Vekoma

7th-Churchill Downs, $122,888, Msw, 10-26, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.22, ft, 5 1/2 lengths. STRADALE (c, 2, Yaupon--Twitterpated, by Stormy Atlantic) hit the board twice during his time at Saratoga, running third and second July 19 and Aug. 30, respectively, against maiden company. He bobbled and was knocked around at the start of the GI Champagne Stakes Oct. 4 and ran a flat fifth by 12 lengths as Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) won by 6 1/2 lengths. Sent off here as the 9-5 favorite, Stradale bumped with an outside rival after tossing...

Six hopefuls pre-entered into their respective Breeders' Cup races turned in final works Saturday morning at Keeneland, and connections are reporting positive prognoses ahead of shipping dates. On the dirt track went Bentornato (Valiant Minister), breezing four furlongs in :49.40 (34/89). Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was in the irons. The 4-year-old is pre-entered into the GI Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint and is looking to improve a placing from last year as the runner-up in the 2024 edition. "[I was] looking for a nice, easy workout," trainer Jose D'Angelo said. "We...

2nd-Belmont The Big A, $80,000, (S), Msw, 10-24, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:16.77, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. PANTHERIAN (c, 2, Vekoma--Big Thrill, by Big Drama) and Wamo (Yaupon) went at each other for most of this New York-bred maiden, and the Stewards ultimately had to step in to reverse the running order. After a shoe repair in the paddock, Wamo brushed with the off side stall at the jump but recovered well enough to place himself right in the middle of a duel for the lead. Pantherian traveled from four off...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale blazed through its penultimate session Wednesday in Lexington with frenetic bidding from start to finish producing a $72,127 average that was nearly 47% higher than the figure from the corresponding session a year ago. At the conclusion of the session, the three-day average of $64,772 is 24.1% ahead of the 2024 record figure of $52,206. And with a full session to go, the total gross of $53,177,500 is just $5.398 million off last year's total sale record gross of $58,575,500. "It...

Keeneland has supplemented seven horses--three weanlings, three racing or broodmare prospects and one young broodmare--to Book 1 of the November Breeding Stock Sale on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The session, which has cataloged 220 horses, begins at 2 p.m. ET. The broodmare Roikop, who is consigned by Lane's End, agent, is out of Grade II winner Red Ruby, a daughter of Tiznow and a half-sister to Grade III winner and sire Mo Tom; stakes winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Beautician; and stakes winner Bella Castani. Roikop also is...

In its annual Report of Mares Bred (RMBs) released Thursday, The Jockey Club estimates that the 2026 foal crop will be 17,000. That represents a slight decline of 300 from the 2025 crop. The foal crop projection is computed by using RMBs received to date for the 2025 breeding season. RMBs are to be filed by August 1 of each breeding season. The number of mares bred has fallen every year since 2015, when 34,122 mares were bred. Over that ten-year period, the foal crop has dropped by 28%. During...

Spendthrift Farm's six-time champion General Sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) will once again stand for $250,000 S&N in 2026, while second crop sire Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) will be increased to $100,000 S&N, up from $35,000 in 2025, according to a Spendthrift release. Also increased for 2026: leading third crop sire Omaha Beach (War Front) has been increased to $75,000 S&N from $35,000, while leading first crop sire Yaupon (Uncle Mo) will stand for $60,000 S&N, up from $25,000 in 2025. Omaha Beach currently ranks 13th on the General Sires...

Sponsored by Pedigrees360. According to Oscar Wilde, the one thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about at all. Nothing to worry the Spendthrift team there! This is one of the two farms that have done the most to drive up stallion books, duly able to pitch fees accessibly to smaller breeders but embracing major responsibility in their footprint on the gene pool. But if some people remain uncomfortable with the business model, everyone can acknowledge the caliber of the horsemen making it function. And certainly those...

Newtown Anner Stud Farm's Praying (f, 3, Vekoma--Pray for Leslie, by Bernardini), a 21-1 upset winner of the GIII Prioress S. at Saratoga Aug. 30, backed up that breakout performance with a half-length victory over her elders in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. at Keeneland. Favored Vahva (Gun Runner) was second. Zeitlos (Curlin) was third. "It's surreal," winning trainer Robbie Medina said. "There's nothing like winning a big stakes at Keeneland. It's great." Praying raced in an outside fifth beneath John Velazquez and made...

It was a two-horse race almost right from the gate, but Intricate Spirit (Complexity) overtook the longtime leader late to stamp a ticket to the Breeders' Cup in the GIII Futurity Stakes at the Belmont Big A meet. The Miguel Clement-trainee was unveiled Aug. 1 upstate at Saratoga with a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard'-worthy performance ahead of a next out winner at Kentucky Downs. He too took a swing at the boutique meet Aug. 28 and finished second by three-quarters of a length to Street Beast (Street Sense),...

'TDN Rising Star' Damon's Mound (Girvin) leads 64 offerings in the catalog for the 2025 Inglis Digital USA October (Early) Sale which went online Friday morning. Bidding is now open for the online auction with the first lot set to close Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. Eastern, with subsequent listings hammering in three-minute increments thereafter. Among the standouts in the catalog is the aforementioned Damon's Mound, a Grade II winner offered as a racing or stallion prospect. This 'Rising Star' was a quick-starting 2-year-old, breaking his maiden on debut...

Sponsored by Pedigrees360. Candidly, it always feels a little cheap to delve into a pedigree once its functionality is established, scrubbing away any genetic mud before triumphantly producing some hidden nugget to explain how it has all come together. "Post rationalization" of this kind is standard in articles like this, and the absolute opposite of the grueling enterprise that has worn out the soles of so many shoes over the past couple of weeks. As ever, Keeneland presented thousands of perfectly plausible pages to measure against the animals paraded before...