Saratoga Special

The major yearling sales are still a few months out, but to Kristin Brennan they are right around the corner. The yearling manager at Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center isn't concerned because she's always dialed in. As part of a family of horsemen, including her father Niall and brother Colin, who helms the operation at Highlander in East Texas, Kristin has literally grown up around the sport of horse racing. "I started riding when I was maybe three and my granddad would come from Ireland and he'd throw...

'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Ewing (Knicks Go), perfect in two starts but unraced since taking out the GII Saratoga Special Stakes Aug. 2, arrived on the Oaklawn Park backstretch Monday, Dec. 22 after being based in Central Florida with trainer Mark Casse. According to Caden Arthur, who oversees Casse's Oaklawn string, the $37,000 Keeneland September buyback turned $585,000 OBS April breezer is scheduled to work in Hot Springs Dec. 28 in advance of his return to action, which could come in a sprint allowance in January, Arthur said....

Prix de l'Opera winner Barnavara (Calyx) and Listed-winning sprinter Saratoga Special (Mehmas) are set to shine at the upcoming Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Both fillies are trained by Jessica Harrington and have carried the colours of Alpha Racing to some notable successes this year. Few fillies boast as progressive a profile as Barnavara, who went from strength to strength this season, culminating with that victory at the highest level in the Prix de l'Opera.  She is one of the standout offerings at the Sceptre Sessions and...

The undefeated Ewing (Knicks Go) has been scratched from Saturday's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland after he returned from a workout "not at 100%" according to his part-owner, Griffin Johnson. Johnson, who announced the news on X, wrote, "West Point and I wanted to break the news that our handsome boy, Ewing, will be scratched from the GI Breeders Futurity. He came out of his work not at 100% (Friday) morning and will be sent home for full exam. Sorry to all the racing fans, but as Mark Casse...

Most racing fans know Gabby Gaudet from her job at FanDuel TV, where she was one of that network's top talent. It sounds like a dream job, but Gaudet has found one that she thinks will be even better. It was announced last week that Gaudet was named the new Director of Communications at Keeneland. She sat down recently with the TDN to discuss her new job and why she decided to trade in her microphone.    TDN:  The Keeneland job looks like a great job. It's a very prestigious...

The Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, now in its ninth year in the United States, concluded Oct. 15 with a ceremony in the sales pavilion at Keeneland, said primary sponsor Godolphin in a release late Tuesday. A total of $122,000 in prize money was awarded across seven cateogries, and FanDuel TV host Todd Schrupp served as the master of ceremonies. This year's awards received additional support from category sponsors NYRA, 1/ST Racing, Keeneland, Hallway Feeds, NTRA, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute and Churchill Downs. The TDN served as one of several media...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- If it was up to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, Seize the Grey (Arrogate) would be running in the $1.25-million, GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 24. On Sunday morning, all Lukas could do was shrug his shoulders when asked if the GI Preakness Stakes winner would be taking a place in the Travers starting gate. "I don't know," he said at his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "I am going to vote to run him in it." Lukas, though,...

'TDN Rising Star' Showcase (c, 2, Uncle Mo--Buy Sell Hold, by Violence), a runaway debut winner going 5 1/2 furlongs downstate at the Big A July 6, muscled his way out for racing room in the stretch and stayed perfect in style going an additional furlong in Saturday's GII Saratoga Special Stakes. The 3-1 chance traveled nicely in an inside fifth through an opening quarter in :21.85. All dressed up with nowhere to go at the top of the lane, Irad Ortiz, Jr. finally found a narrow seam and shifted...

Three Chimneys Farm's Touchy (Nyquist) would go heavily favored in any maiden race at the Spa, but connections continue to campaign the homebred colt boldly as he remains in stakes company for his second career appearance in Saturday's GII Saratoga Special Stakes. The bay colt was bet down to 85 cents on the dollar for his debut in the June 6 Tremont Stakes on the first day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at this venue, and he made the majority of the running before giving way late to be...

His friend Spider Duignan knew that the stakes were high. When the horse coasted past the wire in the GII Saratoga Special, Duignan turned and said, "You needed that bad, didn't you?" Deuce Greathouse was candid in his reply. "It was not an option," he said, "for that not to happen." Raised the way he was, Greathouse knows that there are never any guarantees with horses. Since taking his cue that day, indeed, Rhyme Schemes (Ghostzapper) has himself demonstrated as much by coming up with an ankle issue shortly before...

Rhyme Schemes (c, 3, Ghostzapper--Katherine, by Distorted Humor), sidelined since posting a jaw-dropping, 9 1/2-length victory for trainer Norm Casse in last summer's GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 12, is being aimed at a late spring/early summer return to the races. The Pura Vida Investments LLC colorbearer is currently laid up with Gabriel "Spider" Duignan at Springhouse Farm in Kentucky and could resume light training in March. "He's doing great," Pura Vida's managing partner Deuce Greathouse said. "He wasn't going to make the Derby preps, so we decided to give...

The Thoroughbred Daily News was among six 2023 Media Eclipse Award winners Friday when the awards were announced by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters. The 2023 Media Eclipse Award winners are as follows: Multimedia - TDN Writers' Room Podcast - "Wade and Carson Jost," Sept. 20, 2023; Thoroughbred Daily News Gulf War veteran Wade Jost and his son, Carson, joined TDN Writers' Room podcast hosts Bill Finley, Randy Moss, and Zoe Cadman on Sept. 23 for an in-depth and emotional...