Spice Is Nice

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After Jacob West signed the ticket on Renegade (Into Mischief) for $975,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling sale, breeders Robert and Lawana Low weren't quite ready to say goodbye. "We made the decision, reluctantly, to put him through the sale, and by the time the hammer dropped, I was quizzing Jacob," Robert Low said. "'Can we buy half of this horse back?' And Mike was kind enough to do it." Mike, as you've probably figured out by now, is prominent and outspoken owner Mike Repole. West...

Kentucky Derby contenders Commandment and Renegade share more than just the top two spots on T.D. Thornton's TDN's Derby Top 20. Both Grade I winners are sons of supersire Into Mischief, both are out of graded stakes-winning mares and both were foaled and raised at Taylor Made Farm. Taylor Made's Frank Taylor noted that their team has enjoyed the ride of watching these two star colts progress toward the first Saturday in May. The high point so far was on March 28 when Commandment captured the GI Florida Derby in...

Well, he's not going to give it up without a fight. Yes, of course the whole narrative is random: he can hardly sit the boys down, tell them to get out there and remind everyone who's boss. But however unwittingly, Into Mischief has certainly obliged us with a dramatic and immediate response to the first serious test of his monopoly since claiming a first general sires' title in 2019. It has been clear for a while that the eventual succession was likely to concern Not This Time and Gun Runner,...

5th-GP, $84k, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 2:09 p.m. ET Missourians Robert and Lawana Low purchased SGT. PEPPER (Uncle Mo) for $1.6 million at the 2021 FTSAUG sale. Bred by Bobby Flay Thoroughbreds, he will make his debut sprinting on the dirt with Lasix in South Florida for the Todd Pletcher barn. Sgt. Pepper, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, is a half-brother to GSW Spice Is Nice (Curlin), who fetched $1.05 million from these same connections at the 2018 KEESEP sale. Sgt. Pepper's dam Dame Dorothy (Bernardini), owned and campaigned by Bobby Flay,...

"You know, some of the people I go up against in the auction ring, they own countries," says Bobby Flay with a chuckle. "And I work at a stove." It's an instructive remark. For one thing, it indicates the humor and modesty that redeem the restauranteur and television chef from the kind of airs that might burden others, accustomed to turning heads in Main Street, on entering this arcane hinterland of ours. Flay so reliably checks the fame and glamor at the barn door, indeed, that you suspect he actually...

St. George Stable LLC's Letruska (Super Saver) has proven near invincible since turning five and will try to add her sixth graded victory in Saturday's GII Fleur De Lis S. at Churchill Downs, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar this fall. Winner of last summer's nine-furlong GIII Suvee S., the bay later kicked off a two-race win skein when taking Gulfstream's GIII Rampart S. Dec. 12 before adding the Jan. 31 GIII Houston Ladies Classic S. A desperate head behind GI...

Horologist (Gemologist) aims to collect her sixth career stakes victory in Friday's GIII Allaire du Pont S. at Pimlico. The du Pont returns to its traditional spot on Preakness weekend after being moved to late December because of the coronavirus pandemic. Transferred to trainer Bill Mott last summer, the New Jersey bred kicked off her tenure with the Hall of Famer with a score in Monmouth's GIII Molly Pitcher S. in July before finishing third in Churchill's GI La Troienne S. in September. Victorious in the Oct. 4 GII Beldame...

6th-Keeneland, $82,488, Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($62,500), 4-9, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.01, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. SPICE IS NICE (f, 4, Curlin--Dame Dorothy {GISW, $749,740}, by Bernardini) made her return to the races a winning one with an optional claimer score at Keeneland Friday. Hammered down to 1-2 favoritism for this return after eight months on the bench, the $1.05-million KEESEP buy raced two-wide in a joint third through opening splits of :24.15 and :48.63. Scrubbed on by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, the chestnut swept up to confront the...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-Keeneland, $83K, AOC, 4/up, f/m, 8.5f, post time: 3:51 p.m. ET Robert and Lawana Low's current crop of 4-year-olds includes leading U.S. turf horse Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) and 'TDN Rising Star' SPICE IS NICE (Curlin), who dips down into allowance company for her seasonal debut. An impressive 12-length maiden winner at first asking last January, she was runner-up in the GII Davona Dale S., but only fifth to Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks. An easy Belmont allowance winner last July,...

On paper, Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) appears to tower over six others in Saratoga's GI Alabama S., a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In"  event for the $2-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff. The chestnut reeled off consecutive wins the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 28 and the May 12 GIII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn Park before a front-running, four-length win in the GII Santa Anita Oaks June 6. Facing the lions in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland July 11, the lioness offered a roar of...

6th-Belmont, $66,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 7-3, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:40.67, ft. SPICE IS NICE (f, 3, Curlin--Dame Dorothy {GISW, $749,740}, by Bernardini) romped by 12 lengths to earn the 'TDN Rising Star' tag in her Gulfstream unveiling Jan. 12. Runner-up to Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist in that venue's GII Davona Dale S. Feb. 29, the $1.05-million KEESEP purchase was fifth to divisional leader Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks last time Mar. 28. Hammered down to 1-2 favoritism to get back in the winner's circle in...

In the Feb. 29 GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream, two unbeaten fillies squared off while taking the majority of the public support, with the second choice narrow edging the favorite. Saturday, Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist) and Spice Is Nice (Curlin) will do battle again, alongside 10 other 3-year-old fillies, in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks at the Hallandale oval. Rallying to a 19-1 upset on debut for Sabana Farms and Juan Avila here last September, Tonalist's Shape was privately purchased and transferred to Saffie Joseph, for whom she captured a...