Summer Squall

Saturday's Insights: Charlatan Colt Running For A 'Track Legend' On Debut at Churchill

1st-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 5f, 12:45 p.m. ET. The news broke this past week that Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas would be stepping down as the head of his stable because of health reasons and assistant Bas Nicholl would be taking over for the man known to many as 'Coach.' In Saturday's opener on the card, the aptly-named TRACK LEGEND (Charlatan) will be unveiled for owner Live the Legacy with Lukas still listed in the program. Out of Canadian champion female sprinter Moonlit Promise (Malibu Moon), the dark...

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The Acorn That Made Oak Tree Mighty

You would want to go easy with that lot in the trailer. "Weekend had the box stall in the back by herself," Callan Strouss recalls. "She was the queen back there, and the boys were riding on the ground level." This was back in 1984 and, for Lane's End, a radical departure. Because when its longest-serving employee was first hired by William S. Farish III--longest, at any rate, since his old buddy Mike Cline retired as manager in 2020--there had been no sense that the farm might become what this...

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Paul Oreffice, Successful Horse Owner, Businessman, Dies at 97

Paul F. Oreffice, who spoke fewer than 50 words of English when he arrived in America in the mid-1940s and went on to become a partner in multiple Classic-winning Thoroughbred horses in addition to a successful career in the business world, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona. He was 97 years old. Born in Venice, Italy, on Nov. 29, 1927, Oreffice moved with his family to Quito, Ecuador, and came to the U.S. in 1945, attending Purdue University...

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Storm Song, the Oldest Living Breeders' Cup Winner

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup with Living Legends Some moments last a lifetime. Breeders' Cup wins are like that. They affect everyone associated with the horse, from owners whose silks the horse sports in the race to breeders to consignors to grooms to farriers and so many others. They even touch those many years down the road, such as those who care for the winner more than a quarter century removed from that magical winner's circle and those signature purple and gold flowers. It is, without a doubt,...

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Ron Magers Reflects On His Decades In Racing And Breeding

"It all happened only because my wife, Elise, is very careful about where she walks...especially around horses." A Chicago-area veteran and established local TV news anchor, Ron Magers knows a good story when he hears one. It was Gulfstream Park in the spring of 1990 when Ron, accompanied by his wife, Elise, were making their way out of the paddock on their way to the airport at the end of the day's races. When something shiny in the dirt caught Elise's eye, she bent and scooped up what was an...

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Old Friends Welcomes Blueblooded LNJ Mares

Group winner Gold Round (Ire) (Caerleon-Born Gold, by Blushing Groom (Fr)), a half-sister to three-time GI Breeders' Cup Mile heroine Goldikova, and Mystery Trip (Belong to Me-Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat), a half-sister to Classic winners A.P. Indy and Summer Squall, have been retired to Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement facility based in Georgetown, KY. Represented by Alex Solis II and Jason Litt of Solis/Litt Bloodstock, the Roth family--Larry, Nanci, and Jaime-the owners of LNJ Foxwoods approached Old Friends about securing aftercare options for several broodmares. LNJ has donated the construction...

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