Preservationist

Everybody knows Glennwood to be a paragon of its type yet somehow few farms seem able to treat it as a model. For one thing, John Gunther and his daughter Tanya have shown that ultimately there is nothing more commercial than putting winners under your mare, a rather inconvenient lesson for those who favor the just-add-water solution of remorselessly using one rookie sire after another. More fundamentally, however, it's pardonably difficult for anyone to emulate the sheer skill with which the Gunthers cultivate their families. When Scat Daddy disastrously dropped...

The same trainer-jockey combination Whit Beckman and Tyler Gaffalione teaming up with GI Preakness entrant Ocelli later in Saturday's card, enjoyed a victory earlier in the day when Bring the Smoke got up just in time to take the GIII Maryland Sprint Stakes at Laurel. The most lightly-raced 4-year-old with only three prior starts under his belt, Bring the Smoke, getting blinkers off this time, was given a 7-1 chance while stepping into black-type company for the first time in his career. Breaking from Post 1, he was pinned back...

Antiquarian, winner of last year's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, but last seen being a distant eighth in the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, kicked off 2026 with a stylish victory in the GIII Westchester Stakes Sunday at Aqueduct. The chestnut sat just off the pace as favored Bishops Bay and Quint's Brew were up front through a quarter in :24.19 and a half in :47.00. Antiquarian rolled up three wide on the far turn, stuck a head in front at the top of the lane and strode clear...

Okay, so probably we're just running these animals in sufficient circles for the squeaking of the hamster wheel eventually, randomly, to yield something that seems curiously meaningful. But there are times when horses give the impression that they are participating in some mysterious wider scheme in human affairs. Last week, however inadequately, I joined the many in our community grieving the abrupt loss of one of its great horsemen, and gentlemen. The very next day, at Fair Grounds, a colt saturated with the legacy of John Shirreffs missed Olympiad's track...

5 - BLACKSMITH, SA, 2/20-3rd, 1 mile (video) Beyer Speed Figure-82 (c, 3, by Liam's Map--Sweet Achiever, by Curlin) O-Wathnan Racing. B-Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings & St Elias Stables (Ky). T-Bob Baffert. J-Florent Geroux. Distance has always been important for Blacksmith given his pedigree, and he was striding out nicely in this decisive 3 3/4-length score to make amends for a puzzling flop at odds-on six weeks ago. His unraced Curlin dam is a full-sister to former Baffert speed demon Cezanne, but her granddam happens to be Better Than...

The sun had just barely emerged above the tree line at Turfway Park when Ethan West was given a leg up onto his next galloper that morning. It was the usual late August affair--hot, humid, and deviating from the direct line of the nearest fan made it feel like one was walking through soup...or drowning in it. And yet, the barn moved to the beat of its own drum as everyone went through their usual paces. Emerging from the shedrow on the back of an eye-catching grey, West allowed the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Jockey Junior Alvarado, the race day partner of Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the leading 3-year-old in the country, knows how everyone feels now. That's because he saw up close just how powerful Sovereignty is. Sovereignty had his final work before next weekend's $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes Saturday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. As usual, he was being ridden by Neil Poznansky, the assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Alvarado, helping the barn out, climbed aboard Fort Nelson (Bernardini), who was Sovereignty's workmate for...

After respectable showings in the Louisiana, Kentucky, and Ohio Derbys, Chunk of Gold (Preservationist) finally has one to his tally with a sterling effort in the GIII West Virginia Derby. The grey has been eyeballing some of the best of his generation in his last four starts. He shipped to Louisiana in mid-February to contest their Triple Crown preps, and ran second in both the GII Risen Star Stakes and the GII Louisiana Derby, Feb. 15 and Mar. 22, respectively. Having garnered enough points for the big dance, he went...

Grade I winner Preservationist (Arch--Flying Dixie, by Dixieland Band) died in Korea July 19, according to Korea Racing Authority records. The news was first reported in the U.S. by Paulick Report. Racing for Centennial Farms and trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Preservationist won the 2019 GI Woodward Stakes and GII Suburban Stakes. He hit the board in nine of 11 starts, with six wins and earnings of $1,084,550. He began his stud career at Airdrie Stud and sired 2024 GIII Peter Pan Stakes winner Antiquarian, who has gone on to finish...

For those willing to lay out seven figures for a horse at the sales there are no guarantees. Some turn out to be very good horses and some can't run a step. The same goes for horses bought for a few thousand dollars. That doesn't mean they can't run. Case in point: Chunk of Gold (Preservationist). He's now run second in both the GII Risen Star Stakes and the GII Louisiana Derby. That gives him 75 points, more than enough to qualify for the race. That couldn't have been anything...

He is 22 months into a two-year contract to train privately in Saudi Arabia for Prince Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud, a move that rejuvenated his career, but Jimmy Jerkens said he is ready to come home. Jerkens told the TDN that when his contract expires in March he will return to U.S. and resume his career at the NYRA tracks. It's not that Jerkens hasn't done well in Saudi Arabia. He's had 21 winners during his time there. And it's not that he doesn't have any quality horses. "We've...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Chukyo and Sapporo Racecourses: Saturday, August 31, 2024 6th-CKO, ¥13,720,000 ($94k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m YUTO THE YUTO (c, 2, Preservationist--Officer Leah, by Officer) is set to become the first Japanese starter for his young sire, who has accounted for 41...