Will Walden

The sixth race Wednesday at Churchill Downs was, on the surface, rather unremarkable. It was just a $30,000 maiden claimer for 2-year-olds, normally the type of race where even the winner usually doesn't amount to much. But the race, won by a horse named Awesome Hawaiian (Awesome Bet), turned out to be one of the most remarkable and heartwarming stories of the year. You probably know prominent owner John Stewart and his family and their work to save horses from slaughter. But 99 times out of 100 those horses never...

4th-Keeneland, $100,719, Msw, 10-17, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.83, fm, 2 3/4 lengths. BEACH HEIST (f, 2, Omaha Beach--Pearl Heist, by Graydar) ran this group of maiden fillies off their feet in her debut race Friday for Will Walden. The 6-1 shot, drawn wide in this 10-horse field, was pushed from the gate for speed and was able to forge an advantage heading into the far turn. Opening up a sizeable gap back to Cardiff Reef (Omaha Beach) at the quarter pole, Beach Heist looked to put this race away...

Trainer Will Walden has come a long way in a short period of time. Training only since 2022, through Tuesday, he had 35 wins on the year from 141 starters for a win rate of 25%. His stable's earnings stood at $3.384 million. It's been a good year, in part because of a very good day. Walden won his first Grade I race last Saturday at Keeneland when the New York-bred Rhetorical (Not This Time) won the GI Coolmore Turf Mile. It was an important step for a trainer who...

Trainer Will Walden joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss his first career Grade I win with Rhetorical in the Coolmore Turf Mile.

Trainers Will Walden and Robbie Medina likely booked their first Breeders' Cup starters with stakes winners at Keeneland over the weekend. Walden earned his first Grade I win when Rhetorical (Not This Time) came home first in the GI Coolmore Turf Mile Saturday. "He ran big and we are so proud of him," Walden said of Rhetorical, who returned to Churchill Downs Saturday night. "He was doing so good and training better than he ever has. We use a lot of metrics with our horses and he was just off...

The final round of preps for the Breeders' Cup took place this weekend and there was no shortage of stories or races. There were 26 graded stakes run from Friday through Sunday and nine of them were Grade I's. As always, this weekend helped to clear up the Breeders' Cup picture. Here's a look at what happened: GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile: You had three races, the GI Champagne, the GI Breeders' Futurity and the GI American Pharoah and each race featured a potential superstar in Ted Noffey (Into Mischief), Desert...

Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable and Wachtel Stable's Rhetorical (Not This Time) provided his all-conquering sire with his second winner of Keeneland's GI Coolmore Turf Mile in the space of three years, striking from close range to earn an all-expenses-paid trip to Del Mar for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile exactly four weeks down the road. Not This Time's Eclipse Award-winning son Up to the Mark won this event in 2023 ahead of a very good runner-up effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Only once-beaten in five career starts coming...

2nd-Horseshoe Indianapolis, $32,000, Msw, 10-1, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:05.85, ft, 4 3/4 lengths. HOLLEN DRIVE (f, 2, Practical Joke--Indian Miss {Broodmare Of The Year}, by Indian Charlie), installed the 4-5 favorite, rushed to the front from post 5, but allowed Street Twirl (Street Boss) to lead the affair through a :23.17 quarter. Inching ahead turning for home, Hollen Drive ran clear, and despite Legit Chick's (Authentic) best effort late, it was the favorite who proved best on the day, winning by 4 3/4 lengths. Legit Chick was well clear...

Saturday at Saratoga, while stuck in Mother Nature's crosshairs, provided trainer Chad Brown a tenth GI Diana Stakes victory with Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) and saw 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) dominate the GII Bowling Green Stakes. With their charges emerging from the efforts in good shape, the connections are tentatively looking to the future. In the Brown camp, Excellent Truth's effort only served to strengthen what the conditioner already believed going into the contest--that his mare was one of the best in the country. After...

A pair of Keeneland-based contenders for the May 2 GI Kentucky Oaks each drilled four furlongs over the Keenelanf main track Wednesday morning. Cypress Creek Equine and Madaket Stable's Bless the Broken (Laoban), last-out winner of the Listed Bourbonette Oaks over the Turfway Poly Mar. 22, covered the distance in :48 flat (6/43) in the company of her thrice-raced Will Walden stablemate Bermuda Triangle (Justify) in splits of :11.60 and :24.80 before galloping out five-eighths of a mile in 1:01 according to Keeneland clockers. "It was good; we weren't trying...

Cypress Creek Equine and Madaket Stables' Bless the Broken (Laoban) worked five furlongs in company in 1:00.80 (3/21) Wednesday morning at Keeneland as she prepares for her next start in the $1.5-million GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2. "This is the first time I have worked her, and she worked nice," said Velazquez of Bless the Broken, who breezed in the company of her unraced Will Walden stablemate Mackave (Quality Road). Second to Simply Joking (Practical Joke) in the Jan. 18 Silverbulletday Stakes and third to undefeated...

For all the incredible experiences Blane Servis remembers from when his father John campaigned champion Smarty Jones, there were a few less-than-comfortable memories too. Take, for instance, the time during Smarty Jones's run for the Triple Crown when Servis's school hosted a pep rally and made a teenaged Servis the guest of honor. As a self-described socially awkward kid, stepping into the spotlight felt a bit more like a nightmare than a celebration. In high school, Servis discovered that drinking was the easiest solution to overcoming his social anxiety. Later,...