Keeneland

by Jessica Martini, Christie DeBernardis and Brian DiDonato LEXINGTON, KY- Bidding remained steady as Book 2 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale concluded Wednesday in Lexington. Andrew Cary made the session's most expensive purchase, going to $500,000 to acquire the mare Contributing (Medaglia d'Oro) from the Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency consignment on behalf of Coteau Grove Farms. Weanlings held the next six top prices of the session and, for the third straight day of the sale, Justify was responsible for the top-priced foal when Chris Baccari went to...

Already considered one of the hottest barns in America heading into Breeders' Cup weekend, Brad Cox's stable provided an exclamation point to a monster 2020 season with a whopping four World Championship victories at Keeneland. Now leading all conditioners with 28 graded stakes wins this year and a legitimate threat to unseat four-time defending champion trainer Chad Brown at the Eclipse Awards, Cox joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Cox explained his barn's breakout success...

Prior to the running of the Nov. 7 GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland, a photo eye at the start of the race was inadvertently tripped, which resulted in an error when attempting to operate the timing system manually causing inaccurate timing for all fractions and the final time of the race. A final time of 1:59.19 was initially provided by Equibase using the available video replay. After subsequent and more detailed review and timing of the race from multiple sources and camera angles, Keeneland and Equibase have determined...

by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale's two-session Book 2 opened Tuesday in Lexington with solid trade and a varied bench of domestic and international buyers. Bloodstock agent Arthur Hoyeau made the day's highest bid, going to $975,000 to acquire the group-winning mare Pollara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) from the Claiborne Farm consignment. The 5-year-old mare was one of five to sell for $500,000 or more during Tuesday's session. Six reached that level at last year's first Book 2 session. In...

Nearly two decades apart, we've witnessed a Breeders' Cup in the aftermath of a devastating terrorism attack, which led to armed marksmen defending the rooftop of the host track, and now during a global pandemic, which necessitated the barring of the general public from the two-day event and kept the relatively few essential attendees masked and socially distanced from one another. Unlike 2001, this year's championships produced no singular "Tiznow wins it for America!" moment to buoy the spirit of a nation in crisis. But the crescendo of Authentic (Into...

LEXINGTON, KY - The action moves from the racetrack to the sales ring at Keeneland Monday with the first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The 10-day auction kicks off with a single select Book 1 section that begins at noon and continues through Nov. 18 with subsequent sessions beginning at 10 a.m. "I think the sale will be good," Marshall Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency said on an unseasonably warm November morning at the Keeneland sales grounds Sunday. "We have a lot of good horses and...

Total all-sources handle for the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course was $160,472,894, the sixth-highest total since the Breeders' Cup expanded to a two-day event in 2007 and an 8% decrease from the 2019 record handle of $174,000,574 at Santa Anita. The two-day total handle represented a 7% increase from the 2015 Championships, the first time the event was held at Keeneland. Attendance figures for the 2020 Championships at Keeneland were not reported since attendance was restricted to participants and essential personnel only due to COVID-19 safety...

It's been a difficult few months for Bob Baffert, who acknowledged as much after Authentic (Into Mischief) won the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic and wrapped up the Horse-of-the-Year title on a terrific day of racing at Keeneland. He seemed every bit as relieved as he was excited, enjoying a moment where he could divert his focus from Scopolamine, drug positives out of Oaklawn or the latest hit job from the New York Times. It seemed that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "That was awesome. I tell...

Irad Ortiz, Jr. earned his third Bill Shoemaker Award following his two wins on Breeders' Cup championship weekend. Ortiz won the GI Sprint aboard Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) and the GII Juvenile Turf Sprint with Golden Pal (Uncle Mo). The Shoemaker Award goes to the jockey who won the most races in the 14 World Championship races with the tiebreaker being a 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes. Ortiz was one of five jockeys to win two races during the championship weekend. In addition to his two victories, Ortiz...

Authentic (Into Mischief) provided Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert with a fourth victory-all with 3-year-olds--in the $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic, leading throughout en route to a 2 1/4-length defeat of stablemate Improbable (City Zip) as the sun set in Saturday's main event at Keeneland. Ridden for speed by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, the GI Kentucky Derby hero and narrow GI Preakness S. runner-up led the Classic field under the wire for the first time, doing so with a minimum of fuss, and with stablemates Improbable and Maximum...

Trainer Dermot Weld, widely regarded as the pioneer of traveling horses, has accomplished most everything there is to accomplish in this business, winning the 1990 GI Belmont S. with Go and Go (Ire) (Be My Guest) and the G1 Melbourne Cup twice with Vintage Crop (Ire) (Rousillon, 1993) and Media Puzzle in 2002, to name just a few of his considerable achievements. The latter was a son of Theatrical (Ire), trained by Weld for Bert and Diana Firestone to a runner-up effort in the 1985 G1 Irish Derby before finishing...

Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) completed a sensational championship season in 2018 with a victory in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs. After a series of medical issues forced her to miss her entire 4-year-old season in 2019, the Eclipse winner proved to be better than ever in her return to action this year, capping a perfect 2020 campaign with another victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland Saturday. Monomoy Girl was hammered down to even-money favoritism in an event billed as a match race between the top...