Tonalist

If anything, you would think it the very last thing that might appeal to one who has spent decades acquainting himself, at viscerally close quarters, with all the things that can go wrong with a Thoroughbred. Yet here he is, sharing the same vicissitudes as those clients for whom--weighing the ups and downs of their trade--his veterinary skills so long served as a vital fulcrum. As one of the original partners of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Dr. Scott Pierce could scarcely have gone into breeding with fewer illusions....

Paul Pompa's Country Grammer (Tonalist) was ultra-game in securing his first black-type score in the rescheduled and relocated GIII Peter Pan S. on Saratoga's opening day Thursday. Saving ground in fourth, the 4-1 shot sat a few lengths off the longshot pacesetter Mo Hawk (Uncle Mo) through a :23.24 opening quarter and closed the gap a bit, moving into third as the half went in :48.13. The bay inched up the fence as 22-1 shot Celtic Striker (Congrats) ranged up outside the leader with Caracaro (Uncle Mo) hot on his...

If someone new to our business asked you to pick a single race in 2015 that might explain the passion that consumes us, you probably wouldn't pick the processional exhibitions of a first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. You'd show them the GI Whitney S. In a summer when hardly anyone will be able to renew the Saratoga pilgrimage, you may find the jolt of nostalgia too poignant to revisit the video yourself. But gosh, that was a horserace. Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song), flying just that fraction too close...

Just under a decade ago, Migdaly Serra was busy building up her marketing and human resource company in Venezuela. The successful businesswoman and entrepreneur knew next to nothing about Thoroughbred horse racing. But Serra caught the horseracing bug, and in just a short time became not only a successful farm owner and manager, but also the breeder of last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run (Hard Spun), as well as Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist), a leading 3-year-old filly in 2020. A native of Venezuela, Serra graduated with...

Trainer Christophe Clement has been a familiar face on the racing scene for the last three decades and 2020 looks to be a banner year for the French-born horseman, who is on the verge of collecting his 2000th career victory, and also features among finalists for the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame's 2020 inductions. "Well, you don't really wake up in the morning thinking 'I'm going to win 2000 races'," admitted the 55-year-old native of Paris. "You just wake up in the morning thinking, 'let's do the best...

The 70 Beyer Speed figure Tonalist's Shape earned last time for her GIII Forward Gal S. score might have scared some bettors off of her and onto 'TDN Rising Star' Spice is Nice--who earned an 84 Beyer for her head-turning 12-length debut romp--but the Saffie Joseph, Jr. pupil proved plenty fast as she upped her record to five-for-five and continued her march towards the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. A 19-1 debut winner for Juan Avila and Sabana Racing Stable Corp sprinting here last September, Tonalist's Shape was subsequently sold privately...

After surveying the four intakes since, each still safely immune from judgement on the track itself, today we finally reach the first group of stallions who have actually tested their ability to replicate the talent that first earned them--however marginally, in some cases--a place at stud. Their first juveniles, last year, at least permitted some initial response to any erosion of their reputations, through the notoriously jittery and impressionable consensus of the yearling market. Yet there are few more instructive indices of the odds against them than the contrast between...

Tonalist's Shape kept her unbeaten record intact and trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.'s hot streak going while becoming her sire (by Tapit)'s first graded winner. The chestnut belied 19-1 odds to take her Sept. 28 unveiling here while in the barn of trainer Juan Avila and carrying the colors of Sabana Racing Stable Corp. The phone started to ring after that, and she resurfaced with her current connections to take a Gulfstream Park West optional claimer by daylight Oct. 20. Tonalist's Shape aired by nine lengths and earned a strong 89...

Slam Dunk Racing, Legacy Ranch and Doug Branham's undefeated Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist), a dominant winner of the local Hut Hut S. on opening day of Gulfstream's Championship Meet, returns Saturday as a likely prohibitive favorite in her graded stakes debut, the seven-furlong GIII Forward Gal S. Rallying from well off the pace to score a 19-1 upset on debut here Sept. 28 for Sabana Racing Stable and trainer Juan Avila, the chestnut was privately purchased and transferred to the red-hot Saffie Joseph, Jr. barn, for which she notched another impressive...

The fifth annual Jockeys and Jeans Stallion Season sale has attracted a host of new and popular stallions, led by Eclipse Award-winning Champion Sprinter Runhappy. The season was donated by his famous Houston owner Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, a major donor to the PDJF. Other popular stallions include Tonalist, Point of Entry, World of Trouble, Mucho Macho Man, Alternation, Army Mule, Oxbow, Upstart, American Freedom, Tapiture, and Adios Charlie and First Dude, the two leading Florida stallions in 2019 by money won. The list of over 50 stallions include those standing...