by Frank Mitchell|09.22.201506.16.2017|10:12am11:26am Bloodlines: Observations From Inside The Keeneland September Sale After lunch on Monday, Sept. 21, the Keeneland September yearling sale passed its numerical midpoint. The 2,083rd yearling went through the ring of the 4,164 yearlings consigned to the world’s largest yearling auction, which began on Sept. 14 and concludes on the 26th. There are actually 12 days of selling in that 13-day span. After […]
by Frank Mitchell|09.15.201509.18.2015|10:29am9:27am Bloodlines: War Front Becomes Highly Coveted, World-Class Sire In a briskly successful first session of the Keeneland September yearling sale, the gross price rose 35 percent to $44.6 million, with an average price of $297,613. The top three prices at the opening session — $1 million and $1.45 million for two fillies and $900,000 for the top-priced colt — were paid for yearlings […]
by Frank Mitchell|09.08.201509.09.2015|11:25am9:10am Bloodlines: From Rachel, With Plenty Of Potential With her victory in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 5, Rachel’s Valentina established a couple more firsts. Earlier, she had become the first runner and winner for her dam, Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, with a strong performance in a maiden special at the Spa on Aug. 2. Now, Rachel’s […]
by Frank Mitchell|09.01.201509.02.2015|11:21am8:12am Bloodlines: Travers Winner Descends From ‘Chic’ Family By the “ice”-hot sire Curlin, Keen Ice struck the pinnacle of his career with a victory in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 29. Following a third in the Belmont Stakes to American Pharoah and Frosted and then a second in the Haskell, Keen Ice was one who had stood poised to do […]
by Frank Mitchell|08.25.201508.25.2015|10:28am6:15pm Bloodlines: ‘Nobody Was Cheering Harder’ For Rare Talent Beholder Not many Grade 1 stakes open to both sexes are won by fillies or mares each year. In part, this is due to North America having a good program of racing restricted to fillies and mares. But in part, it is also due to the majority of top-tier colts being bigger, stronger, and faster. Just […]
by Frank Mitchell|08.18.201508.19.2015|9:49am8:11am Bloodlines: Breeders Keep Circling Back To Curlin Curlin is a like a great chestnut shark: basking in the sun, looking good, taking it easy, nothing to worry about here. Then, bang! He gets you. The two-time Horse of the Year got his latest graded stakes winner Aug. 16 when 2-year-old Exaggerator swept from last to first in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special […]
by Frank Mitchell|08.11.201508.12.2015|9:44am8:22am Bloodlines: All Hail The Mighty Tapit! America’s leading sire, Tapit, took over the 2015 Saratoga select yearling sale, with four of his first session yearlings bringing a gross of $4,350,000 for an average price that’s just a bit more than $1 million. The sleek, silvery-gray son of Pulpit entered stud in 2005, and his chief claim to fame at the time […]
by Frank Mitchell|08.04.201508.05.2015|8:47am2:26am Bloodlines: Some Secret Ingredients In American Pharoah’s Pedigree In writing about pedigrees, most of the time we concentrate on the major influences. Those horses like Northern Dancer, Raise a Native, or Mr. Prospector who dominate pedigrees and who repeatedly show up in the ancestry of the most famous horses week after week, year after year. But there are other steeds, some famous and […]
by Frank Mitchell|07.29.201507.30.2015|9:27am12:42am Bloodlines: What Will Be The Legacy Of Storm Cat Clone? When I read the nearly off-hand comment that Storm Cat had been cloned last week in a Vanity Fair article profiling Crestview Genetics, I felt that electric sensation that the future was already here. Or perhaps, the past was actually the future. Then, rationalizing, my reaction was that someone had misspoken, had meant that a […]
by Frank Mitchell|07.21.201507.22.2015|11:45am9:11am Bloodlines: Gabriel Charles Earns Top-Level Victory For Classy Family When Gabriel Charles powered home the winner in the Grade 1 Eddie Read at Del Mar on July 18, he established several firsts. The victory was the bay’s third stakes but first G1 success, and Gabriel Charles is the first winner at the top level for his sire Street Hero (by Street Cry) and for […]