Liguria

After striking gold beyond the boundaries of the Golden State with Journalism (Curlin) in the GI Preakness Stakes a little more than a week ago, jockey Umberto Rispoli and trainer Michael McCarthy are liable to find themselves front and center on the special Memorial Day program at Santa Anita with Formidable Man (City of Light) in the GI Shoemaker Mile Stakes. And if statistics are anything to go by, they should prove tough to handle, as the duo has combined to win at something around 27% at the Great Race...

2nd-GP, $94K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:25 p.m. ET. Carrying the same colors as her successful dam, DOUBLE JEOPARDY (Uncle Mo) is set for her unveiling for Bass Stables and Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. The first-time starter is out of Avenge (War Front), the winner of back-to-back editions of the GI Rodeo Drive Stakes, who counts as a full-sister recent GII Buena Vista Stakes heroine Liguria. Double Jeopardy's older half-sister Defiance (Curlin) broke her maiden at first asking at Santa Anita Jan. 26 for Ramona Bass. Also on...

Michael McCarthy enjoyed the kind of day most trainers could only wish for last Saturday at Santa Anita. He won four races on an 11-race card including the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile with Formidable Man (City of Light), GII San Felipe with 3-year-old Journalism (Curlin) and GII Buena Vista with Liguria (War Front). "It was a memorable day," McCarthy said Sunday morning. "I'm just very pleased for my guys at the barn. It takes a lot to have a day like yesterday. It was a real team effort." In...

Keeneland's lawn debuted during the 1985 Fall meet in an era when American turf courses were just coming into vogue. According to a back issue of the track's media guide, through 2016 they had two names for their grass course. The Keeneland Course referred to the one with rail up, while the normal configuration with it down was called the Haggin Course. Named for Louis Lee Haggin II, who was not only Keeneland's President from 1940-1956, but the decade before had purchased the 550-acre Sycamore Farm in Woodford County. Serving...

If you are searching for some Saratoga race name history, then head about 30 miles west from the horse hubbub in the complete opposite direction of Lake George. On Route 29 just outside Johnstown, New York, you'll find Johnson Hall, an impressive Georgian structure that became a historic house museum. In 1763, a century before Saratoga Race Course was founded, the manor was literally carved out of the wilderness as a symbol of refinement by power couple Sir William Johnson and his common-law wife, Molly Brant. On their turf they...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Subsequently flattered by Liguria (War Front)'s impressive performance in last weekend's GIII Jimmy Durante S. at Del Mar, Erna (f, 2, Curlin--Jumby Bay, by City Zip) will look to go one better at second asking in the nightcap at Gulfstream Park Sunday. Off at 11-1 going 1 1/16 miles over the grass on debut at the Belmont at Aqueduct meeting Oct. 22, Erna jumped well from post five...

Whether it was the memory of her Grade I-winning full-sister just five years ago in California or the ability she showed in breaking her maiden in October before shipping across the country for the GIII Jimmy Durante S., Liguria (War Front--Lerici, by Woodman) was tabbed as the favorite and was spot on as she trumped a full field in the Del Mar stakes for 2-year-old fillies on the grass. The Alpha Delta Stables runner was one of five in the Jimmy Durante coming into the race fresh off a maiden...