Connections

It had been nine long years since Randy Morse had last saddled a graded stakes winner, leaving the trainer to walk into the Pimlico saddling paddock on May 19 with plenty on the line for the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. He was preparing Taxed, the 3-year-old filly by Collected Morse had claimed on behalf […]

To the outside world, it may appear as though the winner’s circle is the ultimate goal for horse racing participants. For trainer Jena Antonucci, however, a trip to the winner’s circle is just a byproduct of her actual goals. Just a few days after sending out perhaps the biggest winner of her career, 3-year-old Arcangelo […]

Maddy Olver has spent most of her adult life beating the sunrise to the backstretch. To the young horsewoman in the pre-dawn twilight, it all felt necessary. Some dreams were worth sacrificing for, and becoming an apprentice jockey this winter made it all worthwhile. “At the beginning, I wasn’t sure what it would look like, […]

Six years after stepping away from his dual Hall of Fame father’s stable, trainer Norm Casse will have his first starter in an American classic race. Southlawn, winner of the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, will stamp the 39-year-old’s name in the program for this year’s Kentucky Oaks. “This is a filly that we liked […]

Fans tuning in to Sunday’s Sunland Park Derby card may be surprised by the appearance of jockey Felipe Valdez’ name in the program. With a mount in seven of the day’s 11 races, the 43-year-old Valdez is in the midst of a comeback he truly never saw coming. Plagued by injuries throughout his career, including […]

Leslie Amestoy walked away from the OBS auction ring when bidding rose above $180,000. That was the budget she and her husband, Pierre, had considered for the son of Practical Joke, after all. Minutes later, Pierre Amestoy returned to the table and showed his wife the sales ticket: he’d bought the colt for a final […]

It was a perfect “circle of life” moment: breeder Christian Black watched Angel of Empire upset the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds from the foaling office at Blackstone Farm in Pennsylvania, patiently awaiting the birth of the next generation. “I believe I ran out and jumped up and down like a 20-year-old […]

Near the conclusion of two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl’s career, the following suggestion was made to breeder Brendan Gallagher: “You want to enjoy it while it’s happening, because it’s never going to happen again.” “Well, I said to that person, ‘If I really thought it would never happen again, I’m not so sure I’d […]

Owner/breeder Keith Abrahams was quietly confident in Kirstenbosch ahead of last weekend’s Grade 3 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita. The filly, named for a famous botanical garden in Abrahams’ native South Africa, proved his confidence was not misplaced when she won by a nose.  Kirstenbosch became the second homebred graded stakes winner to race […]