastest of the week so far--during the third session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds Sale under-tack show Wednesday in Central Florida. Consigned by Larry Mejias's appropriately named Fast Horses, the gray filly is out of the unraced Super Holiday (Super Saver) and from the family of graded winner Double Honor. "I am really happy with that work," Mejias said. "That filly had been working really fast at the...

Here's a conundrum for you. When does your outstanding yearling become merely one that stands out? It's something the Keeneland sales team find themselves asking a great deal right now, out on the farms, during the annual process of sieving entries into the right tier of the world's biggest yearling catalog. Time after time, they run into the same, nearly superstitious nervousness among some consignors about September Book 1. The action is too tight at the top end. Let this guy be a big fish in a smaller pond. Well,...

An incentive-based participation bonus program called the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen was unveiled by the Breeders' Cup this Thursday. The new program will award monetary credits, funded by Breeders' Cup, for first through third-place finishes in selected races for horsemen to use toward entry fees in six of the Breeders' Cup World Championships dirt races. Learn more here. Also this week, Breeders' Cup announced that the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In schedule will feature 82 qualifying races in 11 counties. New for this year, the 2022 series...

The 'Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen', a series comprised of existing graded stakes races at a variety of distances taking place from May through October at six U.S. tracks, will award monetary credits--funded by Breeders' Cup--for first- through third-place finishers in selected races for horsemen to use for entry fees in six Grade I Breeders' Cup Dirt races--the $2-million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, the $2-million Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint, the $2-million TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the $2-million NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, the $1-million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint...

The 2022 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In schedule will feature 82 qualifying races in 11 countries, Breeders' Cup announced Tuesday. Winners, as usual, will receive automatic qualifying positions, and fees paid, into a corresponding race in the 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships. Horses from around the globe will be qualifying through the Win and You're In program for the 39th Breeders' Cup World Championships, consisting of 14 Grade 1 races and purses and awards totaling $31 million. This year's Championships will be held at Keeneland Race Course...

It must have become rather irritating for virologists, over the past couple of years, to hear so many of us appointing ourselves overnight experts on the best ways to tackle a pandemic. But that was a familiar enough experience for Dr. Peter Timoney, thinking back 20 years to the harrowing time when the Bluegrass was gripped by panic over Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome (MRLS). At the very time when his skills were most precious, as a world authority on equine virology based right there at the University of Kentucky, so...

Wesley Ward worked five of his Royal Ascot contenders over the Keeneland turf Friday led by GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal (Uncle Mo). He covered five panels in a bullet 1:02.80 (1/8) (video). Winner of the GII Shakertown S. last out Apr. 9, the bay is being pointed at the G1 King's Stand S. at the Royal meeting June 14. "I thought he had an unbelievable breeze today," Ward said. "The turf was soggy, and I love to breeze on a deep, soft turf. They come in...

Edited Ontario Racing press release Susan Foreman got outbid in a hot market at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year, but found a mare to bring home to her Ontario farm from among the sale's RNAs, purchasing Unostrike (Macho Uno) privately for $25,000 after the 12-year-old failed to meet her reserve in the sales ring the previous day. While half of the mare's purchase price was paid for by Ontario Racing's Mare Purchase Program, the acquisition was made even better when Unostrike's half-brother Rich Strike (Keen Ice) upset the...

Tickets for the 2022 Breeders' Cup, to be held for the third time at Keeneland Race Course Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5, 2022, are now on sale at BreedersCup.com/Tickets. "With the 39th running of the Breeders' Cup World Championships now less than six months away, we're excited to see fans begin making their plans to join us for another incredible two days of racing," said Breeders' Cup President and CEO Drew Fleming. "We know fans are eager to celebrate racing and watch the best horses in the world...