WinStar Farm

Big-figure debut winner Iron Honor (c, 3, Nyquist--Orencia, by Blame) fought past the Ohio-bred Crown the Buckeye (Yaupon) in the stretch to make it two-for-two in Saturday's GIII Gotham S. at Aqueduct, good for 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Right to Party (Constitution) was third. Favored at 4-5 off the strength of a 95 Beyer Speed Figure earned sprinting first out over two next-out winners at the Big A Dec. 13, Iron Honor battled with Crown the Buckeye through fractions of :23.09 and :46.30 in the...

Godolphin homebred and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Knightsbridge (h, 5, Nyquist--Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini) made his 1-5 odds look like a bargain versus four overmatched rivals in Saturday's GIII Gulfstream Park Mile S. He chased in second beneath Junior Alvarado, took over with ease on the far turn and opened daylight in the stretch to win in style by 11 1/4 lengths. Steal Sunshine (Constitution) was second. Flying Liam (Liam's Map) was third. "I think he's the best miler in the country right now," Alvarado said. "It was...

Sprinters--dirt and turf--dominated the week's best female performances. 5--KAPOOR, GP, 2-19, Alw, 6f (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure-90 (f, 4, Uncle Mo--Kareena, by Medaglia d'Oro) O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Taylor Kingsley. Kapoor has rolled to three consecutive frontrunning sprint wins by a combined 14 1/4 lengths, and she practically snuck into this allowance in the cover of darkness: the conditions were for non-winners of $20k once other than maiden/claiming, and her winners' take from a Tampa allowance score four weeks earlier was $19,175. As expected, the Godolphin pedigree is strong, especially...

With the announcement in early January that Elliott Walden would step down from his role as CEO of WinStar Farm in October, passing the torch to Gerry Duffy, a 20-year run at the company is coming to an end. Until 2005, when he took over as Vice President, Walden had trained horses for the organization. Under his management, the farm won the Triple Crown with Justify along with two Kentucky Derbies, three Belmont Stakes, five Breeders' Cups, and four Eclipse Awards. Walden hand-picked Duffy to take over the reins, praising...

WinStar Farm's 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Timberlake (Into Mischief--Pin Up {Ire}, by Lookin At Lucky), winner of the GI Champagne Stakes at two and a millionaire son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief, sired his first reported foal Tuesday morning, WinStar announced. The first foal, a colt, was born at Monticule in Lexington, Ky. Farm d'Allie Racing Stable (Allison Banks) bred the colt out of the Verrazano mare Flume, a half-sister to Grade I-placed Identity Politics. "He is a big, strong colt, and I think if they all...

The pari-mutuel field of "All other 3-year olds" closed as the 7-2 favorite in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) while unbeaten GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile champion Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) was the 6-1 second choice, announced Churchill Downs via press release. The GI Kentucky Derby is 15 weeks away, and others who attracted interest include GSW Paladin (Gun Runner) at 14-1 and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Chief Wallabee (Constitution) at 17-1 odds. The former is trained by Chad Brown while the latter is in...

"Doing matings with my clients is very much a team thing," says Headley Bell, whose Nicoma Bloodstock has been helping clients mate their mares since 1979. "My role is to try to assist in fulfilling dreams." Nicoma got off to a quick start with mating success, and the hits just keep on coming: in late December, George Strawbridge was first and third in the GI American Oaks with Ambaya (Ghostzapper), who was closely followed by Will Then (War Of Will) in third. Previous successes include two Arc de Triomphe winners...

He won at first-asking, but proved that the increase in real estate was no problem for him, and Jackson Hole (Nyquist) strolled home on seasonal bow at Fair Grounds to become the latest 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' for his sire. A length winner against maidens Dec 13 at Gulfstream Park, the son of GI Kentucky Derby hero Nyquist was strongly supported at the windows to the tune of 4-5 favoritism here, and never gave them a scare. Loping along from the rail, he set a controlled pace in...

WinStar Farm's Heartland, a 'TDN Rising Star' son of Justify out of the Cat Thief mare Sambuca Classica and a half-brother to Classic Empire, sired his first reported foal on Friday, Jan. 16, when a colt out of I Love Nola (Champali) was born at Katierich Farm in Midway, Ky, the farm announced Friday. The colt, whose dam is a half-sister to stakes-placed Love Boot (Storm Boot), the dam of stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Made to Love Her (Steve Wonderboy), and hails from the family of multiple stakes winner...

It was a good year for the new management team at the Maryland racetracks, where the average daily handle at Laurel was up 13.49 percent and average per-race handle increased by 14.29 percent. To talk about what went right for Maryland racing last year, the future of the GI Preakness Stakes, the decision to form a circuit with Colonial Downs, and to report on the rebuild of Pimlico, Bill Knauf, the president and general manager of the nonprofit Maryland Jockey Club, joined the team for this week's TDN Writers' Room...

Edited Press Release In a plan to transition for the future, WinStar Farm announced Wednesday that Gerry Duffy will return to become President on Apr. 1. Elliott Walden will remain CEO until Oct. 1, with Duffy taking over as CEO and President effective Oct. 1. "I have been blessed to work for Kenny Troutt for the last 25 years," said Walden. "Under his visionary leadership we've won a Triple Crown, two Kentucky Derbies, three Belmont Stakes, five Breeders' Cups, and four Eclipse Awards. Kenny has tremendous instincts and together we...

Godolphin has topped the individual breeders list in North America for 2025 with $27,288,066 in earnings, according to statistics released Wednesday by TJC Innovations. Godolphin, which also topped the list in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, bred 228 starters with 218 wins, 168 seconds, and 183 thirds out of 1,294 starts. Brereton C. Jones was second for the year with earnings of $11,552,109 with 226 wins out of 1,494 starts. Godolphin also led the breeders list that includes partners with $28,590,307 in earnings and 263 wins from 1,598 starts. WinStar...