The answer may lie with which list you consult.

After the victories by Hughes and Sovereignty in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Classic over the weekend, the list published through the Blood-Horse magazine shows Into Mischief closing nearly all the gap ($30 million to $29.9 million). The general sire list at the Thoroughbred Daily News has the pair reversed with earnings of $30.5 million for Into Mischief and $30 million for Not This Time.

What gives?

Sue Finley, publisher and CEO of Thoroughbred Daily News, said: “It comes down to accounting. We count all of a horse’s earnings in Japan or Hong Kong, whereas the Blood-Horse counts only a percentage of those earnings. I believe it comes from a time when those really big purses tilted the totals so much, but they didn’t continue that pattern. Instead, they count all the earnings that come from purses in Saudi Arabia or Dubai.”

Depending upon whose progeny win which of the remaining major prizes during the remainder of 2026, the leadership may clarify itself or even change a couple of times.

Whereas Sovereignty will not be adding further glory or gold to the record of his famous sire, being retired to stud at Darley’s Jonabell stallion station in Lexington for the 2027 breeding season, Hughes is an unbeaten 2-year-old with nearly limitless potential. He is as certain a lock for an Eclipse Award as any racer could be, and he possesses enough pedigree to back up his performance and promise of grand things for the classics next year.

There is little dispute that Hughes is the best juvenile colt off his racing record in 2026. He was the odds-on favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and the colt convincingly proved the point, winning the race by 2 ¼ lengths from American History (Constitution), with stablemate Salahudin (Uncle Mo) a head farther back in third.

In truth, however, there is room to question whether Hughes is nearly so much a classic favorite as he was for the Juvenile, when he towered over his competition from a reading of his past performances and in the estimation of the bettors.

Also, Hughes is the third consecutive Juvenile winner by Into Mischief, following Citizen Bull and Ted Noffey, and would become the third consecutive champion juvenile colt by the sire.

Neither of those preceding Hughes won a classic, although for differing reasons. Citizen Bull was a miler, wanted no part of 10 furlongs, but proved an excellent miler, finishing a dramatic and very close second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile to the older Nysos (Nyquist), which form looked better and better over the course of this year.

Ted Noffey suffered bone bruising and missed the classics because owner Spendthrift Farm took the prudent and laudable route of giving him time for a full recovery, and the colt is expected to make his three-year-old debut in the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on Nov. 7.

Truly few juvenile champions become the best colts the following season, but there is reason to hope that Hughes could prove an exception to the general rule. For one thing the colt is out of a mare, K P Dreamin (Union Rags), who placed third in both the G1 Chandelier Stakes and Starlet Stakes at two, and both the dam and second dam, Litigating (Point Given), are by stallions who showed high class at two and went on to win the Belmont Stakes at 12 furlongs.

Furthermore, the third dam is stakes winner Mediation, a daughter of Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) winner Caerleon, a son of English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky (Northern Dancer). That’s a lot of classic kin.

Mediation became an outstanding producer, the dam of two stakes winners, a group-placed racer, and three further winners who earned more than $100,000. The best of the group was Go Between (Point Given), a full brother to Litigating and one of three G1 winners by Point Given.

The classic connections of the family from which Hughes descends do not stop with the recent generations. The colt’s fourth dam is a daughter of 1979 Kentucky Derby second (and Travers winner) General Assembly, one of the best sons of 1970 Triple Crown winner Secretariat (Bold Ruler). The seventh dam is Cora Deans, a daughter of 1926 Derby and St. Leger winner Coronach (Hurry On). The eighth dam, Jennie Deans, is a daughter of Buchan (Sunstar), who won the Eclipse Stakes twice and ran second in the Derby and the 2,000 Guineas.

And the ninth dam is Eleanor M., a foal of 1913 by the 1907 Derby winner Orby (Orme), who was the first Irish-trained winner of the Derby and also the first winner of that classic and the Irish Derby. She had a classy pedigree, but she was lucky just to be registered as a Thoroughbred.

What? Yes, in Volume 23 of the General Stud Book, published in 1913, the Jockey Club of England announced a change of the rules for the requirements to register a Thoroughbred in the GSB, the standard of the Thoroughbred worldwide. The rule change, known in the vernacular as the Jersey Act, stated that the only horses eligible for registration were those who “can be traced without flaw on both sire’s and dam’s side of its pedigree to horses and mares themselves already accepted in earlier volumes of the book.”

Eleanor M. was a Thoroughbred because her sire was already registered with the GSB, as was Orby’s sire Orme (Ormonde) and dam Rhoda B. (Hanover). As a result of the Act, however, many American-bred horses were not eligible for registration because some of their ancestors were not registered in the GSB, most notably Lexington (Boston), the greatest 19^th-century American sire who led the sire list 16 times and was in the pedigree of a vast majority of American racers.

The Jockey Club’s rule change, however, was not retroactive, and a handful of high-quality horses of American pedigree were already in the GSB before 1913. As a result, they and their descendants were recognized as Thoroughbred, not half-bred, and retained value through the decades until the rule was changed in 1949.

Just me, but I think it’s a good thing that Eleanor M. was a Thoroughbred.

Wawee has never missed the Breeders’ Cup World Championships after last weekend’s trip to Keeneland from his Porter Ranch, Calif., home marked his 43^rd year at the season-culminating event.

It all started when Wawee, now 63, was a junior at the University of Southern California and read that the inaugural Breeders’ Cup would be held at Hollywood Park. He chose to attend the races rather than watch his beloved Trojans play for a Rose Bowl berth. He was hooked.

“It’s all of these horses coming from all over the country and all over the world. It’s a special day. It’s spectacular. It’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “I can’t miss it. There is no way I can miss it.”

Wawee maintained that steadfast determination to venture to Keeneland in 2020 even though spectators were not permitted due to COVID-19. He wrote to various Breeders’ Cup officials, telling them of his unwavering attendance and offering to volunteer in any capacity, anything to gain admission. They responded by thanking him for his loyalty and sending a package of merchandise. Nice gesture. Not what he was after.

He contacted Laffit Pincay III, son of retired Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. Might the well-connected broadcaster need an assistant? No task too small. Pincay III politely declined, telling him he would keep his eyes open if an opportunity arose to help him.

The roadblocks only added to Wawee’s discontent. Castle Batting Cages, the business he co-owns with great friend Andy Slater in Sherman Oaks, Calif., had been forced to close. He went without income and terribly missed the daily buzz of baseball and softball activity.

Wawee needed a good time. He needed to keep his streak alive, even more so because he had purchased two micro-shares in top Classic contender Authentic through MyRacehorse.

“I don’t know how you are going to do it,” Slater recalled telling him.

“Well, I’m going,” his friend responded, vowing to climb a fence as a last resort.

Thankfully, it did not come to that. Of all the calls he placed, all the emails he sent, one finally paid off. He found a farm manager who planned to attend only the Friday card and made Saturday’s ticket available to him.

Thankfully, it did not come to that. Of all the calls he placed, all the emails he sent, one finally paid off. He found a farm manager who planned to attend only the Friday card and made Saturday’s ticket available to him.

The flight from the West Coast was surreal. Wawee boarded a large plane with two other passengers. Were there six feet for social distancing? Heck, they were 20 rows apart.

As for the event itself, it was worth all of the time and trouble he had put into gaining access because the small investor in Authentic, winner of a Kentucky Derby like no other on the first Saturday in September, took the Classic en route to Horse of the Year honors.

   When Wawee was asked his top Breeders’ Cup memories, he said of Authentic’s Classic triumph, “That’s obviously the best.”

Not far behind is the Breeders’ Cup of 1989, when Sunday Silence avenged previous defeats against arch-rival Easy Goer in the Classic at Gulfstream Park.

“It was a New York versus Los Angeles kind of thing. It was great to stick it to them,” said the California native. “I’m a huge Dodgers fan and there is nothing better than beating the Yankees or Sunday Silence beating Easy Goer.”

Not far behind that is Zenyatta, who still stands as the only female to win the Classic. She accomplished that in 2009, seemingly leaving herself with far too much to do before coming from the clouds with a historic charge for Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

“I didn’t think she could beat the boys but, boy, did I enjoy it when it happened,” Wawee said. Even when surging Zenyatta failed to overtake Blame by a neck the following year at Churchill Downs, the man who never misses the Cup appreciated the magnificence of the race.

Zenyatta will always hold a special place in Wawee’s heart. He and his wife, Sherry, have two daughters, Jaclyn and Heather. While Zenyatta was making national headlines, Wawee was regretting that he and Jaclyn had drifted apart and seemed to lack any common ground.

Wawee told Jaclyn of how Zenyatta would display her nervous energy with a peculiar paddock dance and of her breathtaking rallies when all appeared lost. When Jaclyn hopped on the crowded Zenyatta bandwagon, Wawee was so grateful to reconnect with his older daughter.

“It brought us back to being buddies,” said an emotional Wawee.

Forty-three years of thrills. Forty-three years of making memories. This is one streak that may not end soon.

“I imagine as long as he’s able and functioning, he will be to every one,” Slater said of the man the pandemic could not stop.

Previous studies have reported improvements in lameness lasting up to 24 months after PAAG treatment, but exactly how the substance works remains unclear. The gel was initially thought to improve joint lubrication, but it eventually becomes incorporated into the synovial membrane, the tissue lining the inside of the joint.

“Since PAAG incorporates into the synovial membrane rather than remaining free within the joint space, its mechanisms of action are more complex and may go beyond joint lubrication alone,” posited Dr. Bruno Menarim of the Gluck Equine Research Center.

Dr. Menarim, who has spent more than a decade studying the synovial membrane’s role in joint inflammation, also wondered whether PAAG incorporation into the synovial membrane might influence the joint’s ability to respond to inflammatory stimuli and its natural health balance (homeostasis).

“My suspicion was that there was something in the PAAG-remodeled synovial membrane that changes the inflammatory response of the joint,” he said. “I wanted to further investigate whether that was the case, and how that was happening.”

The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation funded a study into PAAG, and Dr. Bianca Ruspi of the Menarim Lab presented the findings at the 2026 American College of Veterinary Surgeons Surgery Summit, earning the award for highest clinical impact.

Using objectively measured pain responses, the authors found no difference between PAAG-treated and control joints. They also identified that the treatment doesn’t block the joint’s inflammatory response, but it may modulate inflammation resolution.

The team studied 19 Thoroughbreds, ages 3 to 7, whose carpal (knee) joints showed no evidence of joint injuries. Each horse received an injection of 2.5% PAAG in one joint and a control of sterile water in the other.

The horses were divided into three different groups, each ultimately evaluated at 7, 30, or 90 days following treatment. At each of these endpoints, researchers induced inflammation in both joints and compared the responses using specialized boots equipped with load sensors. The boots were placed on each horse for 50 minutes before PAAG treatment, before induction of inflammation, and 10 hours following induction of inflammation. The boots measure the weight horses placed on each limb and how often they shifted weight off it, providing an objective measure of pain-related behaviors. 

Researchers found no significant difference in weight-bearing or offloading frequency between PAAG-treated and control limbs. During the recording period, treated joints showed no impaired pain perception in response to induced inflammation, and examination of joint tissues found no abnormalities in the joints’ nerves.

Dr. Menarim’s group also found preliminary evidence that PAAG may influence how the joint resolves inflammation, rather than simply suppressing it. 

“Inflammation is a normal response to injury, and the body has built-in mechanisms to resolve it and restore joint health in a timely fashion,” Menarim explained. “However, when inflammation fails to resolve and becomes chronic, it can be damaging to tissues and lead to osteoarthritis.”

In PAAG-treated joints, researchers observed increased markers associated with recruitment and activation of macrophages, the main cells driving inflammation resolution. In addition, at 30 days following PAAG treatment, PAAG-treated joints had higher concentrations of 10-HDoHE, a substance derived from omega-3 fatty acids and associated with resolving inflammation. The findings raise the possibility that PAAG may influence how the joint resolves inflammation, potentially helping explain the long-lasting effects noted in some studies.

Both PAAG-treated and control joints responded similarly to the induction of inflammation, suggesting no blockage of the inflammatory response. 

When extrapolating these results to clinical cases, it is important to remember that the horses in this study were not in a training program, and only the 2.5% PAAG was investigated, meaning these findings may not be applicable to other formulations. In addition, healthy joints were used with an induced inflammation model, rather than studying the treatment effects on naturally occurring joint inflammation.

The team is finalizing the analysis of findings from another component of this Grayson-funded study examining PAAG in fetlock joints with naturally occurring osteoarthritis. Menarim also aims to further investigate how the treatment affects the joint’s inflammatory response and ability to maintain a healthy physiological balance. 

The preliminary findings are currently being prepared for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and questions on the subject should be addressed to Dr. Menarim at bruno.menarim@uky.edu. 

Editor’s Note: The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) prohibits intra-articular PAAG injections within 180 days of a race. 

But for someone who has not put many off-track rides on a young Thoroughbred, the first ride on a newly retired racehorse can be nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing (vibes that are definitely NOT what any of us want to convey to the horse under us). 

By taking a mindful approach leading up to and during those first few rides, you’ll not only enjoy them more, but get more out of them, and so will your horse.  

Setting You AND Them Up for Success

When the average racehorse is ready to transition away from racing, they’ve already lived a whole lot of life, seen a lot of things, and been ridden by a variety of different people. So, while that first off-track ride is a significant milestone and much different than what they’re used to (different tack, different way of mounting, different style of riding, different environment…the list could go on and on), they aren’t exactly starting from ground zero. 

At the same time, that newly off-track Thoroughbred is going through a lot of change. New barn environment, new schedule, new feed, re-introduction to turnout and socialization, and more. When it comes to the first ride, that’s even more newness: a different type of saddle and likely bridle/bit, a new type of environment to be ridden in, a new way of being ridden (with more leg on their side and more rider contact on their back), and a new style of being ridden (rather than going fast and straight, they’re going to be asked to do more shapes, patterns, and changes of gait and direction). 

Taking things slow, especially in the beginning and especially if you’re navigating the restarting process for the first time, will get you farther faster in the long run. 

Before the First Ride

With a newly off-track Thoroughbred experiencing so much change, it’s important to teach him or her that “new” does not equal “bad.” The best way to do this is to do your best to set them up for success with new experiences. 

For example, take them to wherever you plan to have their first ride a few times before the actual day of the ride. Let them see and get comfortable in the environment. Maybe have them walk over some poles or investigate anything in or on the perimeter of the arena. You can have them walk a few circles around you at the walk in each direction, which is the first step in teaching them to lunge.

I prefer to do a few groundwork sessions with them and actually teach them to lunge before doing their first ride. You can read more about teaching them to lunge in the January 2024 “Learning to Lunge” edition of OTTB Training Toolkit. 

They may get excited or anxious the first time in that new arena environment, especially if there are other horses working around them. It’s up to you to stay calm and diffuse their nervous energy. Sometimes that might mean simple groundwork games, walking around and over poles, etc., to get their mind to focus on you rather than everything else, while other times it might mean letting them stand there and take it all in, hopefully with some quiet words and confidence-inducing pats or scratches from you. 

I take this approach with everything that’s new to a newly off-track horse, helping them to learn that “new” doesn’t have to be scary. This not only puts them in a mindset more open to learning, but also helps you to get to know the horse a bit better, and to build up a bit of trust between the two of you. 

When it’s the First Ride, for Both of You

Once you feel the horse can go to the arena and get into a calm, productive mindset (through lunging, groundwork, or whatever else), it’s time to do your first ride. Whether it’s your first time doing the first ride or you’ve done hundreds of them, it’s good to have someone around who can hold the horse as you mount. 

Most racehorses are used to a rider being “legged up” rather than mounting from a mounting block, and often they’re walking as this happens, so having to stand still as someone steps onto a mounting block, puts weight into the stirrup, and swings a leg over can be unsettling to some horses. If that’s the case, take your time to help them get comfortable with you there and what you’re doing.

There are a number of things I’ve learned over the years that not only help to keep the rider safe when mounting a newly retired racehorse (or any horse you’re unfamiliar with), but also help the horse learn to stand calmly while being mounted, which you can read about here.

Horses are sensitive animals. They can feel something as tiny as a fly landing on them, so they can definitely feel everything you convey through your hands, legs, and seat, whether you mean for them to or not. So, it’s important to be relaxed and confident, yet secure (not loose in the tack) during these first few rides. Be sure you’re not tense and tight through your seat and legs, and you’re not pulling or fussing with their mouth, as all of these things will make a relaxed horse tense, and a tense horse more anxious. 

Now, that doesn’t mean to ride with your leg off of them. I often describe to students having “wet towel legs” when riding anxious or green horses. You want your leg secure (like a ThunderShirt for a nervous dog) but not actively engaged or haphazardly swinging and rubbing them. Keeping your heel down, your calf on their side, and your core engaged plays a big role in this. This will keep you secure (and give you the ability to be light on their back).

While ideally I want to start with 5 or so minutes of walking and circling, if the horse is anxious or eager to go forward, I let them move into a trot, staying on the perimeter of the arena and doing large circles or figure 8s. Often, the best way to diffuse nervous energy in a horse is to keep their feet moving, and with Thoroughbreds especially, you can use their natural inclination to go forward to your advantage, as that is their comfort zone (and will serve them well in many off-track disciplines).

On the track, most Thoroughbreds are used to being ridden with contact, so in these first rides, I try to maintain quiet contact with their mouth through the reins, doing a lot of soft give and take (pressure and release) to help them relax into rather than brace against the contact. 

My mindset when I go into that first ride is to simply let the horse introduce him or herself to me, and me to them. I want to learn from them how they like to be ridden, if they prefer one direction over another, how well they turn and bend, and so on. From me, I want them to feel my legs against their side and how I engage them in coordination with my rein aids and seat when I ask them to turn or bend. 

There is no hard and fast rule that says one has to walk, trot, and canter in that first ride. Often I will do all three gaits and even a hack around the farm, but sometimes if I feel the horse has made good progress with just a few walk-trot sets, I’ll leave it at that so I can end in a good place and build on it next time. 

My goal for a first ride (really for the first few rides) isn’t ever “I want to accomplish X, Y and Z.” Instead it’s simply to end my session with the horse happy and relaxed, and hopefully thinking, “Wait, that’s it? That was easy!”

Taking this approach to the first ride (or rides) will help you to develop a good rapport and level of trust with a horse and put him or her in a curious, learning mindset. 

Troubleshooting Tips

If you are nervous – Horses can feel our energy, and they feed off of it, so if you’re nervous about getting on, there is no shame in asking a more experienced, confident rider to put the first few rides on your horse, or to coach you through it. If you don’t know of someone you can ask for help, the Retired Racehorse Project has a database of past Thoroughbred Makeover competitors and can try to help you connect with someone in your area that can offer guidance.

Have a ground person – Always coordinate having someone there with you when you get on a new horse for the first time. Not only can they hold the horse as you get on and walk the first few steps with you, but they can also take video, help from the ground (such as if your horse is hesitant to go over a pole or near something, the ground person can walk them from the ground to offer extra encouragement), and help if things go pear-shaped (hopefully not…but better safe than sorry!). 

Getting on safely – Every step of every ride is a conversation between you and the horse, so mounting is like your introduction. In addition to keeping yourself secure and with the horse by keeping your reins short and grabbing the mane with your left hand, make sure you don’t poke them with your toe as you put your foot in the stirrup, don’t catch them with your right foot as you swing your leg over, and don’t thud down on their back like a sack of potatoes. All of that not only sends the wrong message, but can startle the horse and cause them to go forward abruptly. You also don’t want to be too slow getting on, as that is often the most vulnerable point of your ride (since you’re only half on the horse). Instead, be soft and efficient as you swing your leg over and sit lightly into the saddle. 

Choose the right time – While it’s good to have someone there when doing your first rides, try to time it when the arena is going to be quiet. If there is another horse or two in the arena with you, let them know that it’s the horse’s first off-track ride and ask them to be mindful (not passing too closely, or slowing to a walk if they see your horse is getting overly excited). If you have a friend riding with you, simply walking next to them or following behind them at the walk or trot can be a good calming influence for your inexperienced horse. 

Be soft, but secure in the saddle – Racehorses are used to the rider riding much shorter in the stirrups and being off of their backs (or light on their backs if posting), so think about being light with your posting and using a half seat in the canter in those first few rides. Having a secure lower leg and engaged core are the key to this.

Don’t overdo it – Less is more in those first few rides. My goal isn’t to teach them any major concepts, but rather to get them used to a new way of being ridden and have positive experiences. If I can get them to be calm and curious about going over poles or passing/investigating things in the arena, even better!  Ending on a positive note is my main goal, but how I get there and what that positive note is depends on the horse.

Sovereignty now goes off to build a legacy as a sire. But no one has any such doubts about trainer Mott’s legacy in Thoroughbred racing. The headline in Paulick Report editor Chelsea Hackbarth’s coverage of the BC Classic described what Mott did with his horse, coming off a hoof abscess earlier this year, as a “masterclass” of training. From Hackbarth’s piece: “‘The job Bill and his team have done to get this horse from last year to today in the shape that he’s in is an unbelievable trainer performance,’ said Godolphin’s Michael Banahan. ‘You’ll see some words written, but to put those into operation and all those little things that have happened along the way and the patience that Bill has shown to get him there to do that is unbelievable.’”

Over at Thoroughbred Daily News, Bill Finley had similar praise for the trainer and more praise for the horse. From Finley’s piece: “Mott did allow himself a shadow of a smile when it was over. But he is not one to gloat. ‘This horse is a runner,’ he said. ‘It’s like a loaded gun is dangerous in anyone’s hands. I guess we got it done today. The horse did everything we needed him to do.’”

In other words, he made it look easy. But there was nothing easy about this. There may be a few other trainers who could have pulled this off, but not many. It was a masterful training job.

“‘It’s his patience,’ said Banahan. ‘He teed the horse up to produce on the day, like he did in the Derby, the Belmont, the Travers, like the Whitney this year.’”

There was plenty to kvetch about, too, if that’s your thing. A wave of scratches late last week altered not just the results of the races on Friday and Saturday but the wagering options as well. That is one likely reason, among others, for why the handle was down sharply on Friday’s card and down slightly on the big Saturday afternoon card. Overall, the all-sources handle was down 6.7 percent from last year, when the Breeders’ Cup was held at Del Mar in Southern California. Next year, the Breeders’ Cup races will take place at the new Belmont Park in New York, a return to Gotham after more than two decades. Maybe the folks at the New York Racing Association, who successfully managed CAW reform, can help advise next year on home turf.

If I were a Thoroughbred industry stakeholder, I would focus on solving the broader question of why so many horses have to be scratched out of these races, rather than on the narrower question of how to improve the handle on these big racing days. Arguing that track veterinarians or regulators should be more lax in evaluating soundness issues is, no pun intended, a non-starter in this modern world. And for all the whining about late scratches, which bettors hate, the fact is that the public expects (or demands, if you prefer) that vets and regulators err on the side of caution. From this perspective, five less-attractive betting races is a cheap price to pay for not having a Breeders’ Cup horse break down with millions watching.

I watched hours of coverage of the Breeders’ Cup this year. I enjoyed almost all of it. Not because the broadcast was perfect (it wasn’t) or because all of the races were scintillating (they weren’t) or because there were some great parlays to be had (I don’t bet), but because the championship races were such a marvelous distraction from the final few days of a particularly frenetic and meaningful election season. I was rooting for Englishman, for example, but at the end of the BC Sprint I was in awe of T O Elvis for running down trainer Cherie DeVaux’s horse. I am sure there are plenty of voters who have switched their political horses this campaign season, back and forth. The good news? The election will soon be over, one way or the other. More good news? Joe Drape and The New York Times have just declared a racing renaissance in the U.S. The bad news? We have to wait another year for the next Breeders’ Cup races.

Pennsylvania needs to do more to stop the slaughter pipeline

I haven’t gotten very far in learning what regulators in Pennsylvania plan to do, if anything, about allegations that Bruce Rotz, of Rotz Livestock, is part of a pipeline that leads racehorses to slaughter in Canada. The problem involves all breeds of horses, including Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds. The newest allegations against Rotz come from the animal welfare group, Animals Angels, which claims that 179 Standardbreds alone went through his place in January and February of this year on their way to a slaughterhouse in Canada. Rotz, you will recall, was part of the September story where New York authorities arrested a driver accused of carrying horses to slaughter. Those horses are now getting the care they need, we just reported.

We know now that the prosecutor in that New York case isn’t sure that the law is strong enough to sustain the case against the driver. So what about Pennsylvania? No one can say that state officials aren’t on notice. From the animal rights group’s press release: “Animals’ Angels has filed formal complaints with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Department of State, and Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office concerning the shipment, Rotz Livestock’s role, and the veterinary clearance that permitted these horses to travel. Both the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office have responded, confirming they are looking into our complaints.”

What’s particularly disheartening about the news about the doomed Standardbreds is that many of them were part of a United States Trotting Association program called “Full Circle,” which is supposed to add an extra layer of protection for retired Standardbreds. Harness horse owners can, for free, register their horses with Full Circle– I have done so for many of my horses. The idea is that the end-owner of a harness horse that is enrolled in Full Circle can contact the USTA to reach out to the Full Circle enrollee to see if that owner will buy or care for that horse. It’s a wonderful idea but, as the USTA concedes, it depends entirely on the willingness of the end owner to know about Full Circle and take the time to reach out and wait for a response.

Sadly, we don’t live in that world. We live instead in a world where the end users of these racehorses ignore the Full Circle program and try to find killers who will pay a few hundred bucks to take the animals to slaughter. The USTA is being both candid and cowardly when it acknowledges its limitations in protecting harness horses. “Policing horse slaughter would require investigative authority, access to private transactions, subpoena power, and the ability to impose legal sanctions. Those powers rest with governments, courts, and state racing commissions—not with breed organizations. Attempting to act beyond our legal remit would violate due process, expose the registry to significant liability, and ultimately undermine our ability to serve both horses and owners effectively.” 

The Meadowlands steps up its game

I often criticize Jeff Gural*, the owner and operator of The Meadowlands Racetrack, when I think he’s made mistakes, and so now I think it’s fair to praise his work in pivoting from the track’s loss of the 2027 Hambletonian. Gural and company, working with the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey and other industry stakeholders around the U.S., have come up with an impressive new $1 million trotting race and have beefed up some existing stakes for an impressive card that will take place in the heat of summer at the track in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Harness racing now can look forward to The Meadowlands Trot and the Hambletonian, which means two huge trotting races within one month of each other next year.

There were a lot of cats to herd to come up with this new racing card, which has a good chance of being the most heavily-bet card of the entire Standardbred season in the U.S. A lot of egos had to be stroked, a lot of compromises had to be swallowed, and a lot of cooperation had to take place among rivals who aren’t exactly known for their collaboration skills. Gural and his team, including Big M executive Jason Settlemoir, deserve credit both for leading and listening to the right people this fall after the Hambletonian Society took away the Hambletonian and gave it to the folks at Harrah’s who run Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana. In doing so, they’ve meaningfully improved their chances of one day getting a full casino at the Meadowlands.

Even the timing of the Big M’s announcement made sense, coming days before the biggest yearling and mixed sale of the year, the 88th annual Standardbred Horse Sale, a five-day slog at the sprawling State Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I cannot attend the Harrisburg sale this year, alas, because I have to cover this week’s election but I am sure that sales will be buoyed somewhat by buyers who now know for certain that there will be a vibrant stakes season at the nation’s most important harness track. Those in the Standardbred game should pause for just a moment and appreciate how good it feels when the industry comes together for a common purpose to overcome a significant problem. Now do beard trainers! 

Notes

An update on HISA litigation. I am told that the briefing is complete in the HISA litigation, now at the door of the U.S. Supreme Court. We are likely weeks or a month or two away from the justices in Washington, D.C., announcing in a terse written order that they will accept for review a case that will allow them, finally, to rule on the constitutionality of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act. The alternative, that justices will punt the case back to one of the three federal appeals courts that have ruled on the case, is unthinkable at this point. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld HISA in full. The 5th U.S. The Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down HISA’s enforcement powers. The Supreme Court has a choice to make.

If the justices grant certiorari before the end of the year, or early in January, expect oral argument in the sprawling case to take place in March or April, with a decision coming out before the end of June 2027. That means it will have taken nearly seven years from the law’s passage to its constitutional verdict. That probably seems like a lifetime for the folks who run HISA and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, and it sure feels like a lifetime to me covering all the twists and turns of the legal fight over the new racing integrity law. But there is no standard for the time it takes the federal courts to render a definitive judgment on a new law. Either way, 2027 will be a turning point for the law and, by extension, the Thoroughbred industry.

Still no word from Ron Burke, the harness trainer who dominates the sport in the U.S., on why he is running against USTA President Russell Williams for a spot on the association’s board of directors. I’ve asked Burke directly a few basic questions– why are you running? What do you hope to achieve as a USTA director? How will you be able to devote time to the gig if you are running the largest stable in Standardbred racing?– and have received no response. Burke doesn’t owe me a thing. But he does owe the constituents in the USTA district in which he is running an explanation for what on the surface seems to be an attempt to oust Williams and undermine the USTA’s ability to investigate its own members for integrity violations.

Standard disclosure: Gural and I own a few Standardbred racehorses and broodmares together. 

The Allen Landry trainee came into the race as the morning-line favorite after breaking her maiden on August 21 and then winning the Louisiana Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes on September 19. Each win was by more than two lengths.

In the Louisiana Jewel, Cajun Caviar broke alertly before settling in at the rail while stalking the pace set by Wicked No Mo and Romantic Rumor, who clicked off fractional times of :23.28 for the opening quarter mile and :48.03 for the half mile. As the field raced up the backstretch, Cajun Caviar found room at the rail and moved up to engage the leaders heading into the second turn.

With just over a furlong to go, Wicked No Mo threw in the towel and began to back up as Cajun Caviar and Romantic Rumor faced off heading for home. In the final furlong it was Cajun Caviar who would not me denied as she pulled clear late to win by two lengths over Romantic Rumor while My Hintof Platinum rallied for third, another 2 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up.

Cajun Caviar finished seven furlongs in 1:28.16 on a fast track.

Cajun Caviar earned $60,000 for her second stakes tally and now has a bankroll of $129,000. She is owned by Ellen Epstein.

Bred in Louisiana by Ellen Epstein and Lynne Boutte, Cajun Caviar is a dark bay or brown filly by No Parole out of the Violence mare Clearly Sailing.

Sent to the gate as the heavy favorite, Cajun Caviar paid $3.20 to win.–Don Stevens/Delta Downs

Gulfstream Park
–Group 1-placed in her final start in Peru, Dona Licha Stables LLC’s Super Sienna pulled off a 51-1 upset in Friday’s $75,000 Cellars Shiraz in her second North American start.

The 3-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Mendelssohn was never a serious factor in her first start at Gulfstream at 5-1 odds in an allowance race over the Tapeta course but was never headed Friday while registering a gate-to-wire victory in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds fillies.

“She’s a very good filly. The owner of the filly from Peru had very good comments on the filly. I liked the filly the first moment she came into my barn,” trainer Victor Barboza said. “Her last race, she had never run on the [Tapeta], and I don’t think she liked it for the first time. In the future, maybe.

Super Sienna set fractions of :22.50 and :46.84 for the first half-mile under Edgar Perez before holding off Rogue Runner by a half-length while completing the 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.94 over a good turf course.

Rogue Runner prevailed by a head over Bayou Brigid for second money.

Day to Day, the 6-5 favorite in a field of 10, broke slowly from the starting gate and finished fifth.–Gulfstream Media Relations

Santa Anita
—Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings was the breeder of three winners on Friday’s card, two of which were produced from the same mare. Stonestreet bred the winner of the fourth race, Captivator ($4), who was ridden by Armando Ayuso and is trained by John Sadler. They also bred the seventh race winner Street Swindler ($6.20), ridden by Abel Lezcano for trainer Mark Glatt; and Magic Time ($10.60), who won the ninth race with Victor Espinoza aboard for trainer Michael McCarthy.

Street Swindler, a 3-year-old filly by Candy Ride, and Magic Time, 2 -year-old colt by Not This Time, are both out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Flash Magic. Magic Time was a $1.15-million purchase at the 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

— With two days remaining at the track’s Autumn Meet, Juan Hernandez is poised to win another jockey’s title at the Arcdia, Calif. oval and Doug O’Neill leads in the race for leading trainer.

Hernandez has won 19 races from 94 mounts (20 percent) and holds a two-win lead over Emisael Jaramillo. Both rode at Keeneland on Saturday where they had Breeders’ Cup mounts. In Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1), Hernandez earned his first Breeders’ Cup victory when guiding favorite Bacio ($6.36) to a gate-to-wire victory for trainer Wesley Ward.

Following Hernandez and Jaramillo in the Santa Anita jockey’s standings is Kazushi Kimura, who is also at Keeneland Saturday. He has won 15 races. Kimura is followed by Joel Rosario, also rode at Keeneland Saturday, who has won 14 races at Santa Anita.

On Sunday, Jaramillo is not named on mounts anywhere. Hernandez has seven rides booked at Santa Anita. Kimura has an outside chance to catch Hernandez as he has six mounts at Santa Anita Sunday. Rosario also has six mounts here on Sunday.

This would be Hernandez’s fourth straight year winning the riding title at the Autumn Meet.

On the trainer’s side, O’Neill has 13 wins and is followed by George Papaprodromou with 11 wins. O’Neill has six horses entered in six races over the final two days, while

Papaprodromou has six horses entered in five races. O’Neill finished as the leading trainer at the Classic Meet earlier this year. Papaprodromou has never won a Santa Anita trainer’s title.–Victor Ryan/Santa Anita

To read previous editions of The Haiku Handicapper, click here.

#1 – T O Password
Butts heads with good ones
Countryman will draw dollars
Think before tossing

#2 – Sovereignty
Turned his season ’round
But has a rocky autumn
Halted his progress?

#3 – Golden Tempo
We know his playbook
Wait patiently, then explode
But will these come back?

#4 – The Puma
Bred to go this long
But if you want a closer
Use Golden Tempo

#5 – Forever Young
The backdrop may change
Consistency never does
Live to defend belt

#6 – Magnitude
SCRATCHED

#7 – Knightsbridge
Somehow, his last race
Proved he belongs in this field
And left doubts open

#8 – Napoleon Solo
Can sustain a lead
But this field is far too good
To let him run off

Prediction
Greatness reaffirmed
It’s Forever Young again
Two, seven follow

The stakes action begins on Friday with the one-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes for 2-year-olds in the third race. The 5 ½-furlong Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint opens the World Championships in the sixth race, followed by the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on the main track in the seventh race. The turf course will be back in the spotlight for the one-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Then Kentucky Derby points will be awarded in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, with the one-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf ending the Future Stars Friday festivities.

The seven-furlong Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint kicks off the second and final day of the World Championships in race 4. Turf sprinters take to the track in the 5 ½-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in race 5, and 11 runners go the distance in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in race 6. The 1 3/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf is next on the schedule, followed by the world’s fastest main track sprinters in the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint. 

The Breeders’ Cup Mile leads into the final four races on the card, followed by the 1 ⅛-mile Breeders’ Cup Distaff for fillies and mares on the dirt. The 1 ½-mile Breeders’ Cup Turf is the penultimate race, leading into the $7 million headliner, the 1 ¼-mile Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Saturday

3:42 pm – G1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland

Englishman, a two-time G1 winner against 3-year-olds, is the 4-5 morning line favorite in the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint, his first start against older horses. The Cherie DeVaux trainee drew the outside post in the field of 13 and will again be ridden by Jose Ortiz.

Japan-based T O Elvis is the 7-2 second choice. The Daisuke Takayanagi trainee is unraced since a 3 ¼-length victory in the G1 Churchill Downs Stakes during Kentucky Derby week. He will try to win his sixth straight race in the Sprint from post 11 with Ryusei Sakai aboard.

G2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt winner Built leads the older American contingent. After taking down Saratoga’s Vanderbilt by 2 ½ lengths over next-out G1 winner and Sprint contender Hymn, the Wayne Catalano trainee came back to win the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes by 1 ½ lengths. The 6 ½-furlong stakes produced last year’s Sprint winner, Bentornato.

BC Sprint entries

4:58 pm – G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland

Last year’s champion 3-year-old filly Nitrogen is in search of her first Breeders’ Cup victory in her third attempt in the 1 ⅛-mile Distaff. The 4-year-old filly trained by Mark Casse is coming out of an easy 2 ¾-length score in the G2 Beldame, after she finished second to Sovereignty in the G1 Whitney. Nitrogen is the 6-5 morning line favorite from post 2 with Jose Ortiz in the irons.

Three starts ago, Nitrogen defeated Distaff contender Fully Subscribed by 12 ¾ lengths in the G1 Ogden Phipps at Saratoga. Fully Subscribed won her next three starts, including the G1 Personal Ensign by 9 ¾ lengths and the G1 Spinster by 3 ¼ lengths.

Immersive and Super Corredora each look to win their second Breeders’ Cup race after taking the Juvenile Fillies during their 2-year-old seasons. Now a 4-year-old, the Brad Cox-trained Immersive has drawn the rail with Junior Alvarado in the irons for the first time. Sophomore Super Corredora ships to Kentucky from California, where she defeated older fillies and mares by 2 ¾ lengths in the G2 Zenyatta Stakes. Joel Rosario, aboard for the Zenyatta, will ride from post 7 of 9.

BC Distaff entries

5:36 pm – G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland

A maximum capacity field has signed on for the 1 ½-mile Turf, with the Aidan O’Brien-trained 3-year-old filly Diamond Necklace filling the favorite’s role at 3-1. The three-time French G1 winner most recently finished third in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a neck behind fellow Turf entrant Bay City Roller. Diamond Necklace is joined by her stablemate, the Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini. 

Other invaders include last year’s Turf winner Ethical Diamond, 2025 G1 Sword Dancer winner El Cordobes, G1 Irish Champion winner Hotazhell, G1 Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh, G2 Kentucky Turf Cup winner Tiffany, G1 Clement Hirsch winner Survie, and the Japanese-bred Deep Monster, a multiple graded stakes winner.

Leading the U.S. contingent is the Ian Wilkes trainee Burnham Square. The 4-year-old Liam’s Map gelding won the G2 Elkhorn Stakes going 1 ½ miles at Keeneland by 9 ¾ lengths in April. The remaining U.S.-based runners are G1 Joe Hirsch Classic winner Minaret Station, and multiple G1 winner Far Bridge.

BC Turf entries

6:16 pm – G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland

The 43rd Breeders’ Cup Classic features the first meeting between two Kentucky Derby winners since 1991. 2025 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty (Junior Alvarado up) will leave from post 2, with this year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo (post 3, Jose Ortiz) right to his outside. 

But will Japan’s defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young spoil the party? The 5-year-old Yoshito Yahagi trainee is the 2-1 morning line favorite from post 5 with regular jockey Ryusei Sakai. 

The field for the 1 ¼-mile Classic also includes four more G1 winners. Magnitude (post 6, Flavien Prat) won both the G1 Dubai World Cup and the G1 Stephen Foster for trainer Steve Asmussen. Knightsbridge, stablemate to Sovereignty, heads to Keeneland off a 6 ¼-length victory in the G1 Pacific Classic. They are joined by Preakness winner Napoleon Solo (post 8, John Velazquez) and G1 Pennsylvania Derby winner The Puma (post 4, Javier Castellano).

Japan-based T O Password (post 1, Kazushi Kimura), fifth in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, rounds out the field.

BC Classic entries

To read previous editions of The Haiku Handicapper, click here.

#1 – Damavand
Seven-figure colt
Aims to earn that money back
With a miracle

#2 – Gaudreau
SCRATCHED

#3 – Salahudin
Rose from the Pea Patch
Can’t afford to concede ground
Like in Iroquois

#4 – Earth Song
Fair to draw a line
Through a troubled Champagne Stakes
Still makes him fringe horse

#5 – Hughes
Freak ceiling is high
But was competition low?
Most likely winner

#6 – American History
A good pace-catcher
Might have to make his own luck
With this field setup

#7 – Coach Pope
Caught up in pace duel
Doubt McPeek allows it twice
Will “Big Blue” sink price?

#8 – He Is No Lie
We didn’t know who
The Preakness Stakes winner was
The last time he won

Prediction
The hype continues
Hughes by widening margins
Seven, three follow

During the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, Mark Glatt, as agent, purchased an Early Voting colt for $330,000 to lead all Pennsylvania-breds during the traditional yearling season.

Offered as Hip 1574 during the four-day auction’s final session, the bay colt is the first foal out of the Frosted mare Playinginthesnow. He is a product of the Blackstone Farm breeding program, which purchased the mare as a yearling for $17,000 under the nom-de-sales ticket Broodling Investment.

The colt’s second dam is the Godolphin-homebred Time to Play, herself out of Grade 1 winner Game Face. Other notable horses on the page include Grade 2 winner Turnerloose and Grade 3 winners Hibiscus Punch and Petulante.

Knockgriffin Farm consigned the colt, as agent.

The Early Voting colt marked a strong yearling season for the Blackstone operation, which bred four of the ten most expensive Pennsylvania-bred yearlings of 2026.

Second on that list is a Constitution filly who hammered to Amerman Racing for $225,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, good for the state’s third-highest overall price of the season.

The chestnut filly, offered as Hip 755 at the Keeneland sale, is out of the placed Smart Strike mare Queen Scheherazade, whose two winners from four runners also includes Mia Tosca, a Blackstone-bred Animal Kingdom filly who won the 2023 Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial Stakes at Parx Racing.

Consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock, agent, the filly’s second dam is G1 German Oaks winner Silvester Lady, while her fourth dam is Grade 1 winner Queen to Conquer. The latter is herself the dam of G2 German 1000 Guineas winner Quebrada.

Third on the list of Blackstone-bred yearlings, and tied for sixth overall, is a Blame colt that sold to Thorostock for $80,000 at the Keeneland September sale.

Sent through the ring as Hip 2968, the colt is the first foal out of the winning Arrogate mare Arroblue, a Juddmonte Farms-homebred who the Blackstone operation purchased for $72,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and continued to race the following year.

Continuing the trend of a strong European foundation, the Blame colt’s third dam is the European champion Special Duty, who is responsible for runners including English Group 1-placed stakes winner Task Force. Also included in this branch of the Juddmonte breeding program is Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Expert Eye, and Grade 1 winners Sightseek and Tates Creek.

Hunter Valley Farm consigned the colt, as agent.

Rounding out the quartet was a Life is Good colt who went to First Finds for $65,000 at the Keeneland September sale.

Hip 3021 is a bay colt out of the winning English Channel mare Channel Princess, who is the dam of one winner from two runners. Channel Princess is a full-sister to Grade 1 winner Channel Cat, and she was brought into the Blackstone broodmare band for $47,000 at the 2023 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, the colt hails from the family of Irish classic-placed Red Moloney, as well as Grade 1 winner Lieutenant’s Lark and Grade 3 winners Dove Hunt and Down the Flag.

Top 10 Highest Yearling Prices For Pennsylvania-Breds In 2026

At that moment, the filly was unbeaten following a pair of long-odds victories. Her debut at Kentucky Downs on Aug. 30 had come at 100-to-1, and her handsome victory in the G2 Miss Grillo at Aqueduct had come at 12-to-1. Then, in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Ground Support looked headed for another victory, this time at odds of more than 24-to-1.

Two fillies from Europe, however, made a grand run at her in the final sixteenth, and the Irish-bred Balantina (Ten Sovereigns) finished swiftest to win by 1 ¼ lengths, with the English-bred Pacific Mission (Lope de Vega) getting second by a head over Ground Support.

Even with the disappointment of her first loss last October, owners Art Neuhedel and John Ballantyne of NBS Stable and trainer Kelsey Danner could look forward to a thoroughly promising 2026. Unfortunately, all the long odds the filly had defied in her racing at two seemed to work out the other way this season at three.

As ill luck would have it, Ground Support didn’t make her 2026 debut till June 26, when she finished fifth in the Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs, then followed that with a pair of losses behind Somerset West (Kantharos), but the second of these, when she was third in the G2 Music City Stakes at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 5, beaten a half-length and a head, was the indication that Ground Support was nearing the form that had given her a graded victory and a G1 placing last season.

So, in the first division of the G3 Glen Cove Stakes at newly remodeled Belmont Park, Ground Support was sent off the favorite at slightly more than 2-to-1 and came home a convincing winner by 3 ¾ lengths in 1:20.22 over the firm turf course.

In the second division, the Irish-bred Lion Lake (Dark Angel) – who had been a head in front of Ground Support in the Music City Stakes last month – won her division of the Glen Cove by a neck as the favorite in 1:20.58. The turf at Belmont is quick, with both divisions stepping six furlongs in 1:08 and change.

That was the second graded victory of 2026 for Lion Lake, and the Glen Cove appears to have made Ground Support a stronger candidate for races through the rest of the year and into 2027.

Trainer Kelsey Danner said: “At Del Mar for the San Clemente, she lost her mind in the paddock. She saddles well, then gets too fired up. And she’s a big filly; she’s pretty massive. But she’ll rate in a race, and that makes us hope she’ll get a mile well. She’ll stay in New York for the Pebbles with the rest of the string” for the trainer.

Bred in Florida by Champion Equine LLC, Ground Support is the sixth winner for her dam, the stakes-placed Arch Support (Arch), who ran second in the G2 Miss Grillo of 2010. The dam’s first foal and first winner, Catenaria (Bernardini), is also the dam of 2026 stakes winner San Siro (Classic Empire), winner of the Greenwood Cup this season.

Ground Support is one of two dozen stakes winners from the first five crops by Army Mule, a son of the A.P. Indy stallion Friesan Fire, who won the 2009 Louisiana Derby. Unbeaten in three starts, Army Mule is best known for his victory by 6 ¼ lengths in the G1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.

Sent to stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm for the 2019 breeding season, Army Mule sired 103 named foals from his first crop that produced exceptional percentages: 88 starters (85 percent), 70 winners (68 percent), and 12 stakes winners (12 percent). Pars for the breed are approximately 62, 41, and 3 percent, respectively. Army Mule’s succeeding crops were smaller, with 74 foals from the fourth crop (2023) that included Ground Support.

To date, eight of the stallion’s top 10 earners are from his first crop, including One in Vermillion, winner of the G1 Allen Jerkens Memorial; Federal Judge (G2 Phoenix Stakes); and G3 winner Danse Macabre, who is the sire’s top earner with more than $1 million.

The latter was owned and raced in partnership by NBS Stable, which came back to the well and bought Ground Support by the same sire and from the same consignor, Tom McCrocklin, in 2025. The filly had come to the OBS March sale and had worked well, despite developing sore shins, but was bought back. Then McCrocklin brought her to Fasig-Tipton’s May sale at Timonium in Maryland.

Over that surface in 2023, most of the horses ended up working without a time, but Metrics Equine (in which I am a partner) does not require a time to provide work data to buyers and was able to assess the filly’s work there very favorably.

NBS bought the filly for $80,000, and co-owner John Ballantyne said, “I’m a big fan of Army Mule.” He had the sort of exceptional speed that carries, and he is siring enough of that to hope for more good runners in the future.

“When Tom and Kelsey like a horse more than the market does, they are usually right,” Ballantyne said. “Likely the Pebbles is the next spot, and I’d like to race her for at least another year with the focus being the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint.”

In addition to buying horses from the sales to race, NBS breeds its own, and that was part of the appeal of Ground Support, with her robust physique and a solid producing family to back her up.

Sent to the trainer from the sales grounds in Maryland, Ground Support has grown and prospered. The strongly made filly was allowed to leave the saddling area at Belmont early, by permission of the stewards, and she remained level-headed to deliver her best performance since last year’s Breeders’ Cup. Perhaps, with the fall, Ground Support is turning over a new leaf.

It’s been 10 years since the 2016 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park, and the winners of the 13 races have each gone on to make their own impact on the sport and breed, from the two future Hall of Famers to the sires that have shaped today’s star runners. For some, the Breeders’ Cup was the end of the road for their on-track careers. For others, the adventure was just beginning.

Here is a horse-by-horse look at where each Breeders’ Cup winner of 2016 is today, tracking their journeys from the moment they crossed the finish line on the global stage.

Juvenile Turf
Oscar Performance

Oscar Performance continued to display his dominant form on the grass at three, highlighted by a three-race winning streak in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge Stakes, the G1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes, and the G1 Secretariat Stakes. He finished his season by running ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.

The colt had a late start to his 4-year-old season recovering from colic, but he returned in force, setting a track record at Belmont Park for one mile on the turf in the G3 Poker Stakes. His comeback appeared to be in jeopardy after pulling up in the stretch of the G1 Arlington Million and being vanned off, but the colt rebounded to win the G1 Woodbine Mile Stakes. Oscar Performance’s final start came in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar, where he finished a disappointing last of 14 as the post-time favorite, ending his career with eight wins in 15 starts for $2,345,696.

Oscar Performance retired to Mill Ridge Farm in Lexington, Ky., for the 2019 breeding season, and he has steadily climbed the ladder to become one of North America’s top sires. He currently ranks 23rd on the general sire list by earnings, and he is 13th by turf earnings. He will stand for an advertised fee of $60,000 in 2027 as the heir apparent to his sire, the great Kitten’s Joy.

Though he is still seeking his first runner to recreate his own Breeders’ Cup success, Oscar Performance has seen no shortage of high-end success with his foals, led by Grade 1 winners Trikari and World Beater, $3.4-million earner Tumbarumba, and Kentucky Derby starter Endlessly.

Dirt Mile
Tamarkuz

After a career that saw him race in England, the U.A.E, and the U.S., Tamarkuz’s 11-1 upset of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile was his farewell start, retiring with eight wins in 20 starts and earnings of $1,840,444.

Tamarkuz retired to the U.S. stallion operation of owner Shadwell Farm in Lexington, Ky., for the 2017 breeding season, where reception was tepid from the start. He bred just 38 mares in his initial book, and it reached a peak of 58 in 2019.

Shadwell’s U.S. stallion interests were gradually phased out following the death of owner Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2021, and Tamarkuz was moved to Ballycroy Bloodstock in Ontario, Canada ahead of the 2023 season, where he resides today.

Though his books were relative modest by commercial Kentucky stallion standards, Tamarkuz has hit big with Two Rivers Over, who won the listed Zia Park Derby as a 3-year-old, then hit the jackpot to win the G2 Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup card two starts later. Two Rivers Over has earned over $911,000.

Juvenile Fillies Turf
New Money Honey

New Money Honey was patiently brought back to the races in April of her 3-year-old season following her Breeders’ Cup score, and she rewarded that care later in the summer when she rolled off back-to-back wins in the G3 Wonder Again Stakes and the G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes, both at Belmont Park. Though she continued to run against high-level competition through the end of her 4-year-old campaign, her next and final win came at the start of her last season on the track: an allowance optional claiming race. She retired with five wins in 13 starts for $1,516,857.

The filly then joined the broodmare band of owner Bob Edwards’ Fifth Avenue Bloodstock, for whom she has had four foals, with one winner from two to race. The star of her produce so far is Nemo, an Into Mischief gelding who most recently finished second in the Soldier’s Dancer Handicap on July 4 at Gulfstream Park as a homebred for Edwards.

In 2026, New Money Honey was part of the first book of mares for Edwards’ homebred stallion Carl Spackler after producing a colt by Munnings.

Distaff
Beholder

Beholder went out on top, securing her second Distaff win, and third overall Breeders’ Cup victory, in one of the greatest races in the event’s history, besting the mighty Songbird by the slimmest of margins. This win also earned Beholder her fourth Eclipse Award, and her second as champion older female after winning the same title the previous year. In total, Beholder won 18 of 26 starts and earned $6,156,600.

She entered the broodmare band of owner Spendthrift Farm as one of the most anticipated prospects in recent memory, and she has produced eight foals, with two winners from four foals to race.

Beholder’s most decorated runner to date was Tamara, a Bolt d’Oro filly who won the G1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes. She is also the dam of Grade 3 winner Teena Ella by War Front.

Though the first several foals by Beholder were kept by Spendthrift Farm to race as homebreds, the operation made waves in 2023 by offering her Curlin colt at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, and he drew the auction’s highest price, going to Zedan Racing for $4 million. Later named Representing, the colt remains unraced at age four, though he had been breezing consistently at Churchill Downs through the summer.

Beholder was part of the first book of mares for Spendthrift’s Eclipse Award winner National Treasure during the 2025 breeding season, and she produced a colt in April. She was then bred to Gun Runner for 2027.

Beholder was named to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

Juvenile Fillies
Champagne Room

Hopes were high for Champagne Room to make a statement on the Kentucky Oaks trail after her Breeders’ Cup win, which clinched the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly of 2016. However, she finished third in her sophomore debut, the G2 Las Virgenes Stakes, then she was taken out of action after undergoing surgery to remove a bone chip.

It was up in the air whether Champagne Room would return to the races after her surgery, but she made her comeback start in September of her sophomore campaign, winning the listed Remington Park Oaks. That effort was followed by a sixth place finish in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, then she finished the season with a runner-up finish in the G2 Bayakoa Stakes.

Another injury requiring extended layoff, this time a hairline fracture in a coffin bone, hit Champagne Room in January of her 4-year-old season, which ultimately led to her retirement, ending a career that featured three wins in nine starts for $1,490,600.

When Champagne Room’s retirement was announced, it was also revealed that she was sold privately to Japan’s Northern Farm to begin her broodmare career. She was bred to American Pharoah for her first mating, and she remained stateside to produce the filly Cordon Rouge and be bred back to another Triple Crown winner in Justify before the mare and foal were shipped to Japan.

All four of Champagne Room’s foals to race have been winners, though none have broken through in stakes competition. According to Japan Stud Book records, Champagne Room was bred to Equinox for the 2026 foaling season.

Filly & Mare Turf
Queen’s Trust

Queen’s Trust went back to Europe after nosing out Lady Eli in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, but she never found that level of performance again. An ambitious campaign in some of the continent’s top races for older fillies and mares was highlighted by a third place effort in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks at York Racecourse. She then finished her career with an attempt to defend her Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf title, but her late bid ended with her finishing fifth. She retired with two wins in 14 starts for earnings of $1,609,592.

A homebred for Chevely Park Stud, Queen’s Trust was enlisted to continue that tradition as a broodmare, where she has had six foals with three winners from as many starters. Two of those runners, both by Kingman have earned black type, in English Group 3-placed stakes winner Chancellor and stakes winner So Regal.

Queen’s Trust delivered a filly by Night of Thunder in 2026, her second consecutive foal by that sire.

Sprint
Drefong

Drefong secured the Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter after his Breeders’ Cup triumph, but it was a bumpy follow-up season.

He spiked a fever ahead of a start in the G1 Malibu Stakes, and a plan to debut in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on the Dubai World Cup card was nixed by trainer Bob Baffert after it decided the horse was not up for making the trip. Then, he finally made his first start of the year in July in the G1 Bing Crosby Stakes, but he ducked in at the gap shortly after the start, and he lost his rider.

Drefong recovered a month later with a four-length win in the G1 Forego Stakes, but he came up empty in his defense of his Breeders’ Cup Sprint title, finishing eighth to end his career with six wins in nine start for $1,538,385.

Drefong was sold to Japan’s Shadai Stallion Station shortly after his final start, and he has been extremely popular with the country’s breeders. He covered over 200 mares in each of his first two seasons, and after hitting a low of 125 mares in 2023, he has rebounded to 176 during the most recent breeding season.

From six crops of racing age, Drefong has sired seven graded/group stakes winners, led by Star Anise, Japan’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2025 who came back to win this year’s G1 Japanese 1000 Guineas. Geoglyph is a winner of the G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas.

Drefong has also had a stateside presence, with Admire Daytona competing in the 2025 Kentucky Derby after winning the G2 U.A.E. Derby. Prior to that, Continuar was entered for the 2023 Kentucky Derby before being scratched after the draw.

Turf Sprint
Obviously

Obviously’s Turf Sprint victory brought a close to a long journey on the racetrack, finally earning a win at the event by shortening up after four tries in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. After six seasons on the track, Obviously retired with 13 wins in 29 starts for earnings of $2,321,751.

However, it wasn’t known that the Breeders’ Cup would be Obviously’s final start at the time. The gelding wasn’t formally retired until July of the following year, when a bone bruise derailed his timeline between a comeback start and a bid at another Breeders’ Cup.

Obviously spent his early retirement years on the California farm of trainer Kristin Mulhall, where he earned the reputation as an escape artist from his paddock. When Mulhall left California in 2024 to train and sell riding horses in Ohio, Obviously was moved to a farm of the trainer’s friend in Chino Hills, Calif., where he lives now as a pensioner and remains within close reach of trainer Philip D’Amato.

Juvenile
Classic Empire

A narrow Breeders’ Cup win over future super-sire Not This Time was enough to secure Classic Empire the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 2016.

From there, he established as one of the top 3-year-olds of his generation with a third in the G2 Holy Bull Stakes and a win in the G1 Arkansas Derby that made him one of the favorites for the 2017 Kentucky Derby. After a troubled early trip, Classic Empire finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, and set himself up to once again be one of the favorites in the Preakness Stakes. Classic Empire looked home free in the stretch to secure his classic win at Pimlico Race Course, but he was caught at the wire by Cloud Computing.

The Preakness would be Classic Empire’s final race, and he was retired in October of his 3-year-old season after a tumultuous summer where he missed the Belmont Stakes due to a hoof abscess and was plagued throughout the summer and fall by foot and back problems. At final tally, he had five wins in nine starts for earnings of $2,520,220.

Classic Empire retired to Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., for the 2018 breeding season, and he was sold to the Korea Racing Authority to move to that country ahead of the 2024 breeding season, where he resides today.

From six crops of racing age, Classic Empire is responsible for Grade 1 winners including Classic Q and Angel of Empire. The latter left the gate as the post time favorite in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, where he finished third. Classic Empire also shuttled to Chile for two Southern Hemisphere seasons, where he sired Chilean champion New Empire and Group 1 winner Gran Oriente.

Turf
Highland Reel

The Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita was just a stop on the road for the globetrotting Highland Reel, who reemerged a month later to finish second in the G1 Hong Kong Vase. After kicking off his 2017 season in the U.A.E., Highland Reel stood out in England with Group 1 wins in the Coronation Cup at Epsom and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He got close to winning this race two years in a row, but he settled for third in 2017, just three-quarters of a length behind Talismanic. However, he did find some redemption in his final start, winning his second Hong Kong Vase after being runner-up the previous year. Highland Reel ended his career with 10 wins in 27 starts for $10,530,964.

Highland Reel entered stud at Coolmore’s Irish stallion base for the 2018 breeding season, and he shuttled for Southern Hemisphere breeding seasons at Swettenham Stud in Australia. He remained in that pattern until the 2023 breeding season, when he was moved to S T Farm in Japan.

Like his own racing career, Highland Reel’s best runners have come all over the map, including Australian Group 2 winner Warnie, Italian Group 2 winner Atamisque, Qatar Group 3 winner Inverness, U.S. Grade 3 winner Comanche Country, German stakes winner Ruby Lips, and Malaysian stakes winner It’sreel.

His stud career in Japan has been relatively quiet, maxing out at 45 mares in 2024, and meeting just 19 mares in 2026.

Filly & Mare Sprint
Finest City

The Breeders’ Cup win locked down the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter for Finest City, and she came back strong in 2017 with a win in the G2 Santa Monica Stakes. That, however, would be her final win. She earned in-the-money finishes in her next four starts, three of which were Grade 1s, leading into a return date with the Filly & Mare Sprint. Finest City was forwardly placed early, but she tired to eighth in what would be her final start, wrapping up with five wins in 20 starts for $1,266,394.

The Pennsylvania-bred Finest City sold to Japan’s Katsumi Yoshida for $1.5 million at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, but her destination after the sale was Great Britain for a visit with all-world sire Frankel. She delivered the foal in Japan, and she has remained there ever since.

Finest City has had seven foals, with six starters and five winners, led by Balboa Park, a stakes-placed runner by Saturnalia. In 2026, she produced a colt by Suave Richard.

Mile
Tourist

Tourist finally got his Mile win in his third try, and he retired off that victory with six wins in 18 starts for earnings $2,170,340.

The WinStar Farm homebred retired to his home farm’s stallion operation in Versailles, Ky., for the 2017 breeding season, supplemented by two Southern Hemisphere seasons in Chile. He remained at WinStar until 2023, when he moved to Rockridge Stud in New York, then he stood there for two seasons until being sold and exported to Izmet Stud Farm in Turkey, where he resides today.

Tourist’s seven crops of racing age is led by Grade 3 winner Wentru and Chilean Group 3 winner El Mentalista, along with Grade 1-placed stakes winner Tango Tango Tango.

Classic
Arrogate

The Classic was the second stop in a historically lucrative four-race winning streak for Arrogate that began with the G1 Travers Stakes, and continued into his 4-year-old campaign with the G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes and G1 Dubai World Cup. In between, he snagged the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male of 2016.

Arrogate was never quite the same after returning from his U.A.E. trip, going winless in his final three starts and ending his career with a fifth-place finish in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic. He retired as the highest-earning North American-based horse in history, making $17,422,600 after winning seven of 11 starts.

Arrogate retired to Juddmonte Farms’ Kentucky division in Lexington for the 2018 breeding season, and he resided there until his untimely death in June 2020 due to complications from a neurological illness.

His death cut short what was setting up to be an outstanding stud career, with Secret Oath winning the 2022 Kentucky Oaks from his first crop, Arcangelo claiming the 2023 Belmont Stakes and champion 3-year-old male honors in 2023, and Seize the Grey winning the Preakness Stakes in 2024 Preakness Stakes from his third and final crop.

Juddmonte Farms built a statue of Arrogate outside of its Kentucky stallion barn, and the horse was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023.

Among the contenders for the 2026 championships are horses purchased for a fraction of what they’ve gone on to earn, along with owners, breeders, and trainers whose journeys to the Breeders’ Cup have been anything but ordinary.

Some will enter the starting gate with legitimate chances to win, while others face considerably longer odds. But for the people behind these four horses, simply making it to Keeneland is already a story worth telling.

Two Beers And A Breeders’ Cup Mount: Adrian Escobedo’s Unlikely Opportunity

A couple of Michelob Ultras purchased at a jockey karaoke fundraiser in July have turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for Adrian Escobedo, who will ride Domain Expansion in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland.

Escobedo, 39, attended the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund’s West Coast Jockey Karaoke competition, where he offered to buy California Racing Partners’ Matt Dohman and Larry Zapp a round of beers. It was a small gesture, but one that Dohman remembered when he was looking for a rider for a promising 2-year-old filly.

“I thought that was a good, great gesture, and I wanted to reward his friendliness by giving him a mount on a horse,” Dohman said.

Escobedo had taken an unconventional route into racing, working construction and performing as a singer in a banda group before beginning his riding career in 2021. His musical background had already served him well at the annual fundraiser, where he won the jockey karaoke competition in 2023 with a rendition of “La Bamba.”

Dohman, who co-founded California Racing Partners in 2021, wanted to give Escobedo an opportunity outside the barns where he typically picked up mounts. He settled on Domain Expansion, a $130,000 yearling purchase trained by Leonard Powell.

The filly finished second in her September debut on turf at Del Mar, rallying from the back of the field despite being only about 80 percent fit, according to Dohman. Rather than return in another maiden race, her connections decided to take a chance in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 3.

Domain Expansion responded with a seven-length victory at odds of 14-1, giving Escobedo his first graded stakes win and earning the filly an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup.

“It feels amazing,” Escobedo said afterward. “She felt great, like the first time I rode her. I felt very comfortable. This filly, she is just getting started. Hopefully we can go far with her.”

Escobedo has retained the mount for Friday’s championship race, in which Domain Expansion drew post position two and was installed at 6-1 on the morning line.

For Dohman, the experience has been about more than winning races: “I just like the story of giving somebody an opportunity who might not have had that opportunity otherwise,” he said.

Read Lillian Davis’ original Paulick Report feature: How A Pair Of Beers Landed Jockey Adrian Escobedo His First Breeders’ Cup Mount

‘Winning The Lottery’ With An $8,000 Broodmare

The odds of an $8,000 broodmare producing two graded stakes winners are long enough. Having both win on the same afternoon, then head to the Breeders’ Cup one month later? That’s the kind of luck Wisconsin breeder Sam Hall is still trying to comprehend.

Joe Shiesty and his younger half-sister Brickyard Belle will both compete at Keeneland this weekend, the former in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and the latter in Friday’s Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Their dam, Ready to Unleash, is a 17-year-old daughter of More Than Ready whom Hall purchased at Keeneland in January 2023 for just $8,000.

On Oct. 3, Hall watched from his Wisconsin home as Brickyard Belle rallied to win the Grade 3 Matron Stakes in New York. Less than an hour later, some 700 miles away, Joe Shiesty held on to win the G2 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland.

“I did feel like we got struck by lightning on Saturday,” Hall said afterward. “It sure felt like winning the lottery.”

Hall’s journey into racing began with a bucket-list trip to the 2009 Kentucky Derby alongside his lifelong friend Joe Trawitzki. Hall backed 50-1 longshot winner Mine That Bird that afternoon, and the friends eventually began buying broodmares together. Trawitzki died of pancreatic cancer in 2022 at age 44, but Hall continued the breeding program they had envisioned.

Ready to Unleash was one of his purchases. Hall had watched her son Johnny Unleashed finish second to Golden Pal in a graded stakes at Keeneland and remembered the performance when the mare appeared at auction a few months later.

He bought her for $8,000, bred her to Yaupon, and sold the resulting filly, Brickyard Belle, for $160,000 as a weanling. She later brought $600,000 as a 2-year-old.

Meanwhile, Joe Shiesty, another of Ready to Unleash’s offspring, was developing into a millionaire turf sprinter for trainer Eric Foster.

Hall watched both October victories with his husband, Aaron Sullivan, and their twin 7-year-old daughters, Grace and Scarlett, who were jumping and yelling at the television.

Afterward, Grace drew a picture of Joe Shiesty and Brickyard Belle talking to one another. The half-siblings have never actually met, but that wasn’t going to stand in the way of a 7-year-old’s interpretation of their remarkable afternoon.

Read the original Paulick Report feature: ‘Struck By Lightning’: $8,000 Mare Produces Remarkable Graded Stakes Double

A Breeders’ Cup Assist From An Old Friend

When Hymn enters the starting gate for Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland, Dr. Naveed Chowhan will be thinking about the longtime friend who believed in the horse before almost anyone else did.

Trainer Bernie Flint died in July after a lengthy battle with bladder cancer, but his advice helped turn the once-frustrating Hymn into a Grade 1 winner, delivering a milestone Chowhan had chased for more than 30 years.

Flint and Chowhan had enjoyed considerable success together, and their relationship extended well beyond racing.

“He was always very up front and sincere – breeding, broodmares, racing – whatever it was,” Chowhan said. “Everyone has his ups and downs in this business. Actually, there are more downs than ups. Through all of that, I knew he had my best interests in his heart.”

Flint was high on Hymn from the beginning, encouraging Chowhan to keep the homebred colt when he failed to meet his $140,000 reserve at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

When Flint’s health declined, he recommended fellow trainer Ron Moquett to be Hymn’s conditioner. He also urged Chowhan to geld the talented but difficult youngster, whose behavior was getting in the way of his ability.

Hymn had won his debut impressively at Oaklawn Park in February 2025, but followed that performance with nine consecutive defeats. Connections tried changing equipment and other approaches before finally taking Flint’s advice.

Hymn rebounded with three straight wins, a second in the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga, and a win in the Grade 1 Forego on Aug. 29.

“Bernie and I had a lot of success and a lot of excellent horses,” Chowhan said. “But one of the things I wanted to do before I got too old was to win a Grade 1 race. In 30 years of racing, I had not done that.”

Chowhan was attending a wedding when Hymn won the Forego, watching with family and friends who turned the reception hall into a celebration. Now Hymn heads to the Breeders’ Cup with Moquett, who won the Sprint at Keeneland in 2020 with Whitmore.

“I hope he is looking upon us from heaven and is happy for us,” Chowhan said of Flint.

Read Tom Pedulla’s original feature: A Grade 1 Assist From An Old Friend

A $50,000 Claimer Takes Young Owner To Breeders’ Cup

For 22-year-old Taylor Logan, watching Possiblemente compete in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland will be the realization of a dream she once wasn’t sure she’d get to experience.

The Lexington native spent nearly a year in the hospital battling autoimmune issues and continues to deal with pain and fatigue on a daily basis, but a $50,000 claiming horse has given her something extraordinary to look forward to.

Logan claimed Possiblemente at Woodbine last October and sent him to trainer Joe Sharp in Kentucky for his 6-year-old campaign. After the gelding finished third in a $40,000 claiming race at Turfway Park, Sharp suggested trying him again at that level, confident he could win but knowing they might lose him through another claim. Logan’s father, Elliott, a longtime owner himself, agreed.

Taylor had other ideas, believing Possiblemente deserved a chance against tougher competition in an optional allowance claiming race at six-and-a-half furlongs, where she could protect him from being claimed.

“I was very interested in seeing what he could do at that level. I really just wanted to try it and see,” she said. “He was doing so well, and I didn’t want to lose him because I felt we were onto something.”

Possiblemente rewarded her confidence with a victory, beginning a stretch of four wins in six starts that culminated in the Grade 2 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint on Sept. 5, earning an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup.

“She made a very, very wise decision to protect the horse,” Elliott Logan said. “She believed in this horse and made the decision.”

Sharp also deserves credit for recognizing that the veteran gelding would benefit from cutting back in distance, transforming him into a formidable turf sprinter.

The Logans are accustomed to racing in the claiming ranks, and Taylor has just two other horses in her stable. “We’re not a Silver Spoon Stable. It’s a working man’s stable,” Elliott said.

For Taylor, who has faced considerable health challenges at an age when most young adults are just beginning to find their footing, Possiblemente’s success has meant much more than a chance to compete at racing’s highest level.

“It’s been something to look forward to, a dream come true that I never thought I’d get to experience,” she said.

Read Tom Pedulla’s original feature: ‘She Believed In This Horse’

From $2,500 Yearling To Breeders’ Cup: Chunk Of Gold Takes Ethan West On Another Adventure

When Ethan West and his older brother Aaron moved eight horses from Indiana to Kentucky in 2012, they weren’t sure whether their gamble would pay off. Fourteen years later, the younger West is preparing to saddle his first Breeders’ Cup starter, a $2,500 yearling purchase who has earned more than $1 million.

Chunk of Gold, a 4-year-old son of Preservationist owned by Terry Stephens, will compete in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland, continuing a remarkable journey that took West to his first Kentucky Derby last year.

The colt first attracted national attention when he finished second at 43-1 in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes in February 2025, despite never having raced on dirt or shipped away from his Turfway Park base.

“It was the greatest second-place finish I’ve had my entire career,” West said at the time. “I feel like we’ve always done pretty well wherever we are, but this really put us in the limelight.”

West, now 33, grew up in Cambridge City, Ind., and followed his brother to the racetrack at Hoosier Park. After Ethan graduated high school, the two moved to a small training center in Russell Springs, Ky., hoping to build a business.

“We said, ‘We’re just gonna try it. If we fail, we fail. But nobody can tell us we didn’t try it,’” Aaron recalled.

Ethan went out on his own in 2018 with the encouragement of veterinarian Dr. Robert Hunt, who entrusted him with five horses and became something of a second father to the young trainer.

Last spring, Chunk of Gold earned his way into the Kentucky Derby with a runner-up finish in the G2 Louisiana Derby. West galloped the colt himself each morning at Churchill Downs, marveling at the attention surrounding his first Derby starter.

“There are tons of people watching you, and the only thing you can hear out there is the click click click click from all the cameras,” he said. It was a strange sensation for West, who insisted at the time that he was “not that interesting to talk to” and that he puts his pants on “one leg at a time” like anybody else.

West is back aboard Chunk of Gold for his morning exercise at Keeneland this week, preparing for another championship stage with the horse who has taken him farther than he ever imagined.

Chunk of Gold finished ninth in the Derby, but has continued to reward his connections, winning the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby and finishing second in several other graded stakes. He’s hit the board in 12 of 13 career starts, with $1,051,511 in earnings heading into the Breeders’ Cup.

“He’s very competitive and tries every time we go over,” West said after the colt’s final Breeders’ Cup workout. “The more we ask of him, the more he does. He’s just a class act, and you can’t say enough positive about him.”

Read the original Paulick Report features:

• Risen Star ‘Gamble’ Pays Off For Turfway Local
• ‘Click Click Click’: Trainer Ethan West Talks Galloping His First Kentucky Derby Runner

Last Friday, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge James Wicks issued a 68-page ruling that recommends the dismissal of all of the plaintiffs’ civil claims against some of the biggest stakeholders in the world of Thoroughbred racing, from the New York Racing Association and Churchill Downs, Inc, to Stronach and company to tote companies and, finally, to the shadowy entities that run computer-assisted wagering sites. This is the closely watched case in which a group of bettors, backed by a class-action law firm, claim that CAW is part of a racketeering conspiracy. The preliminary ruling will now be reviewed by U.S. District Court Judge Joan Azrack, a former federal prosecutor nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama.

Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick summarized the case yesterday. A complaint seeking class-action status was filed last October by lead plaintiff Ryan Dickey and others. Dickey is “a Colorado resident who claimed he stopped betting on horses when he learned his winning payoffs were not what he expected when the wagers were placed. The complaint contends the impact of high-volume CAW bets made at the last second after computer algorithms scoured wagering pools looking for value was incurring injury to everyday horseplayers. The CAWs, unlike retail bettors, received substantial rebates. The complaint called facilitation of CAW bets a ‘pool rigging enterprise’ made on behalf of an ‘insider betting group,’” Ray wrote. 

I wrote about this case at Paulick Report last year, a few days after the complaint was filed. At the time, as many others recognized, it was clear that this wasn’t the typical sore-loser’s complaint filed by disgruntled gamblers. “The claim here isn’t that a bettor lost when he should have won,” I wrote. “The claim here is that even when the bettor wins he is winning less than he would otherwise win and that the bettor isn’t getting the benefit of the bargain he is making when he bets on a horse at 18-1 with 2 minutes left to post and finds out the horse went off at 2-1.” It was clear last fall that the plaintiffs would have a hard time getting the federal courts to certify a whole class of bettors who could join the lawsuit against the CAW structure.

Fast forward almost exactly one year. Not only did the magistrate judge refuse to certify a class of plaintiffs that could go forward with the case, but he also recommended that all of the plaintiffs’ claims be dismissed long before the case makes it to its pretrial discovery phase (never mind an actual trial). If Wicks’ ruling stands, it would effectively end the litigation before it ever really began. 

All parties now have two weeks to file their responses to the magistrate’s ruling, at which point Judge Azrack will be poised to render her own ruling. It is common for judges to affirm a magistrate’s ruling, in whole or in part, but it is not unheard of for a federal judge to tweak a magistrate’s ruling here and there. It would not surprise me if that occurred in this complicated case, which raises novel questions about wagering on horse races.

Here is the link to Magistrate Wicks’ ruling. Read as much of it as you can. There are a few main points that Ray addressed in his coverage of the ruling that merit a closer look. Most significantly, the plaintiffs failed to get past one of the threshold legal standards that all plaintiffs must overcome to have their claims or causes considered on the merits. You have to have “standing” to get your case to trial. And for that you have to show, or at least allege, that you have been injured by the defendants you are suing. As the magistrate judge framed the issue: “The Defendants argue that Plaintiffs cannot point to specific bets where the Plaintiff won, but the Plaintiffs’ winnings were diminished because of the actions of the Defendant.”

And here’s how Judge Wicks answered his own framing. “Although it may be plausible that Plaintiffs’ bets commingled in pools that were affected by CAWs,” Wicks wrote, “Plaintiffs do not allege so outright. Even setting that aside, the [First Amended Complaint] fails at a more basic level: Plaintiffs do not plead that they ever even won a single bet. As explained above, and as conceded by all parties, CAWs do not diminish the winnings of a bettor who backed the wrong horse — zero is zero. The impact of CAWs, including the admitted to 2.5% increase in effective takeout, is felt only by those who won. Yet the FAC is glaringly silent on whether any Plaintiff ever won any bet ever placed on any platform in any pool.”

Could the complaint be amended yet again to add such claims? I don’t know. Wicks also noted that the plaintiffs’ attempts to show they have been harmed by the use of CAW kept changing as the briefing advanced. “Perhaps cognizant of this tension,” he wrote, “Plaintiffs’ opposition brief equivocates as to what exactly their alleged harm is. The brief insinuates that their injury is that they ‘stopped betting entirely’ after realizing the system was rigged. This avoids the standing issue, because the injury would be cognizable even if they never won a bet. But it contradicts Plaintiffs’ underlying theory—pleaded repeatedly throughout [their complaint and briefs] that their injury is due to the ‘zero-sum’ nature of pari-mutuel betting. 

In a different brief, Wicks continued, “Plaintiffs suggest yet a third theory of harm: ‘The odds at which Plaintiffs wagered were themselves distorted by the CAW scheme — last-second bets by CAWs with superior information caused odds drops that reduced payouts to winning retail bettors. Plaintiffs’ injury is not merely the loss of a speculative chance; it is the concrete deprivation of money that would have been paid to them but for the scheme.’ This makes no sense. The ability of certain players to cast bets at the last second is not a result of Defendants’ alleged scheme; it simply means they have better hardware and software. In any event, such equivocation underscores the justification for recommending the dismissal of the case.” 

On and on this analysis goes, with Wicks, the magistrate, concluding that Azrack should dismiss the entire case, with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiffs should not be allowed to amend their complaint to cure the many defects Wicks has found in it. If Judge Azrack isn’t willing to go as far as Wicks thinks she should, the magistrate then offers the judge another option. There are a few straggly claims, against the Stronach Group and the New York Racing Association, which might be legally sufficient to justify taking this landmark case a bit closer to a trial. But even if that happens, the scope of the case will be much smaller than the plaintiffs and their lawyers hoped it would be when they spent all that time and money ginning up the complaint.

I am quite sure the plaintiffs’ lawyers will aggressively seek to have the judge overturn the magistrate’s decision. And failing that, I suspect they will ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn whatever Judge Azrack comes up with. Will the plaintiffs’ lawyers now populate their objections to the magistrate’s ruling with examples of instances where the plaintiffs won their bets but those winnings were diminished by the actions of the defendants? I don’t know. And if they are able to do so, will it be enough to cure the many defects in their complaint that the magistrate judge identified? I don’t know. Plaintiffs generally don’t get to keep amending their complaint until they come up with the right blend of law and facts to get to trial. 

I am not a fan of CAWs. I think they are predatory and should be restricted before they chase away individual bettors who have been and always will be essential to the sport. But I am also opposed to using the courts to implement reforms the industry should undertake itself. Look at what happened at Del Mar in California over the summer, for example. “Del Mar officials said the handle increase occurred after the track raised its host-fee rates on major CAW operations, in addition to the post time restrictions the track instituted in late July 2025.” Handle was up while CAW wagering dropped at Saratoga, too, although results were more mixed. Reforming the system that way is far more effective than asking the courts to rescue gamblers from CAW.

Eureka, they’ve found it! A horse racing renaissance in Kansas

Sean Collins at Blood Horse has blessed us with the story about horse racing that could easily serve as a rough draft of a screenplay for a wholesome movie about the residents of a small town gathering together for a common purpose. Maybe he could sell it to Disney. Or maybe the folks who make those syrupy Hallmark Channel movies would be interested. Or, if we are really fortunate, maybe some astute documentarian will spend some time in and around Greenwood County, Kansas, and talk to the good people there to help explain to the rest of us how a community of people who love horses, and racing, could be so dedicated to restoring a Thoroughbred track that had been abandoned so long it had to practically be rebuilt. 

It’s not just a story about ordinary folks volunteering their time, effort, and money to help return racing to Eureka Downs. It’s also a story about the benefits that accrue when state and local politicians invest in horse racing to give industry stakeholders a reason to hope for a brighter future. From Collins’ piece: “That amazing turnaround was thanks to hours of selfless work by members of the community, a community that was so eager to see racing return to its state and its town that it only took a year to get the track back up and running after Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law a 3% tax on historical horse racing machines at Gilley’s Gambling Hall in Sedgwick County. That money went to support the racing operation and breeding fund.”

But the heart of this remarkable story of renewal isn’t with politicians or gamblers. It’s with the community. Again, here is Collins: “The crowd that appeared for the races was perhaps the biggest sign of hope for the success of racing in Kansas. There were many families present as young kids ran throughout the grandstand, beginning to build those memories around the track such as Rhonda Ward had when she was younger. There were also many younger couples in their teens and 20s present—the generation that missed out on growing up with racing, wanting to check it out. And, of course, there were the old-timers as well who remembered Eureka Downs back in the day, but not quite like this.”

We should all root for Thoroughbred racing to survive and thrive in Kansas, just as we should all hope that racing survives at Arapahoe Park in Colorado and in other states most of us don’t think about when we think about horse racing. Eureka Park isn’t going to make up for the loss of Hollywood Park in California or Arlington Park in Illinois or Suffolk Downs in Massachusetts or any of the other big tracks that have gone away in the past few decades. But the rebirth of a small track in Kansas is like a small green sprout shooting up from the earth in springtime. It signals hope. It signals the possibility of better, brighter days ahead. In the meantime, good for all the Kansans, and all the honorary Kansans, who made the new Eureka Downs a reality.

Notes

Turfed Paradise. Contrast the happy feelings and cooperation and collaboration and self-sacrifice in Kansas with the chaos and acrimony swirling around Turf Paradise, the beleaguered Thoroughbred track in Phoenix, Arizona. I won’t get into the details, largely because my boss, Ray Paulick, has done such a good job in doing so. But I will say that some intrepid professor at a business school somewhere should teach this unfolding shitshow in the desert as a way of helping young executives understand how not to run a public-facing, entertainment operation that depends in part on legislators, regulators, and a union. I hope they all soon figure it out. I have little confidence they will do so.  

It all comes down to the Breeders Crown. The rebirth of harness racing in Ohio and Indiana is one of the sport’s best success stories in recent years. It’s been great to see new tracks, and big purse money and strong yearling sales, pour into the U.S. heartland even as the Standardbred game has tragically left Illinois, likely for good. So harness racing chose to hold its 2026 Breeders Crown finals over the weekend at Eldorado Scioto Downs, a 5/8ths mile racetrack in Columbus, Ohio. That’s also the home of the United States Trotting Association. The racing itself was quite exciting. Lots of in-race moves and more than a few upsets, and unlike some in harness racing, I think it’s okay to occasionally have the big year-end races on smaller tracks. It doesn’t take the “standard” out of Standardbred racing, after all.

Early reports suggest, however, that the handle for both the elimination races earlier this month and the finals over the weekend were down sharply from years when the Breeders Crown was held at The Meadowlands Racetrack, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, or at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Ontario. That’s got to concern the folks who have chosen to have the sport’s biggest race, the Hambletonian, raced at Harrah’s Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana next August. What will Hoosier Park and the Hambletonian Society do to try to boost handle next summer? And what happens next if the handle is as disappointing next summer as it was last weekend? The track and the Society have many months to figure it out. I hope they do so.

New York State of Mind. Some of you reading this may have heard rumors over the past few weeks about investigative raids and other enforcement actions by regulators in New York. Specifically, I have heard reports that there was a raid of some sort at Batavia Downs, a harness track in upstate New York, earlier this month. I reached out to New York regulators for comment, but they said in an email to me on Friday that they had no “information/comment for you at this time.” I have also reached out to officials at Batavia Downs to find out what happened and why, and was told that no such search ever took place. I will keep you folks posted if I hear more. Usually, there is some kernel of truth in reports like this. I just haven’t found it yet.

The Lexington, Ky., track will run the one-mile Grade 2 Valley View Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf on Friday, followed by a graded stakes double header on Saturday: the G2 Fayette Stakes going 1 ⅛ miles on dirt and the G3 Bryan Station for 3-year-olds going a mile on turf. 

Two-year-olds also have opportunities to visit Keeneland’s stakes winner’s circle on closing weekend. On Friday, fillies will sprint six furlongs on the main track in the Myrtlewood Stakes. Five colts are set to go the same distance in Saturday’s Bowman Mill Stakes. 

The Kentucky racing circuit moves seventy miles west on Sunday for opening day of the Churchill Downs fall meet. The 11-race card consists entirely of races for 2-year-olds. The G3 Street Sense and the Rags to Riches – both at 1 1/16 miles on the main track – are the co-features on the Stars of Tomorrow I card. 

The winner of the Street Sense will receive 10 points toward the 2027 Kentucky Derby, while the winner of the Rags to Riches will receive 10 points toward the 2027 Kentucky Oaks.

Local programs will be in the spotlight in New York, Maryland, Ohio, and Indiana on Saturday. Belmont Park will host 10 stakes for horses foaled in New York, led by the $250,000 Empire Classic Stakes and the $250,000 Empire Distaff Stakes.

The $150,000 Maryland Million Classic is the highlight of eight stakes on Jim McKay Maryland Million Day at Laurel Park. Barbadian Runner is 2-5 on the morning line to repeat in the 1 ⅛-mile contest. 

Five-year-old Silent Rule looks to remain unbeaten in Ohio when she faces males in the $100,000 Best of Ohio Sprint at Mahoning Valley – one of five stakes for Ohio-breds at Mahoning Valley.

Indiana-bred Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses compete in 12 stakes on a 13-race card at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The $150,000 Unreachable Star Handicap and the $150,000 Lady Fog Horn Stakes are the card’s richest Thoroughbred stakes.

Saturday

4:44 pm – G3 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland

G1 winners Hit Show and Nevada Beach lead an overflow field in the 1 ⅛-mile Fayette Stakes. Trained by Brad Cox, Hit Show will try to win his third straight running of the Fayette when he leaves post 1 under Irad Ortiz Jr. The 6-year-old most recently finished fifth in the G1 Pacific Classic and has not won a race since the G3 Mineshaft in February. 

Nevada Beach makes his Keeneland debut for trainer Bob Baffert in the Fayette. The son of Omaha Beach returned from a seven-month layoff when he finished third in the G1 Goodwood Stakes last time out. Nevada Beach drew post 4 and will have Francisco Arrieta aboard. 

This year’s G1 Arkansas Derby runner-up Silent Tactic faces older males for the first time as the lone 3-year-old in the Fayette. The Mark Casse trainee won the G3 Oklahoma Derby by a neck in his last race. The son of Tacitucs will leave the gate from post 10 under Javier Castellano.

Others in the field include Stars and Stripes, runner-up to Forever Young in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, and last-out stakes winners San Siro and Willy D’s. 

Fayette entries

Sunday

5:25 pm – G3 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs

Mystik Bayou, an Oklahoma-bred half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, begins his own trek to the first Saturday in May in the 1 1/16-mile Street Sense. The son of Wells Bayou is trained by Kenny McPeek. He finished third to G1 Champagne winner U.S.S. Valor on debut at Saratoga, then broke his maiden in his second start by 4 ¼ lengths at Belmont Park. He will be partnered by Jose Ortiz from post 4 of 8.

Chad Brown trainee Card Man has had a career similar to Mystik Bayou’s. He was second on debut to G1 Breeders’ Futurity third-place finisher Q B Rocket, then broke his maiden in his second start going a mile at Belmont Park by five lengths. Flavien Prat will again be aboard from post 3.

Blessed Flyer will try to remain unbeaten in his third career start. The Mike Tomlinson trainee last raced in June, when he rallied from off the pace to win the six-furlong Bashford Manor by a head. Brian Hernandez Jr. will again ride from post 2. 

Street Sense entries

A later foal (May 21), Smart Strike didn’t get started early but made his racing count, winning six of his eight starts, including the Grade 1 Iselin Handicap in 1996. Likewise, Smart Strike didn’t flash first with his freshman crop but made up for it with quality as his racers matured to become leading general sire.

The first of the great years for Smart Strike came in 2007. That season, Fabulous Strike won the G1 Vosburgh at six furlongs in 1:09.22; English Channel won a trio of G1 stakes, all at 10 to 12 furlongs on turf, and earned the Eclipse Award as outstanding turf male after his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at the latter distance; and Curlin was named the year’s champion 3-year-old colt and Horse of the Year after winning the Preakness and Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2007, as well as finishing second in the Belmont Stakes, third in the Kentucky Derby.

Some horses, of course, won’t hold to the script, either as racehorses or as stallions.

Whereas Smart Strike could sire Grade 1 winners from six furlongs to 12 furlongs or farther, his champion son English Channel was a different sort, both as a racehorse and as a sire.

At the races, English Channel began his career the right way: winning his debut at two at Saratoga.

The horse then proceeded to win four of his first five starts at three, including the Grade 3 Virginia Derby, and he also placed second in a pair of G1 races, the Secretariat at Arlington and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont.

English Channel returned to the races at four to win a trio of G1 stakes: the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont, and the United Nations at Monmouth Park. Then the horse came back at five and did the same thing. And at five, the trio of G1s – the Turf Classic at Belmont and the United Nations, plus the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf run at Monmouth Park – brought English Channel the Eclipse Award as champion male turf horse.

English Channel began his stallion career the right way in getting a classic winner, when Strait of Dover won the 2012 Queen’s Plate at Woodbine racetrack in Canada.

While most stallions get only a minority of classic-type stock, those longer distance performers became the norm for English Channel, who sadly died in 2021. Despite being quick enough to win a maiden at Saratoga, that was far from the aptitude that English Channel transmitted to his better offspring, and we see this played out once again in the results of the G3 Dowager Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 18.

In that 12-furlong stakes, Malibu Smart became the 75^th stakes winner for English Channel. The 6-year-old was not only winning her first stakes but also gaining her first career black type in the Dowager. The mare was, however, winning her third consecutive race for trainer Michael Maker and owners Michael Hui and Phil Forte, who acquired Malibu Smart last Dec. 6 at the Fair Grounds on a $30,000 claim.

The new owners risked Malibu Smart once more for a tag, but not twice, and this year, she has earned a check for them in every start, winning $422,183 from nine races, three victories, and a pair of seconds in 2026 that have moved up her career earnings to $611,029.

Bred in Kentucky by Shadwell Farm, Malibu Smart is the third winner out of the Malibu Moon mare Mooghareadh, and the dam is a full sister to G2 stakes winner Malibu Pier. Shadwell acquired Mooghareadh for $675,000 at the 2014 Keeneland yearling sale.

Unplaced in a single start for Shadwell, Mooghareadh also has produced the stakes-placed Tarneema (Kitten’s Joy) and has been acquired privately by Springhouse Farm. Mooghareadh has an unraced 2-year-old filly named Abstract Art (Jack Christopher) and was bred to Gunite for 2027.

The mare’s 6-year-old, however, has finally found her niche going classic distances on the turf, and Malibu Smart is proving once more how beneficial English Channel has been for maintaining stamina in the breed.

Ross is fighting pancreatic cancer for all he is worth. He underwent a 10-hour operation last December in which he said surgeons removed his pancreas, gallbladder and spleen in addition to part of his stomach and intestines.

“That length of surgery can really knock you down,” said Ross, 65, in a phone interview from his Arlington, Texas home.

Even then, the disease was not eradicated. He will begin radiation soon to target cancer that was detected in his ribs and a shoulder blade. He suffered a dramatic weight loss and struggles with overall weakness. He recently began new medication with the hope that it will live up to its billing as a “game changer.”

Bacio, 3-year-old son of Maclean’s Music trained by Wesley Ward, has swept five of six lifetime starts. He looms as a prime contender in the Turf Sprint and may be doing more for Ross than any pharmaceutical.

“I don’t have a lot of positives in my life right now, and I’m in a lot of pain,” he said. “Anything I can do to have fun, that’s really important to me.”

Ross purchased 10 shares at $109 per share. That crossed an item off his bucket list and provided a welcome diversion at a time when that is desperately needed.

“I always wanted to own one. This allows you to participate a little bit,” said the former financial adviser. “I find it very interesting to see how they train and how they get ready for a race. I find the whole process fascinating.”

Fascinating, too, is how horses such as Bacio can burst onto the international scene after initially being overlooked. Even though he breezed well and passed veterinary exams, he failed to meet the $140,000 placed on him at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training.

“We loved him at the sale,” recalled Caitlin Ward, the trainer’s daughter-in-law. “We didn’t have a client for him.”

She is grateful she later brokered a deal for Bacio on behalf of MyRacehorse. He would have a perfect record if not for a second-place finish by half a length in the listed Speakeasy Stakes at Del Mar last October.

Bacio steams into the Breeders’ Cup having swept all three of this year’s starts as part of an ambitious campaign. He twice shipped overseas, first to capture the June 19 Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap at Royal Ascot and then the Aug. 21 City of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes at York. The latter secured an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Turf Sprint.

In amassing $709,959 in earnings, Bacio’s connections view him as one of the fastest horses in the world.  Caitlin Ward emphasized that he possesses qualities beyond dazzling speed.

“This horse is so smart,” she said. “He handles shipping like an absolute champ. He loses no weight. He doesn’t miss a meal. He’s such an easy keeper.”

Another plus: Bacio will have the benefit of racing at his home base with this year’s Cup at Keeneland. Needless to say, Ross is not the only MyRacehorse investor excited about what lies ahead.

“When I see his breezes, he’s quick,” said Eileen Burmester, 63, of Vero Beach. “Oh, wow, is he quick!”

She listened to her gut in purchasing three shares after watching videos. “For some reason, I just wanted to get in on him,” she said. “I’m so glad I did.”

Bob Rottner, 69, a former financial controller who lives in Woodstock, Ga., had imagined what it would be like to own a racehorse since his father, James, took him to the Meadowlands in New Jersey when he was 16. He has 10 shares in Bacio – his name means “kiss” in Italian – and has a stake in 10 horses in all through MyRacehorse.

Rottner and his wife, Kathleen, purchased their Breeders’ Cup tickets even before their prized colt prevailed at York. “It is very surreal,” Rottner said. “It was just something I always thought I wanted to do. It’s a little crazy that it’s all coming true.”    

Joe Surber, 53, of Columbus, Ga., said Bacio has helped bring him closer to his wife, Mary Lou, and their three children – Camille, 28; Piper, 15; and Wyatt, 14. They look forward to leaving everyday life behind and coming together for his races.

“It gives us a chance to celebrate one another,” Surber said.

Ross said he is unable to travel to Keeneland but does intend to venture to nearby Lone Star Park for the Breeders’ Cup. For one day, at least, cancer will be left behind.

Here’s the Times Union update from last week about the arrest of a man who was allegedly transporting horses to slaughter in Canada: “Until last month, supporters of the legislation said that they had been unable to convince New York police agencies to enforce the laws. They said that has led to so-called kill buyers in other states appearing to ignore New York’s statutes and continuing to secretly transport horses through the state to Canadian slaughterhouses. Some lawmakers and equine advocates hailed the traffic stop and the low-level criminal charge leveled against the driver, Robert M. Seitz of Lewiston, Pa., as an important breakthrough in the years-long efforts to protect horses, including former racehorses, from being slaughtered.

“But the case pending against Seitz in De Kalb Town Court has quickly exposed arguable shortfalls in the statute and raised questions about whether it can sustain viable prosecutions,” the Times Union tells us. So first advocates against slaughter had concerns that police agencies weren’t taking the law seriously. And now there is proof that local prosecutors aren’t keen on enforcing the law as it has been written. It’s one thing to write a law; it’s another thing to write a law that police are willing to enforce and prosecutors are willing to litigate. Nothing about the 2023 law, or its 2021 predecessor, should make any anti-slaughter advocate confident that New York has effectively tried to stop the use of its roads to take horses to slaughter

Here’s more Paulick Report coverage of the shaky future of the New York case. And here is the passage I want you to focus on, from the original Times-Union piece: “‘They say in the law that it’s a misdemeanor, but it’s really not under the Penal Law; it’s only a violation because he can only be fined with a conviction,’ said St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary M. Pasqua, noting that the statute does not carry a potential jail sentence. ‘The other issue is the section that he’s charged under specifically says that the person has to be the owner or the person taking ownership of the horses, and in this case we’re dealing with someone who was just driving the horses to their destination, so that’s another difficulty,’ he added.”

There’s more from Pasqua. He told the paper that “the section of the law under which Seitz was charged also does not include a provision for forfeiture of the horses, so it’s unclear how their possession will be resolved when the case is adjudicated. ‘On a global scale … the law itself may be unconstitutional because it’s affecting interstate commerce,’ Pasqua added. ‘My understanding is, from what we’ve seen, the USDA approved of these horses being transported to Canada.’ Thus did the local prosecutor in the pending case against a guy allegedly driving horses to slaughter give a great gift to the defense team. In 30 years of covering the law, I can’t remember a prosecutor undermining his own case as effectively as Pasqua does here.

I reached out to the prosecutor for comment, but he did not respond. I also reached out to New York State Senator Daniel Stec, one of the many supporters of the new state law. He was optimistic about the chances of having the legislature amend the law to give it more teeth but wasn’t able to explain why the current version of the law is so toothless as to warrant the disdain district attorney Pasqua has heaped on it. “I don’t recall opposition to the bill when it was passed almost unanimously three years ago,” Stec told me on Thursday. “It’s my understanding that the advocates for the legislation feel the law as written and adopted was strong enough.” I have news for those advocates – they are wrong about both the law’s scope and its strength.

Stec told me that he’s not aware of any pro-horse slaughter lobby in the state, which is good to hear. But the absence of any such lobby makes the fecklessness of the law harder to understand. Did the measure pass nearly unanimously because it has no teeth? Would conservative legislators balk at a forfeiture provision that would make it easier for authorities to take and keep and resettle horses caught on their way to slaughter in Canada? Would any legislator balk at penalizing people who drive horses from point A to point B for the purpose of slaughter? Right now, it appears New York legislators want the glory of enacting anti-slaughter legislation without doing nearly enough to ensure it does something.

Ontario regulators fail to explain their big decision

Racing regulators in Ontario on Friday released the text of their decision in the closely-watched case involving a DPO positive on a high-profile Standardbred horse named Funtime Bayama who was trained at the time by Richard Moreau, one of Canada’s most acclaimed harness trainers. Here is the decision. And here is Paulick Report editor Chelsea Hackbarth’s excellent reporting on it. One way to summarize it is: Moreau seems to throw two other iconic Canadian horsemen, Yves and Sylvain Fillion, under the bus for the drug positive and denies giving his horse the blood doping agent later found in its blood. For his trouble, after a multi-day hearing that surely cost a fortune, Moreau was found culpable but got a reduced suspension and fine.

There are a number of remarkable things about the decision. For example, Moreau’s attorneys made two claims worth amplifying. First, they argued that the term “trainer” in the province’s regulations means “the trainer who had the actual care and control of a horse and not the ‘trainer of record’” so the rules did not apply to Moreau in this case. Then the defense attorneys argued that the blood-doping agent Darbepoetin is “not necessarily a non-therapeutic drug as outlined” in the regulations “as it can be properly used on a horse that has extreme anemia.” Such arguments may constitute good lawyering– throw everything at the wall and hope it sticks – but they discredit Moreau, who was and still may be on track to be a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

A long ruling – 22 printed pages – and yet not a single paragraph defending the essence of the ruling. Here’s how regulators justified giving Moreau a break on his penalty. “The penalty imposed on MOREAU was the recommended penalty in the AGCO GUIDELINES for a first offense involving a non-therapeutic drug such as DPO. In our view,” the Ontario officials wrote, “this recommended penalty may well apply to someone who is found to have administered or instructed someone to administer the drug to a horse but not necessarily to someone who is simply found liable pursuant to the absolute liability rule. And in any event, the penalty guidelines are only guidelines.” How’s that for taking the “absolute” out of “absolute liability”? 

That’s a huge exception to the general trainer’s responsibility rule. Surely, such an exception in a high-profile case warrants at least some detailed analysis from regulators, right? Analysis that will inform future cases? There is none in the Moreau ruling. After an exhaustive recitation of the factual record of the case, which is laudable, there is virtually no explanation for why regulators reduced Moreau’s penalty other than the panel’s recognition of Moreau’s stellar career and reputation. I am neutral on what Moreau’s penalty should be. I believe the owners who vouched for him. But regulators owe anyone who races in Ontario a better explanation for their gentle treatment of Moreau and their apparently new interpretation of the old trainer’s liability rule.

I suppose regulators will defend the result in the Moreau case by arguing that Sylvain Fillion received a ten-year suspension in Ontario for his alleged role in the affair and that it would have been unfair to punish Moreau as heavily as Fillion given their relative culpability. I get that. But Moreau’s suspension was cut twice by regulators, down to five years and then stayed starting early next year. Moreau, predictably, is pleased about the turn of events, although he says he’ll never ramp up his operation to where it was before the suspension. On Wednesday, meanwhile, regulators will tackle the Fillion case, and it will be fascinating to see whether Sylvain, in turn, tries to throw Moreau back under the bus. 

And maybe the looming Fillion case is one reason why Ontario regulators were so expansive in their fact-finding and so miserly in their analysis. Maybe they didn’t want to publish an extensive analysis in the Moreau case that would impact the evidence or analysis in the Fillion case? Whatever happens now, however, regulators must be consistent in how they handle the two cases. If regulators believe the story Moreau’s witnesses told, they can hardly turn around now and believe the story Fillion’s witnesses will soon tell. The relief Moreau got is predicated on some measure of culpability by the Fillions, is it not? (If you want to learn more about this saga of Funtime Bayama, read Melissa Keith’s reporting on the story in Harness Racing Update.)

The Moreau decision is long but worth reading. It’s obvious that Moreau got a great deal of due process. Regulators heard from 17 witnesses, over many days and months. That’s a commitment of more time and resources than most criminal trials in the U.S. and certainly more than what licensees could expect from state racing commissions. And if there has been a HISA or HIWU hearing that can match the Moreau case in terms of the scope of testimony and the admission of evidence, I have yet to hear about it. The administrative process in Ontario is something American regulators would do well to emulate even if, in cases like this, the result leaves as many questions as it answers about the future of racing integrity in the province.

Notes

A tough week. It was not a happy week for the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit. First, HIWU got grief for not explaining why it withdrew two pending Higenamine charges against trainers at Gulfstream Park and Mahoning Valley. Next, HISA officials had to scramble to Parx Racing in Pennsylvania after three horses had to be euthanized during a single day of racing last Tuesday. The first problem is self-inflicted. Just like Ontario regulators, HISA and HIWU should fully explain as much of their conduct as they can, including the reasons for why the Higenamine charges were dropped. The second problem presents a new opportunity for HISA to improve racetrack safety.

I hope HIWU and HISA can take some time this week to answer the questions many of us have about the Higenamine cases. What prompted regulators to drop the cases? What do the dismissals mean about current and future investigations that touch on the drug? I also hope we learn soon what reforms, if any, will now be in place at Parx following last Tuesday’s disastrous card. I think it’s great that HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus went to the track to find out more about what happened. But I think the industry will benefit from some sort of update this week on what she found, what Parx’s owners and operators plan to do about the problem, and whether any lessons from the Parx problems can translate into safety improvements around the U.S.

Nothing good lasts. It looks like the era of the New York City carriage horse will mercifully come to an end by June 2028, and those of us who love horses should only briefly lament its passing. I grew up in Quebec, where caléche rides through the Laurentian mountains are joyous memories (and where you can still enjoy such rides in and around Quebec City). But no amount of regulation or evolving standards of care justify the continued use of carriage horses in and around Central Park. And no amount of silly politicking around the issue– like blaming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for doing something his predecessors lacked the courage to do–  can hide the fact that the rides were an anachronism and unworthy of a world-class city.

Yes, New York City’s decision to part ways with its carriage horses is a victory for the animal rights movement. I know that there are many in the horse racing industry who believe that they must necessarily oppose what animal rights activists favor. But the demise of the carriage horse industry does not necessarily presage the demise of horse racing in the U.S. City officials have 18 months now to ease carriage horse owners and operators into new careers and the horses themselves into some sort of safe retirement or retraining. Both the Thoroughbred and Standardbred communities should help these efforts, not just because racing can always use more people who are handy around horses but because it’s a smart political gesture.

A fight for hearts and minds in harness racing. United States Trotting Association President Russell Williams published an open letter earlier this month about the Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund, which has been the subject of significant conflict and disagreement within the hierarchy of the USTA. From the USTA’s press release: “Williams said the USTA recognizes that members may have differing views regarding the Alliance and believes those discussions should be grounded in a clear understanding of how the relationship was established, how the process operates and what safeguards and oversight are in place.” That’s a nice way of saying: “The arguments some USTA board members have made against SRIF are bogus and cynical.”

The powerful opponents to SRIF within the USTA, the folks who belong to what I call the Criminal Defense Attorney wing of the horsemen’s organization, have latched on to “due process” as their main argument against the investigative work of the USTA. Williams’ public plea for understanding tackles that concern head-on. For example, here is a handy chart explaining how the USTA’s investigators work. And here is a more thorough summary of all the due process protections that USTA members receive if they are investigated by SRIF. No reasonable USTA member, and no USTA board member, reading those documents could come away from them thinking that the SRIF constitutes some sort of Star Chamber.

But the fact that Williams felt compelled to so publicly defend the SRIF tells us a few things about the state of play. First, Williams and SRIF’s supporters within the USTA surely now understand that there are other USTA directors who want to neuter SRIF to the point of irrelevancy. Second, all eyes in harness racing should be on the USTA board-of-director election that pits Williams against Ron Burke, the Standardbred industry’s biggest and most powerful trainer. If Burke wins, Williams will be out as USTA president, SRIF will be in mortal peril, and yet we still don’t know who cajoled Burke into running or why he’d want that awful job. At stake in all this politicking is a simple question: Is the USTA willing to help police the industry or not?

Kerry’s Kiss earned an automatic trip to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup by virtue of her front-running victory in the Princess Rooney (G3) Sept. 12 at Gulfstream, similarly, run at seven furlongs.

“She’s going to breeze tomorrow if the track is good. She had one work back and she was supposed to breeze today, but we moved it back because of the weather,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said between races Sunday. “All’s on target if she works good tomorrow, then she’ll have one more work before she goes.”

Kerry’s Kiss has won four consecutive races, her last three coming in one-turn Gulfstream sprint stakes this summer after being purchased privately and relocated to South Florida following five straight two-turn races at Oaklawn Park.

“She’s been a good horse for us, but you never expect them to get that good. She just keeps improving,” Joseph said. “[The Breeders’ Cup] is a different kind of class. This is going to be a reality check, but her figures aren’t too far off from doing it.”

Kerry’s Kiss was a comfortable 1½-length winner over favored Simply Joking in the Princess Rooney, marking Joseph’s fourth consecutive victory in the race. The first three all went on to the Filly & Mare Sprint including Soul of an Angel, who completed the sweep and was named champion female sprinter of 2024. Three Witches ran third in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup, and Haulin Ice was sixth last fall.

“The Princess Rooney has been a good steppingstone,” Joseph said. “All our horses, barring Haulin Ice who was distance limited, have run well from it. Even Three Witches, she didn’t win but she ran third.”

Joseph also has Averill Racing and Anthony Mattera’s R Disaster pointing to the Filly & Mare Sprint. R Disaster won Gulfstream’s Hurricane Bertie (G3) March 7 to open her 5-year-old season and owns subsequent wins in the Derby City Distaff (G1) and Gallant Bloom (G2).

Other Breeders’ Cup-bound horses for Joseph include Forged Steel for the Classic (G1), In Our Time for the Turf Sprint (G1) and Eunomia for the Distaff (G1). Forged Steel in the Goodwood (G1) and Eunomia in the Clement Hirsch (G1) both earned automatic berths from their wins in Southern California.

“R Disaster is going to work this week at Saratoga and Forged Steel is going to work tomorrow,” Joseph said. “We’ve got some decent shots. No favorites, but some shots to win.”–Gulfstream Media Relations

Laurel Park
—Alani is among the Mid-Atlantic’s most reliable yet underrated sprinters. The multiple stakes-winning 5-year-old has finished in the exacta in 18 of her 24 starts and beat her six rivals in Sunday’s featured ninth race, a $56,000 allowance race for fillies and mares at six furlongs.

Ridden by Andy Hernandez for trainer Mike Moore, Alani never gave her rivals a chance. She broke right to the lead, flicked away her closest pace pursuer, Joyous Song, through fractions of :22.48 and :46.10, kicked clear in the upper stretch, and always had enough left to win by 3¾ lengths in 1:11.00 on the fast track.

“When Andy got her in front, you knew she was going to be tough from there,” Moore said. “He rode her like the best horse. She showed good speed, and they weren’t catching her today. She likes Laurel, too.”

Alani has won one-third of her races and is now 4 for 5 at Laurel, never finishing outside the top three when she is shipped here from her base at Parx.

Alani, a daughter of Competitive Edge, was bred in Kentucky by Patricia Ziefle. A $24,000 short yearling buyback, she was bought back again as a yearling for $19,000. The following year, Alani sold for $57,000 and went to trainer John Servis.

Alani started seven times for Servis, winning once, before Hardesty Stables and Michael Day claimed her for $75,000 following her third-place finish at Parx on December 18, 2024.

“She was a nicer young horse,” Moore explained. “She had run a number early on that I liked, and I thought that maybe she’d get better. And she got better.”

Alani won three of her first four starts for her new connections. In 2025, she emerged as a bona fide stakes competitor, winning Colonial’s Love Sign on July 26 and Parx’s Cornucopia on November 26. She also finished second in Laurel’s Alma North and Delaware’s Endine.

Not only did Alani prove talented and versatile – she won races at Parx, Laurel, and Colonial – but she also was hickory, racing 19 times without a layoff from August 24, 2024, to March 17, 2026.

“She needed a little break. She had a pretty tough campaign,” Moore admitted. He sent her out to rest and didn’t run her again until three weeks ago, when she finished third in a high-level allowance at Laurel.

“She definitely needed that last race,” Moore said. “She was dull that day.”

She was much sharper this afternoon, and Moore expects she’ll be back in stakes races soon.–Dan Illman/Maryland Jockey Club

Santa Anita
–A new apprentice is joining the jockey ranks.

Set to ride at Santa Anita is 21-year-old Micah Meeks, who will be represented by agent Joe Griffin. She comes to Santa Anita by way of Horseshoe Indianapolis. Meeks has won 25 races and will receive a five-pound weight allowance. Griffin said Meeks has been working horses in the mornings here for trainers that include Richard Baltas and Ryan Hanson.–Victor Ryan/Santa Anita

“My job is going to be kind of different,” he told her. “Usually people go into companies and have the weekends off. This job is not that.”

She listened and did not have to think very long. Love won the day. “Yes, okay,” she replied.

Araki correctly anticipated that trainer Yoshito Yahagi would ask him to travel extensively. He never imagined the globe-trotting adventure that was ahead with history-making Forever Young, who is preparing to defend his title in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

Forever Young made an indelible mark on racing history last year when he became the first Japanese-trained horse to win the Classic, toppling then-defending titlist Sierra Leone by three-quarters of a length for jockey Ryusei Sakai at Del Mar and bringing tears of joy to his handlers’ eyes.

When Araki, 37, was asked what that triumph meant to him following a third-place Classic finish the year before, he responded, “Mean to me? Mean to all Japanese racing fans. That was huge. Unbelievable.”

Forever Young’s breakthrough in the Classic’s 42^nd edition culminated years of progress for Japan in its effort to fare better on dirt than ever before. “My dream,” exulted owner Susumu Fujita when his horse ended Japan’s 0-for-10 drought in the Classic.

“This horse is Shohei Ohtani,” said Araki, referring to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ great pitcher and hitter. “Superstar.”

Forever Young is all of that. He owns 12 victories in 16 starts. His earnings stand at a mind-boggling $32,313,590, bolstered by victories in the $20 million Saudi Cup each of the last two years. The 5-year-old son of Real Steel (JPN) is Japan’s reigning Horse of the Year. He received the Eclipse Award last year as North America’s leading dirt horse.

Whether it be at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia, Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, or now Belmont Park in New York, Araki has the thrilling yet nerve-wracking responsibility of riding Forever Young whenever he goes to the track to train and watching his every move before consulting with Yahagi. He also obtains invaluable feedback from groom Yasuhiro Shibuta and fellow rider Yuto Kumagai.

Yahagi, known as “the man in the hat” for the various headgear he favors, has produced three victories in six Breeders’ Cup starts. Part of his success stems from his strong staff – and his willingness to respect their guidance.

“Every day I report,” Araki said. “He always listens to his staff. He never orders anything. The team talks, and then we decide.”

The Japanese view of training is dramatically different from what occurs in the United States. Forever Young is walked for 30 to 40 minutes before he trains. After training, he is walked some more.

Observers were puzzled on Oct. 4 when the first expected workout for the Classic was better described as an open gallop. No one should look for bullet works from the four-legged Ohtani. Araki said of the approach to breezes, “Easy piece of work. Even pace. It’s not what you guys expect.”

Everything is designed to make sure the horse has staying power. The outcome was never in doubt when Forever Young whipped Stars and Stripes by 3 ¼ lengths in the mile-and-a-quarter Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 18 to open the new Belmont Park. Never mind that it was his first start since he placed second to Magnitude in the Dubai World Cup on March 28.

“We don’t concern too much about the clock,” Araki said. “We want to make their lungs and heart stronger to get stamina.”

Another element to Yahagi’s success may be his willingness to try new things. Last year, Forever Young prepped for the Classic at home with a victory in the Nippon TV Hai on Oct. 1. “He’s always finding the best way,” Araki said of his trainer.

In an effort to make sure Forever Young stays focused, his connections are making use of all that the new Belmont offers: main track, training track, Tapeta and the Tapeta pony track.

Araki praised the facilities and appreciates the reception they have gotten. “People are warm and kind,” he said. “NYRA (New York Racing Association) people are supporting us so much. We really appreciate and want to thank them.”

Forever Young is expected to ship to Keeneland on Oct. 20 to begin his final preparations for the Classic. The hopes of a nation will accompany him.

“People love him,” the assistant trainer said. “That’s why we feel a lot of pressure.”

Once the Classic is over, Araki looks forward to returning home to his wife and their two daughters, 5 and 3, hoping to sweep them up in a celebratory embrace once more.

Can See Da Feet was reserved early in the race after breaking cleanly in the two-two affair while Aoide and Wendy’s Ghost battled for the lead through fractional times of :23.52 for the opening quarter mile and :48.13 for the half. As the field entered the second turn, Can See Da Feet began a run at the leaders while traveling at the rail.

Entering the homestretch, a space opened on the inside after the pacesetters drifted out and from that point on the outcome was never in doubt. Can See Da Feet reported home 3 3/4 lengths in front of Chamois’ Splendor, who rallied for second. Wendy’s Ghost settled for third, another 2 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up. Can See Da Feet covered the distance over a fast track in 1:29.65.

The win was the first stakes score of Can See Da Feet’s career. His record now stands at two wins, two seconds, and two thirds from 10 trips to the starting gate. He earned $30,000 for the win and now owns a bankroll of $72,750.

Bred in Alabama by his owner, Can See Da Feet is a 4-year-old bay gelding by Divide and Conquer out of the Indy mare Bornupatree.

Sent to the gate at odds of 3-1, Can See Da Feet paid $8.60 to win.–Don Stevens/Delta Downs

Gulfstream Park
–K. Johnston Racing, Michael and Jules Iavarone and Hopeless Stables’ undefeated multiple stakes-winning 2-year-old Sum of Success, briefly under Breeders’ Cup consideration, will instead stay home for his next start.

Based at Gulfstream Park with trainer Bobby Dibona, Sum of Success is being pointed to either the $100,000 Juvenile Sprint going six furlongs Nov. 14 or the $200,000 Aventura at a one-turn mile Nov. 28, also for 2-year-olds, on opening weekend of the 2026-2027 Championship Meet.

“It’ll be one of the two,” Dibona said.

After Sum of Success ran his record to 3-0 with a second consecutive stakes win Sept. 5 in the seven-furlong Express Tour for Florida-breds, the connections had considered sending him to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) Oct. 30, which would have marked his grass debut. A minor illness exiting the race changed their plans.

“He got a little sick,” Dibona said. “He spiked a fever and his bloodwork got crazy, so he missed a couple weeks of training.”

Sum of Success returned to the work tab Saturday at Gulfstream, breezing a half-mile in 49.44 seconds over a main track rated good. It was his first timed move since Aug. 30, a week before the Express Tour.

“I just thought he did what he was supposed to do,” Dibona said. “We just went easy with him, just to get him back going. He went a half in :49, which is what I wanted, and he galloped out well. It was pretty good.”

Sum of Success, a $165,000 son of Grade 1-winning sprinter Win Win Win, debuted July 20 at Gulfstream before cruising in back-to-back state-bred stakes starting with the Aug. 10 In Summation. His three wins, all in front-running fashion, have come by 24¼ combined lengths.

–Also on Saturday’s work tab was Repole Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, CJ Stables, Woodford Racing, Lane’s End and Patrick McGee’s 4-year-old Vibe, who breezed four furlongs in :50.85 over the main track.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Vibe graduated second time out in an April 2025 maiden event then went unraced until an optional claiming allowance triumph March 14, both at Gulfstream. In June he started in the Metropolitan (G1) but was eased in the stretch and provided a ride back to the barn area in the equine ambulance. Most recently, the $3-million Keeneland September yearling ran seventh in the Stable Recovery Sept. 19 at Parx.

Vibe is by Into Mischief out of Nonna Mia, by Empire Maker. He a half-brother to successful stallion and Grade 1 winner Outwork, and is out of a half-sister to Grade 2 winner and sire Cairo Prince.

Vibe drew Post 7 in a field of 10 for the $60,000 Mr. Jordan overnight handicap Oct. 24 at Gulfstream. Among his rivals in the one-turn mile race for 3-year-olds and up are stakes winners Chrome Ghost, To the Eastside and Pure Class and stakes-placed Indecisiveness, Fede, El Principito, Fiveeyesonskystars and Awesome Train.–Gulfstream Media Relations

Saturday’s Grade 2 Raven Run and the G3 Perryville attracted large, 12-horse fields as Keeneland celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend. The Sunday card features 12 older fillies and mares going 1 ½ miles on the turf in the G3 Dowager.

The G3 Ontario Derby and G3 Ontario Fashion at Woodbine round out the five graded stakes in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. In the 1 ⅛-mile Ontario Derby, Mark Casse trainee Military Time makes his first start since winning the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes. 

On Friday night, turf sprinters go to post for The Everest at Royal Randwick in Sydney, Australia, with a purse of AU$20 million. Hong Kong-based Ka Ying Rising, the highest-rated horse in the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, tries to become the first two-time winner in The Everest’s 10-year history. 

The final “Win and You’re In” berth to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be awarded on Saturday at Ascot Racecourse. The winner of the G1 Champion Stakes at 1 ½ miles will receive a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. The undercard features four more G1 races.

Saturday

4:12 pm – G3 Perryville Stakes at Keeneland

G1 H. Allen Jerkens runner-up Deep Flame is the favorite from the outermost post in a field of 12 for the seven-furlong Perryville. Never worse than second in five starts, the Brad Cox trainee seeks a second graded stakes victory after his victory in the G3 Maxfield Stakes this summer. Irad Ortiz Jr. will be aboard the son of Into Mischief.

Kentucky Derby fourth-place Chief Wallabee cuts back to seven furlongs for the first time since his winning debut in January at Gulfstream Park. The Bill Mott trainee exits a pair of runner-up efforts in a one-mile allowance at Belmont Park and the 1 1/8-mile Curlin Stakes at Saratoga.

Doublecents rides a two-race win streak into the Perryville. The Brett Creighton trainee is coming off a 1 ½ length score in the Harrods Creek Stakes at Churchill Downs and a four-length allowance victory at Remington Park.

Perryville entries

5:16 pm – G2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland

Conceit and Mashallah will each try to extend their win streak to four in the seven-furlong Raven Run. Brendan Walsh-trained Mashallah is the 8-5 morning line favorite off a victory in the G3 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga. She won her career debut at Keeneland in April by 3 ¾ lengths. Mashallah will have Tyler Gaffalione aboard from post 10.

Directly to Mashallah’s inside is the Juddmonte homebred Conceit. Most recently, the Brad Cox trainee defeated G1 Test winner Explora by a head after rallying late in the G3 Dogwood at Churchill Downs. Conceit was also victorious in the Audubon Oaks at Ellis Park.

Others in the field include G1 Ashland Stakes winner and G1 Test runner-up Percy’s Bar, and the undefeated With a Kiss, a daughter of Gun Runner and Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia.

Raven Run entries

With that pedigree behind her, the Kentucky-bred was sent to auction by breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and went through the ring at Fasig-Tipton’s 2024 Saratoga select sale, where she brought $975,000 from Rigney Racing.

Two years on, Tam Tam won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 10. That race makes two Grade 1 victories in a row for the dark bay filly, who won the G1 Del Mar Oaks in her previous start.

Her front-running victory at Keeneland makes the filly a winner from five of her 10 starts to date, all those victories coming in 2026. Last season, the filly had a second, a third, and a fourth from three essays against other maidens on dirt. Both the filly and her connections have learned their lessons well because Tam Tam switched to turf and won her 3-year-old debut on Feb. 7 at Gulfstream, then advanced to win the Sanibel Island Stakes the following month, also at Gulfstream.

The filly took another step up in company to race for the G2 Edgewood Stakes and G3 Regret Stakes at Churchill, finishing second and third, respectively. Her second stakes victory came in the listed Tepin Stakes at Churchill on June 27, and she has added the successive G1s since.

With slightly more than $1 million in earnings this season, Tam Tam is the leading money spinner of 2026 for her famous sire, who is now a pensioner at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington.

The 27-year-old Medaglia d’Oro never had a son or daughter who looks and races any more like him than Tam Tam, who is a mightily handsome, round-muscled filly who enjoys racing near or on the lead like her sire did so successfully.

Unlike dirt-course star Medaglia d’Oro, however, the key to Tam Tam’s rise to Grade 1 prominence was a switch to turf racing this season. Some of the Medaglia stock, quite like most of the racers by his sire El Prado and grandsire Sadler’s Wells, have shown their best form on turf.

Even so, Medaglia d’Oro made his name as a top stallion by siring dirt horses like himself, and the best of his first crop was champion Rachel Alexandra, winner of the G1 Kentucky Oaks, Preakness Stakes, Haskell, and Woodward. Subsequent stars followed, including the marvelous Songbird, champion and two and three and a winner in 13 of her 15 starts, including the G1 Del Mar Debutante, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Coaching Club American Oaks, and Alabama Stakes from nine G1 victories.

The sire of top racers around the world – such as Hong Kong star Golden Sixty – Medaglia d’Oro had a third American champion with Nitrogen, who won the Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion juvenile filly of 2024 and the Eclipse Award as the 2025 champion 3-year-old filly in the U.S., when she won the G1 Alabama Stakes and finished second in both the G1 Spinster and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Out of the Distorted Humor mare Princess Julia, Tam Tam is one of the leading earners of 2026 for her broodmare sire Distorted Humor, whose top earner this year is Rhetorical (Not This Time), a two-time G1 winner this year like Tam Tam.

A leading sire and then broodmare sire like Medaglia d’Oro, Distorted Humor was pensioned from breeding after the 2021 season, and he died on Jan. 10 at age 33. The stallion’s breeding career had been a consistent success. He led the 2002 freshmen sires list, then had his first-crop son Funny Cide win the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

His daughter Princess Julia came from a 2013 mating with Folklore, who was a champion daughter of fellow WinStar Farm sire Tiznow (Cee’s Tizzy). Folklore had won four of her seven starts as a two-year-old, including the G1 Matron Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, then was retired after a single losing start at three.

As sometimes happens with broodmares, Folklore produced no racers who approached her own success, but seven of her foals were winners. Two of Folklore’s daughters have produced winners at the highest level, with Contrail (Deep Impact) being the top racer of his age in each of his three seasons racing in Japan, and now Tam Tam ascending to the top tier of U.S. fillies on turf.

Fans will watch with interest to see what history she adds to this family.

The first thing that goes right for you is that you get the horse. For one reason or another, the owners and trainers with more money than you to spend on yearlings decide they are going to pass on your filly. Maybe someone has seen a flaw your trainer has missed. Maybe someone wants to wait for something later in the sale or at the next sale. Maybe the owner of the dam figures he has enough fillies from the family and that it’s time to let one go. Maybe it’s a combination of all these things. Anyway, the hammer falls and you get your filly. She’s not cheap but you haven’t overpaid. $85,000. Your partners are delighted. She’s worth about as much as a broodmare as we’ve paid for her, everyone concludes. It’s a big win for the ownership group.

Then the filly goes into training. Every month there is a bill. She’s training down. She’s sound. She’s good. She’s good. She’s okay. And as the months go by, and as winter gives way to spring, you start hearing from your trainer that your filly doesn’t have great speed, that she is happy to follow the pack but doesn’t move forward. When she gets to the races, that’s exactly how it goes. She follows around, shows little speed, and makes it clear after only a few starts that she’s not meant for racing. Although she has a championship pedigree, you weren’t hoping for awards and blankets. You were hoping merely that she’d at least earn back at the track what you paid for her at auction. That doesn’t happen. Bad luck. It’s time for Plan B.

Some owners would quickly sell a filly, even a well-bred filly, who doesn’t appear to try. But you and your partners bought this filly because you believe in her family and because you want to see what her foals will look like. So you take her off the track and send her to a beautiful farm in Kentucky, which is about as great a deal as you can get for a horse. You breed her to the hot stallion just coming off the track and then breed her back to him. The first foal is a filly, the second a colt. The first one you keep and race. She’s okay, but nothing more. The second one is sickly as his yearling sale draws near. He sells for nearly nothing, and you are glad to be rid of him. So now you figure you are 0-2 with the mare, which is not where you want to be.

But then the tide shifts. The hot stallion you bred your filly to turns out to be quite a dud as a sire. That’s bad news for the stallion share owners, but it puts your own babies into perspective. Both of your foals from that faltering stallion haven’t just made it to the track but have taken relatively fast marks in their 2-year-old years. That’s the sort of early speed that pedigree snobs look for. Gradually, people look at the page on your 0-2 mare and say: “Geez, even with that lousy sire those first two horses weren’t duds.” That’s a better place to be going into a yearling sale. Meanwhile, your group has tried something new for the third breeding season: Breeding the mare to suit our own tastes as if we plan to race, not sell her babies. 

So for our mare’s third breeding season we try a new-ish sire, certainly not a hot one, with a reasonable stud fee, because the cross is a very good one. We aren’t geniuses. We are just trying something new. We’ll try to make money, and if she’s big enough and correct enough, we’ll keep her to carry on the family legacy we are trying to create. Many people in the breeding business pray for colts. They sell better. But I almost always pray for fillies. They don’t fetch the same prices, but fillies give you options that colts do not. And this time, for the second in three chances, we get a filly. She’s gorgeous, and it begins to dawn on us that our mare has a record of throwing really nice-looking horses. We are not geniuses. We are beneficiaries of more luck.

The filly turns into a yearling. And your trainer looks at her in a Kentucky pasture last summer and says, “I don’t mind training this one,” which is trainer-speak for “I won’t be upset if you run her through the sale and buy her back.” You take the filly to auction and put an informal reserve on her. If she sells at or below your price, she’s coming home. If she sells over it, well, then you’ll take the money and run. You agonize over what that reserve should be. You don’t want to be greedy. But you don’t want to leave much on the table, and there is no way of knowing until the hammer falls exactly what side of the divide you are on. With mixed emotions, we let the filly go for $82,000 to a good trainer with good owners. Should we have kept her? We aren’t sure.

In the meantime, you are already starting to hear nice things about last year’s weanling, a colt sired by a very exciting new-ish sire. On the day the colt was born, Kentucky Derby Day 2025, one of the farm managers says aloud in a dank stall, this one is striking. Even the nice man and good horseman who bought and raced the sire notices the little colt and comments about him on social media. This is last May, 16 long months before the horse enters the sale ring last week, and all you can do is accept the encouraging tidbits of news you get as the little horse grows into his bones. You just hope you don’t get the call that the horse has been cut on a fence, or been kicked by another horse, or, as happens, struck by a bolt of lightning.

Then comes 2026. Seven years after you bought that nice filly who now heads your broodmare band. From Kentucky, you hear that the yearling colt is still a standout. From Florida, you hear that the filly you sold last fall, the one you sometimes wish you hadn’t sold, is training down really well. Back to Kentucky, where your mare has dropped another nice-looking filly you hope you won’t even enter into next fall’s yearling sales. Then the racing starts. The good news? The filly you sold for $82,000 breaks a track record as a 2-year-old before the summer solstice. The bad news? The big sire of your yearling colt is having a rough start to the stakes season. Some trainers don’t like the ones they paid big money for last fall. Some drivers don’t, either.

More bad news: the filly’s fast start fades, and she’s not competing with the best in her class by year’s end. Did she do enough early on to make her mark on the yearling’s pedigree page? Is her trainer still saying nice things about her? And is the sickly colt from a few years ago, the one that has turned into a nice overnight horse, going to continue showing up each week at the races in Kentucky? You can’t do anything about any of this. You can’t make the sire’s prior offspring race faster or win more. You can’t turn a foal’s crooked leg into a perfect one or turn a small yearling into a big one. You can’t make a yearling perform better in a paddock in front of prospective buyers or videotaped by the creative artists who bring us our yearling videos.

And all through this summer of ups and downs, like a quiet hum in the back of your mind, is what you are going to do with the big yearling colt. Sell him. Keep him. We’ll put him through the sale and make sure we protect him, the group decides. We’ll either sell him at a good price or keep him and try to turn him into a stallion someday. As long as the horse looks good, as long as he doesn’t get sick or bang himself in the truck on the way to the sales ground, as long as the market doesn’t tank, as long as there are no bad X-rays. The truth is, a hundred things have to go right to sell even the most well-bred, beautiful horse for a lot of money. And if any one of a hundred things go wrong, your dreams can be derailed. It’s a tough game, as they say.

You arrive early at the sale and go see the colt you’ve heard so much about. He’s beautiful, just as advertised, and you have a quiet moment with him. You think of all the decisions, all the choices, that have brought you and him together on this nice fall day in Kentucky. Buying the mare. Keeping the mare. Choosing the sire. Paying the stud fee. Paying the farm bills. Paying the vet bills. You give the colt a kiss on the nose and walk away. The farm manager is smiling at you. He’s excited for the sale. The farm owners and consignors are smiling at you. They’ve been there before, with shiny horses ready for auction, and they have a good feeling that yours is going to sell well. Four more days. Three more days. 48 hours. Bubble-wrap him, you think.

It’s the first night of the sale. The horses are way too expensive for you and your partners but you do the due diligence, just in case one falls through the cracks. Nothing does. But you aren’t frustrated. You walk around the sales ground with a shit-eating grin on your face, thankful and lucky that you have such good partners, and such a loyal and trustworthy trainer to vet these yearlings, to steer you away from the ticking time bombs that populate every sale. You count yourself lucky that your mare is at the best broodmare farm in the industry, a place the best owners in the business trust when it comes to buying expensive yearlings. You can be smart and unlucky, and it gets you nowhere. You can be dumb and lucky, and suddenly you are a star. 

It’s finally his sale day. You and your partners and trainer have come up with the plan. You’ve spent countless hours at prior sales fretting over what you were trying to buy or what you were trying to sell. You’ve wandered around Fasig-Tipton for hours, 21,000 steps one day, 18,000 steps the next, trying to make the math work. Trying to figure out what you can afford to pay for a purchase and what you can afford to accept for a sale. This year, all that noise is gone. You keep coming back to the elemental: either it’s going to be a nice payday or you are going to pay the sales company a pittance to take home the nicest horse you’ve ever bred. It’s a first-world problem, you tell yourself, as you walk into the sales arena. This is what breeders dream about.

Even the few steps to your seat tell you something good. You see two prominent owners who are likely to be interested in your colt. Then you see a third. You and your trainer sit right up front to see the action, and then your colt, your grandson, walks into the ring and the bidding begins. Bidding isn’t remotely like racing, except for the idea of competition between bidders. If you hope to sell a horse for $100,000 and the bidding is stuck at $50,000, the moments before the hammer falls are brutal ones. But if you are hoping to sell a horse for $500,000 and it brings more than twice that, every second of the bidding beyond that price is like living a dream. The race is won and yet not over. You can savor the team victory before it’s actually in the books.

We sold the colt. We barely got in a bid. He sold high enough so there is no doubt that we were right to sell him. I hope he becomes a world champion and a great sire, not just because that’s good for the breeding family we are trying to build, but because it will mean my partners and I played a role in shaping the future of the breed. And not just us owners. All of the people at the farm at which he was raised, from our dear friends, the owners, to their hard-working staff,  who looked after him from the time he was nursing until the time he was loaded on a van for Fasig-Tipton and who are already back at work weaning babies and raising next year’s crop, including our new filly. It’s a glorious game when everything works perfectly– because it so rarely does.

Just 15 minutes before David-trained 2-year-old Stick Talk won the Palm Bay overnight handicap, he watched as 4-year-old Anna’s Promise went gate to wire to earn her elusive first stakes victory in the Oct. 3 Twixt at Laurel Park.

In four prior stakes attempts, the best finish for Anna’s Promise was her second in the 2025 Gulfstream Park Oaks, an effort that convinced David and Bell Racing’s William Belford to send the daughter of Promises Fulfilled to the Kentucky Oaks (G1), where she ran fifth at odds of 29-1.

“That was cool. I love that filly,” David said. “She took us on a trip to the Oaks, and she’s just been great.”

Following the Kentucky Oaks, Anna’s Promise ran third in the Monomoy Girl last June at Monmouth Park before getting the rest of the year off, returning Jan. 15 at Gulfstream. She ran third and second in two subsequent starts during the Championship Meet, returning to the winner’s circle May 24 at Churchill Downs.

Prior to her win in the Twixt, Anna’s Promise was fourth in the Mari Hulman George Memorial Handicap July 11 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Following the race she rejoined David’s secondary string at Keeneland.

“We’re going to run her at Churchill one time and then we’ll see if she needs a break or if she’ll keep running here in the winter,” David said. “I think she’s just going to get better as she gets older.”–Gulfstream Media Relations

Laurel Park
–Blueblood filly Blackfin (IRE), trained by a five-time Eclipse Award winner, somehow slipped through the betting cracks in Saturday’s featured ninth race, a first-level allowance for fillies and mares at one mile on turf.

Blackfin’s dam, Uni (GB), was a European transplant whom trainer Chad Brown turned into a veritable turf monster. Between April 18, 2018, and June 29, 2019, the More Than Ready mare went unbeaten in five starts, including the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar. The following year, Uni swept two more Grade 1s, culminating in a victory over males in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) and the Eclipse Award as champion turf female.

Uni won another Grade 1 in 2020, the First Lady Stakes at Keeneland, before being sold to Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm for $4.1 million as a broodmare prospect.

Exported overseas, Uni was bred to Juddmonte’s European-based stallion Kingman, and her first baby, Blackfin, was foaled on Irish soil on February 18, 2022.

Blackfin received her initial training in Maryland, recording 2-year-old workouts at Fair Hill for Brown before being sent to the trainer’s base at Payson Park in Florida.

The bay filly didn’t debut until September of her 3-year-old season, finishing sixth of 10 in a maiden special weight at Aqueduct. Freshened until June of this year, Blackfin has improved gradually from start to start. She hit the board in her first two 2026 runs, then graduated in a Monmouth maiden special weight on September 7, her final start before Saturday’s victory.

Jockey Luis Rivera Jr. let Blackfin find a steady rhythm while racing between horses at the back of the pack as Let’s Dance Again controlled fractions of :24.56, :49.03, and 1:13.06.

War Madam advanced to the lead in the upper stretch, but Rivera set Blackfin down between rivals, and they surged to deny fellow closer Correto by a head in 1:36.72 on the firm turf course. War Madam finished another half-length behind. Then came Let’s Dance Again, Screen Test, favored Cozy Rosie, Set Ablaze, Finch, and Miss Picky. Gripen, Fabia, Chilling Factor, and Verdant Tones scratched.

Blackfin paid $16.80 to win as the sixth choice.

“The trip went exactly how I planned it,” Rivera said in the winner’s circle. “I didn’t see myself being forward in this race. I wanted [Correto] to get a little closer to the pace so I could follow her and have someone good in front of me to track. She took me to the quarter pole, and at the quarter pole, I let my horse run, and she was there for me.”

Rivera was quick to complement the Brown operation.

“Those horses that this trainer has are amazing,” he said. “When you ride for him, you always know that you got a lot of horse underneath you. When she saw the clearance in the stretch, she was ready to run. She was just waiting for my cue. She was not tired at all. She passed the wire, and I couldn’t even pull her up. She just wanted to keep going.”

A winner in two of five starts, Blackfin has earned $72,110.–Dan Illman/Maryland Jockey Club

Remington Park
–Trainer Steve Asmussen and his son, jockey Erik Asmussen, seized the night at the Oklahoma City track, teaming for five wins each on the 10-race card. The big night included a run of four consecutive scores.

The big evening of winning started in the fifth race of the night when Oban ($3 to win), came through in a $10,000 claiming event at 6-1/2 furlongs. From there it began to appear the father and son Asmussen operation would not lose again on the night as they stacked victories in the next three races.

Cant Stop Munnings ($4.40) won race six at six furlongs in a $10,000-level claiming race. The seventh race, about one mile over the turf, went to First Player ($6) in an allowance. In race eight, Extra Anejo ($3.40), a graded stakes-winning sprinter in 2025, won the allowance to end the Asmussen win streak on the night at four straight. However, there would be one more win before the card ended.

In the nightcap, race 10, a $7,500-level maiden-claiming event for Oklahoma-breds at six furlongs, Pass The Roses ($6.80) finally figured things out in his eighth career attempt to graduate. He provided the fifth win of the evening for the trainer-jockey team, and the fourth owning win on the night for Steve Asmussen of Arlington, Texas.

After the track was cleared and the win tallied, Steve Asmussen boasted 41 training wins through the first 23 nights of the season, leading the trainer standings by 30 over Scott Young and Austin Gustafson.

Erik Amussen passed David Cabrera for a slight lead in the jockey standings, 38 wins to 34.

The owner standings have Steve Asmussen atop the heap with 17 victories, 11 ahead of defending leading owner Bryan Hawk and his six.–Dale Day/Remington Park

Keeneland Race Course hosts three of this weekend’s graded stakes, starting with Friday’s 1 ½-mile Grade 2 Sycamore, which has an overflow field. The next day, sophomore fillies step into the spotlight for the 1 ⅛-mile G1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, before female sprinters wrap up the weekend in Sunday’s G2 Franklin Stakes at 5 ½ furlongs.

Two turf stakes for sophomores top Saturday’s card at Belmont Park. In race 8, nine colts and geldings travel seven furlongs in the inaugural Bricks and Mortar, with nine more colts and geldings go 1 ⅛ miles in the G3 Hill Prince about an hour later.

Saturday

5:16 pm – G1 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland

Luster, winner of the King’s Plate by 7 ¼ lengths in her last start, will face 10 rivals in the Queen Elizabeth. The Josie Carroll trainee will break from post 2 of 11 and will again have John Velazquez aboard. 

In addition to the King’s Plate, Luster captured the Woodbine Oaks by 5 ½ lengths and the G3 Selene Stakes by 1 ¾ lengths. All three of those victories came on Woodbine’s all-weather surface, but the Knicks Go gray won an allowance on the Keeneland turf in April by five lengths.

Drawn directly to Luster’s outside is G1 Del Mar Oaks winner Tam Tam. The Phil Bauer trainee won the 1 ⅛-mile race by 1 ½ lengths over returning rivals Lookin At Diamond and Kensington Lane. The latter is also a G1 winner, having won the G1 Belmont Oaks by 1 ¾ lengths. 

Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Braida invades Kentucky from France. The daughter of Mehmas has suffered only one defeat this year and exits with a victory in a Listed race at Longchamp. 

Queen Elizabeth entries

Yes, and he has reason to be. U.S.S. Valor ran the mile in 1:34.84, very quick time for a juvenile going a mile, and the colt stretched away from his competition to win by 6 ½ lengths.

A bay colt bred in Kentucky by Team Valor International and racing for the breeder, U.S.S. Valor is the first G1 winner for his sire, 2019 Preakness Stakes winner War of Will (War Front). To date, the Champagne winner is the fifth stakes winner for War of Will, and that is two percent of the stallion’s 266-head first three crops.

U.S.S. Valor was one of 62 foals from War of Will’s third crop, which is an indication that the striking and leggy bay stallion was decreasing in popularity among breeders. This is not a new phenomenon; most stallions decline in popularity each year from the first, and if they don’t get a champion right away, they continue to decrease in breeder support and are sold on to a stallion operation outside the Bluegrass.

This has happened to classic winners, champions, and even Horses of the Year. There is no more competitive position among Thoroughbreds than being the sire of racehorses. If a stallion is one of the genetic marvels who sires speed, athleticism, and determination with consistency, he has a chance to remain at or near the top of the breeding hierarchy.

The fact that War of Will has gotten his first colt of championship quality in his third crop indicates that he is now resident elsewhere, in this case Rockridge Stud in New York, where the stallion was moved for the 2026 breeding season and stood for a fee of $5,000 live foal.

The syndicate that owns the stallion is significantly the same as the one which had stood him in Kentucky at Claiborne Farm, and owner Gary Barber, who raced War of Will, is strongly supporting the horse as a New York resident stallion.

U.S.S. Valor is the fifth winner and first stakes winner out of the Tiz Wonderful mare Spangled Banner. The mare was purchased by Barry and Kathleen Irwin of Team Valor at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton August digital sale.

Barry Irwin recalled that “we bought her at the sale because she went through as an RNA, then we bought her shortly afterward.”

That War of Will wasn’t the most commercial stallion didn’t bother Irwin because “my wife and I aren’t commercial breeders. We breed to race,” he concluded.

And the reason they purchased Spangled Banner to breed from is that her 2019 foal by Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) had won his debut as a 3-year-old on Aug. 13, about two weeks before the sale. In that seven-furlong race at Saratoga, Expressman had rung up an eye-catching Beyer speed figure of 107. Subsequently, Expressman won an allowance and ran third in the G1 Carter but did not scale the heights the Irwins had hoped for.

In breeding their new mare in 2023 for the mating that produced U.S.S. Valor, Irwin said that his wife “had a theory on how to mate her.”

When choosing War of Will for Spangled Banner, Kathleen Irwin was seeking a sex-balanced mating because “I noticed in her pedigree a daughter each of Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, and Raise a Native, and looked for a stallion with a son of those three, and that worked out” with U.S.S. Valor.

“Barry approved a stallion on the physical mating,” she said, and the next step was getting a good foal.

The well-known Kentucky horseman Mike Owens was handling the Irwins’ mares at Cobra Farm at the time, and he recalled that U.S.S. Valor “was the first foal I had that year. From the day he was foaled, he was always nice, always looked the part. He was one of the easy ones to be around.”

Strongly built and with the size and scope of his dam, U.S.S. Valor is a thoroughly intriguing prospect for next year, and the Irwins have put their star mare in the Keeneland November sale. Spangled Banner is in foal to classic winner and champion Tiz the Law (Constitution), whose daughter Fully Subscribed won the G1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 4, the day after the Champagne.

The 2026 Champagne Stakes winner is the third winner of that race who was bred and raised on the same property. The trio began with 1976 Champagne Stakes winner Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning), who set a new stakes record in winning the race in 1:34 2/5. Slew was elected champion of his division that season, when he was undefeated in three very impressive races, then went on the following season to win the 1977 Triple Crown. Ben Castleman bred Seattle Slew at his White Horse Acres, and later sold the farm, which was renamed Due Process.

The second Champagne winner off the farm was Dehere, who won the race in 1993 and was champion of his division that season, despite having the only poor race of his career in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (eighth). And the third is U.S.S. Valor. Could he be another champion in the making?

“A total blur,” said 22-year-old Taylor Logan of Lexington.

Possiblemente moved as swiftly as the whirlwind afternoon did for his young owner in winning the Grade 2 $1.75 million Light and Wonder Turf Sprint on Sept. 5 at Kentucky Downs to secure an automatic berth in the Turf Sprint.

Logan did not know what to expect entering that magical day. “It felt like some crazy dream we were not going to be able to do,” she recalled. “It was like, ‘Even if he runs dead last, it’s super cool to be able to run in this race.’”

The story of Possiblemente’s remarkable transformation into an electrifying turf sprinter, not to mention Logan’s courage in the face of adversity she has endured since she was 15, is “super cool.”

She claimed the gelded son of Tale of Ekati for $50,000 last October. He had finished sixth of 13 that day, going a mile and a sixteenth on Woodbine’s all-weather track. He made two more starts to close last year at Woodbine, finishing sixth and fourth, before he was shipped to Kentucky to be trained by Joe Sharp for his 6-year-old campaign.

Possiblemente quickly reached a crossroads after running for a $40,000 claiming price and finishing third at a mile at Turfway Park in his first start for Sharp. While Sharp was keen on trying a cutback in distance, he advised Logan to stick with the same spot, confident of a win but with the likelihood of losing the horse through a claim. Logan’s father, Elliott, with almost four decades of experience as an owner, seconded Sharp.

Logan had other ideas. She was eyeing a much saltier optional allowance claiming race going six-and-a-half furlongs at Turfway that would keep her from making Possiblemente available for a tag.

“I was very interested in seeing what he could do at that level. I really just wanted to try it and see,” she said. “He was doing so well, and I didn’t want to lose him because I felt we were onto something.”

They were onto something bigger than they ever could have imagined. He won the race Logan badly wanted to enter, beginning a scorching stretch of four victories in six starts with a second in the listed Harvey Pack Stakes on July 5 at Saratoga, his final race before he accomplished what was once unthinkable at the unique Kentucky Downs course.

“She made a very, very wise decision to protect the horse,” said her father, adding, “She believed in this horse and made the decision.”

Sharp also made a wise decision in deciding to turn the veteran into a sprinter. “He’s one of those horses who always would be keen on the lead,” he noted. “We decided to cut him back in distance and it’s just made all the difference.”

Taylor has only two other runners in her stable, fillies Shining Silver, a 3-year-old New York-bred, and Twisted Viper, a 4-year-old maiden born in Kentucky. Both compete in the lower claiming ranks.

The Taylor family has long owned claiming horses, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle while understanding the long odds. “We’re not a Silver Spoon Stable. It’s a working man’s stable,” Elliott said proudly. The second-generation men’s clothier owns Logan’s in Lexington.

Taylor’s father becomes emotional as he discusses his daughter’s triumph with Possiblemente but also her travails. “It’s been a really rough journey. She is the strongest, toughest, most incredible person I ever met in my life,” he said. “She deals with what she has with such grace and courage and dignity.

“She is a positive, beautiful young lady that has had lemons but she’s made as much lemonade as she can. That’s how she approaches life. She is an amazing young lady.”

Logan said she deals with pain and fatigue on a daily basis. She does not complain. Her outlook remains positive.

“Hopefully, a lot of these conditions can go into remission,” she said. “It’s unknown at this time.”

Logan said her journey with Possiblemente helps to sustain her through daily struggles. “It’s been something to look forward to, a dream come true that I never thought I’d get to experience,” she said.

She is optimistic about everything, including Possiblemente’s chances of winning the Turf Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. “That will be the toughest field he’s ever run against, but I think he could,” she said. “I think he has every bit of class to be able to do it.”

Spoken like someone accustomed to taking the lemons life dealt and making lemonade.

With Forest Boyce aboard, the 4-year-old son of Barbados won by three-quarters of a length and returned $3 as the favorite in the field of five. 

The Maryland-bred trained by Henry Walters covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:53.83 over a muddy track. Cooke Creek, with Jose Batista, cut early fractions of :48.90 for the half-mile and 1:12.89 for the three-quarter miles before finishing second.  It was another 2¾-lengths farther back to Cool Intentions, with Daniel Centeno, in third.

Walters was happy to get him over the $1-million mark.

“He has been on the cusp of it for the last couple of races, so I am glad he got it done,” said winning trainer Henry Walters. “I was nervous. They were strung out pretty good and I was just hoping he would kick it in and he did.  He recovers pretty quickly, so we will point for his next start to be Laurel in a few weeks.” 

The reigning Maryland Million Classic winner, Barbadian Runner is being pointed for this year’s edition, set for October 24 at Laurel Park

Barbadian Runner improved his career record to 10 wins from 26 starts with earnings of $1,100,280.–Chris Sobocinski/Delaware Park

Gulfstream Park
–Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s Neat, the millionaire multiple graded stakes winner racing first time for new connections, came from off the pace to wear down favored Indecisiveness in midstretch and go on to a 1½-length victory in Saturday’s $65,000 Miami Mile overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up going two turns on the grass.

Neat ($7.40), making his debut for trainer Mike Maker, covered a turf course rated good in 1:34.31 to give jockey Edwin Gonzalez a sweep of the day’s stakes.

One race earlier on the card, Gonzalez piloted Bell Racing’s Stick Talk to victory in the $75,000 Palm Bay overnight handicap for 2-year-olds on the main track. He Girvin colt is trained by Carlos David.

“It feels great. I just try to keep working hard for all the trainers and the owners that give me the opportunity,” Gonzalez said. “[Stick Talk], I break his maiden already and rode him a couple times. He had blinkers today and the extra distance helped me a lot. [Neat], they didn’t give me too much instructions. They said, ‘Break running, and you know what to do.’”

Starting from outermost post 7 with Neat, Gonzalez settled in fifth as 18-1 longshot Prevent and 3-2 favorite Indecisiveness sped through fractions of :22.85 and :46.18 to open up on the field. The gap closed quickly leaving the backstretch with Neat moving quickest of all on the far outside, sweeping into contention around the far turn.

Indecisiveness’ lead was short-lived as 5-year-old Neat snatched it away after turning for home and went on to his eighth win in 23 starts and sixth in stakes company, including the Transylvania (G3), Manila (G3) and Hall of Fame (G2) in 2024. The victory pushed his career bankroll to $1,048,135.

“When we were warming up, he showed me a lot before the race. He’s a very nice horse,” Gonzalez said. “I know I have plenty of speed in the race. I just sat there perfect and waited for the chance to make the jump on those horses and we got the job done.

“He gave me everything he had,” he added about the son of Constitution. “I broke running and I had to get some position in the first couple turns and then I made my move. He finished really strong. When I asked him, he picked it up and changed leads and kicked on.”

I Know I Know got up to be second, with Grade 2 winner Steal Sunshine third and Divin Propos and Jayhawk dead-heating for fourth. Indecisiveness and Prevent completed the order of finish. Grade 1-winning millionaire Win for the Money and Tank, a multiple stakes winner on the all-weather Tapeta, were scratched.

Laurel Park
—Trinity splashed home as an off-the-pace winner in Sunday’s featured seventh race at Laurel Park, a first-level allowance race for juvenile fillies at seven furlongs.

Trained by Hamilton Smith for Mens Grille Racing, Trinity settled off the pace as the odds-on favorite, Go New York Go, who was making her first start since winning a Colonial maiden race by 20 ¼ lengths, blasted to the early lead.

Go New York Go was four lengths clear through the opening quarter in :22.69 and remained two lengths ahead of both Whose Notion and Almas Gone Gamblin after a half-mile clocked in :46.48.

However, those enervating fractions took their toll on the gray pacesetter, and she dropped back when the field reached the quarter pole. 

Whose Notion and Almas Gone Gamblin inherited the lead, but jockey Jose Vargas had Trinity rolling while four wide and clear of traffic. They inhaled the leaders just outside the eighth pole and rolled home to win by 5 ¾ lengths in 1:27.05 on the sealed, muddy track

Whose Notion held second by a neck over Almas Gone Gamblin. Go New York Go faded to fourth. Befuddled trailed. No One Else’s scratched.

Trinity, the second choice in the betting, paid $9.80 to win. A heavy show bet on Go New York Go failed to pay off, resulting in larger-than-usual show returns for the top three finishers.

Trinity returned $4.80 to place and $6.60 to show. Whose Notion, a 4-1 shot on the tote, paid $29.60 to show, while Almas Gone Gamblin paid $15.20 for finishing third.

“When we first got her, she wasn’t quite this big,” said Smith, who notched career victory 2,209. “But she’s been growing and is still in a bit of a growing mood. She’s a big, handsome filly.”

Bred in Kentucky by Endeavor Farm, Trinity is a chestnut daughter of Happy Saver, sire of Piggybunz, who won Friday’s $100,000 Smart Halo Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Laurel Park.

Trinity, a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Bishop’s Pond and stakes-placed Black Oak, is out of stakes winner More for Me (by More Than Ready). She hails from the female family of Richter Scale, who set a track record of 1:07 4/5 in six furlongs when winning the Grade 1 Frank J. De Francis Dash.

She went through the auction ring three times. A $100,000 weanling, she sold for $150,000 as a yearling, then Mens Grille Racing purchased her for $200,000 in March at OBS after breezing a furlong in a speedy :09 4/5.

“I liked her,” Smith said of his first impression of Trinity. “She’s smart. That’s what I like about a young horse. They do things right and don’t give you any problems. She was that way and handled everything perfectly. She never balked at the gate and did all her work well.”

Trinity made her debut in a maiden special weight on turf at five furlongs on July 5, finishing fifth of nine. She showed improved early speed when switching to dirt 20 days later, but got caught up in a speed duel and faded to fifth.

Trinity and Vargas teamed up for the first time in the filly’s third start, a six-furlong maiden special weight at Laurel last month. She settled off the pace that afternoon, then surged in the stretch to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

“Hopefully, we’re looking for better things with her, and see how she comes back,” Smith concluded. “Everything looks good right now.” Dan Illman/Maryland Jockey Club

Now 15 years old, Sorocaima has traveled throughout the U. S. and Canada, competing on eventing’s biggest stages, including the Kentucky Three-Day Event, Bromont in Quebec, the Maryland 5 Star, and more. 

But before he was competing against the best eventers in the world with a Pan Am Games gold medalist in the irons, he was a racehorse… and a bit of a late bloomer. 

Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall and Poindexter Thoroughbreds, Sorocaima was sold as a yearling in 2012 for $32,000 at the Keeneland September Sale, then failed to meet his reserve the following year as a 2-year-old at the OBS June Two-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale. 

His career debut on Dec. 26 of that year left much to be desired (finishing last in a field of 14 by nearly 50 lengths at Gulfstream Park), and over the course of his 3-year-old campaign and into his 4-year-old year, he failed to break his maiden on the Florida circuit, racing on both the dirt and the turf. 

The spring of 2015 brought with it a change of scenery and surface, as the gelding transferred to the barn of Teresa Connelly at Presque Isle Downs and tried synthetic footing for the first time. He improved significantly on that surface, finishing fourth in his first two starts at the track, then second before breaking his maiden. The gelding continued that streak, placing first or second in nine back-to-back races that year.

After failing to achieve the same success the following year, the decision was made to retire Sorocaima after 43 starts and 4 wins, and he was offered for sale through CANTER’s listing service, retiring sound and ready for the next phase of life. 

Life After Racing

Sorocaima caught the eye of eventing trainer and competitor Matthew Bryner, who purchased the coming 6-year-old and did the initial formative work to transition him from a racehorse to a sport horse before selling him to upper-level eventer Nilson DeSilva. 

DeSilva took Sorocaima to his first recognized event in January of 2018 at the Training level (where the jumps are around 3’ 3”) in 2018 and campaigned him successfully that season before selling him to Kari Wright, a student of former Olympian Jill Henneberg, who competed with him the following year. 

Not every pair, however, is a match made in heaven. While Sorocaima was athletic and eager to do the job, he was a bit more horse than Wright wanted or needed at the time. 

“Jill called me, and she said she had a horse that wasn’t quite the right fit for one of her students, but she thought would be great for me,” said Davidson. “I couldn’t get up to try him, but she thought enough of him that she brought him down for me to try and left him with me for a week, and the rest is history.”

Sorocaima, who goes by “Cam” around the barn, settled into the routine of Davidson’s barn and quickly worked his way up the levels over the next few years. One of the biggest reasons he progressed so quickly, according to Davidson, is because of his brain, noting that Cam is smart but quirky. 

“He really learns from his mistakes, and he doesn’t make the same mistake twice,” said Davidson. “He’s very dependable and dead honest, but he has his little quirks. Like, I know that every time we ride in the indoor at the farm, he will spook in the same corner warming up every single time, and every time you go to turn him out, he stops in the same place and looks at the same rock as if it’s the first time he’s seen it. There’s no point in worrying about it, because it’s going to happen again tomorrow, and the day after that, and I don’t think he’s the type of horse you want to get after, because I don’t think it would accomplish anything. He tries hard, and he loves to work, so you have to accept these little things that come with it.”

These quirks have shown themselves at inopportune times over the years, but thankfully when it’s time to compete, Cam is all business. 

“The first time I went to [the Kentucky Three-Day Event] with him, he was still quite green. As we were going around the warm-up, the jumbotron caught his eye and I thought, ‘this is going to be the biggest disaster of all time,’ but once we got down the ramp and into the arena, he was all business,” said Davidson. “The same thing happened at Fair Hill. I couldn’t get him around the warm-up because there were people sitting on the fence and he was so reactive about it, but once he got into the competition ring, he was spot on.”

Reaching and Maintaining at the Highest Levels of the Sport

Over the past several years, Davidson and Sorocaima have been consistently competing at the highest levels of the sport with top three placings at the Bromont CCI4 Star in Quebec and the Plantation Field International Horse Trials in Pennsylvania, and while Davidson originally purchased the horse himself, he now has a partner…and a half in the horse. 

“When I bought him, my friend Carl Segal asked if I wanted a partner on him, and I said ‘maybe, but I want to see if he’s as good as I think he is,’” said Davidson. “On the morning of his first five-star, I asked Carl if he still wanted to partner on him, and it’s been a great partnership ever since. My oldest daughter, Aubrey, loves him, so technically he’s Aubrey and Carl’s horse, and I’m just the jockey.”

Now that Sorocaima is fifteen years old and has been competing consistently at the highest level of the sport for several seasons, Davidson works on maintaining him rather than teaching him. 

“He’s at the point in his career that he knows how to do everything. I like my horses to last and compete for as long as possible, and for him to do that, I don’t drill him, and I’m careful not to over-jump him,” said Davidson. “He’s a pro in the ring and has come to understand that what he does in competition will be easier than what he’s done at home.”

At home, Sorocaima has become a favorite ride for many at Davidson’s farm, including his students, noting that the gelding’s even demeanor and rideability not only make him an excellent teacher, but have served him well throughout his life.

“A few years ago, Joe Clancy did a story on him before the Maryland Five Star and asked Cam’s racing trainer why they kept him in training for so long. The trainer said part of the reason was that he was just such an easy horse to get along with and everyone in the barn liked to ride him,” said Davidson. “It’s the same at my farm. The girls take him out for trot sets and hacks or to flat him. You can especially see his eyes light up with less experienced riders. He really enjoys teaching them, and it can be so formative to learn what different things are supposed to feel like when you’re on a horse like him.”

Riders like Davidson have their pick of horses to ride and compete on, and while he has found success with a variety of breeds, he often has several Thoroughbreds in his string and says Sorocaima is indicative of why he’s loyal to the breed. 

“Cam has such a big, easy gallop; he’s forward and gets into a nice rhythm galloping between fences on cross-country, which is why the long-format five-star suits him better,” said Davidson. “He doesn’t have to gallop to condition like the bigger Warmbloods do. We’re in it for the long game, and you get more out of Cam and horses like him by doing less.

“Trust between horse and rider is a big deal in equestrian sports. A Thoroughbred will do exactly what you ask them to do, so you’d better ask the right thing, at the right time in the right way,” continued Davidson. “Cam is implicitly trusting of me and what I’m going to ask of him, and I have the same trust in him. It’s a great partnership.”

Ten Breeders’ Cup qualifiers will be run on Saturday.

Belmont Park will run the G2 Miss Grillo (Juvenile Fillies Turf), the G1 Champagne (Juvenile), the G3 Futurity (Juvenile Turf Sprint), and the G2 Pilgrim, plus the G1 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on the main track and the G3 Matron for juvenile fillies sprinting on turf. 

Three Breeders’ Cup berths will be awarded Saturday at Keeneland in the G2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (Filly & Mare Sprint), the G1 Breeders’ Futurity (Juvenile), and the G1 Turf Mile (Mile). The G2 Woodford for turf sprinters and the G1 First Lady for fillies and mares at a mile on turf will also be run Saturday. 

There are also three berths at Santa Anita on Saturday: the G2 Oak Leaf (Juvenile Fillies), the G1 American Pharoah (Juvenile), and the G2 Rodeo Drive (Filly & Mare Turf). The undercard features the G3 Chillingworth Stakes for filly and mare sprinters on dirt. 

Two U.S. Breeders’ Cup qualifiers will take place on Sunday in the G1 Spinster (Distaff) and the G2 Bourbon (Juvenile Turf), both at Keeneland.

The G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – France’s most prestigious race – will be run on Sunday at Longchamp. The Arc is a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. 

Friday

5:16 pm – G1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland

Grade 1 Spinaway winner Summer Starlet leads a field of eight in the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades. The undefeated Steve Asmussen trainee will break from post 5 under jockey Flavien Prat. The Alcibiades will be Summer Starlet’s two-turn debut. 

Six of her rivals have victories in their previous starts, including debut winner Forever Carina. A full sister to this year’s Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner, the Chad Brown trainee took a 6 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga by two lengths. Jockey Jose Ortiz will ride from post 6.

Aside from Summer Starlet, Brendan Walsh trainee Emphatic is the only other stakes winner in the field. The undefeated daughter of Nyquist won Monmouth Park’s Sorority Stakes by 5 ¼ lengths. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione will have to work out a trip from the rail. 

Alcibiades entries

Saturday

3:53 pm – G1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park

Gaudreau and U.S.S. Valor meet for the second time in their brief careers in the one-mile Champagne around one turn. Both colts made their debut in a maiden special weight at Saratoga on Aug. 8, where Chad Brown-trained Gaudreau pressed the pace and won by a half-length. Shug McGaughey trainee U. S. S. Valor, breaking from the rail on Aug. 8, finished third, beaten ¾ lengths, and won his second start by 13 ¼ lengths. 

Gaudreau drew post 3 of 6 and will again have Flavien Prat aboard. U. S. S. Valor will renew his partnership with Manny Franco from post 5. 

Also in the field are Club Reign, a six-length debut winner at Saratoga, and Earth Song, a Justify half-brother to G1 winner Further Ado, who won his debut at Monmouth Park by 11 ¼ lengths.

Champagne entries

7:04 pm – G1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita

Trainer Bob Baffert will send out four of the six entries in the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah Stakes as he attempts to win his 14th overall running of the race. Undefeated G1 Del Mar Futurity winner Hughes leads the Baffert battalion as the morning line 4-5 favorite. The son of Into Mischief won the Del Mar Futurity and G3 Best Pal by a combined 12 ½ lengths. 

The other Baffert contenders are: Del Mar Futurity fourth-place Domus, 5 ¼-length debut winner Imperial Honor, and second-time out maiden-breaker Emancipate. 

Dang Son, third in the Del Mar Futurity for trainer Doug O’Neill, and Net Par, winner of the California-bred or -sired Graduation Stakes, complete the field. 

American Pharoah entries

Sunday

5:45 pm – G1 Spinster at Keeneland

Three-year-old Counting Stars will face four older fillies and mares in the 1 ⅛-mile Spinster. The Mark Casse trainee won the G1 Acorn and G1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga this summer, but fell short when third in the G1 Alabama at 10 furlongs last out. The daughter of Honor A. P. should appreciate the return to nine furlongs and will reunite with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard for her two G1 victories. 

Her rivals include G1 Personal Ensign winner Fully Subscribed and 2024 champion 2-year-old filly Immersive. Trained by Chad Brown, Fully Subscribed won the Personal Ensign by 9 ¾ lengths after taking the G2 Shuvee by a half-length. Finishing behind her in both races was fellow Spinster entrant Snowyte. Brad Cox trainee Immersive seeks her first G1 victory since her championship season. Most recently, she finished third behind Splendora in the G2 Locust Grove after winning the G2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs in June. 

2025 Breeders’ Cup Distaff third-place finisher Regaled, who is cross-entered in Saturday’s G2 Delaware Handicap, completes the field. 

Spinster entries

A winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity at two and the G1 Santa Anita Derby at three, when he also was second in the Kentucky Derby, Pioneerof the Nile sired classic-quality stock from his first crop, which included three classic contenders, and he produced 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in his second. From the stallion’s third crop came juvenile champion Classic Empire, who was a Grade 1 winner at three and finished second in the Preakness.

The physical characteristics that made Pioneerof the Nile such an effective racehorse and classic contender were reproduced with uncommon frequency among his offspring. That made the horse an even more unusual and popular sire because every breeder and owner wants a colt or filly who can play for the classics.

This made the yearlings by Pioneerof the Nile very popular sales horses, and from the stallion’s last full crop, the foals of 2019, came a colt who appeared to be a premium Keeneland September yearling. Out of the Shamardal mare Fancy Day, this colt was bought back from breeder WinStar Farm at a hammer price of $145,000 RNA.

The following spring, the colt returned to auction as a 2-year-old in strong training as part of the consignment from Eddie Woods. At the OBS April sale preview, the colt later named Cabo Spirit worked a quarter-mile in :20 4/5, which was equal to the fastest time of the sale.

He had stretched out strongly around the turn and continued to stride along forcefully through the stretch to show a stride length of 24.9 feet, and he earned a BreezeFig speed figure of 70, which was one of the best for the sale, not just among the quarter-mile breezers.

A sizable dark bay, Cabo Spirit was strongly built, with plenty of size and scope, and he showed himself well at the barn. With all these positive qualities, he sold for $575,000.

He debuted on Aug. 1, a little more than three months after the sale, and Cabo Spirit won his maiden race on Nov. 7, when tried on turf over a mile for the first time. The colt was third in his next start, the G3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at a mile on turf.

Cabo Spirit came back to win his next start, the listed Eddie Logan Stakes at a mile on turf on Jan. 2, 2022. Then, his connections tried to take him to the classics, but that didn’t quite work out. None of the classics are on turf, however, and by the end of the experiment, it was clear that Cabo Spirit really wanted to race upon the green, not just eat it.

He returned to his preferred surface later in the year to win the G3 La Jolla Handicap and G2 Twilight Derby. Previously a ridgling, with a single descended testicle, by this point, Cabo Spirit was now a gelding, and this equipment change was probably the single most important in allowing him to be a quality racing performer for years to come.

Typically racing six to nine times a season, Cabo Spirit has won eight of 45 starts, with six seconds and 10 thirds, for $1.5 million. He’s a cracking athlete, and at age seven, he appears as good as ever.

Cabo Spirit is not, however, the leading active earner for his sire. That distinction goes to Tawny Port, another 7-year-old by Pioneerof the Nile. From the same crop as Cabo Spirit, Tawny Port won the Bowling Green Gold Cup on Sept. 9, as well as the G2 Belmont Gold Cup at Saratoga on June 4. He has won seven of his 34 starts, with earnings of $2.8 million.

Bred by WinStar Farm from the Macho Uno mare Livi Makenzie, Tawny Port is robust and highly talented racer. He and Cabo Spirit underline the quality of the stock produced from Pioneerof the Nile; they possess the consistency, athleticism, and enthusiasm for racing that is essential to racehorses of high quality.

With his victory in the G2 City of Hope Mile on Sept. 26, it is possible that we will next see Cabo Spirit in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile on the turf at Keeneland.

For Woodbine track announcer Robert Geller, who will be in the booth for this weekend’s Grade 1 Canadian International, that horse was Taras Bulba, a brilliant runner who conquered Australia, then took on the world.

Though Taras Bulba was born in New Zealand, the gelding did his running in Australia during the mid-1970s, where a young Geller watched him race from his home in Melbourne.

“The journey of that horse was really what taught me about horse racing’s ups and downs,” Geller said. “When you love a horse, and you become emotionally connected to that horse, and you follow every single step of his or her career, you start to learn things that happen to horses, whether it’s a little bit of bleeding sometimes because they’re not well, sometimes there’s scratches on a big race day, or they hit a wet track. As you’re a young fan, you want to see that horse succeed, and you know there’s that potential. This horse was amazing and he did really, really well.”

Taras Bulba clinched Australia’s champion 3-year-old honors during the 1974-75 racing season with victories in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas, G1 AJC Derby and G1 Australian Champion Stakes, along with a runner-up effort in the Cox Plate. He came back to secure Horse of the Year honors the following season, with Group 1 scores in the Underwood Stakes and Randwick Stakes, along with further wins in the Queen’s Plate and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Though the horse ran at a high level, he struggled with exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhages (EIPH) throughout his career, which ultimately disqualified him from racing in Australia.

In 1977, Taras Bulba was sent to race in the U.S., where he passed early tests against allowance optional claiming company at Hollywood Park. However, his attempts to climb the ladder stateside were unsuccessful, finishing out of the money in a trio of graded stakes tries.

He fell back down the ladder, but he never regained his form, failing to even hit the board in claiming races in Southern California before his career came to a close. Taras Bulba retired with 13 wins in 58 starts for earnings of $492,381.

In the future, Geller would follow Taras Bulba on that trans-Pacific journey from Australia to North America.

A native of England who spent his formative years in Australia, Geller got his first announcing job at Wangaratta in Victoria, Australia in 1984.

From there, he spent six years as the English-language announcer in Hong Kong before moving stateside to Emerald Downs for the track’s inaugural meet in 1996. Geller also took a job in the booth at Sunland Park since the 2000-2001 racing season, calling the races there during Emerald’s off-season. In 2015, he moved north of the border to take the announcing job at Woodbine.

Rodriguez was driving to Albuquerque, New Mexico last Monday when he encountered a Border Patrol checkpoint in Las Cruces. That’s the first extraordinary thing that happened to him. The checkpoint at which Rodriguez was stopped is one of the “interior checkpoints” where federal agents may operate without honoring all of the due process and other constitutional rights they’d have to honor in, say, Iowa. “Americans living in or traveling through the so-called ‘border zone’ can be subjected to motor vehicle stops and constitutionally dubious searches at internal checkpoints run by the CBP,” reports the Cato Institute, a conservative legal advocacy group. “Some of these checkpoints are located as much as 100 miles inside the country, and reports of CBP agent abuses of citizens at such checkpoints appear frequently in the press.”

The next extraordinary thing that happened to Rodriguez is that he was able to use a phone to call someone for help. Not all people detained by federal immigration agents are so lucky. And even detainees who get to make a phone often don’t get to make it for days after their arrest. Last week, for example, news broke that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have deleted thousands of people subject to final deportation orders from its “detainee locator,” which had allowed friends and family and advocates to know where someone was being detained by immigration agents.

Paulick Report’s Chelsea Hackbarth picks up the story: “Rodriguez was able to make a call from the checkpoint to former jockey and current New Mexico trainer Casey Lambert, for whom he frequently rides,” Hackbarth wrote. “The timing of that call proved fortuitous; Lambert had been at a horsemen’s dinner and committee meeting in El Paso and normally would have been in bed by the time Rodriguez called around 8:30 p.m. Instead, the trainer answered and was able to connect Rodriguez with his neighbor, an immigration attorney named Beth Vann.” Rodriguez is lucky that he got a phone call, lucky his trainer picked up, and lucky that the trainer lives near an immigration attorney. You would have gotten long odds on that trifecta, right?

“It was very fortunate that it all worked out that way,” Lambert told the Paulick Report. “If he had not contacted [me], I’m not sure if we would have got it stopped before they would have sent him back.” Now, federal immigration agents have stopped other valid visa holders at these checkpoints. They’ve stopped U.S. citizens, too. Often, the hold is relatively short. Sometimes, it’s not. Sometimes it takes the feds weeks or months to acknowledge their mistakes and release someone from ICE custody. The fact that Rodriguez got out in just two days is a testament to excellent legal work by his attorney. Good on her – but think of all the people with valid visa claims who have to sit in filth in federal immigration centers while it all gets sorted out.

We may not know all their names, but we know there have been people in the horse industry in the U.S. who have been deported since January 2025 or who have decided to leave before they are apprehended by federal immigration agents. ICE agents raided Delta Downs Racetrack, Casino and Hotel in Vinton, Louisiana, in June 2025. The feds later said they arrested 84 people they labeled “illegal aliens.” The ballyhooed raid at an Idaho racetrack last October made headlines, cost taxpayers a great deal, and ended up with a federal judge releasing 16 of the people who were apprehended on the day of the raid. Then there are the workplace raids that don’t make headlines, the ICE raids that collect one or two people at a time.

Some in horse racing may be surprised by what happened to Rodriguez. They shouldn’t be. And they should pay particular attention when Rodriguez talks about his time in immigration detention. There are those in racing who never have to care about their own immigrant status or the status of their staff. And there are those in racing who probably worry about it every minute of every day. What happened to Rodriguez is happening everywhere, all at once. The traffic stop. The confused federal agents. The arrest. The detention. The fear. The frantic plea for help. The bureaucratic tangle. The parsing of asylum or work permit law. Rodriguez, the lucky fellow, is the exception that proves a new rule. He’s alive, for one thing, and now back with his family and friends and a racing community that showed up for him when he needed it most.

A harness racing follow-up 

I got a lot of positive feedback from the world of harness racing following last week’s Keeping Pace column chronicling the growing rift within the United States Trotting Association over its Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund. I am particularly grateful for the prominent harness horse person who reached out to thank me for covering something about the USTA that no one else who writes about harness racing is covering. I know that there are USTA members who are gravely concerned about the association’s ongoing struggle over whether and to what extent it wants to try to help clean up the sport. I also know there are people within the sport who are cross with me for trying to expose the apparent rift.

What does harness racing’s investigative fund do? For one thing, it catches Standardbred people who are allegedly engaged in “hidden ownership” arrangements that often give the sport the scourge of beard trainers and beard owners. Along those lines, the USTA announced last week that it had accepted the resignations of three USTA members from the same harness family – they were “persons not in good standing,” which is the USTA’s way of saying persona non grata. “The action” against the Clegg family of Ohio, the USTA told us, “follows an investigation into a series of Standardbred ownership transfers and related financial activity involving horses registered in Kimber Clegg’s name. 

“In November 2024, when Kimber’s mother Betty Jo was facing a possible suspension by Ohio racing officials, Kimber joined the USTA. Kimber had no prior involvement in the Standardbred industry. Betty Jo promptly transferred numerous racehorses into Kimber’s name. These and other circumstances cast doubt on the legitimacy of the transfers and whether the horses were registered in the names of their bona fide owners.” So, “the USTA/SRIF Screening Committee approved a SRIF investigation of Nick, Betty Jo, and Kimber Clegg. These interviews raised concerns about the legitimacy of the transfers as well as the source of funds for dozens of horses acquired by Nick and Betty Jo in recent years.” 

And then perhaps the most interesting part of the USTA’s announcement: “Although the Cleggs provided some materials to SRIF, substantial records and information were not produced. As a result, significant financial activity remained unexplained and transactions unaccounted for, including the disbursement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in purse proceeds earned by horses registered in Kimber’s name in 2025.” If this indeed is the extent to which SRIF and the USTA can go in getting to the bottom of this case, has the USTA or SRIF referred the matter to any state racing commissions? If not, why not? And will any state racing commission officials who read this column – and I know there are those of you out there! – do anything about it? 

The USTA’s announcement even had a bit of philosophy or morality in it. “Integrity does not happen by itself. It requires rules, a willingness to investigate when circumstances warrant it, and the diligence to follow those investigations wherever the facts lead,” said USTA President Russell Williams. “The USTA has a responsibility to its members, horsemen, owners and, most importantly, the horses and future of our sport to make sure our registration system and rules have meaning. That responsibility includes acting when the information available raises legitimate questions about ownership and compliance.” There is nothing objectionable in that phrasing or anything that seeks to deny a USTA member her or his due process rights.

Indeed, the Clegg announcement comes at a fortuitous time for Williams, who was the driving force in creating SRIF and who I believe is among its biggest champions within the association. As I wrote last, there is a faction within the USTA that wants to either end SRIF outright or neuter it to the point where it’s worthless. The fight looks to be coming to a head in the next few months. And along comes the Clegg case to remind USTA directors that someone, anyone, has to spend some time and money investigating these hidden ownership cases. Killing SRIF means killing forensic investigations that can bring to light the stuff that horse racing likes to keep in the dark. That’s what is at stake in this intra-USTA fight over SRIF.

Notes

Arthur Hancock III. There have been an awful lot of nice things said about Hancock in the days after his death this month. To this chorus, let me reiterate that Arthur and Staci Hancock gave the world of horse racing the Water Hay Oats Alliance, which brought together Thoroughbred and Standardbred interests in the common cause of limiting drugs in racing. Without WHOA, there would likely not be a Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act, which beget the HISA Authority and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit.  “There is a new sheriff in town, and he means business,” Arthur Hancock once said of HISA. “If we don’t get rid of the drugs and thugs, they’re going to get rid of us.”

Staci Hancock was a rock at WHOA, and to this day I know members of the Standardbred community who are grateful to her and Arthur for including us and any other well-meaning harness people in WHOA’s efforts. It’s a sad or wistful footnote to history that WHOA’s support during the long years that presaged HISA was based on the presumption that regulators would use the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to enforce the new federal law. We will never know whether and to what extent HISA’s new reign would have been different had Travis Tygert and his USADA crew been given enforcement authority. Maybe one day we’ll get that story on the record. For now, I thank Arthur Hancock for his great service and send Staci my condolences.  

A glorious Little Brown Jug day. I heard from more than a handful of Standardbred people last week who praised this year’s edition of the annual carnival of harness racing known as Little Brown Jug week in Delaware County, Ohio. It’s amazing to me how many harness folks watch six or seven or eight hours of coverage of the week’s events. It’s one of the only Standardbred broadcasts which have continuous content during an entire card’s worth of coverage. There is no elevator music backdropping a tote board during Jug week. There are instead interesting interviews with harness racing drivers, trainers, owners and breeders and you learn more about the industry in between the races than you would ever learn from the races themselves. It’s on these days when the sport misses Dave Brower and Sam McKee the most, I think.

Jug Week was a good week. The only complaint I would like to lodge is a complaint I have made, over and over again, in public and private, to people who know people who could fix the problem. It’s 2026. Millions of people around the U.S. suddenly found themselves watching the big races this week thanks to Fox. Is it not long past time, then, for officials in Delaware County to invest in new technology that would allow them to present a broadcast that is clear in both its audio and video signal? Is it not embarrassing that year after year the production quality of the broadcast is a question and a concern? The folks who run the Jug should insist on it and, if the county doesn’t want taxpayers to foot the bill, should pay for the improvements themselves.

Opening weekend at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., features four “Win and You’re In” events. Turf milers vie for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile, while Breeders’ Cup Classic hopefuls face off in the G1 Goodwood Stakes going nine furlongs on the main track. On Sunday, sprinters take to the main track for the six-furlong G2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, where the winner earns a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint starting gate. Later in the card, fillies and mares head to the post for the 1 1/16-mile G2 Zenyatta, a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. 

The second weekend of racing at the reopened Belmont Park features two Challenge events among its seven graded stakes. Ten older horses face off for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the seven-furlong G3 Vosburgh Stakes, while 11 fillies or mares travel 1 ¼ miles in the G2 Flower Bowl, hoping to clinch their Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare spot. 

Other graded stakes at Belmont are: the G2 Beldame for fillies and mares on the dirt on Friday, the G2 Gallant Bloom Stakes for female sprinters and the 1 ½-mile G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic for older horses on Saturday, and the G3 Belmont Turf Sprint and G3 Winter Memories for 3-year-old fillies going a mile on turf on Sunday.

The G2 Lukas Classic at 1 ⅛ miles on the main track and the G3 Ack Ack Stakes going a mile on the main track are co-features at Churchill Downs on Saturday. The undercard includes the  1 1/16-mile Bourbon Flight Stakes for 3-year-olds, featuring the return of graded winner Plutarch. 

Remington Park in Oklahoma has one of their biggest nights of Thoroughbred racing on Saturday. The G3 Oklahoma Derby at 1 ⅛ miles on the main track is one of eight stakes in Oklahoma City. 

The 89th G2 Delaware Handicap will be run on Saturday at Delaware Park. The 1 ⅛-mile race has drawn a field of 11 as the feature of the 10-race card. 

The Canadian Triple Crown concludes on Sunday in Woodbine’s Breeders’ Stakes for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds going 1 ½ miles on turf. 

Friday

1:47 pm – G2 Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park

Last year’s champion 3-year-old filly Nitrogen gets back against her own sex in the 1 1/8-mile Beldame after finishing second in the G1 Whitney last out. The Mark Casse trainee is the 1-9 favorite in the five-horse field with Jose Ortiz scheduled to ride from post 4.

Nitrogen’s rivals include two entries from the Chad Brown barn. Rail-drawn Donor Return won an allowance optional claiming at Saratoga by 4 ¾ lengths off a year-plus layoff. Her stablemate Lost Horizon will make her second start in graded stakes company off a runner-up finish to Splendora in the G2 Molly Pitcher Stakes. 

Boutwell Time, winner of the black-type Heavenly Cause Stakes at Laurel in April, and Lika Rollin Stone complete the field. 

Beldame entries

Saturday

5:19 pm – G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes at Belmont Park

Far Bridge will try to capture a second edition of the 1 ½-mile Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in just the second start of his 6-year-old campaign. The Miguel Clement trainee last raced in March, when he won the G3 Pan American Stakes at Gulfstream Park, his first start since a fourth-place effort in last year’s Joe Hirsch. John Velazquez will ride from post 4 in the seven-horse field.

Pride of Arras, a multiple graded stakes winner in England, makes his stateside debut for trainer Ralph Beckett. The 4-year-old gelding most recently won the G3 September Stakes at Kempton. 

Will Walden-trained Minaret Station, second in the G1 Christophe Clement Turf last out, and Chad Brown-trained Program Trading, third in the Christophe Clement Turf, return for the Joe Hirsch.

Others in the field include 2025 G1 Sword Dancer winner El Cordobes for trainer Charlie Appleby, 2025 G2 Jockey Club Derby winner Ashbury Park for Brown, and graded winner Fort George for European-based trainer Ed Walker.

Joe Hirsch entries

7:40 pm – G1 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita

Bob Baffert trainee Nevada Beach makes his first start since a 12th-place finish in the G1 Saudi Cup in the 1 ⅛-mile Goodwood. The 4-year-old son of Omaha Beach won last year’s running of the Goodwood by 1 ½ lengths, earning a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic where he finished seventh. He rebounded to be beaten a nose by Nysos in the G2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes before his trip to Saudi Arabia in February. Juan Hernandez will ride from the outermost post.

Original Sin and Forged Steel return to California after finishing second and seventh, respectively, in last month’s G1 Pacific Classic. Brendan Walsh-trained Original Sin rallied from last to finish second, while Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Forged Steel faded after pressing the pace. 

Joseph also sends Caldera to Santa Anita. The 4-year-old son of Liam’s Map is on a three-race win streak. Two starts ago, he set the track record for a one-turn mile at Colonial Downs in a three-length allowance victory. In his next start, he broke his own track record in another one-turn mile allowance, covering the distance in 1:32.37 for a 2 ¾-length score. Paco Lopez rode last out and will ride at Santa Anita. 

Goodwood entries

We are in the midst of what I reckon is the strongest sales season in 20 years, perhaps longer.

As of Monday evening, the Keeneland yearling sale had grossed more than $462 million for 1,435 yearlings. That is an increase of 3.41 percent from last year when 1,495 horses had sold for $447 million. The average yearling price through the end of selling on Monday was $322,634, a rise of 7.73 percent from the average of $299,484 in 2025. The median ($225,000) was 12.5 percent higher than last year.

And last year’s sales were spectacular.

I would, in fact, date the current booming market from last year’s auctions of yearlings, which was notably buoyant through the September sale, and those boisterous figures have carried on increasing – sale to sale – to the present.

The current sales boom can be attributed to a couple of things, most notably the income accruing monthly and annually among the wealthiest tier of Americans, who have the extra funds to spend on luxury items like precocious young racers. The second point of upward pressure on the prices that they and all others who buy Thoroughbreds have to pay is the factor of diminishing supply.

The North American foal crop of Thoroughbreds is at a low point, the lowest in decades. From the largest foal crop in breed history, which was 51,296 in 1986 (per Jockey Club data), the long term trend of the breed has been toward smaller crops of foals, dropping into the 30 thousands in the 1990s and remaining there until 2009.

The global economic crisis and great recession had put immense downward pressure on owners and buyers, and breeders had no practical choice but to follow suit.

In 2010, the crop was 28,420, and the downward trend has continued year to year. In 2025, the projected total crop is 17,300, with about 1,300 of those from Canada and Puerto Rico. That figure puts us on a par with 1964, when 17,343 was the total crop of Thoroughbreds in North America.

So, have we gone 62 years into retrograde, and are the industry, the sport, and the breed doomed to extinction?

Not at all. If you have survived my data drop, courtesy of the Jockey Club, you might be surprised to know that the lower number of foals is a good thing.

More than a decade ago, I wrote (and numerous savvy breeders agreed) that the only path to financial stability and, especially, profitability in Thoroughbreds was to thin the herd. The breeders were at a point where culling a mare or two wasn’t going to make a difference; a reduction of 20 to 30 percent in the mare herd and resulting foals was needed to diminish the oversupply going to the sales annually.

The late John Greathouse was a strong supporter of this approach. He and many other breeders understood that the supply of racing prospects had to contract before prices could possibly go up across the board.

And, in terms of quality, fewer is not necessarily poorer. The value of most things, racehorses included, depends on the twin engines of demand and scarcity. If gold bars fell out of trees every fall, we’d make fences of the things.

Likewise, fewer is not necessarily lesser. Man o’ War came out of a crop of 1,680 foals in 1917; Citation was among 5,819 foals of 1945; and Damascus, In Reality, and Dr. Fager came from that crop of 17,343 foals from 1964.

If we get three foals with the quality of that trio in the crop of 2025, we don’t have to worry about the fans, the competition, the fun and excitement. The horses will provide everything that we need.

Flint’s unwavering belief in Hymn, a 4-year-old homebred for Chowhan’s Fleur de Lis Stable, finally produced the Grade 1 victory the majority owner and breeder had chased for more than three decades when he prevailed in the Aug. 29 Forego at Saratoga.

Chowhan, a native of Pakistan who came to the United States when he was 18, will always appreciate the bond that developed with a trainer who became much more like a family member.

“He was always very up front and sincere – breeding, broodmares, racing – whatever it was,” said Chowhan, 65. “Everyone has his ups and downs in this business. Actually, there are more downs than ups. Through all of that, I knew he had my best interests in his heart.”

Chowhan listened when Hymn failed to meet his $140,000 reserve at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale and Flint advised him to take the colt home. When Flint realized he was running out of time in his long fight with bladder cancer, he recommended Ron Moquett to Chowhan as his new trainer. When Flint pleaded with Chowhan to geld the underachieving Hymn, he and Moquett listened.

Well, that last one took some time since Flint, a winner of 3,551 races, had been so excited by the nearly black youngster from the start.

“I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but he thought the horse would really run,” said Chowhan, a hematologist and oncologist who lives with his wife, Noreen, on a small farm in Louisville.

Hymn really ran when he romped by four lengths in his debut at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 8, 2025. He was so impressive that Chowhan rejected hefty offers for a majority interest in the runner, instead taking on William Sparks and Bret Jones as minority partners with Moquett’s assistance.

But then Hymn showed himself to be less than heavenly. The colt turned into more of a puzzle than a prized prospect. Studdish. Overly aggressive. Mercurial. His obvious ability was overshadowed by bad boy behavior.

“We tried different things, changing the bit, blinkers on, blinkers off, shadow roll,” recalled Moquett.

Through it all, Flint insisted gelding was the only answer. For the longest time, that advice was rejected.

“I thought that in time he’d come around,” Moquett said. “I still think he might have, but we might have been training a 6-year-old.”

After breaking his maiden so impressively, hellish Hymn lost nine consecutive races – seven last year and two early this season – before the connections reluctantly agreed with Flint and the deed was done that made all the difference.

“It’s right there on paper,” Moquett said of Hymn’s transformation.

Hymn rattled off a three-race winning streak capped by the listed De Francis Dash Stakes on June 27 at Laurel Park, then placed second in the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course before Chowhan’s Grade 1 dream came true in the Forego.

“Bernie and I had a lot of success and a lot of excellent horses,” Chowhan said. “But one of the things I wanted to do before I got too old was to win a Grade 1 race. In 30 years of racing, I had not done that.”

Chowhan attended a wedding when the Forego was run and watched the seven-furlong contest with family and friends at what turned into a raucous reception hall. “We were all jumping up and down,” the physician said. He and Noreen have four grown children: Yaruk, 38; Sikander, 36; Rimsha, 32; and Salik, 26.

It was a wonderful, against-the-odds moment for someone who owns a handful of broodmares and has just three other runners in training, all with Moquett. The connections plan to turn out in force for Hymn’s expected next start, in the six-furlong Phoenix on Oct. 2 at Keeneland, home of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.

“This horse is just starting to show what he’s capable of,” Chowhan said.

The Phoenix offers an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The Forego ensured a fees-paid berth in the Dirt Mile.

Moquett knows what it is to oversee a crack sprinter. The gelded Whitmore made four Sprint appearances, ultimately taking home the top prize in 2020. He banked more than $4.5 million in purses.

The trainer emphasized the length of Hymn’s stride and is not ruling out the Dirt Mile. The Phoenix outcome and the direction others take will help shape their own decision. Either way, these are exciting times.

“These are days you get to show the ace of the barn and your help and show people what you can do under the right circumstances,” said Moquett.

Chowan will never forget Flint’s immense role in it all. “I hope he is looking upon us from heaven and is happy for us,” he said.

But researchers say that, currently, the science doesn’t support making that determination from an X-ray alone.

“I don’t think it is always benign, but I don’t think we have enough information yet to warrant euthanasia based on radiographs alone,” said Dr. Carrie Finno, professor of genetics at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “I think we need to figure out what it is that pushes some horses to have performance issues, and others to be fine.”

Finno is leading a Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation-funded project investigating the genetics behind the abnormality that was previously termed “TC6-7,” which stands for “transposition of the ventral lamina of C6 onto C7”. This project is a multi-institution project and includes investigators from UC Davis (Drs. Sarah LeJeune, Monica Aleman, and Mathieu Spriet), University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center (Dr. Amy Johnson), Colorado State University (Dr. Yvette Nout-Lomas), University of Wisconsin-Madison (Drs. Lauren Baker and Sabrina Brouts), and Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital (Dr. Steve Reed). 

Normally, C6 has two projections (laminae) extending from its underside that serve as attachment points for muscles and other soft tissues that stabilize the lower neck. In horses with TC6-7, one or both may be absent from C6 and instead appear on C7. The variation can occur on one or both sides, and it doesn’t look exactly the same in every horse.

The TC6-7 abnormality is also sometimes included under the term “equine complex vertebral malformation,” or ECVM, particularly on social media. Finno and Dr. Stephen Reed, an internationally respected equine neurologist at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, prefer the more specific TC6-7 terminology.

Reed said the term ECVM draws a comparison with complex vertebral malformation in Holstein cattle, a genetic disorder associated with multiple abnormalities and early death. The equine abnormality is very different, Reed said, and has been documented across multiple breeds, including in horses performing successfully.

Finno’s project could help determine whether a genetic relationship exists between the equine abnormality and the disorder in cattle. But it could also help answer a more practical question: What does finding a TC6-7 abnormality actually mean for a horse?

So far, research hasn’t produced a consistent answer.

A 2024 Colorado State University study of 135 horses undergoing cervical radiographs found the TC6-7 abnormality in 20 percent of the study population. Horses with neck pain were more likely to have the finding, but researchers found no significant association with neurologic disease, cervical orthopedic disease, or lameness.

Other studies have found no association between the abnormality and clinical signs. One study of 377 Warmbloods found C6-C7 variations in 28.6 percent of horses and, notably, found them more frequently in horses without clinical signs than in horses presented with clinical problems. A separate study of 223 Warmbloods found no association between C6-C7 abnormalities and neurologic signs, neck pain or stiffness, or neck-related forelimb lameness.

A study published this year looked at performance instead. Researchers reviewed radiographs and competition records from 200 clinically sound Warmblood sport horses presented for prepurchase examinations. Thirty percent had the abnormality, but researchers found no significant association between the abnormality and competition results.

Reed said he sees plenty of horses with the abnormality that are doing well. On the day he spoke with the Paulick Report, he had examined three horses with the TC6-7 abnormality, all of which were performing successfully.

“My immediate comment is, ‘I am okay with this,’” Reed said. “It does not bother me.”

That doesn’t mean he ignores the finding; Reed tells owners about research that found the abnormality more frequently in horses with neck pain, and he considers it alongside the horse’s clinical presentation and performance.

Reed is particularly interested in whether it matters if the abnormality occurs on just one side. Because muscles attach in the area, Reed wonders whether that asymmetry could change the forces on the vertebrae and contribute to neck pain. For now, that’s a theory, not an established consequence of the TC6-7 abnormality.

This specific abnormality also shouldn’t be confused with cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy, a neurologic condition commonly known as wobblers syndrome. A horse can have both, Reed said, but having the TC6-7 abnormality doesn’t mean a horse is a wobbler.

“Not every wobbler has this, and not every horse with this is a wobbler,” Reed said.

The distinction matters when an X-ray is being used to make decisions about a horse’s future.

The Equine Spine Initiative, a multidisciplinary group that includes veterinary specialists in neurology, surgery, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, and sports medicine, has issued a position statement cautioning against making irreversible decisions based solely on radiographs.

“The organization does not support making irreversible clinical decisions, including euthanasia, based solely on radiographic screening findings suggestive of ‘ECVM,’” the group states. The organization notes that ECVM encompasses a variety of congenital abnormalities whose short- and long-term consequences aren’t fully understood. 

In other words, an X-ray is one piece of the puzzle.

“You’ve got to look at the whole horse,” Reed said. “You’ve got to look at the clinical side. You’ve got to do proper diagnostics. You need to know more.”

That’s also where Finno’s genetics work could help.

Her immediate goal is to identify genetic variants associated with the TC6-7 abnormality. Researchers have collected DNA and detailed imaging from horses across the country, separating them by the anatomy they display. For example, horses with both ventral laminae absent from C6 and transposed onto C7 are considered separately from horses with unilateral or less complete variations.

If Finno’s team can identify a reliable genetic marker, testing for the abnormality could eventually become much easier. Right now, studying the lower cervical spine requires extensive radiographs, including angled views generally taken at a veterinary clinic. A genetic test would allow researchers to screen much larger populations using DNA samples.

That’s important because one of the biggest unanswered questions is how common the TC6-7 abnormality is among horses that are doing their jobs without a problem.

Finno said researchers could, for example, use DNA to test large numbers of successful show jumping or dressage horses without bringing them into a clinic for cervical radiographs.

“If it’s 30 percent in these horses and they’re doing well, then this [anomaly] alone isn’t necessarily the problem,” Finno said.

A genetic test could eventually have other uses, including screening or informing breeding decisions. But first, Finno said, researchers need to understand what the genetics mean and what relationship, if any, the TC6-7 abnormality actually has with clinical signs.

For now, the presence of this abnormality is one piece of information about a horse, not a prognosis on its own. Reed doesn’t want owners to ignore the finding, but he also doesn’t want them to assume it means a horse can’t have a normal athletic life.

“Most of these horses that have this transposition are totally fine,” he said.

Nowhere has this been more clear in Pennsylvania than with the exciting sophomore Shane’s Wonder, who has gone unbeaten in three starts in his home state in 2026, and leads all 3-year-olds by combined Pennsylvania incentive earnings with $112,500 through July 31. The son of Eastwood holds the advantage over second-place Ponder and Dream, with $90,520.

A homebred for Uptowncharlybrown Stud and trained by Alfredo Velazquez, Shane’s Wonder didn’t debut until February of his 3-year-old season, but he wasted no time establishing his dominance among his state-bred peers once he got in the starting gate.

That started with a six-furlong maiden special weight for Pennsylvania-breds at Parx Racing on Feb. 17, when Shane’s Wonder cleared the field early and never looked back, on his way to an 11 1/2-length score under jockey Eliseo Ruiz.

Shane’s Wonder returned to the Parx entries on March 25 for a 6 1/2 allowance optional claiming race, facing 3-year-olds born in any state, and it was more of the same. Ruiz got Shane’s Wonder out early, and he led at every call, crossing the finish three lengths ahead of the runner-up as the post time favorite.

With two convincing victories on his resume, Shane’s Wonder faced just three challengers in the Wait For It Stakes, a six-furlong sprint at Parx on April 22, and he left the gate as the betting public’s overwhelming choice in his stakes debut. It was the correct call, with Ruiz and Shane’s Wonder once again going wire-to-wire to pull away by 4 1/2 lengths at the finish line.

Though they didn’t count toward his Pennsylvania incentive earnings, Shane’s Wonder has continued to run at a high level as he’s taken his show on the road, starting with a runner-up effort in the listed Chick Lang Stakes on May 16 at Laurel Park, where he set the early fractions, and ran willingly to hold on to second place.

He got back on the winning foot in his most recent start, dominating a six-furlong allowance optional claiming field by four lengths on July 29 at Delaware Park. In total, Shane’s Wonder has won four of five starts and earned $176,250.

Because Shane’s Wonder is both a Pennsylvania-bred and Pennsylvania-sired runner, he is eligible for a 40 percent breeders’ award bonus on purse earnings from races within the state.

For his three wins at Parx, that has meant a $44,400 bonus for breeder Uptowncharlybrown Stud.

The same operation earned an additional $12,000 in owner bonuses. As a Pennsylvania-bred and -sired runner, he was eligible for a 40 percent purse bonus on his overnight races for top three finishes at Parx.

Further adding to the spoils is the $11,100 that Shane’s Wonder has generated in stallion awards. His sire, Eastwood stands as property of Uptowncharlybrown Stud. Registered Pennsylvania-breds by a state-resident sire earn a 10 percent bonus on purse for the stallion owner for first-through-third efforts at tracks within the state.

Eastwood, a Grade 3-placed son of Speightstown, stood the 2026 breeding season at Mountain Springs Farm at Palmyra, Pa. Shane’s Wonder is Eastwood’s second-highest earner among Eastwood’s five crops of racing age, with his $176,250 trailing only stakes winner John Dutton at $350,982.

Those bonuses, paired with the $45,000 that Shane’s Wonder earned for winning the state-restricted Wait For It Stakes, brought his total Pennsylvania incentive earnings on the year to $112,500. Because the Uptowncharlybrown Stud operation of Bob Hutt, owns and bred Shane’s Wonder, and stands his sire within the Keystone State, they reap the full benefits of that total.

Shane’s Wonder is out of the stakes-placed First Defence mare One Fast Chick, who was purchased by Uptowncharlybrown Stud ahead of her broodmare career. One Fast Chick is the dam of three winners from five foals to race, with Shane’s Wonder being her first black type earner.

His extended family is highlighted by Crabs N Beer, a Grade 3-placed runner, along with stakes winners I’m Hit Sarge, You the Man, and Beautiful Blome.

Leading 3-Year-Old Pennsylvania Incentive Earners Of 2026, Through July 31

The instruments of the SRIF’s demise are proposed rule changes to the USTA’s bylaws that are couched in the language of the Enlightenment but designed to neuter the SRIF’s investigators. The first change is intended to limit the “records and information” that the USTA can ask its members to produce as part of an investigation “relative to the breeding, veterinary care, registration, ownership and/or transfer of a horse or stallion syndicate share, as well as records and information relative to the administration of approved or unapproved medication to a Standardbred horse or possession or purchase of approved or unapproved medication.” Fair enough, right? No one wants investigators to engage in what the law calls a “fishing expedition.”

But who gets to decide what’s a legitimate request for “records and information” and what is a fishing expedition? What happens, in other words, when SRIF asks for bank records as part of an investigation and a USTA member doesn’t want to produce them? That’s where the second proposed rule change comes in. The second proposed change would quietly take power away from USTA President Russell Williams and other USTA executives who support a strong SRIF, and hand it over to allies of USTA Chairman Joe Faraldo, the leader of the criminal defense attorney wing of the USTA. This second proposal comes to members like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, all dressed up in due process but signaling an end to SRIF’s effective days.  

When SRIF investigated owner/trainer Nick Surick and Diamond Creek’s Adam Bowden and others for hidden transfers last spring, an ad-hoc USTA committee oversaw the SRIF’s work. Now, a three-person committee, which includes widely-respected USTA employee TC Lane, decides at the outset whether SRIF’s requests for “records and information” are appropriate. That’s one layer of due process. Then, if Lane and company approve the initial request, SRIF undertakes the investigation and comes up with a report, which then goes for review before another committee, led by USTA District 1 director Steve McCoy, who is also an attorney and a former Ohio Harness Horseman Association president. So that’s two layers of due process. 

And if a USTA member is recommended for sanctions, that member can appeal the sanctions to the USTA”s executive committee. That committee has already softened sanctions imposed by USTA President Williams. So that’s a third layer of due process protections under the current rules – and more protection for USTA members than existed when SRIF was founded a few years ago. That fairness includes the presumption that even USTA insiders, including maybe even USTA directors, will be investigated by SRIF if there are reasons for such an investigation. Due process doesn’t just mean having notice of the allegations against you; it also means an equal application of the law and not a special set of rules for the connected.

The official sponsor of the proposed rule changes is Michael Torcello, a lawyer, horseman, and a director in USTA District 8, which is the very district that has blocked the USTA from continuing to pursue its investigation into Standardbred owner/trainer Nick DeVita. Torcello represents DeVita in the SRIF case, which is akin to his being both a defense attorney and an FBI official in a federal law enforcement investigation. It’s a mind-blowing conflict of interest that, for some reason, the USTA tolerates. In any event, Torcello already has succeeded in blocking SRIF’s probe of DeVita without the proposed new rules being in place, which is about as good an argument against the proposed new rules as anyone is going to make.

What Torcello’s proposal would do is replace the current committee that oversees SRIF, a committee chosen by USTA President Williams, with a committee consisting of 13 members chosen from each USTA district that does not include TC Lane or any other USTA staff as a voting member. Which committee do you think is more likely to efficiently oversee SRIF? A three-person committee or a 13-member committee? Which committee do you think is going to be more susceptible to political pressure from within the USTA? Which committee is more likely to halt an investigation? And what happens if and when SRIF wants to investigate a USTA director over an alleged violation? Who’s going to stick up for the investigators then?  

Here’s how Torcello and his allies are framing the question. “These proposals strike a reasonable balance between two important USTA responsibilities: the responsibility to investigate potential violations effectively and the responsibility to administer its rules fairly and consistently. Establishing these procedures in the USTA Rules provides greater predictability for investigators, the Investigative Committee, the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, and members who become the subject of an investigation. Clear procedures reduce uncertainty, help ensure consistency from one investigation to another, and strengthen confidence in the integrity of the investigative and disciplinary process.”

We’ve already seen how this all works. If you aren’t a USTA insider – say, if you are Diamond Creek’s Adam Bowden or owner/breeder Eric Cherry – then you will be subject to sanctions as a result of a SRIF investigation. But if you are a USTA insider – say, if you are owner/trainer Nicholas DeVita – a USTA director and your district may come and rescue you from the clutches of SRIF. What the proposed rule change would do is make it easier for the cronies and lackeys among the USTA’s directorship to protect their friends from SRIF investigation while permitting SRIF investigations against others in harness racing. I’ve seen some cynical things in my decades as a legal analyst. I have rarely seen a scheme as cynical as this. 

I reached out to Carson Morris, an attorney who spearheads SRIF’s work. “The proposals regarding the USTA’s ability to open and conduct investigations appear similarly intended to prevent and obstruct the Association’s ability to uncover misconduct in the Standardbred industry,” Morris told me on Monday. “Of significant concern is the discouraging effect they would have on sources coming forward to report suspected misconduct. Sources have regularly feared reprisal for speaking out against the misconduct they’ve encountered in the industry, which typically involves members of a close-knit racing community, including legitimate fear of violence. These sources would not come forward under the system proposed by the current rules. … The proposals can only be understood as intending to make it as difficult as possible for the USTA to investigate violations of its own rules.” 

More from Morris: “When it comes to adjudications, the proposed rule is an unnecessary solution looking for a nonexistent problem. Indeed, the proposal would create far more problems for the USTA than it would solve. As I read the proposed rule, a member facing a possible sanction would have the right to three full hearings: one before the 13-member ‘Investigative Committee,’ another before the USTA’s Executive Committee, and a third before the full Board of Directors. It then makes these findings ‘subject to judicial review,’ meaning the USTA would be authorizing its members to sue the Association over the sanction. It would be institutional mismanagement for the USTA to do that.”

There are smart people within Standardbred racing who say the USTA should get out of the investigation business altogether and if we lived in a better world that would be a strong argument. An industry that regulates itself is never truly a regulated industry, right? But the world of harness racing today is a largely lawless one. It is not competently regulated by anyone. It is no longer even debatable that state racing commissions cannot or will not aggressively enforce the rules and now this cabal within the USTA wants to neuter the USTA’s effort to step into the breach after the SRIF dared to investigate a certain USTA member. It’s a form of immunity for USTA’s insiders that ought to embarrass the people suggesting it.

As I have written before, I am not opposed to reforming the SRIF. I am not opposed to making sure that the subjects of USTA investigations are given “fundamental fairness” in their cases. But I am opposed to the sly pretense of having a SRIF in theory but a defanged SRIF in practice. If that’s the case, the USTA should candidly admit defeat, kill off SRIF entirely, and sadly live with the fact that there will be a whole range of USTA infractions (like hidden ownership or illegal transfers) that are beyond its political ability or willingness to regulate. Either way, approving this proposal will be another win for the defense attorney wing of the USTA at the expense of USTA members who want to see what few rules exist to be well enforced.

Notes

Expect to hear more about the Jose Silva, Jr. case in the coming days. When we last left the Canterbury Park saga, the track’s board of stewards had summarily suspended the Thoroughbred trainer after the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority cited him with violations relating to an attempted search of Silva’s recreational vehicle. I reached out on Friday to the Minnesota Racing Commission, which told me it could not comment on a pending investigation. On Friday, I reached out to HISA and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, and they also told me they could not comment on a pending investigation. That can only mean a few things, one of which is that there will soon be developments in the case.

Behold, the Meadowlands Trot. A lot of people in harness racing came together in the last month to help The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J., rebound from losing the sport’s most important race, the Hambletonian, to Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind. The result, including a new $1 million race next July called The Meadowlands Trot, is precisely what Standardbred racing in New Jersey needed. Jeff Gural, the owner and operator of the Big M, deserves credit for rallying after losing the Hambletonian. The Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey deserves credit for working with Gural on the project and the Hambletonian Society, which took the Hambo out of New Jersey, deserves credit for working with both Gural and the SBOANJ to make this new July card happen. Well done, all of you.

Burke v. Williams. As if Russell Williams doesn’t have enough to worry about (see above), last week brought news that trainer Ron Burke, a member of harness racing’s Hall of Fame and the sport’s perennial leader in purse money earned and horses started, is running against Williams for a seat on the USTA’s board of directors. “Just felt it was my time to help,” Burke told me on Friday when I asked him what motivated him to run for what many reasonable people would consider a thankless job. It sets up a fascinating contrast – a breeder (Wiliams) versus a trainer (Burke). A USTA stalwart (Williams) versus a fresh face (Burke). And if Burke prevails, it turns Williams into a lame-duck president of the USTA, which benefits Faraldo and the anti-integrity crowd there.

If Burke is running to oppose Faraldo’s takeover of the USTA, I am all for his candidacy. If he is running to stymie the USTA’s investigative fund or otherwise limit racing integrity investigations in harness racing, I am not. Burke says he is running to “move forward,” but I don’t know what that means and no one else does, either. If he wants to convince USTA members to vote for him, not Williams, I think he should take a few minutes and explain why an incredibly busy horseman, with horses racing virtually every day at tracks across the U.S. and Canada, would want to spend hours in endless USTA meetings. Where does Burke stand on HISA? Where does he stand on SRIF? What does he want to change about the USTA? He should tell us.

One f-cking day. Every week brings a new story about the flailing, failing state racing commission system that HISA was designed to override. This week’s story comes from Colorado, from Arapahoe Park, where state investigators searched Thoroughbred trainer Mark Hibdon’s barn on the second-to-last day of the meet last month. Here’s how Paulick Report’s Lillian Davis wrote it up: An “investigator discovered a ‘hypodermic syringe capable of accepting a hypodermic needle’ in his barn and an injectable corticosteroid without a prescription label allegedly belonging to Calixtro D. Marroquin Orantes, who lived in the barn’s tack room. The settlement stipulation and agreement states that Hibdon was responsible for the syringe and injectable corticosteroid as the ‘absolute insurer of the barn.’” Hibdon received a one-day suspension.

More from Davis: “Hibdon was allowed to run three starters in races at Arapahoe Park on Aug. 15, when the card ended early due to weather. Stewards scratched Hibdon’s 10 entries on Aug. 16, including two in the $50,000 Gold Rush Futurity.” I have questions. Why didn’t the suspension begin on Aug. 15? Why didn’t it extend beyond the end of the meet? Why did the search of Hibdon’s barn take place on the next-to-last day of the meet? I reached out to the Colorado Division of Racing Events to try to get answers to these questions. The response came quickly: “As a regulatory matter, the Division does not comment on investigations.” So add the Hibdon case to the endless list of baffling state racing commission acts or omissions.

Someone needs to hire Matt Hegarty. Let me add my voice to the chorus within the journalism community in horse racing expressing dismay at the news that the Daily Racing Form has laid off Matt Hegarty. Regular Keeping Pace readers know that I frequently cited Hegarty’s good work covering integrity issues in Thoroughbred racing. His reports were consistently accurate and full of important detail. Thoroughbred Daily News’ Bill Finley had a good piece on the latest round of DRF layoffs and he’s right to point out they are part of yet another shitty gutting of journalism in the name of private equity firm profits. “The path the DRF is taking is pretty clear.” Finley writes. “Within a few years, it is entirely possible that the paper/website will have no editorial coverage and exist for the sole purpose of selling past performances and other data.”

Trip Advisor. Paulick Report editor Chelsea Hackbarth’s had a sensible reaction to the news that the travel website Trip Advisor is telling people that horse racing doesn’t meet its animal welfare standards.“I understand why people inside racing are angry about Tripadvisor’s decision. I also understand what someone outside the sport sees,” she wrote. “They see horses injured and sometimes killed while participating in an activity that exists, ultimately, for human entertainment. We can explain all the work that goes into preventing those injuries. We can explain that horses can suffer catastrophic injuries in a pasture, too. We can explain that the people caring for these horses overwhelmingly love them. None of those things makes the risk disappear.”

I reached out twice to Trip Advisor last week to get an explanation for its position. I want to better understand how executives came to this conclusion, what evidence they relied on in forming their views, that sort of thing. I did not get a response. It’s one thing to throw a grenade onto an industry and tag it the way Trip Advisor has done. It’s another thing to fail or refuse to explain or justify why you did it. The latter undermines the former. It makes Trip Advisor look like it doesn’t want to take the time to explain itself, which makes Trip Advisor look like it really didn’t give the “animal welfare” tag a great deal of thought. If I ever hear back from the company, or if anyone has seen any public defense of this new advisory, please let me know.

Her suffering became so severe that she could not go on another day. She filled a backpack and essentially fled the scene, purchasing a one-way plane ticket from Atlanta to Belize in the autumn of 2017.

“I had no plans,” she said. “I was not in a good place mentally and wanted to figure out what I wanted to do.”

She stayed in hostels in Central and South America, spent time with some connections she made and became involved in a workaways program in which people agree to work a specified number of hours in exchange for room and board.

All the while, she pondered her future. She had grown up on a horse farm in one-stoplight Floyd, Va., and had always been passionate about horses. She had extensive experience as a groom, including a stint with Stephen Bradley, an event rider who represented the United States in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She also had worked as a nanny, caring for the children of a number of Olympic event riders.

Eight months into her journey to no place in particular, Watts was sitting on a porch in Santiago, Chile, when she overheard a conversation about nurse mares. She searched for her calling no longer.

She returned to the United States and rejected the advice of many when she established Cold Spring Nurse Mares, LLC in the fall of 2018 with the plan of providing hormonally-induced nurse mares to orphaned foals. She was told the science existed for humans but not horses.

“Anybody who really knows me knows I’m a stubborn person. If you tell me, ‘No, something can’t be done,’ that’s just the motivation I need to try it,” Watts said. “I wasn’t willing to fold my cards on it because I was sitting there reading article after article about how they are doing it for women. Why can’t we apply this to an industry that needs it?”

Despite naysayers, Watts was so successful that she recently received the Dr. J. David Richardson Industry Service Award from the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Her acceptance was so riveting that it prompted a standing ovation.

Carrie Brogden, founder of Machmer Hall Sales in Lexington, was among those applauding. She said of the game-changing role Watts played, “The fact that we can have hormonally-induced nurse mares is amazing. She was the cutting-edge part of it.”

Brogden said of the Richardson Award, “You want to make sure you get recognition of people who changed the game, the industry, and the lives of horses in a positive way. The hormonally-induced nurse mare farms should be commended for solving a massive problem.”

According to Watts, Cold Spring mares lactate at a 98 percent success rate. They have tended to nearly 500 orphaned foals in eight years.

Mares that have aged out of the broodmare phase of their lives – usually at 20 or so – are donated by clients. Much of Cold Spring’s success is owed to Watts’ determination to find the right mares for the life-saving roles they play.  

“I’m really, really particular about my mares. We don’t take mares who have personality disorders,” Watts said. “I want high-quality, easy-to-handle, good-tempered mares. I’m not taking her just because it’s a mare. I have a pretty strict vetting process I go through in order to add a mare to our program.”

Cold Spring, based near Ocala in Citra, Fla., has anywhere from 40-50 mares ready for duty. “We have mares that are 25, 26, 27 years old that are out there and they are healthy and raising babies and they do a superb job,” said Watts. “A good broodmare loves to raise babies. They love it.

“My mares drag me off the trailer when they know they are going to an orphan foal. I could literally unsnap the shank and let them walk down the shedrow to find the baby, and they will find that baby.”

Watts, 41, is a one-woman team, and it is not easy. She becomes emotional when she describes the staunch support from Brogden, John Greathouse of Glencrest Farm, Jamie McDiarmid of Audley Farm, and David O’Farrell of Ocala Stud. They have been invaluable.

Cold Spring received non-profit status last year in an effort to generate much-needed funds to maintain a first-class operation since lease fees alone are not enough.

“Our operational costs are enormous. I’m not willing to do it any other way,” Watts said. “I’m not willing to take shortcuts and not feed the mares appropriately. I’m not willing to do any of that.”

The mares are provided a forever home even when they are no longer able to assist orphans. Doing the right thing, of course, comes at a steep price.

Watts appreciates receiving the Richardson Award for reasons that have nothing to do with her ego and everything to do with her great cause.

“It was an opportunity to showcase the mission, to showcase that we’re doing it and we’re doing it the right way, but it ain’t cheap,” she said, hoping that standing ovation translates into desperately needed dollars.

Gulfstream Park
–Mohamed Moubarak’s Reza may have been an RNA at the Ocala Breeders 2-year-olds-in-training sale in April, but he got all the money with the utmost of ease in his debut Saturday.

The Tale of Silence gelding, who failed to reach his $120,000 RNA, proved to be worth the asking price and more with an explosive eight-length victory in Sunday’s first race, a five-furlong maiden special weight race for juveniles on Tapeta.

“He breezed 9-and-4 at the sale. We tried to pinhook him, me and my dad, but we didn’t get the money we thought he deserved, so we brought him back to the barn,” said trainer Tareq Moubarak, the owner’s son. “He’s been training good. He needed some time after the sale. He’s always shown that quick speed.”

Reza ($17.40) settled in the back of the field that was scratched down to five on the backstretch before swooping into contention with a five-wide move on the far turn under Leonel Reyes. He continued on to jet past odds-on favorite Coralline in mid-stretch and draw away to an eye-catching score without the need of encouragement.

The Kentucky-bred gelding, who was purchased as a yearling for $22,000 at the 2025 Keeneland September sale, ran five furlongs in 56.75 seconds in the race that was originally scheduled to be run on turf.

“To be honest, I wanted to run on the turf. My dad owns him and he said to keep him in. We did what the old man said, and it worked out,” Moubarak said.

Reza’s sire Tale of Silence, a Charles Fipke homebred who stands in Ontario for $2500 Canadian, was a Grade 3 winner who finished second in the 2019 Gulfstream Mile (G2). The son of Tale of the Cat is out of the Japanese-bred Sunday Silence mare Silence Beauty, who was winless in three starts in Ireland for trainer Aidan O’Brien after bringing $1 million at the 1998 Keeneland July sale.

Reza is out of Pleasant Orb, a Fipke-bred daughter of Orb who broke her maiden at Gulfstream in 2000 before finishing second two starts later in the Acorn (G1) at Belmont and being retired following one more race.

The Moubaraks will consider their options for Reza’s next start.

“We’ll see how he comes out of this and go from there.” The younger Moubarak said.

–Summer Wind Equine LLC’s Scottish Lass, a 2-year-old daughter of McKinzie, won at first asking in Race 8, a six-furlong maiden special weight for fillies. Scottish Lass, the even-money favorite in a field of six, pressed the pace set by Practical Bling before taking the lead turning for home and continuing on to score by 1¾ lengths under Rasheed Hughes.

The homebred filly is out of Grade 3 stakes winner Tapicat, who broke her maiden at Gulfstream in 2012 for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained filly ran six furlongs in 1:12.19.–Gulfstream Media Relations

Laurel Park
–Trainer Hugh McMahon, who won two races last Sunday, captured two more on Saturday’s card. He saddled Biker Baley ($3.80), Toledo’s first winner this afternoon, to a dominant victory in the fourth race, then took the finale with Boujee Bubblez ($7) and jockey Charlie Marquez.

–At M&T Bank Stadium on September 10, Brittany Russell was honored by the Baltimore Business Journal as one of the 2026 “40 Under 40” winners. The awards highlight 40 exceptional young professionals in the Greater Baltimore business community.–Dan Illman/Maryland Jockey Club

Los Alamitos
–Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert unveiled another promising rookie Friday at at the Orange County, Calif. trac when heavily favored Mystic Ride won the $50,000 opener for 2-year-old maidens.

His owners – Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman – hope the son of Mystic Guide can follow in the footsteps of the two firsters Baffert won with during the Los Angeles County Fair meet earlier this year.

Rabeeba, who graduated in her bow June 19, went on to win an allowance race at Del Mar before capturing the Torrey Pines (G3) earlier this month. Two days after Rabeeba’s successful debut, Hughes clicked impressively, then won the Best Pal (g3) and Del Mar Futurity(G1).

The $425,000 purchase at the 2025 Keeneland September sale did what he was expected to do Friday, leading throughout and winning by 4¼ lengths while geared down approaching the finish.

Out of the Honor Glide mare Dream Ride, Mystic Ride completed six furlongs in 1:10.64 under jockey Ricky Gonzalez. The win was worth $30,000 and the 1-2 choice paid $3 to win.

Magic Wave, Mystic Ride’s closest pursuer the entire way, finished second in his career bow for trainer Hector Palma.

Magic Wave finished 3½ lengths in front of Curlin Tornado in third.

Bid and Gallant Jack, the 2-1 second choice, completed the order of finish.–Bob Mieszerski/Los Alamitos

Remington Park
–Jockey Richard Eramia arrived in North America in 2005 from South America where he was ridingin Uruguay and won his first race at the Oklahoma City track on Aug. 8, 2006 aboard Crowning Victory for trainer Chris Hartman. On Friday night, Eramia reached a milestone, winning his 600th Remington race.

Eramia won Race 3 aboard Cat Gamer for trainer Justin Evans, which seemed apropos since the Evans family and the Hartmans (Chris and Alex) are great friends.

Eramia took Cat Gamer gate to wire in the 6-1/2 furlong sprint on the main track for owners Stan Munro and Austin Evans of El Paso, Texas. Cat Gamer, a 7-year-old California-bred gelding by Cat Burglar, out of the Game Plan mare Lady Gamer, won the race by 2-1/4 lengths at 4-1 odds. He paid $10.40 to win when covering the sprint distance in 1:17.51.

Eramia is a multiple graded stakes-winning jockey. He currently sits No. 10 on the all-time Remington Park list for jockeys’ wins. His career record, according to Equibase statistics, is 18,214 mounts, 2,831 wins, 2,645 seconds and 2,430 thirds with nearly $65 million in horse earnings.–Dale Day/Remington Park

First post is 10:35 a.m. Eastern, with stakes racing getting underway in race 7, the Philly Special Stakes for older fillies and mares going one mile and 70 yards, followed by the 6 ½-furlong Stable Recovery Stakes in race 8. Fillies and mare sprinters will go the same distance in the Liberty Bell Stakes, before marathoners take to the track for the 1 ½-mile Greenwood Cup. 

Brad Cox trainee Saudi Crown returns to the scene of his 2023 Pennsylvania Derby victory when he competes in the Parx Dirt Mile in race 11. A field of 12 sophomore sprinters have signed on for the G3 Gallant Bob in race 12. The 1 1/16-mile Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies and the 1 ⅛-mile Pennsylvania Derby for 3-year-olds are the 13th and 14th races, respectively.

Last year’s Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza will be in action on Friday for the opening day at the new Belmont Park. Trained by Bill Mott, Baeza will break from the rail for the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. 

Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., will host their biggest night of racing on Friday. Half of their 10-race card are stakes on their all-weather racing surface, highlighted by the G2 Presque Isle Downs Masters for fillies and mares sprinting 6 ½ furlongs. 

The seven-furlong G3 Dogwood Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the main track is the feature race at Churchill Downs on Saturday. Also on the card is the seven-furlong Harrods Creek Stakes for 3-year-olds and the 1 1/16-mile Seneca Overnight for 3-year-old fillies, both on the main track.

Friday

4:14 pm – G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park

Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young leads the field for the Jockey Club Gold Cup on opening day at Belmont Park. The Yoshito Yahagi trainee will be making his first start since a runner-up effort in the G1 Dubai World Cup in March. The 5-year-old son of Real Steel will have regular rider Ryusei Sakai aboard from the outermost post. 

Bill Mott trainee Baeza will try to win his first race since last year’s Pennsylvania Derby in the Gold Cup. The 4-year-old will race without blinkers for the first time since his debut when he breaks from the rail with Junior Alvarado aboard. 

Two-time G2 Suburban Stakes winner Phileas Fogg, graded stakes winner Stars and Stripes, and 2025 Kentucky Derby 17th-place finisher Render Judgment complete the field. 

Jockey Club Gold Cup entries

Saturday

4:58 pm – G1 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing

G1 Coaching Club American Oaks participants Always a Runner, Measure, and Zany head to Parx for the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion. Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner is the 8-5 morning line favorite in the nine-horse field after runner-up efforts in the CCA Oaks and the G1 Acorn. The Chad Brown trainee will again be ridden by Jose Ortiz. 

Measure and Zany finished third and fourth, respectively in the CCA Oaks. Measure, trained by Mark Casse, was beaten only a neck in the G1 Alabama in her next start and seeks her first graded stakes victory. Zany, the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, tries to win her first race since the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February for trainer Todd Pletcher.

The field also includes last-out stakes winners My Miss Mo, Tap to Open, and Iron Orchard.

Cotillion entries

5:48 pm – G1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing

Beaten Kentucky Derby favorite Further Ado looks to add a second G1 to his resume in the 1 ⅛-mile Pennsylvania Derby. The Brad Cox trainee exits a fifth-place finish in the G1 Haskell, where he lost a shoe. Flavien Prat will be aboard for the first time.

Iron Honor and The Puma, the third- and fourth-place finishers in the Haskell, also head to Parx for the Pennsylvania Derby. Chad Brown-trained Iron Honor is unraced since, while The Puma finished fourth in the G1 Travers in his last start. 

Our Moneyman carries his G3 Indiana Derby form into the Pennsylvania Derby. The Bret Calhoun trainee was second by a neck to eventual G1 Travers winner Leading Change in the Indiana Derby last out.

The 11-horse field also includes last-out stakes winners Zihnal, Igniter, and Micanopy.

Pennsylvania Derby entries

Literally.

Uncle Mo was a massive individual. He was such a progressive and well-developed juvenile that he was literally, as well as figuratively, head and shoulders above his competition at two, when he was unbeaten in three starts in 2010: a maiden special at Saratoga in late August, the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 9, and then the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

Such a campaign made Uncle Mo the leader of his division but also marked him as the leading prospect for the following year’s classic. However, a health scare over the winter led to a slightly delayed preparation, and the colt reappeared at three to win the listed Timely Writer Stakes at Gulfstream on Mar. 12.

In the G1 Wood Memorial on April 9, Uncle Mo was beaten for the first time, when he finished third in the nine-furlong classic prep behind Toby’s Corner (Bellamy Road). Neither the winner nor the odds-on favorite Uncle Mo advanced to race at Churchill Downs for the classic on the first Saturday in May.

In fact, Toby’s Corner didn’t race again until 2012, but Uncle Mo returned to race more than four months later at Saratoga in the G1 King’s Bishop Stakes at seven furlongs on Aug. 29. He ran a cracking race to finish second, a nose behind Caleb’s Posse (Posse), and both earned high speed figures for the fast time performance.

Uncle Mo earned another towering speed figure when he returned on Oct. 1 to win the G2 Kelso Handicap, with a time of 1:33.82 for the mile. After the colt raced in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5, he was retired to stud at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky and began the second phase of his career in the spring of 2012.

If anything, Uncle Mo was even more successful as a stallion than he had been as a racehorse. And his second career began much the same way; Uncle Mo was the leading freshman sire of 2015 with his first crop of racers, and the star of the group was the unbeaten Nyquist, who won each of his five starts at two, including the G1 Del Mar Futurity and then the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile like his sire.

Uncle Mo couldn’t have been hotter if he had been on fire.

Nyquist continued unbeaten through the G1 Kentucky Derby of 2016, which ran the colt’s winning streak to eight. After the Derby, I remarked that I had never seen such an exhausted victor, and the colt’s form never recovered. He trained off after a third in the G1 Preakness Stakes and was unplaced in his two subsequent starts, the G1 Haskell and G2 Pennsylvania Derby.

Although Uncle Mo has not sired another Triple Crown race winner, he has averaged slightly more than 10 stakes winners per crop from a dozen crops of racing age, with 126 stakes winners to date. Among the latest of these is Salahudin, who won the G3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 12. Racing the mile in 1:36.54 over a fast track, Salahudin won by a half-length over He is No Lie (Early Voting).

Now unbeaten in three starts, Salahudin earlier won the listed Ellis Park Juvenile and has career earnings of $392,172. Bred in Kentucky by Newstead Corp., Salahudin was bought back at $190,000 at the 2025 Keeneland September yearling sale, then sold for $325,000 a month later at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling auction.

The buyer was Zedan Racing, who now has a progressive colt with a lot of classic connections, especially through the dam line of Salahudin. The Iroquois winner is the second stakes winner out of Weekend Strike (Smart Strike), and the colt’s second dam is Weekend Storm (Storm Bird).

The latter is a full sister to the high-class colt Summer Squall. He was unbeaten at two from five starts in a campaign that began in April at Keeneland but ended in August with the G1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.

The following season, Summer Squall proved to be the nemesis to champion Unbridled (Fappiano). Summer Squall won the Blue Grass at his beloved Keeneland racecourse, then lost the Kentucky Derby to Fappiano’s finest son. But two weeks later, Summer Squall came roaring back and won the G1 Preakness over Unbridled.

Summer Squall proved to be an important sire during his term at Lane’s End, where he sired Horse of the Year and classic winner Charismatic. His full sister, Weekend Storm, didn’t produce a classic winner, but she did foal four stakes winners and three stakes-placed runners. The most notable of these was Court Vision, winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile and four other G1 races.

Summer Squall was one of the two classic winners from the third dam of Salahudin. That mare is the legendary Weekend Surprise, one of the most notable daughters of Triple Crown winner Secretariat (Bold Ruler). A graded stakes winner herself, Weekend Surprise produced four stakes winners, including Horse of the Year, classic winner, and classic sire A.P. Indy, who was a son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning).

If Salahudin should make the necessary progress into his 3-year-old season, and if he should be lucky enough on the greatest day of days, a bit of classic karma for this family and for Uncle Mo too would make the experience even more extraordinary.

The immediate draw on this page is the sire, Not This Time, who sits atop North America’s general sire list, poised to be the horse to end Into Mischief’s seven-year reign at the top of the list.

Not This Time is responsible for a pair of Eclipse Award winners, Epicenter and Up to the Mark, who have both retired to stud at major Kentucky farms. Those two are at the head of a fast-growing market for sons of Not This Time to fill stalls in Kentucky that also includes Cogburn and Goal Oriented, with Grade 1 winner Magnitude committed to join them in the Bluegrass State at the end of his career. With a pedigree like his, graded success on the racetrack would leave Hip 1009 poised to join that conversation.

But the owner of a Not This Time colt stands to have plenty of fun on the racetrack before the stud barn potentially calls. The son of Giant’s Causeway has sired 14 Grade 1 winners, and 40 total graded/group stakes winners.

Ten percent of his foals of racing age are stakes winners, which ties him with the mighty Into Mischief for the highest percentage among the veteran sires in the six-figure stud fee fraternity, topping Constitution, Curlin, Good Magic, Gun Runner, Justify, Nyquist, Quality Road, Tapit, and Vekoma. He also ranks second in that group by percentage of wins from total starts (18%).

Not This Time displayed plenty of precociousness during his own racing career, breaking his maiden by 10 lengths as a 2-year-old, then winning the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes by 8 ¾ lengths and finishing second by a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to cap off an exciting campaign.

Hip 1009 is out of the Australian-born mare Houtzen, a globetrotting daughter of three-time leading Australian sire I Am Invincible.

Houtzen was a $1.5-million purchase by Stonestreet at the conclusion of a racing career that saw her become a two-time Group 3 winner in her home country, then travel across the world to earn a Group 2 placing in England during a season where she competed in the prestigious Royal Ascot meet and also raced in Ireland.

She is the dam of two winners from as many foals to race, led by Greenwich Village, a Quality Road colt who became a multiple stakes winner at Santa Anita Park. The mare visited Citizen Bull during the 2026 breeding season, displaying Stonestreet’s belief that the Storm Cat sire line shared by Not This Time and Citizen Bull was worth revisiting.

Shoppers who might be less familiar with the resume of international sire I Am Invincible will take note of his fast-growing impact as a broodmare sire around the world.

The list of key runners produced by his daughters is led by Asfoora, a Group 1 winner in England and France, and a Group 2 winner in her native Australia. Others of note include Australian Group 1 winner Kimochi, Group 2 winner Straight Charge, and Group 3 winners Dance to the Boom, Blue Zebra, Field of Play, Arum Belle, Cavalry Girl, and Grand Prarie. His broodmare-sired runners have also earned black type in the U.S. and New Zealand.

I Am Invincible’s sire line traces back to great-grandsire Danzig, giving him familiar blood to notable U.S. sires including War Front, Hard Spun, Langfuhr, Boundary, and U.S.-born international superstar Danehill. The latter became one of the world’s greatest sires and a cornerstone of Coolmore’s global operation, topping general sire lists in both hemispheres.

With Not This Time and Invincible Spirit standing in different hemispheres, this is a rare opportunity to gain access to this particular cross, but there is some promising data when pulling back a generation to examine Giant’s Causeway (sire of Not This Time) and his sons paired with mares by Invincible Spirit (sire of I Am Invincible) and his ensuing generations at stud.

Not This Time in particular has succeeded with this pairing of families in the form of Shareholder (out of a daughter of I Am Invincible’s grandsire Green Desert), who won the G2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot and competed in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Hip 1009 is offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency, as agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, located in Barns 48 and 49 at the Keeneland September Sale. He will go through the ring on Thursday, Sept. 17, during the auction’s fourth session.

I hear frequently from horse people who take the time to write to me with their criticisms of HISA and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit. I get it. Folks figure it’s easier or safer to complain to me about the new racing regulators than it is to complain directly to those regulators. Some of the notes I receive are truly pathetic and say much more about the writer’s lack of understanding about what HISA is or does than anything else. But some of the emails I receive are articulate and raise interesting questions about the new regulators. Sometimes, when I get those emails, I write back and invite the writer to send the same note to HISA or HIWU or the FTC. Don’t boo at me, I keep saying, vote by telling regulators what you think.

HISA first submitted its proposed 2027 budget in July and invited public comment on it. The first deadline for such comments was July 27. HISA wrote: “Following the expiration of the public comment period, HISA will review and consider all relevant feedback before sending the proposed budget to the HISA Board. If approved by the HISA Board, the proposed budget would then be submitted to the Federal Trade Commission.” I wrote about the proposed budget twice in July, including a Keeping Pace column on July 27 in which HISA answered questions about the budget. “Reducing the overall cost of HISA to the industry remains a top priority, and we are focused on identifying efficiencies and other opportunities to reduce costs,” HISA said.

A week later, HISA told the FTC that it was filing its proposed budget for review. A month after that, last week, FTC officials announced that HISA’s “budget submission complies with the requirements” of federal law” and invited “comments from the public on the Authority’s 2027 budget.” Those comments, FTC tells us, can’t be about any old anti-HISA complaint but “should address” the following standard: “The Commission will approve the proposed budget if the Commission determines that, on balance, the proposed budget is consistent with and serves the goals of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in a prudent and cost-effective manner and that its anticipated revenues are sufficient to meet its anticipated expenditures.”

The FTC last week also gave us some details about how HISA’s budget process works. From the FTC’s notice filed in the Federal Register: “The initial draft of the Proposed Budget was approved unanimously by the Authority’s Board of Directors before it was posted on the HISA website for public comment. After the initial draft of the Proposed Budget was posted on the HISA website, the Authority identified the following changes: reduction of the salary and payroll tax expense line items in the Veterinary Services budget; reduction of the travel line item in the Administration budget; and an increase in the professional services line item in the Administration budget. The net effect of these changes is a $14,000 increase of the Proposed Budget (gross).⁸ These changes were incorporated into the final Proposed Budget circulated to the Board of Directors for approval. No other changes were made to the Proposed Budget.”

HISA’s budget request is smaller than it was last year, which was smaller than it was the year before that. Nevertheless, I remember that a great deal of angst was expressed online in July when HISA’s proposed new budget was first announced. I remember another wave of allegations and suspicions expressed about HISA’s budget when the Grammgate scandal hit. As far as I can tell, none of the hand-wringers who had so many questions about HISA’s budget have taken the time to submit their budget-related questions and concerns to the only federal entity that can do something about it. The next deadline to submit comments to the FTC is ten days away. Speak now about the budget or stop Tweeting about it forever.

Jokers’ wild

The great thing about social media in horse racing is that it brings local stories about good horses and good horse people to a national audience, almost instantaneously, almost all the time. The bad thing about social media in horse racing (see above) is that it brings together conspiracy theorists from around the globe who are only too happy to amplify each other’s suspicions or allegations or pathologies. Sometimes the online conversation surrounding HISA and racing integrity reminds me of the old Batman movie in which the Joker allied himself with The Riddler and the Penguin in an effort to beat the dynamic duo. Quantity doesn’t equal quality when it comes to online theories about who is (or is not) secretly colluding with whom.

To accuse the Paulick Report of being in cahoots with The Jockey Club* and/or the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority is to cynically believe the worst about journalism and journalists and to be willfully ignorant of Ray Paulick’s long career covering Thoroughbred racing. Paulick, let’s all agree, is not a big cahooter. And to accuse Paulick Report editor Chelsea Hackbarth, an excellent journalist, of allowing The Jockey Club to write and answer their own questions last week isn’t just demeaning to her, it’s also a projection by her accusers. What in their own history with journalism, or racing, makes them assume the worst about an interview? As sponsors or advertisers, do they pressure journalists? I know from experience The Jockey Club doesn’t.

Here is Hackbarth’s interview. Read it if you have not. Focus more on answers than questions. Here’s one response: “The Jockey Club does not have any role in setting, reviewing, or testing HISA’s controls of The Jockey Club licensed data provided to them.” Here’s another response: “The Jockey Club affiliated companies did not participate in designing, developing, testing, securing, or maintaining any HISA systems.” And here’s a third TJC response: “HISA has a federally mandated responsibility, overseen by the Federal Trade Commission. In addition, HISA has its own, independent governance structure, with a board of directors. To assert that The Jockey Club maintains any level of control of HISA is simply not true.”

It’s not that complicated. Sometimes a duck is just a duck. Hackbarth asked a series of direct questions. The Jockey Club answered them. That happens a thousand times a day between journalists and newsmakers. Most people read The Jockey Club’s answers, considered them in the context of questions about HISA and Grammgate, and either believed them or didn’t. Some read The Jockey Club’s answers and decided to complain that those answers are part of an elaborate (but senseless) conspiracy. Sound and fury, sure, but a needless distraction. The thing about an unproven collusion argument or a conspiracy theory is that it seeks to free the accuser from having to wrestle with the substance of what is said. 

Horse racing does not need a Repole-funded investigation into Grammgate

So don’t waste your time and energy blaming The Jockey Club for Grammgate. Don’t blame the media. Blame Marshall Gramm. And blame racing regulators for not catching him sooner. The real story now is what HISA and the Federal Trade Commission are going to do in the wake of the scandal. On that front, the most significant thing that happened last week was HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus’ open letter to the FTC responding to the allegations made by Churchill Downs, Inc. in that company’s own open letter to the FTC. I wrote a bit about CDI’s kvetch session in last week’s Keeping Pace column (third item). It was smart of Lazarus to respond publicly to the allegations. I hope that everyone who read CDI’s accusations also reads HISA’s responses. 

For example, everyone in racing should read this graph from HISA’s response: “Unfortunately, data breaches have become an all-too-common occurrence for organizations maintaining large amounts of data. This includes CDI’s account wagering site, TwinSpires.com, who, according to the Paulick Report, was ‘the victim of a cyber attack’ that involved ‘the intrusion into computer records’ in 2012. Additionally, several major companies and organizations with budgets far larger than HISA’s have reportedly suffered major data thefts and cybersecurity incidents in 2026.” (Footnotes omitted by me). No, it doesn’t justify what Gramm did or excuse HISA from culpability for not securing its system more fully. But it is important context.

So are the steps HISA took when it finally found out about the problem. Again, from Lazarus’ response to CDI: “In HISA’s case, within weeks of discovering the issue, HISA triggered its cyber insurance policy and retained an independent third-party cybersecurity expert to conduct a forensic investigation, identified Dr. Gramm as the individual responsible, publicly disclosed Dr. Gramm and the vulnerability that was exploited, notified law enforcement, initiated an internal enforcement action against Dr. Gramm and updated our systems to address the exploited vulnerability.” That’s a good start, many horse people would agree. That’s not nearly enough, say some of racing’s most ardent anti-HISA voices.

Including people like Thoroughbred owner and breeder Mike Repole. His latest contribution to the Grammgate scandal is to link The Jockey Club to the problem and then offer to pay $10 million to fund what he calls “an independent” investigation into what happened. First, private entities don’t get to investigate regulators. Second, the FTC itself will conduct the investigation, with help from the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies if necessary. Second, HISA cannot take donations. Third, imagine the hullabaloo from Repole if the investigation that he paid $10 million to fund uncovered (as it surely will) no grand conspiracy? At that point, the conspiracy theorists will then have to add the FTC to the plot.

Perhaps with this in mind, Lazarus took care to copy on her letter to the FTC ten members of Congress who were instrumental in the passage of HISA in 2020 and who are likely still interested in its fate. Senators Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell and Maria Cantwell got copied on the HISA letter. So did Reps. James Comer, Robert Garcia, Andy Barr, Paul Tonko, Brett Guthrie, Frank Pallone and Morgan McGarvey. This isn’t just a courtesy. It’s good politics. HISA wants these congressional benefactors to know that CDI’s beef with HISA is precisely the sort of beef that Congress wanted a national, uniform regulatory body like HISA to deal with. After all, a regulatory regime that doesn’t tick off big corporations is no regulatory regime at all, right?

Notes

On horse slaughter, no response from Pennsylvania. And an unhelpful response from New York. I promised in last week’s column that I would keep trying to get more information about Rotz’s Livestock, a Pennsylvania horse operation that allegedly supplies horses that are sent to Canada for slaughter. A New York state police spokesperson told me that New York had done all it could under that state’s law by arresting the driver of a truck alleging carrying horses to slaughter but offered no information on whether New York law enforcement agencies are coordinating with the Pennsylvania counterparts on the case. Pennsylvania officials, meanwhile, did not respond to my repeated requests for comment. I will keep trying.

Shenanigans. The aforementioned Repole doesn’t just see collusion that doesn’t exist between HISA and The Jockey Club. He also apparently sees collusion between The Jockey Club and the folks who run the Keeneland September Sale because some of the people who lead the TJC are also among those who lead Keeneland. In a social media post last week, Repole offered an example of what he believes was some shady business on a horse he bid on last year. It’s silly to blame The Jockey Club for sale antics by sellers and consignors but the concern is a legitimate one. There is far too little transparency when it comes to bidding at both Standardbred and Thoroughbred horse sales. And I say that as both a buyer and a breeder.

Credit where it is due. As I have written many times before, Joe Faraldo has been a disaster as head of the United States Trotting Association. He has steered the most powerful and important group in harness racing away from the only future the Standardbred industry has. But as the president of the New York Standardbred Owners Association? He’s a smash hit and has been for decades. The latest example was a new commitment from MGM Resorts, the racino company that owns and operates Yonkers Raceway, that it will contribute $550,000 toward the promotion of harness racing in New York. That’s a drop in the bucket to MGM, but it will surely help New York racing. Faraldo did that. Good for him and for Empire State horse folks.

*Standard disclosure: The Jockey Club is a sponsor of this column. There are other sponsors. No sponsors of this column exert any pressure, editorially or otherwise, on its contents.

Into Mischief is the defining sire of his generation, topping the North American sire charts for seven consecutive years, and sitting in second place in his bid for an eighth straight title in 2026.

The sons and daughters of Into Mischief have achieved at the sport’s highest levels, including two Horses of the Year, three Kentucky Derby winners, one Belmont Stakes winner, eight Eclipse Award winners, two Sovereign Award winners, a record-tying nine Breeders’ Cup winners, and an astounding 101 graded or group stakes winners.

Even among the lofty heights of the sires standing for six figures, Into Mischief towers above the rest in terms of getting his runners into the most important winner’s circles in the game.

Of the 11 non-freshman North American sires who stood for six-figure advertised fees in 2026 (Constitution, Curlin, Good Magic, Gun Runner, Into Mischief, Justify, Not This Time, Nyquist, Quality Road, Tapit, and Vekoma), Into Mischief is tied with Not This Time for the highest percentage of stakes winners from foals of racing age at 10 percent. He ranks second in that cohort by percentage of starters from foals of racing age (80%) and winners from foals of racing age (58%), and he is third by wins from total progeny starts (17%).

This year’s class of runners by Into Mischief displays his routine strength at the top of the pyramid, led by defending Horse of the Year Sovereignty, who won a deep edition of the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. His 3-year-olds crop once again made noise on the Triple Crown trail, led by Renegade and Commandment, both winners of Grade 1 final preps toward the Kentucky Derby who finished the chase with classic placings.

Also of interest for shoppers looking to buy this colt for the long-term is Into Mischief’s value as a sire of sires. The list of sons that Into Mischief has sent to stud at major Kentucky farms is long, including Authentic, Barnes, Citizen Bull, Fulsome, Goldencents, Highly Motivated, Instagrand, Life Is Good, Mandaloun, Maximus Mischief, Newgate, Patch Adams, Practical Joke, and Timberlake.

Hip 1001 is out of the Bernardini mare Havisham, whose produce record features three winners from five foals to race.

The star of the page is Serengeti Empress (by Alternation), the Kentucky Oaks winner who became one of the top fillies of her generation. She was a Grade 2 winner during her 2-year-old season, and she won the G2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at the Fair Grounds to kick off her sophomore campaign on her way to a front-running 1 ¾-length triumph at Churchill Downs. The second half of her 3-year-old run featured a trio of Grade 1-placings, including the Breeders’ Cup Distaff against older competition.

After performing so well around two turns at age three, Serengeti Empress reinvented herself as a sprinter at four, taking the G1 Ballerina Stakes at seven furlongs before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

Serengeti Empress has already proven that talent won’t skip generations in this family, with her early broodmare career giving us stakes-placed Invictus, sired by Into Mischief, the same as Hip 1001.

The ability to pass on talent to future generations was further illustrated by Proudly, a full-sister to Serengeti Empress who is the dam of Grade 2-placed Let’s Be Frank (by Liam’s Map), who competed in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

The colt’s page presents a strong international flavor, with second dam Love Dancing being a Group 2 winner in her native Argentina and third dam Le Midi being a multiple Group 2 winner and group stakes producer in the same country.

The stakes success of Serengeti Empress’ son Invictus was just a taste of the power that the Into Mischief-over-Bernardini mare cross has produced on the racetrack, but the up-close example proves that the family of Hip 1001 has the capability of taking that cross to the highest level.

“The highest level” is no exaggeration. Sovereignty, last year’s Horse of the Year who won the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes, is a product of the Into Mischief-over-Bernardini cross.

The Stonestreet breeding program has been one of the greatest supporters of the Into Msichief/Bernardini cross, and one of the most prominent sources of it at auction.

That charge is led by Owendale, a son of Into Mischief out of the Bernardini mare Aspen Light, who became a multiple Grade 3 winner who earned classic placing in the Preakness Stakes (the same mare also produced Grade 1 winner Shred the Gnar from the same sire, outside of the Stonestreet umbrella). Atropa, out of Bellera, earned Grade 2 placing last season as a 2-year-old. Valentinian, out of Grade 1 winner Rachel’s Valentina, also became a stakes-placed runner.

As we’ve established, Into Mischief is already a high-percentage sire when it comes to on-track success, but pairing him with Bernardini mares bumps his numbers even higher. The 74 percent winners from starters produced from the cross is higher than either side of the equation performs when paired with other lines. Even more impressive is the 12 percent stakes winners from starters produced by the cross, which is twice that of Bernardini mares paired with other sires.

Hip 1001 is offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency, as agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, located in Barns 48 and 49 at the Keeneland September Sale. He will go through the ring on Thursday, Sept. 17 during the auction’s fourth session.

A check presentation was held after Saturday’s final race as part of the special 10-race Owners Day card.

“The aftercare team we have at Delaware Park has done phenomenal work,” said DTHA Executive Director Bessie Gruwell.  “They approach each situation with dedication and detail to make sure our outstanding equine athletes are appropriately placed to ensure they have a comfortable and purposeful career after racing is over.  The aftercare team are the boots on the ground in the stable area and without them, many of these accomplishments would not be possible.”

Also on Saturday, Delaware Park, the Delaware Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (DTHA), the Delaware Jockeys’ Health and Welfare Benefit Fund, and the Delaware Park Jockeys Association teamed up to donate $20,000 to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF). 

The check was presented after the Race 6.

Delaware Park developed a unique funding mechanism for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund donation.  Over the course of the live racing season each jockey donates a dollar from each mount fee and Delaware Park Casino, the Delaware Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Delaware Jockeys’ Health and Welfare Benefit Fund each match the dollar.

“The jockey colony at Delaware Park has always represented the most outstanding qualities in horse racing,” said Kevin DeLucia, Chief Financial Officer at Delaware Park. “They are exceptional athletes, but more importantly outstanding people.  We are very thankful for the risks and sacrifices they make every day so we can enjoy great racing.  We are proud to gather today to make this small gesture of generosity to the PDJF.”–Chris Sobocinski/Delaware Park

Gulfstream Park
–Jockey Diego Herrera doubled Sunday aboard High Lateen ($13) in Race 7 and Getaholdayourself ($5.40) in Race 9. Herrera was honored after Race 7 for winning the Royal Palm Meet riding title … Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and owner Bruno Schickedanz were also recognized for leading the Royal Palm Meet standings.

–Stall applications for Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet, which begins Thanksgiving Day and runs through the end of March 2027, are due by Sunday, Sept. 27.

Applications can be found at https://www.gulfstreampark.com/racing-office/

The Championship Meet will once again be highlighted by the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) as well as the Florida Derby (G1), the last in Gulfstream’s race series for Triple Crown contenders that also includes the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Holy Bull (G3).

Gulfstream’s series for 3-year-old fillies will again include the Forward Gal (G3), Davona Dale (G2) and Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2), while Gulfstream’s popular turf series will include the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2), Mac Diarmida (G2), Fort Lauderdale (G3), Christophe Clement (G3), W.L. McKnight (G3), Canadian Turf (G3), The Very One (G3), Pan American (G3), Herecomesthebride (G3), and Honey Fox (G3).

Laurel Park
–Trainer Ned Allard provided an update on multiple stakes winner Quint’s Brew, who was scratched from Friday’s New Castle Handicap at Delaware Park.

“The day before his race, when we came into the barn that morning, he was hiding in the back of his stall,” Allard said after saddling Alogon to win Saturday’s $100,000 Laurel Dash. “He’s a very animated horse. The vet was there five minutes after that. We brought him out, put the foot testers on him, and he had a tremendous amount of pulse on the outside heel. He was really lame.”

Allard felt like Quint’s Brew dodged a bullet.

“The blacksmith came in and took off a quarter of the outside, and it exploded,” he explained. “He had a pus pocket that just popped right out. [Friday], he walked sound enough to run, but was still a little off at the jog. [Saturday], he’s perfect, so I think maybe the Maryland Million [Sprint, Oct. 24 at Laurel Park] for his next start.”

Bred in Maryland by Paul Berube, Karen Linnell, and Spinnaker Hill Farm, Quint’s Brew, a 5-year-old gelding by Mosler, is owned by Berube, Linnell, and Heather Hunter.

Quint’s Brew won four of his first five starts, including the Jennings Stakes and the General George Stakes at Laurel Park. He then placed in two graded stakes in New York before closing out his 2025 campaign with a second-place finish in Laurel’s restricted Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Stakes.

Quint’s Brew successfully defended his Jennings title in his first start of the year and added three more stakes wins during the spring. He finished second in his most recent start, Monmouth’s Mr. Prospector Stakes on July 17.

Quint’s Brew has won eight of 15 starts and has $326,460 in career earnings.

“He’s been [healthy] all year,” Allard said. “Surprisingly so. Sooner or later, you know there’s going to be a bump in the road, and it looks like this is one he can get over right away.”–
Dan Illman/Maryland Jockey Club

Los Alamitos
–Heavily favored Dainey made a successful comeback, easily capturing the inaugural $100,500 Becca Taylor Stakes Saturday at the Southern California track.

In the process, the 3-year-old daughter of Tiz the Law helped Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert reach a milestone. It was the 50th daytime Thoroughbred stakes victory at the Orange County track and came on the same day he won three stakes earlier at Churchill Downs.

Idle since she was a debut winner over stablemate Moona Lisa and four others May 31 at Santa Anita, Dainey, the 3-5 choice, tracked pacesetter Billie Holiday early, gained a slim lead after a half-mile, then went on to prevail by 2¼ lengths under jockey Emisael Jaramillo.

Owned by Patti and Hal Earnhardt III, Dainey, who is out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Wait Til Dawn, completed the six furlongs in 1:09.82. She returned $3.20 for the win.

A $110,000 yearling purchase in the summer of 2024, Dainey has banked $99,000.

“She’s a good filly, pretty solid,’’ said Baffert assistant Mike Marlow. “Not a lot of experience, but she showed a lot of run before she ever started. She’s living up to what we thought she could do.

“We just keep rolling forward (in regards to the milestone win). We’ve got a lot of nice horses and we’ll just try to keep it going.’’

The win was the first stakes score for Jaramillo at Los Alamitos. He was also aboard when the chestnut graduated more than three months prior.

“This is a special filly,’’ he said. “It was very easy. More distance shouldn’t be any problem for her.’’–Robert Mieszerski/Los Alamitos

Remington Park
—Our Moneyman, a horse that set a record of selling for $2-million in a Fasig-Tipton special sale in July, is among the 28 total number of nominees, including 14 stakes winners, for the upcoming $400,000 Oklahoma Derby (G3) on Sunday, Sept. 27 at the Oklahoma City track.

Our Moneyman, a 3-year-old Louisiana-bred colt by Mr. Money, out of the Flatter mare Lipstick Junky, was put into the Fasig-Tipton July Horses-of-Age-Sale in July this year and the Saudi Arabia outfit of KAS Stables opened their pocketbooks to the tune of a record $2-million for him as the last horse in the catalog.

Bret Calhoun is listed as the trainer for Our Moneyman, who on July 11 ran second to eventual Travers (G1) winner Leading Change in the Indiana Derby (G3) at Horseshoe Indianapolis.–Dale Day/Remington Park

Since 2020, only four horses have sired more than one individual U.S. classic winner: All-time great sires Into Mischief and Curlin, the gone-too-soon Arrogate, and Good Magic, who gave the world Kentucky Derby winner Mage from his debut crop and Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch from his second crop.

Good Magic is one of the finest products of the Stonestreet Farm breeding program, sired by Stonestreet’s greatest runner, Curlin. After selling as a yearling for $1 million, he earned the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 2017 on the strength of a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He followed up on that potential at three, with Grade 1 victories in the Haskell Invitational Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes, and a runner-up effort in the Kentucky Derby.

That momentum has carried into the stud barn. Beyond his two classic winners, Good Magic is responsible for Grade 1 winners Mixto, Muth, and Blazing Sevens. Four of those five Grade 1 winners have retired to stud in Kentucky, with Mixto making his debut in New York earlier this year, displaying the stallion market’s desire for a good son of Good Magic to add to their rosters, should this colt run up to those expectations.

Two Sixty is a daughter of Canadian Horse of the Year Uncaptured, and the dam of two winners from as many foals to race.

Stonestreet has bought in to the cross between the Curlin line with Two Sixty, starting with the mare producing a Curlin filly that is a 2-year-old of 2026. The operation’s belief specifically in the cross with Two Sixty and Curlin’s son Good Magic was illustrated by the farm sending the mare to him for a second time in 2026. With the myriad stallions under the Stonestreet umbrella to which they could send a given mare, going back to Good Magic is a strong endorsement of their feelings toward the first product of that mating, Hip 837.

The extended family features a diverse spectrum of international black type, making this colt a familiar purchase for a variety of buyers.

Grade 2 winner Havnameltdown stands out among the domestic performers, while multiple Grade 3-placed Attest earned his accolades in Canada. The family adds some European black type with French stakes winner Nero Zilzal, while Japan is represented by Group 3 winner Tatsu Gogeki.

The back class runs deep in this female family, reaching back to this colt’s sixth dam, Rose Bowl, who was named England’s champion 3-year-old filly in 1975, then came back the following year to be named England’s champion older mare.

Two Sixty did plenty to stand out during her own on-track career, starting with her 2-year-old campaign, where she won on debut by four lengths and later won the FTBOA Florida Sire My Dear Girl Stakes by 6 ¼ lengths before competing in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Pairing her precociousness with Good Magic’s championship 2-year-old form lays a strong foundation for Hip 837 to make an impact next summer.

But Two Sixty wasn’t done at two. The first start of her sophomore campaign was a front-running victory in the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, and she later shipped north to Woodbine to collect another wire-to-wire score in the G3 Selene Stakes. Those two wins displayed Two Sixty’s versatility, with the Gasparilla being a seven-furlong sprint on the dirt and the Selene being a 1 1/16-mile route over Woodbine’s all-weather surface.

Crossing the Curlin sire line with Storm Cat-line mares in a similar way to the one that produced Hip 837 has a proven track record of getting horses into the winner’s circle when it matters.

When crossed with Storm Cat-line mares, Curlin and his sons have sired Grade 2 winner Implicated and Grade 3 winner Chaos Theory, as well as R Morning Brew, whose first two starts were won by a combined 10 lengths, including an effortless win in the Florida Sire Desert Vixen Stakes. The cross also gave us Perform, who parlayed a victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes into a start in the 2023 Preakness Stakes.

The Curlin line and the Storm Cat line appear to get the best out of each other beyond the headline horses, as well. The Curlin line over the Storm Cat line cross produces 72 percent winners from starters, which is several percentage points higher than either line does when crossed with all others.

Of special interest is the six percent stakes winners from starters, which is greater than the Curlin line with all other broodmare sire lines (5 percent) and Storm Cat-line broodmares with all other sire lines (4 percent).

Buyers dreaming of the classics should also take note that the Curlin-over-Storm Cat line cross produces runners with an average winning distance of 7.02 furlongs – extremely solid when placed against the median. With other partners, the average winning distance for both lines sinks below seven furlongs.

Hip 837 is offered by Heartwood Farm, as agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, from Barn 45 of the Keeneland September sale. He will go through the ring Thursday during the auction’s fourth day of trade.

What immediately stands out on this colt’s page is his sire, Not This Time, who sits atop North America’s general sire list, poised to be the horse to end Into Mischief’s seven-year reign at the top of the list.

Not This Time is responsible for a pair of Eclipse Award winners, Epicenter and Up to the Mark, who have both retired to stud at major Kentucky farms. Those two are at the head of a vibrant market for sons of Not This Time to fill stalls in Kentucky that also includes Cogburn and Goal Oriented, with Grade 1 winner Magnitude committed to join them in the Bluegrass State at the end of his career. With a high-level race record, Hip 245 would be right at home with that group, from a pedigree standpoint.

But, the owner of a Not This Time colt stands to have plenty of fun on the racetrack before the stud barn potentially calls. The son of Giant’s Causeway has sired 14 Grade 1 winners, and 40 total graded/group stakes winners.

Ten percent of his foals of racing age are stakes winners, which ties him with the mighty Into Mischief for the highest percentage among the sires in the current class of veteran stallions with six-figure stud fees, topping Constitution, Curlin, Good Magic, Gun Runner, Justify, Nyquist, Quality Road, Tapit, and Vekoma.

Not This Time displayed plenty of precociousness during his own racing career, breaking his maiden by 10 lengths as a 2-year-old, then winning the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes by 8 ¾ lengths and finishing second by a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to cap off an exciting campaign.

This is the second foal out of the Malibu Moon mare Hanalei Moon, herself a Stonestreet homebred who won the One Dreamer Stakes at Kentucky Downs and placed in three other stakes. Stonestreet entered the family through Hanalei Moon’s dam, the Grade 2 winner and Breeders’ Cup Distaff-placed Authenticity, who was purchased by Stonestreet as a broodmare prospect for $1.2 million.

From Authenticity also came Charlatan, one of the most exciting graduates of the Stonestreet Bred & Raised program, who scored massive Grade 1 wins in the Arkansas Derby and Malibu Stakes, and later retired to become an extremely popular sire in Kentucky. Charlatan currently ranks second among third-crop sires by stakes winners (six) and graded stakes winners (three).

Though Hanalei Moon is early in her broodmare career, her female line provides substantial evidence of its producing strength. Each of Hip 245’s second through fifth dams has produced graded black type, and three of those four are dams of graded stakes winners.

Another significant element of the colt’s pedigree is the influence of broodmare sire Malibu Moon, whose daughters have produced Eclipse Award winners Stellar Wind and Sierra Leone, as well as Sovereign Award winner Bold Script.

That trio highlights Malibu Moon’s broodmare sire CV, which also includes Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner, Grade 1 winners Bellafina, By the Moon, Girvin, Brightwork, My Conquestadory, Locked, Kalypso, and classic-placed Midnight Bourbon.

As a son of Giant’s Causeway, Not This Time creates a sire-line nick with Malibu Moon mares that has given us Grade 1 winner Kalypso, who went on to sell for $2.1 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

The Giant’s Causeway line/Malibu Moon mare nick has sent 73 percent of its foals to the racetrack, which is higher than the sire line with other mares, and the broodmare sire line when paired with other sires. The 62 percent winners is roughly on par with the comparables in those two columns, as well.

Hip 245 is offered by Heartwood Farm, as agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, from Barn 18 of the Keeneland September sale. He will go through the ring during Tuesday’s second session of the select Book 1.