Messier

'TDN Rising Star' Messier (Empire Maker) will look to take his talent around two turns as a prohibitive favorite in Saturday's GII Los Alamitos Futurity. A $470,000 FTKSEL buy by the powerful ownership conglomerate nicknamed The Avengers, the bay settled for second at 1-2 in his local unveiling July 27. He resurfaced at Santa Anita Oct. 22 after a minor foot issue, and blew away his competition by 6 1/2 lengths. The son of MSW router Checkered Past (Smart Strike) made similarly short work of Del Mar's GIII Bob Hope...

Red Smith put it well; of course he did. So well, in fact, that he said it all over again. In 1975, writing one of the pieces that won a Pulitzer Prize the following year, Smith declared that Kentucky Derby week was "the only one in 52 when the instrument of Satan known as horse racing becomes a showpiece of the American sports scene." Four years later, back at the same point in the cycle, he wrote that little old ladies in Wisconsin would this week be glad to learn...

Heavily-favored Messier sat off of a supersonic pace in Sunday's GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar and rallied to score going away in the end, giving Bob Baffert--who had three of the four starters--his 11th victory in the seven-furlong test for 2-year-old males. Hammered down to 1-2 favoritism on debut June 27 at Los Alamitos, the $470,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling buy cruised to an easy 6 1/2-length graduation off a brief layoff Oct. 22 at Santa Anita to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Taking the bulk of the play...

The always well-stocked Bob Baffert barn, fresh off its victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile last week with Corniche (Quality Road), has three more pricey and full-of-potential juvenile colts entered against just two other rivals in Sunday's seven-furlong GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar. Baffert already owns a record 10 Bob Hope trophies and has won four of the last six renewals. Breaking from the rail is 'TDN Rising Star' Messier (Empire Maker), a 6 1/2-length second-out winner at Santa Anita Oct. 22. He now sheds blinkers off...

Crunched into 2-5 favoritism to build on a debut second at Los Alamitos at the end of June, Messier (Empire Maker) made a bold run to the front fully three furlongs from home and coasted in by 6 1/2 lengths to become a new 'TDN Rising Star' in Friday's fourth race from Santa Anita. Away only fairly beneath Flavien Prat, the $470,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase graduate worked his way up into a chasing second as the debuting Godsend (Midshipman) went a strong gallop up ahead of him. Prat allowed...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency  6th-LRC, $45K, Msw, 2yo, 5f, post time: 6:28 p.m. ET The stallion-making syndicate nicknamed "The Avengers" will be represented by a pricey pair of yearling buys here conditioned by Bob Baffert. Favored at 6-5 on the morning line is Messier (Empire Maker), who was the most expensive buy by his late sire last year when he brought $470,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearlings Showcase. The bay is out of two-turn stakes winner Checkered Past (Smart Strike) from a Sam-Son family that includes Canadian champions Catch...