Upstart

As noted last week, trainers can only amplify--not magnify--a horse's genetic legacy. D. Wayne Lukas was able to draw our attention to assets we might gladly replicate, but not even he could actually alter the genes available. In suggesting that he met his brief even more usefully with future broodmares than with sire prospects, this attorney admittedly left a star witness in the street in Serena's Song (Rahy)--whose 18-for-38 record, inside 30 months, advertised the toughness underpinning her class even more lavishly than Terlingua and others. But the point duly...

Percy's Bar (Upstart) set the mark high when she ran home a winner in the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sunday. Posting a debut score by four lengths this past spring at Keeneland, the filly came into this race with a strong series of morning works under rider Luan Machado. Made a 3-1 shot with some tough company to contend with here, she watched the race unfold after the break behind a :21.29 opening quarter. Making an eye-catching sweep through the turn, she sailed by her rivals and rolled...

Virginia Oaks winner Fondly backed up the class she showed at Colonial Downs with a front-running score in the GIII Delaware Oaks under Irad Ortiz, Jr. A sharp maiden winner at Tampa Bay Downs Feb. 14, the daughter of Upstart proved the money was in the right spot as she dug out a hard-earned win going 1 1/16 miles on fast track in Virginia Mar. 15. Thrown into the deep end, Fondly beat only two rivals home under the Twin Spires in the GI Kentucky Oaks when last seen May...

The ladies joined the colts as final preparations commenced not just for the GI Kentucky Derby next weekend, but the GI Kentucky Oaks as well, with Tenma (Nyquist) leading the parade Saturday morning. With Martin Garcia in the saddle for the four-furlong work over a 'good' track, the Bob Baffert trainee went through her paces in a final clocking of :48.40 from Baffert, and later confirmed by the track clockers. Tenma's five furlong gallop out was noted as 1:01. "He's good; he can really work one," said Baffert before the...

Facing a couple of starters from barns that typically hold hot hands in Keeneland's baby races at this time of the year, Percy's Bar (Upstart) overcame trouble in the early going of her 4 1/2-furlong career debut before rolling past her competition late to win by an emphatic margin at Keeneland Wednesday afternoon. Pinched back as In the Aggregate (Raging Bull {Fr}) veered over on her at the onset, Percy's Bar found trouble at the hooves of that rival again, forcing to check while passing the gap as the free-flying...

Three juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 during the first session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sunday. A filly by Upstart (hip 75) was first to hit the bullet mark just minutes into the day's session. The dark bay is out of Lovely Marissa (Proud Citizen), a daughter of Grade I-placed Valiant Passion (Lion Heart) and a half-sister to graded-placed Nasty (Street Sense). She was consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales, which acquired her for $60,000...

3rd-Tampa Bay Downs, $32,000, Msw, 2-14, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:22.97, ft, 4 lengths. FONDLY (f, 3, Upstart--Lifetime Memory, by Istan), who made her debut with Lasix and as a 7-1 shot here, tracked just behind the leaders from the rail up the backstretch. The filly looked like a loaded pistol heading into the far turn, but she nearly clipped the heels of pacesetter Sunset Express (Khozan), which forced her to steady. Unwilling to sign off, Fondly spun to the three path for the drive down the lane, collared the frontrunners...

Based at his Mill Ridge Farm, Headley Bell and his Nicoma Bloodstock have been helping clients mate their mares since 1979. With such notable successes as Trempolino, Suave Dancer, Keeper Hill, Barbaro, Street Sense, Havre de Grace, Oscar Performance, Bricks and Mortar, and the 2024 Preakness winner Seize the Grey, it's no wonder that many of the clients he discusses below have been with him for over 40 years. "It's such a gift to be able to assist our clients in this manner because it's something I'm passionate about," said...

In yesterday's edition of Value Sires for 2025, Chris McGrath profiled the stallions standing between $20,000 and $29,999, awarding the gold medal to Darley's Hard Spun (read more here). Here, we asked the breeders to hand out their top picks for this category. Carrie Brogden Gold: Hard Spun (Danzig x Turkish Tryst, by Turkoman), Darley, $25,000 My top value sire in this bracket is Hard Spun. Even though he doesn't always throw the most commercial physical horses, if you choose your mare wisely, you can get a sales horse that...

Showing continued overall strength through the middle of the market, Keeneland's seventh day of the November Sale extended the upward trend that it had shown through much of the first six days of selling. At the conclusion of Monday's session, gross sales (through the ring) reached $181,460,500, surpassing last year's gross of $176.5 million for the entire nine-day run. Highlighting Monday's action, a weanling colt by Upstart (Hip 2680) drew a session-topping $155,000 bid from Margaret Duprey's Cherry Knoll Farm. A member of the Indian Creek consignment, the Jan. 15...

Airdrie Stud's 2025 stallion roster will be headlined by four young stallions all being offered for a fee of $25,000, according to a press release from Airdrie Friday. The quartet includes breakout freshman sire Complexity. Currently ranked fourth in earnings according to TDN's Sire List, Complexity has three stakes winners--including two graded winners--and five stakes horses from his first crop of 2-year-olds. The 8-year-old stallion joins GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), as well as Girvin (Tale of Ekati) and Upstart (Flatter), who all come in at the price...

During the 11th session of the 2021 Keeneland September Sale, Kazakhstan-based bloodstock agent Nadir Khassanov paid $12,000 for a colt by California Chrome--Little Emily (Castledale {Ire}). After nearly running the table in Kazakhstan and Russia, the colt that came to be called Kabirkhan took his show on the road to Dubai over the winter, where he won the G1 Al Maktoum Classic in his second start for trainer Doug Watson. Khassanov was back in Lexington on the hunt for his next diamond in the rough during Friday's opening Book 6...