Midshipman

Still a maiden off a pair of seconds in turf sprints at both Ellis and Kentucky Downs, Committee of One jumped up into stakes company and rewarded his backers at 7-1 with the narrowest of wins in the Indian Summer S. Racing in the back half of the field after a bumpy beginning, the Steve Asmussen trainee stayed wide and in the clear up the backstretch run in pursuit of Riparound (Uncle Mo) through a :21.40 opening quarter. As the group fanned across the track passing the quarter pole, Committee...

"After Sheikh Mohammed purchased Stonerside Stable in 2008, he graciously kept on the entire Stonerside staff," said Vicky Van Camp, who was formerly the Research and Information Director of Stonerside Stable and is now Godolphin's U.S. Racing Research Coordinator. She was at Stonerside when Midshipman was born and is now at Darley, where Midshipman stands. "Midshipman, the last Grade I winner for Stonerside, became the first Grade I winner from the purchase for Sheikh Mohammed with his Breeders' Cup Juvenile win just a month later. I'm happy to say a...

3rd-DMR, $82K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 5:30 p.m. As the summer winds down, there is still more than enough time for juvenile first timers to make their debut. At Del Mar, $1.25-million Fasig-Tipton Yearling Sale buy MC VAY (Constitution) is set for his inaugural trip. Out of Dothraki Sea (Union Rags), who counts both GISW Dixie Chatter (Dixie Union) and GSW Rumor (Indian Charlie) as half-siblings, the dark bay colt is trained by John Shirreffs and will be ridden by Mike Smith. Also entered is $250,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale grad...

9th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3yo/up, f, 7fT, 5:12 p.m. The first foal out of GIII Go for Wand H. heroine Indulgent, MAY FANE (Uncle Mo) dons the royal blue as a Godolphin homebred for trainer Bill Mott. Indulgent is herself a daughter of Fast Cookie, making her a half-sister to MGISW and Darley stallion Frosted (Tapit) and to the dam of GSW/GISP Caramel Swirl (Union Rags). Third dam Fleet Lady, also a graded-stakes winner herself, produced champion 2-year-old colt Midshipman (Unbridled's Song). Further down in the family are MGISP Solomini (Curlin),...

It tells you plenty about the business today that this final leg of our quest for value on Kentucky farms should compress together stallions whose various retirements from the racetrack spanned more than decade. In devoting nearly all the previous instalments to individual classes of younger stallions, we've simply mirrored the distribution of mares, which as we all know is massively loaded towards largely unproven sires. To me, then, those few survivors that do establish a viable niche in the Bluegrass are real heroes. While dozens of their original competitors...

Perennial top sire Medaglia d'Oro once again heads Darley's Jonabell Farm roster for 2023 with his fee remaining at $100,000, the same amount as 2022. Darley has also added two new stallions to the now-11 horse roster, including G1SW Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) and GISW Speaker's Corner (Street Sense). Mystic Guide, who won the 2021 G1 Dubai World Cup, was retired earlier this year. He will stand for a fee of $15,000 in his initial season at stud. Speaker's Corner, a Godolphin homebred out of Tyburn Brook (Bernardini) who is bred...

Kenny McPeek captured his third GIII Pocahontas S. in the last eight years when Fun and Feisty (Midshipman--Grouse Grind, by First Samurai) crossed the line an emphatic winner Saturday at Churchill Downs. The winner didn't have any speed in the 12-horse field and settled in the back, second from last yet well in front of Naughty Gal (Into Mischief), the GIII Adirondack S. winner who trailed throughout. After favored Grand Love (Gun Runner) showed the way through :23.74 and :48.07 early fractions, Fun and Feisty remained well behind but was...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-ELP, $60K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 4:10 p.m.    Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox take the wrapper off homebred LAST COOKIE (Bernardini) Friday at Ellis Park, a son of MGSP Fast Cookie (Deputy Minister) making him a half-brother to MGISW & Darley stallion Frosted (Tapit) and GSW Caramel Swirl (Union Rags). He is also a full-brother to GSW Indulgent. Fast Cookie herself is a half-sister to MGISW & sire Midshipman (Unbridled's Song) and to the dam of MGISP Solomini (Curlin). TJCIS PPs

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 23 entries for its April Digital Selected Sale. Bidding is now officially open and will close this Tuesday, Apr. 26, at 2 pm. The catalogue, which may now be viewed at digital.fasigtipton.com, consists of horses of racing age and breeding stock. Entries catalogued include: Time Sensitive (Hip 1): 4-year-old daughter of Nyquist is a half-sister to recent GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. winner Tawny Port (Pioneerof the Nile). Topo Grigio (Hip 2): Winning daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Summer Wind Dancer is believed to be in foal...

And so we reach the final leg of our journey hunting out value among Kentucky sires in 2022. It's been a rather more focused exercise this time round, and if that means plenty of stallions (and indeed some farms) have been overlooked, so be it. It's only ever the subjective view of a single bystander. You'll know what works for your own mare, and for your own agenda, too, whether you're an end user, say, or first and foremost need to anticipate commercial demand. We've often complained that a market...

Darley America will have two major new additions to its stallion roster for 2022 as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and GI Belmont S. winner Essential Quality (Tapit--Delightful Quality, by Elusive Quality) and fellow Grade I winner Maxfield (Street Sense--Velvety, by Bernardini) are set to retire to Jonabell after their final starts. "To have both Essential Quality and Maxfield coming to Jonabell is as exciting as it gets. And to have accomplished what they did as homebreds in the colors of Godolphin makes it even that much more meaningful," said Darley...

Hat Creek Racing's Averly Jane (Midshipman--Sh Sh Shakin', by Richter Scale) powered home a much-the-best winner in Keeneland's Indian Summer S., a 'Win and You're In' race for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar Nov. 5. Undefeated in three prior starts for trainer Wesley Ward, including a commanding score in Saratoga's Skidmore S. Aug. 20, she was installed the 4-5 choice while facing the boys and getting blinkers off here. To the front like a shot, she rolled through opening splits of :21.64 and :44.50. Turning...