Kentucky Derby
Sam Wright has been purchasing racehorses for clients across the globe since founding Equine Investments International three years ago, but the Hong Kong native may have found his most successful graduate to date in the fields of Kentucky where he picked out three foals for a pinhooking partnership of friends. The trio included a son of Classic Empire who, after RNA'ing for $32,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, sold to Albaugh Family Stables for $70,000 at the following year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Named Angel of Empire,...
A Sunday afternoon in August, back in the 1970s, and a student at U.C. Davis is trying to catch up on his history notes ahead of his final semester. There's a knock at the door. Two girls. "They wanted to know if my roommate Morgan was home," remembers David Fiske. "He was not. Asked if my roommate Jeff was home. He was not. Asked if my roommate Pat was home. He was not." Nothing else for it, so they wondered if Fiske would like to come along to a party....
Tapit Trice (Tapit) won the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby in his stakes debut back on Mar. 11, but that horse was never going to win the GI Kentucky Derby. Yes, he had become a Grade II winner, is by Tapit, cost $1.3 million at Keeneland September sale and is in the capable hands of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. But the Tapit Trice that won the Tampa Bay Derby looked like an immature horse who had yet to figure the game out. Combine that with the fact...
Lord Miles (c, 3, Curlin--Lady Esme, by Majestic Warrior) outslugged the top two choices on the board to spring a massive upset in a roughly run renewal of Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S. at the Big A. Disregarded at 59-1 following a sixth-place finish in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 4 and a fifth-place finish in the GIII Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 11, the Peter Vegso homebred was hustled early by Paco Lopez and raced in second rounding the clubhouse turn. Ridden along in an outside fourth down the...
Even-money favorite Practical Move (Practical Joke) solidified his role as California's best GI Kentucky Derby hope as he parlayed a ground-saving trip into a narrow victory in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby over fast-charging Japanese raider Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby). Seeking his third-straight victory off of clear-cut successes in both the Dec. 17 GII Los Alamitos Futurity and Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S., Practical Move was unhurried early and worked his way down to the fence and into a joint third around the first bend. He tugged...
Favored at 8-5 to build on a two-length victory in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby three weeks ago, Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit) was made to work for it by a worthy adversary in the form of Verifying (Justify), but at the end of nine entertaining furlongs, they gray colt--picked up for $1.3 million just down the hill from the racing oval at the Keeneland sales pavilion some 19 months ago--outgamed last year's GI Champagne S. runner-up by a neck in...
A week after champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) solidified his status as the horse to beat on the first Saturday in May, the final round of major GI Kentucky Derby preps offering 100 points to the winner will share the spotlight on an absolutely stacked Saturday afternoon of racing. Forte's Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate and fellow 'Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), an impossible come-from-behind winner in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 11, will exit from the rail in a deep renewal of the GI Toyota Blue...
Middleham Park Racing's Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation), who has earned 32 qualifying points on the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, will not make the trip to Churchill Downs in May. Confirming the decision to swerve the expensive journey across the Atlantic, Tom Palin of Middleham Park Racing said, "We have weighed it up and the horse's owners discussed the options. He has earned £108,000 but the costs of getting him to America would wipe out all of his earnings, so the decision has been made not to go,...
Stoneware & Co. will offer a limited number of signed Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby bottles to benefit the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. This year's signed collector's edition will commemorate the 10th anniversary of Orb winning the Run for the Roses and will be signed by his Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and Eclipse Award-winning jockey Joel Rosario. "The Kentucky Derby is one of the greatest sporting events in the country," said TRF executive director Kelly Armer. "With a captive horse racing audience, we are thrilled to be able to inform...
New Vocations is currently auctioning off six all-inclusive box seats to this year's Kentucky Oaks and six all-inclusive box seats to the Kentucky Derby. The seats were donated by Churchill Downs, Inc. The box for both Oaks and Derby day is located in Section 324 and the Oaks seats have an estimated value of $4,188 and the Derby seats have an estimated value of $6,282. All reserved seating is all-inclusive (food, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages) and access to offsite parking at the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center is available, subject...
The Backside Learning Center at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society will host a Derby Handicapping Social Apr. 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event will feature a 2023 Kentucky Derby handicapping seminar with a panel of the industry's top experts: Caton Bredar and Joe Kristufek, with NBC's Donna Barton Brothers moderating. In addition to handicapping, the event serves as a social hour to mingle with owners, trainers and connected leaders in the Thoroughbred industry. Backside Learning Center will also highlight its programs and provide insight on its Purses for a...
We're approaching the edge of the GI Kentucky Derby abyss. Three final 100-points prep races Saturday, followed by four weeks of microscopic analysis and animated speculation. Bring it on! 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, 7-6-0-0, $1,833,230. Last start: 1st GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Apr. 1. Kentucky Derby Points: 190. 'TDN Rising Star' Forte has made...