Spendthrift Farm

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis, and Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY-The Keeneland September Yearling Sale had its first seven-figure transaction just an hour into its first session Monday and, when the dust had settled after a frenetic day of bidding, 14 yearlings had sold for $1 million or more. The group was led by a $2.2-million son of Gun Runner who sold to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm from the Four Star Sales consignment. The colt was one of five by the Three Chimneys stallion to sell for seven figures during...

7th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 3:25 p.m. ET. ALL THE FEELS (Into Mischief) was produced in-house at Spendthrift Farm and will make her first start for trainer Todd Pletcher. GSW Positive Spirit (Pioneerof the Nile) joined the farm's broodmare band after she was acquired for $1.5 million at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale and has handed All the Feels a pair of full-siblings. The Spa debut runner's GSW/GISP second dam is also responsible for GI Kentucky Derby hero Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) and GI Spinaway Stakes heroine Hot Dixie...

2nd-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 12:37p.m. ET Breaking from the rail for owner/breeder St. Elias Stable is COMPLEX AGENDA (Quality Road), who brings with him a loaded pedigree and a bullet work over the grass at Saratoga. Said move was three works back over the training track Aug. 2, where he went seven panels with the dogs up in 1:29 flat (1/4). His dam, GSW Nonna Mela (Arch), won the GII Adirondack and ran second in the GII Prioress Stakes. That mare is a half-sister to multiple Listed winner,...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-When it became perfectly clear that the finish of Saturday's $1.25-million, GI DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course was going to be desperately close, trainer Todd Pletcher went to work. Sitting up in his clubhouse box, the normally composed Pletcher rose to his feet and screamed and yelled for his 3-year-old colt Fierceness (City of Light) to get the job done in the Midsummer Derby. "I knew it was getting close," the Hall of Fame trainer said outside his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Soon after the running of the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on July 19, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey had seen enough. Corporate Power (Curlin), who finished second that day, earned his trip to the big leagues. He will be in the starting gate when the $1.25 million, Grade I Travers Stakes is run for the 155th time. McGaughey knows a thing or two about getting a horse ready for the Midsummer Derby. He has won the race four times, the most recent being...

7th-DMR, $75K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 8:02 p.m. ET. Conditioned by John Sadler, Don Alberto homebred UNIQUE POWER (Into Mischief) debuts for his dam--champion older dirt female Unique Bella (Tapit)--who was acquired by the stable for $400,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Sale. Her own dam is GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic heroine Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song). Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm took this mare home for $3.8 million at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. Unrivaled Belle's half-sister, Lemon Belle (Lemon Drop Kid), is responsible for GIII Gotham Stakes champ...

Aidan O'Brien trainee Bernard Shaw (Into Mischief--Princess Haya, by Street Cry {Ire}), a $550,000 Keeneland November foal turned $1.8-million Keeneland September yearling, backed up a June 29 debut fourth at the Curragh with a breakthrough score in Thursday's Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Dundalk.   🤌 Lovely $1.8 million buy Bernard Shaw (Into Mischief) opens his account at the second time of asking in fine style at @DundalkStadium pic.twitter.com/wj4HmLU7O0 — Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 15, 2024 4th-Dundalk, €18,000, Mdn, 8-15, 2yo, 8f (AWT), 1:39.27, st. BERNARD SHAW (c, 2,...

Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo--Lady Tapit, by Tapit), who had earned a berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Classic after his win in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill, exited a recent workout with an injury and has been retired from racing, according to a Wednesday press release from the farm. The 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo will ship from Saratoga to Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, where he will begin his stud career in 2025. The farm has not, as of yet, named a fee. "We got to see Kingsbarns's most...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Tenacious Leader (Not This Time) served up a sample of his grit Saturday in what turned into a decisive maiden special weight victory at Saratoga Race Course. The Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable colt turned in a textbook performance under leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. and finished 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Clock Tower (Not This Time) in the $100,000 one-mile race on the main track. Race 7 on the program was originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course, but the New...

1st-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:35 p.m. ET. Debuting upstate is 2-year-old NANTZ (Tapit)--a $600,000 purchase during last year's Keeneland September Sale. Owned by partners Repole Stable, Spendthrift Farm, Big Easy Racing, Titletown Racing, Rick Kanter, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson, the Todd Pletcher trainee is the first foal for MSW Divine Queen (Divine Park). She's out of SW Town Queen (Williamstown), who also produced SW Queen's Award (Medaglia d'Oro) and the dam of MGSW The Player (Street Hero). Also set for his unveiling is Aviator Gui (Uncle...

Louisiana Jess (Vekoma) ran to the odds and picked up not only his first stakes win but also became Vekoma's first black-type winner Saturday night at Evangeline Downs. One of five runners to come into this state-bred restricted D. S. Shine Young Futurity off a victory--his being June 14 at Churchill Downs in an auction price-restricted maiden special--the Bret Calhoun-trainee was the heavy 1-5 favorite by the time the gates opened and he did not disappoint his backers. Pressing the issue and three wide around the turn as Big Rasee...

If you didn't know the sophisticated people behind the mating, you might imagine that Puca went to Good Magic on no better premise than to double down on the alchemy implicit in both names. Because a puca (or pooka) in folklore is a shape-changing sprite, capable of bringing good or bad fortune. Shakespeare named Puck accordingly in A Midsummer Night's Dream, but my favourite example is Elwood P. Dowd's invisible drinking buddy Harvey, a rabbit standing just under six feet four inches. Perhaps you've noticed his silhouette at Harvey's Bar...