Michael Stidham

3rd-Colonial Downs, $70,100, Msw, 7-26, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:03.99, ft, 5 1/2 lengths. FOND OF YOU (f, 2, Street Sense--Hallie Belle {MSW & GSP, $210,464}, by Medaglia d'Oro) broke alertly from her inside post, slightly heading a contentious group of three other quick rivals approaching the far turn. Continuing to show the way, the 4-1 shot put a length on the rest of the field at the top of the stretch, and began to extend that margin through the lane, which grew to 5 1/2 lengths in the end....

With a strong kick down the lane in the Tale of the Cat Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday, Tom's Magic (Justify) netted the second black-type win of his career and the Ontario-bred is intended for the August running of the King's Plate at Woodbine, according to his trainer. The chestnut came on the scene last fall and at second asking graduated by 1 3/4 lengths over the grass at Fair Grounds Dec. 22. The son of Justify then won the Black Gold Stakes at course and distance in what...

6th-FG, $58K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 4:15 p.m. ET. Taking on two turns for her debut is Godolphin homebred LOVE SONG (Ghostzapper). The filly is trained Mike Stidham who also conditioned her older full-brother Mystic Guide and watched as the current sire took the 2021 G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan. Their dam Music Note (A.P. Indy) was an accomplished race filly in her own right as she won five out of nine top level chances during her career for Godolphin. In the breeding shed, Music Note also produced...

The span between Memorial Day and the third leg of the Triple Crown is often a quiet one in the racing world. Not this year, though. Here's a shaking-out of a reporter's notebook from a week that generated some unexpected headlines. Louisiana's move to more lenient medication rules: TDN's survey of seven trainers--Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Michael Stidham, Tom Amoss, Al Stall, Dallas Stewart, Cherie DeVaux--spoke volumes about the announcement by the Louisiana Racing Commission that it would be implementing "emergency" standards that softened a number of drug-regulating standards as...

Thursday's TDN contains a story by Bill Finley discussing the set of more lenient medication rules that the Louisiana Racing Commission has recently enacted. Louisiana is not a state governed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, and the new rules, which replace the ARCI model rules previously used, are scheduled to go into effect on June 8.  In Thursday's story, HISA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Lazarus suggested that there might have to be additional scrutiny on horses coming out of Louisiana races in the spring because of the more...

Minutes after a $40,000 claimer named Jack a Rose (Midshipman) broke down in an Apr. 3 race at Parx Racing, part owner Lisa Novak got a call and was told she had two choices, have the gelding euthanized or go through with an expensive and complex surgery that may or may not save his life. She didn't see it that way. There was only one choice. She would do whatever it took to save Jack a Rose's life. "I have so much love for him," Novak said. "You can't just...

They call it "nominative determinism." Your name suggests your path in life: like the world's fastest man being a Bolt. On that basis, you would say that being born a Goodman raises expectation enough--without then going ahead and buying yourself a farm named Mt. Brilliant. The last year or so, however, suggests that things are playing out much as they should. Last September, TOBA presented Greg Goodman with the Robert N. Clay Award for his work in preserving horse country around Lexington from development. In April, the KTA/KTOB honored him...

1st-CNL, $60K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:30p.m. Lael Stables' BUBBLING UP (Vino Rosso) marks her career debut at Colonial Downs for trainer Michael Stidham. Out of  GSP Shaken (Uncle Mo), the Mark Stansell-bred filly brought $550,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Select Sale last summer. The top-priced offspring by the champion Vino Rosso last season, the filly's pricetag far surpassed the Spendthrift sire's 2022 yearling average of $94,287 for 112 head sold. TJCIS PPs  

With the most starts in the field at 41 and the most claims under his girth in the last year with three, Therapist (g, 8, Freud--Lady Renaissance, by Smart Strike) may not have appeared to be the one most likely headed back to the barn after Monmouth Park's GI United Nations S. as the winner. But like fine wine, he has improved with age, winning his first graded race earlier this year and adding his first Grade I score in Monmouth's Haskell undercard highlight. Therapist is 8-years-young. Off at 12-1...

Sometimes Proxy (h, 5, Tapit--Panty Raid, by Include), the GI Clark H. winner, shows up and sometimes Proxy, the last-place finisher in the GI Stephen Foster S., makes an appearance. Saturday in Monmouth's $400,000 GIII Monmouth Cup S., it was the former, as the gutsy bay and 2-5 choice called on his class to uncharacteristically set the pace and turn back stiff challenges from Whelen Springs (Street Sense)--the only horse in the field with a recent win over the surface--and last-out GII Brooklyn S. runner-up Calibrate (Distorted Humor). "He really...

Godolphin's Proxy (Tapit) had his last major workout at the Fair Grounds Saturday in preparation for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Jan. 28. The 5-year-old official time for the six-furlong move to the seven-eighths pole was 1:13.20, the fastest of two works at the distance Saturday morning. Working in tandem with stablemate Global Sensation (Into Mischief), the pair covered five-eighths in 1:00.40, with Proxy working an additional eighth-mile past the wire. With a crush of horses working right after the track's renovation break, exercise rider Arturo Aparicio...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-WO, $123K, Msw, 3yo, f, 7f (AWT), 2:49 p.m. ET Godolphin and trainer Michael Stidham unveil 3-year-old filly AIOLI, a daughter of Darley's Medaglia d'Oro. She is out of a half-sister to Loving Vindication (Vindication), who has produced Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro) and GISW Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun). Aioli is a half-sister to GISW Secret Spice (Discreet Cat), who sold at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale for $1.4 million to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida. Aioli most recently worked...