Kopion

Last summer, we began "The Producers" as a way to spotlight a few of the extraordinary mares--and some of the people behind them--who produced the Grade I winners of 2025. With 83 individual North American Grade I winners in the books for the 2025 season, we return to it now, continuing with two mares who each made a massive impact at the fall breeding stock sales. Galloping Ami, dam of Kopion Galloping Ami (Victory Gallop) is a mare accustomed to making headlines. Named Outstanding Broodmare in Canada in 2016 after...

Spendthrift Farm's Kopion (Omaha Beach--Galloping Ami, by Victory Gallop), who posted three Beyer Speed Figures in excess of 107 in a season which included a blowout victory in the GI Derby City Distaff Stakes, has been retired, according to a report from the Daily Racing Form. Bred by Ivan Dalos's Tall Oaks Farm, Kopion was a $270,000 Keeneland September yearling and won a pair of stakes over seven furlongs at three, a 5 3/4-length success in the GIII Santa Ynez Stakes and a 2 3/4-length score at odds of 37-1...

A filly by Curlin realized a $1.25 million final bid from Wesley Ward at Keeneland's opening session of the November Sale in Lexington Tuesday. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, the February 20 foaled filly is out of Galloping Ami (Victory Gallop), Broodmare of the Year in 2016. Offered as Hip 82, the bay is a Kentucky-bred half-sister to MGISW Kopion (Omaha Beach), Canadian Champion 3-year-old Amis Gizmo (Giant Gizmo) and GSW and GISP Ami's Flatter (Flatter.) She was bred by Tall Oaks Farm and The Curlin Syndicate.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Bentornato (Valiant Minister) avenged his too-good-to-lose second at last year's Championships with a powerful, front-running performance in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar. Imagination (Into Mischief) just held off Dr. Venkman (Ghostzapper) for second. Last year's Sprint winner Straight No Chaser (Speightster) tired to seventh. The 8-5 favorite provided back-to-back Breeders' Cup winners for trainer Jose D'Angelo and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who also teamed up for a popular win with 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Shisospicy (Mitole) one race earlier on the...

DEL MAR, Calif. - At the age of 56, the legendary Bill Shoemaker guided Ferdinand home by a nose over Alysheba as the two Derby winners famously hit the wire together in the 1987 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Hollywood Park. The late Shoemaker has held the record as the oldest jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race since. Hall of Famer Mike Smith will have five chances to make history as the two-day Championships return to Del Mar for the fourth time Friday. The 59-year-old's Breeders' Cup mounts include:...

Breeders' Cup pre-entrants Explora (Blame), Kopion (Omaha Beach), Straight No Chaser (Speightster), Goal Oriented (Not This Time) and Motorious (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) all had their final works Sunday at Santa Anita. Kopion, trained by Richard Mandella, covered three furlongs in :33.20 with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith aboard. The 4-year-old was pre-entered in both the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint going seven furlongs and six-furlong GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, however, Mandella confirmed Kopion would be entered in the Sprint where she will be joined by Mandella-trained stablemate...

Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast), working for an expected title defense in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, GI Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza (McKinzie), unbeaten 2-year-old 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Brant (Gun Runner) and potential Breeders' Cup favorites Seismic Beauty (Uncle Mo) and Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy) were among the Breeders' Cup hopefuls on the worktab Saturday at Santa Anita. Full Serrano worked for the second time since a runner-up effort in the GI Goodwood S. going 1 1/8 miles Sept. 27 at Santa Anita. He was timed...

October has been a month to remember for the team from Spendthrift Farm. Since Oct. 3, Spendthrift has won six stakes, including four graded stakes and two Grade I's. Meanwhile, they've also had three maiden winners, including Further Ado (Gun Runner), who broke his maiden by 20 lengths. November could be even better as Spendthrift is planning on sending five horses to the Breeders' Cup. To talk about Spendthrift's recent run of success and its hopes for the Breeders' Cup, Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey joined the crew for this...

Ned Toffey joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the stacked lineup of Spendthrift Farm-owned horses pointing for the Breeders' Cup, including the General Manager's namesake, Ted Noffey, who figures to be the favorite in the Juvenile.

Stablemates Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) and Kopion (Omaha Beach) were among several Breeders' Cup hopefuls to make an appearance Monday morning on the worktab at Santa Anita ahead of a multi-day rainstorm that's expected to arrive in the area later in the evening. Trained by Richard Mandella, Grade I winners Tamara and Kopion both worked three furlongs with the former being clocked in :37.40 (7/19) on the main track while the latter went to the synthetic training track and was timed in :39.80 (4/4). Kopion wears glue-on shoes, according to Mandella,...

There's a pattern. Four times in her career, My Racehorse and Peter Leidel's Seismic Beauty (f, 4, Uncle Mo--Knarsdale, by Medaglia d'Oro) has gone straight to the lead and each time she's won big, but never bigger than she did Saturday in the $400,000 GI Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar. It was the first Grade I victory of her career following her first graded score in the GII Santa Margarita Stakes May 25 at Santa Anita. Saturday's win nets her a 'Win and You're In,' fees-paid berth to...

Before Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Journalism (Curlin), there was Fierceness (City of Light) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). While we patiently wait for round three between the top two 3-year-olds in the country, last year's two standout sophomores and 'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness and Sierra Leone will meet for the fifth time and first this year in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Fierceness defeated Sierra Leone in both the GII Jim Dandy S. and GI Travers S. at...