TDN Rising Star

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Bob Baffert may have won two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, 21 Breeders' Cup races, and four Dubai World Cups but there is an itch that still needs to be scratched: the Saudi Cup. "We've gotten pretty close," he said Thursday morning from King Abdulaziz Racecourse, and he's not wrong. Baffert has been represented in five of the six runnings of the world's richest race and has finished second twice, with Charlatan (Speightstown) then Country Grammer (Tonalist). Last year was his sole omission, and...

Darby Dan Farm's Blazing Sevens (Good Magic-Trophy Girl, Warrior's Reward), winner of the GI Champagne Stakes, is represented by his first reported foals, including a filly out of the Adios Charlie mare Rye Lane born on Feb. 9 and a colt born on Feb. 11 out of the Ribchester (Ire) mare Championofmyheart (Ire). The filly, who was bred by Frankfort Park Farm, is out of a full sister to Grade I winner and millionaire Patternrecognition, stakes winner Lovesick, and a half-sister to stakes winner Florida Fuego (Kantharos). The filly also...

Grade I Del Mar Oaks winner Iscreamuscream (Twirling Candy) lit up the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale late, selling to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida for $1.5 million. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales, the 5-year-old was undefeated in her first four starts including the GII San Clemente Stakes before taking down the Del Mar Oaks in August of 2024. She last sold via the Fasig-Tipton Digital platform for $330,000 shortly before earning her Grade I win. Yoshida also picked up GSW 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Maysam (Game Winner) earlier in the...

5 -- HIGH CAMP, GP, 2/7-6th, 7 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure-85 (c, 3, by Instagrand-Summer Silk, by Uncle Mo) O/B-OXO Equine (Ky). T-Will Walden. J-John Velazquez. Owner-breeder Larry Best continues to get mileage out of his former stakes star Instagrand, but you wouldn't have bet a dollar on High Camp at the quarter-pole. He was 2nd under a ride when two rivals blew past him--prematurely, as it turned out - and he dropped to 4th then swung wide and came back again to win. He's the first foal from...

The betting public thought it would be a welcome parade, and Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) did not let them down, striding home much the best in the GIII Bayakoa Stakes to kick off her 2026 campaign at Oaklawn. The Mark Casse star needs little introduction, but her record bears repeating: the daughter of the now-pensioned Medaglia d'Oro breathes rarified air as one of few horses who can claim Grade I wins/placings on two surfaces. As part of her nine-race championship campaign last season, she came a nose shy of winning the...

GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity runner-up Blackout Time (Not This Time) is on track to kick off his 3-year-old season in the GII Rebel Stakes Mar. 1 at Oaklawn Park, according to co-owner Lance Gasaway Saturday morning. Unraced since that second-place finish behind juvenile champion MGISW Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) at Keeneland, he had been entered in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile but was scratched by the regulatory vet because of an alleged soundness issue. Blackout Time returned to the worktab Jan. 23 at Fair Grounds and after a couple works...

Sent off as the 16-5 third betting choice in what appeared to be a promising maiden allowance Saturday afternoon at Tampa, Klaravich Stables' Emerging Market (c, 3, Candy Ride {Arg}--Wild Empress, by Empire Maker) made a pair of eye-catching moves in the deciding stages of an extended-mile contest and outslugged hot favorite Powershift (Constitution) to become a new 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard. Off to an uneventful break from the two hole, the $185,000 Keeneland September acquisition was content to drop back and sit in the slipstream of Powershift,...

It looked like a competitive field on paper, but Talk to Me Jimmy (Modernist) took the race to them right from the bell, and ran his rivals off their feet to secure 20 Kentucky Derby points in the Wither Stakes. Last seen breaking his maiden in a similar fashion Nov. 9 going gate-to-wire against state-bred maidens at this venue, he was unveiled Sept. 26 and ran an even third during the Belmont Big A meet. Out to set the pace after early contact from competition coming off the blocks, the...

She may've been left behind at the jump, but Always A Runner (Gun Runner) turned the tables in the lane as she effortlessly cruised home to 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' honors at Tampa Bay Downs. Tabbed as a horse to watch in the 'Insights' segment for this unveiling, the Chad Brown-trainee entered this contest with a healthy worktab at Belmont and Payson Park, and commanded the betting dollars to the tune of 3-5 favoritism. Right from the jump, she made her backers sweat when Always A Runner hopped...

The President of Unified Door and Hardware Group, L C Racing's Glenn Bennett has grown from a regional, Pennsylvania-based breeding program to a band of 20 which now includes the dam of an Eclipse winner. Bennett, who lives close to Parx and still brings his family to the track for days like the Pennsylvania Derby card and Owner Appreciate Day, often partners with Chuck Zacney's Cash Is King Racing (best known for campaigning MGISW Afleet Alex) along with now-retired trainer Mark Reid who Bennett credits with the genius behind these...

'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard CORNUCOPIAN (c, 4, Into Mischief--Magical World, by Distorted Humor) hit a traffic jam nearing the quarter pole of a 6 1/2-furlong Santa Anita allowance on Saturday, but it proved but a minor inconvenience, as he got his feet back under him, quickly took a gap at the rail inside of a rival and was off and gone in his first start in nearly 10 months. The 1-2 chalk returning off an allowance defeat going a mile at Aqueduct last spring, the $1.1 million Keeneland...

Two turns, zero problems. With racing action largely limited to the far south across the rest of the country, Nearly (Not This Time) gave the frozen East Coast something to cheer about and passed his stretch-out test with authority Saturday, capturing the GIII Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park and picking up 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. A Florida-bred and Virginia-certified son of Not This Time, Nearly built on a lackluster Aqueduct debut in October, coming back less than a month later to destroy fellow Florida-breds...