Winchell Thoroughbreds
9th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 5:16 p.m. ET Fresh off his inaugural stakes win last weekend, Darby Dan's first-crop sire Copper Bullet will be represented by Winchell homebred COPPERDROP in her grassy Keeneland debut here. Out of a productive Tapit dam who is full-sister to GIII Silverbulletday S. victor War Echo as well as a half to GI Forego S. winner Pyro (Pulpit), the Steve Asmussen trainee counts TVG.com Pegasus S. hero Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) and the stakes-placed duo of Costa Terra (Gun Runner) and Echo Again (Gun...
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will look for a record fifth victory when he sends out 3-1 morning-line favorite Reincarnate (Good Magic) in Saturday's GI betPARX Pennsylvania Derby. "This race is going to be a good step up for him," Baffert said. "He ran really well at Los Alamitos. He is going to have to break well and show up. That's the main thing. If he shows up, I don't see why he wouldn't run well." The field of 11 also includes 7-2 second choice Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming)...
The first foal out of 'TDN Rising Star' Guarana (Ghostzapper)--a colt by the ever-present Into Mischief--had interest from all corners of the Keeneland sales pavilion and was ultimately hammered down to Ron Winchell's Winchell Thoroughbreds for $1.4 million. Winner of the one-mile GI Acorn S. and GI CCA Oaks going nine panels at three, Guarana picked up where she left off at four, winning the GI Madison S. over seven-eighths of a mile. Hill 'n' Dale consigned and ultimately purchased Guarana for $4.4 million with the Into Mischief colt in...
KENTUCKY DOWNS JUVENILE MILE S., $499,286, Kentucky Downs, 9-10, 2yo, 1mT, 1:38.17, fm. 1--ASPENITE, 118, c, 2, by Constitution 1st Dam: Aspening, by Candy Ride (Arg) 2nd Dam: Motokiks, by Storm Cat 3rd Dam: Matoki, by Hail to Reason ($375,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Glen Hill Farm (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Cristian A. Torres. $294,150. Lifetime Record: 3-1-1-0, $350,450. 2--Tough Little Nut, 118, c, 2, Palace Malice--Celestial Kitten, by Kitten's Joy. ($20,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Town and Country Racing, LLC; B-Austin...
Arcangelo (Arrogate) was in fine shape Sunday following his victory in the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Saturday, but connections will take their time before picking out a next start for the sophomore. "He came back well and is full of himself today," said trainer Jena Antonucci. "Of course the Breeders' Cup is on the radar, but horses don't care about schedules or spreadsheets. We'll do what we've been doing and give him his space. We'll let him pave the way." Arcangelo added the Travers to his win in the...
Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred Gunite (Gun Runner), winner of the track-and-trip GI Hopeful S. as a juvenile and runner-up in the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. 12 months ago, parlayed a tactical advantage Saturday into a vengeful victory in Saratoga's GI Forego S. The Steve Asmussen pupil had come up a head short of 2022 champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. going a furlong shorter in the slop here July 29, and was 6-5 to get the better of that formidable foe this go around....
It's a bit of Christmas in August Saturday at venerable Saratoga Race Course, which plays host to no fewer than five Grade I events for horses of all ages--on dirt and on turf--topped by the main event on the summer calendar, the $1.25-million GI Travers S. While the fields are short on numbers, they are long on quality, as three of the races have attracted reigning Eclipse Award winners, none of whom are anything close to a cinch in their respective heats. Champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has...
In Risk It (Gun Runner), who made his career debut in Saturday's first race at Saratoga, you had a horse by an exceptional sire, one who sold for $500,000 as a yearling, was taking money at the windows and is trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. He figured to be a runner, and he was. Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Risk It broke sharply, quickly opened up by two lengths on the backstretch and cruised home from there in a race that was never in doubt. A $136,5000 maiden special...
The winners, finalists, and official sponsors for this year's TOBA National Awards were announced Friday by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The National Awards Dinner will be held Saturday, Sept. 9 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY and the National Awards Luncheon, which honors breeders from 20 states and Canada, will be held Friday, Sept. 8 at WinStar Farm. The finalists for the National Owner of the Year are Peter M. Brant, Godolphin, Hronis Racing, Klaravich Stables, and Winchell Thoroughbreds. The three finalists for the National Breeder of the Year...
Sent off the third betting choice at just shy of 4-1, Red Route One (Gun Runner) sustained a run for the better part of the final five furlongs and shot past the dueling pacesetters to give his owner Winchell Thoroughbreds a third win and trainer Steve Asmussen a sixth success in the GIII West Virginia Derby. Outrun early, the homebred was third-last to make the first turn as Iowa Derby first-past-the-post One In Vermillion (Army Mule) and West Coast Cowboy (West Coast)--fifth in Altoona--eyeballed one another through honest splits. Red...
A few weeks before the opening of the Saratoga meet, Steve Asmussen paid a visit to Lexington to see an old friend. The Hall of Fame conditioner stopped by Three Chimneys Farm, as he does regularly, to check in on Gun Runner. "It's Three Chimneys," Asmussen explained with a shrug from his barn at the Oklahoma earlier this week. "It's a beautiful place and Gun Runner deserves the adulation. He is a very special horse." A few hours after he made that statement, Asmussen's star filly Echo Zulu, of course...
Equine or human, history is always about the six degrees of someone in racing's world. For instance, at 100-1 Jim Dandy beat Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox in the 1930 edition of the Travers S., which only featured four entries total. The horse who set up the longshot by engaging in a speed duel with the favorite over the mud was Whichone, a colt owned by Harry Payne Whitney (yes, that important family). And what other Thoroughbred did Whitney own? Well, that would be Upset, who did just that, when...