Winstar

Keeping his run of strong form going, heavily-favored 'TDN Rising Star' Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo) justified his 1-5 odds with a strong effort in the GIII Salvatore Mile at Monmouth Saturday. Never out of the exacta in ten lifetime starts, the son of Uncle Mo missed nearly his entire 4-year-old season but has come back just as good as a 5-year-old, racking up three straight wins including a last-out score on a muddy track at Aqueduct in the GIII Westchester Stakes May 4 which resulted in a career-best 102 Beyer...

It's been a magical year so far for jockey Junior Alvarado, who rode Sovereignty (Into Mischief) to victories in the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Belmont S. They were the first wins in the Triple Crown series for the 39-year-old native of Venezuela, but they surely won't be the last. Alvarado now rides regularly for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, whose stable is loaded with talent. But Alvarado almost missed the Derby assignment. He fractured his shoulder blade in a Mar. 23 spill at Gulfstream. He would definitely...

Unraced since November, last year's King's Plate winner and Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach) returned in great style to Woodbine Saturday, winning the GIII Belle Mahone Stakes to open her 2025 season. Having beaten the boys in the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the filly, named for WNBA player Caitlin Clark, returned to facing her own gender Saturday having been third behind She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland and fourth in the GIII Maple Leaf to...

It is a prerogative of journalism--on the basis that most people won't read what you write, and that those that do will remember only what you get wrong--that you're allowed to repeat yourself. But fear not, I won't be returning to last week's soapbox other than to offer a vote of thanks to Mike McCarthy and his patrons for their willingness to explore whether a modern Thoroughbred is actually more resilient than the timid horsemen of our time generally allow us to see. It would be nice if they could...

9th-Churchill Downs, $134,460, Alw (NW3$X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 5-1, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:07.84, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. WORLD RECORD (c, 4, Gun Runner--Marwa {GB}, by Exceed And Excel {Aus}), last year's GII Amsterdam Stakes winner who was unraced since a third in the Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Mahoning Valley in late November, returned to the races with a winning effort Thursday. The 'TDN Rising Star' faced a salty allowance field led by GSW Track Phantom (Quality Road) and fellow 'Rising Star' MGSP Nash (Medaglia d'Oro) but was made the even-money favorite...

9th-CD, $141K, OC100K/N3X, 3yo/up, 6f, 5:13 p.m. ET. WORLD RECORD (Gun Runner) in his second start for WinStar and BBN Racing going seven over Churchill's main track last May was certainly impressive when he won by 6 1/4 lengths. That effort garnered the colt 'TDN Rising Star' honors and the Rodolphe Brisset trainee proceeded to run third in the Maxfield Stakes over course and distance, and then he checked off the GII Amsterdam Stakes at the Spa in late July. Despite finishing sixth in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial...

River Thames (Macleans's Music), who was most recently third in the GI Blue Grass Stakes, will not go in the GI Kentucky Derby and will instead use the extra two weeks off to prepare for the GI Preakness Stakes. The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's David Grening. "We just felt like the Preakness gave him a little more time and it felt like that was a better spot," said Elliott Walden, the president of WinStar Farm, which co-owns the colt along with the China Horse Club....

A week after we saluted the impact of his daughters on the GI Kentucky Derby trail, suddenly Tapit might also have found a colt to redress the one glaring omission on his resume. At the same time, the emergence of Sandman also contributes to a remarkable reciprocation by a still more venerable distaff influence. Tapit mares having produced American Promise, Tiztastic and Final Gambit across consecutive weekends, Distorted Humor is plainly not to be outdone. Both the big winners last Saturday were out of daughters of the WinStar legend; moreover...

The tariffs that will be placed on goods coming into the U.S. from Canada, and elsewhere, don't go into effect until Apr. 2. But they're already producing dire forecasts for what they will mean for the Canadian breeding industry. For instance, if someone brings a Canadian-bred to a U.S. yearling sale, the purchaser will have to pay a 25% tariff on top of the purchase price. That will probably mean that the Canadian breeder will disappear from the U.S. sales. No one has paid closer attention to this situation than...

With breeding sheds opening last week across North America, farms have been quietly preparing stallions for the demanding months ahead of them. All jokes about them having the best jobs aside, stallions have to be ready for a marathon during breeding season. It's not simply a matter of bringing stallions up from fields and expecting them to be ready to cover a full book of mares over the ensuing months. Perhaps that may work for small operations where a stallion covers a handful of mares all season, but for the...

5th-FG, $58K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:15 p.m. ET. Whisper Hill homebred STRAIGHT FORWARD (American Pharoah) makes her first start for Mandy Pope and trainer Steve Asmussen. The filly's dam, Aloof (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was acquired by the farm at the 2014 Keeneland November Sale for a cool $3.9 million. Herself out of English Group 1 winner Airwave (GB) (Air Express {Ire}), Aloof is a half-sister to the dam of full-siblings MG1SW Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G1SW Clemmie. Set for her unveiling is another homebred, Good Going (Mendelssohn),...

WinStar Farm and CHC Inc.'s Rapture (c, 3, Uncle Mo--Positively Royal, by Bernardini) had to be used some early on to gain a forward position from an awkward draw, but settled nicely from there just off the speed and responded when asked to finish off his race to graduate by 6 3/4 lengths in his two-turn debut Saturday at Oaklawn Park to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors. A debut second as the favorite to subsequent strong-figure Tampa allowance winner Vassimo (Nyquist) on his one-mile unveiling at Gulfstream Park Dec. 14,...