Medaglia d'Oro
LEINANI (f, 3, Omaha Beach--Romy, by Karakontie {Jpn}) debuted Jan. 24 over this main track in a six-furlong maiden dash, closing from the back of the field to run fourth. Well supported to the tune of even-money favoritism for this second jump, she was away alertly this time and moving well behind fractions of :23.93 and four panels in :47.30. In hand from four off the rail and clearing those early pacesetters coming off the bend, Leinani drew away from Slow Kara (Medaglia d'Oro) to win by 8 1/4 lengths....
Sometimes, you might as well just buy the factory. It was the fall of 2023 and Glenn Bennett already had two of Adorabella (Ghostzapper)'s three foals, the oldest of which (Girl Trouble, by Fast Anna) was a stakes winner for him and partner Swilcan Stable at Parx, and the youngest of which he'd just bought as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sale. He'd twice tried to make a deal for the third, the mare's then-2-year-old named Book'em Danno (Bucchero), who'd caught his eye after winning his first three starts at...
FIRST CALL BOB (c, 4, Uncle Mo--Walk Close {GSW, $294,458}, by Tapit) was late to the races, but he was first home on this unveiling. Giving the gate crew some trouble before the start, they finally managed to convince him to load and he broke well to push the leading pair until about the half-mile marker. Taking over at the three-eighths as Mainstream (Speightstown) tried to mount a response, the 9-2 shot kicked away from his would-be challengers and won by 3 1/4 lengths over Love'em Or Liam (Liam's Map)...
The betting public thought it would be a welcome parade, and Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) did not let them down, striding home much the best in the GIII Bayakoa Stakes to kick off her 2026 campaign at Oaklawn. The Mark Casse star needs little introduction, but her record bears repeating: the daughter of the now-pensioned Medaglia d'Oro breathes rarified air as one of few horses who can claim Grade I wins/placings on two surfaces. As part of her nine-race championship campaign last season, she came a nose shy of winning the...
This wasn't the plan. Jon Green, the general manager of D.J. Stable, and trainer Mark Casse were ready to give 3-year-old filly champion Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) a nice break after her second-place finish in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff. But just 67 days after her last race, she will go in Saturday's GIII Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn, where she is the 4-5 morning-line favorite. Why? Because Nitrogen was telling Casse that she had had enough of taking it easy. "The game plan, initially, was that when she was done...
There's a special feel about this place: very different from some of the bigger farms around Lexington, with their miles of fencing leading to wide horizons. Here trees fill the undulations like green mist, and then there's this gem of a house, faithfully reproduced from a much older one in New Hampshire that Dede McGehee came across in a book one day. Hummingbirds flit into the flower baskets on the veranda. Overall, Heaven Trees Farm feels very apt to its name. "Except when I looked into it, it turned out...
GI Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) has been named the top 3-Year-Old Male and GI Alabama Stakes winner Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) as top 3-Year-Old Filly in their respective categories at the Eclipse Awards. Beaten just once in 2025 when second in the GI Curlin Florida Derby, Sovereignty wrapped up his year with wins in the Derby, the GI Belmont Stakes, the GII Jim Dandy Stakes and the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes, earning more than $5,600,000 in six starts for owner/breeder Godolphin and trainer Bill Mott. Nitrogen began her year...
Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) worked five furlongs in 1:00 (1/62) Saturday morning for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who is pointing the millionaire Grade I winner for the $1.25 million GI Apple Blossom Handicap for older fillies and mares April 11 at Oaklawn. "The track's pretty deep right now," assistant trainer Caden Arthur, who oversees Casse's Oaklawn division, said Sunday afternoon. "I mean, not a lot of water, trying not to let it freeze. She moved over it phenomenally. Went a minute flat and did it cruising. Glad she...
Group 1 Saudi Cup hero Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) is represented by his first foal, a colt out of Oriole (Medaglia d'Oro), who hit the ground at Shawhan Place Monday, it was announced via press release. The new arrival, bred by the farm who raised the stallion, is out of a daughter of multiple stakes winner Free as a Bird (Hard Spun), herself a half-sister to SW Let Me Entertain U (Nobiz Like Shobiz) and to the dam of full-siblings SW Dancing Magic (Good Magic) and SP Thunder Chuck. Oriole is...
The first reported foal by Claiborne Farm's GISW Prince of Monaco (by Speightstown)--a healthy filly out of the Justify mare Itgetsgreaterlater--was born at Serendipity Springs in Lexington, Kentucky Jan. 12, according to a press release from the sire's home base on Friday morning. This is the third foal out of Itgetsgreaterlater, whose second foal by Gunite brought $160,000 at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, topping the session among that day's weanlings. The Kuegler family's Wasabi Ventures Stables bought Itgetsgreaterlater for $80,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November Sale. The...
BLESS THE BROKEN (f, 4, Laoban--The Nightingale, by Tapit) missed the board once last year in a campaign that included a gutsy third-place finished in th GI Kentucky Oaks, and finishing fourth in the GI Acorn Stakes June 6 at Saratoga in what turned out to be the last race of her season. Sold for $950,000 to Qatar Racing and Mountmellick Farm during the Fasig-Tipton November sale last year, she was moved from the barn of Will Walden to Brad Cox, and made her return to the races here with...
7th-GP, $70k, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 3:18 p.m. ET Epic d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a full-brother to the once-in-a-lifetime Rachel Alexandra, makes his first career start for Todd Pletcher going two turns over the Gulfstream lawn. He brought $1.35 million from the fledgling Las Vegas-based Epic Horses at last year's Keeneland September Yearling sale. The bay was bred in Kentucky by Dede McGehee. "He is a really good mover," the operation's advisor and CEO of Town & Country Farms Shannon Potter said at KEESEP while declining to reveal the names of...