Frank Mitchell

When Ballet Dancing came home first in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita, it was a very good result for the owners – Westerberg, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith – but it was an even better result for the breeders, Ashview Farm and Old Oak Farm. Wayne Lyster and his […]

Now a winner in three of his four starts, Tapit Trice (by Tapit) bounded into classic consideration with a dramatic come from behind victory in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby. Last at the start and 11th of 12 after a quarter, Tapit Trice was still in ninth place after three-quarters of a mile, but […]

You could say it was a Hill ‘n’ Dale Weekend. Not only did the farm’s stallion Violence (by Medaglia d’Oro) have two graded stakes winners in classic preps, but John Sikura’s operation also is co-breeder of Slip Mahoney (Arrogate), who was a good-looking second in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct behind the Violence […]

The highweighted miler in his homeland of Argentina and unbeaten in three starts, including the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, in the U.S., Candy Ride (by Ride the Rails) has proven himself a source of speed that carries at least a mile, as well as a fountain of quality and racing enthusiasm. With more than 100 […]

A victory in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans moved the race record of Pretty Mischievous (by Into Mischief) to four wins from five starts, with earnings of $421,310. The filly’s sole loss came as a third in the G2 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill last fall. She […]

Breeding two horses that win graded stakes in less than a week is a notable success, made more notable by the fact that John Mayer’s Nursery Place is a relatively small operation. Nursery Place, in partnership with Happy Broadbent and Jim Wilhite, bred the 5-year-old Hopkins (by Quality Road), who won the Grade 3 Palos […]

“We might never have known how good this filly was on dirt,” Price Bell pondered at Fasig-Tipton on Monday, where I quizzed him about the latest graded stakes winner for Mill Ridge Farm’s young sire Oscar Performance, “if only Churchill Downs had had a turf race for her.” Sometimes you’re lucky; sometimes you’re good. The […]

Rather than being 15-1, there was a day when winning the Grade 1 Pegasus at Gulfstream Park would have been the expected result from Art Collector, a handsome son of champion racehorse and sire Bernardini (by A.P. Indy). At the midpoint of the horse’s 3-year-old season, few if any of his contemporaries were rated more […]

The victory of Instant Coffee (by Bolt d’Oro) in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at the Fair Grounds brings more than hopes of classic glory to the talented colt. It also reminds us of the great rivalry between Lecomte and Lexington, both sons of the great American racehorse and sire Boston (Timoleon). Lecomte and Lexington […]

As a son of leading sire Scat Daddy (by Johannesburg) and a half-brother to multiple leading sire Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday), great things were expected of Mendelssohn when he retired to stud at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud outside of Versailles, Ky., and covered his first book of mares in 2019. As a half-brother to champion Beholder […]