Sharing with you my fascinating discoveries about Thoroughbred racing, sales, fashion, food, beverage, tips and more.
Last week was bittersweet. There were plenty of new and returning champions on the racing scene but a personal favorite retired. Tepin, Queen of the Turf, has chosen to quit racing and her connections obliged. Fortunately, Tepin retired sound. The big question now is, who will fill Tepin’s horseshoes?
Continue reading “Filling Tepin’s Horseshoes”
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Happy Easter! We are less than 3 weeks shy of the 143rd running of the 2017 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. The final two prep races were held yesterday so we have come to the end of the road to the KY Derby. We now have our roster of eligible contenders in the Run for the Roses.
Continue reading “Roster for the Roses”
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Keeneland’s gateGo baby go! The action is back on the track in the heart of the Horse Capital of the World. Keeneland’s Spring meet kicks off today, April 7, 2017, with race 1 posting at 1:05 P.M. EDT. Going for a strong start, Blue Grass Weekend includes 7 graded stakes races with a collective purse of $2.55 million in purse money.
Continue reading “Keeneland Commences”
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I had a very early start, 5 A.M. to be exact, just to make sure I caught the morning workouts for many Thoroughbreds and especially, the undefeated, McCraken. McCraken moved into a barn at Keeneland Racetrack on 3/16/17 after missing the Tampa Bay Derby on 3/11 due to an ankle injury he sustained on 2/28. He currently holds seventeenth place on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard due to the points he received when he won the Sam F. Davis stakes. McCraken is the probable morning-line favorite in next weekend’s Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. He looked like a real champ this morning when he was feeling frisky at bath time after 4 furlongs at :49.40.
Continue reading “My Morning With McCraken”
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At long last, there was a nice break in the Bluegrass winter that allowed me to get out and enjoy some of the top stallions that the Horse Capital of the World has to offer. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Darley at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, KY.
Continue reading “Dazzled by Darley”
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Good morning race fans! Today, we are treated to another Kentucky Derby prep race that serves the same purpose for the Tampa Bay Derby as well. The 37th Sam F. Davis Stakes will post on 2/11/17 at 4:45 P.M EST. Following last weekend’s upset in the Holy Bull and the the additional points gathered in the Withers and the Robert B. Lewis, the KY Derby leaderboard is looking a little different. A win by McCraken could shoot him into the top 4 on the board.
Continue reading “From Davis to Derby”
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The first American Thoroughbred Auction results are in! Premier auction house, Keeneland, wrapped its annual January Horses of All Ages sale (#KeeJan) this past Friday evening. It was Friday the 13th and the results were a little spooky.
The 59th edition of the sale had catalogued 1,893 horses. 961 head sold with across-the-board declines. Nearly 500 horses were withdrawn and over 400 more did not meet the reserve prices, set by the sellers. Some speculated reasons included, harsh winter weather, the equine herpes quarantines and no farm dispersals. A dispersal is when an owner sells off all or many of their horses to reduce inventory for various reasons. The most likely factor is the increasing desire by the buyers to only purchase the most select of pedigrees. One of my favorite take away quotes was by Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s Vice President of Racing and Sales, “Breeders need to take note moving forward.” That is a responsible statement. This sale grossed over $28 million dollars with an average sales price of nearly $30 thousand dollars.
On the bright side. Some Thoroughbreds were found very desirable. The highest price horse in the sale was Siren Serenade. She sold for $1,025,000! She is a 11 year-old mare born to Unbridled’s Song and Versailles Treaty. Siren Serenade is in foal by Tapit, the gorgeous grey number one sire for over 3 years and the leading sire and covering sire of the #KeeJan sale. Covering sire is another name for a sire when the mare is believed to be pregnant but the foal is yet to be born. The breeding of Tapit with another Unbridled’s Song daughter, Unrivaled Belle, led to the birth of Unique Bella in 2014. Unique Bella is turning heads after her romp in the G2 Santa Ynez Stakes, at Santa Anita, earlier this month. Put this filly in your virtual barn!
Keeping the bloodlines of Tapit and Unbridled’s Song in mind, feel free to search my webpage for former Tapit posts while I spend more of this post focusing on Unbridled’s Song and perhaps his most promising son as a stallion, Graydar. Tapit was the sire to 10 horses in #KeeJan, right behind him was Unbridled’s Song with 9 Thoroughbreds that sold. Much further down the list was Graydar whom sired 2 horses that sold. Unfortunately, you won’t find a listing for Unbridled’s Song as a covering sire. He was euthanized at 20 years-old due to an inoperable mass. He crossed the rainbow bridge too soon in July of 2013. Graydar was the covering sire for 5 horses that sold in the sale.
Both Unbridled’s Song and Graydar are Taylor Made Farm stallions. Taylor Made Sales Agency was the leading consignor at #KeeJan and they typically are. This year they sold 100 horses, in this one sale. Unbridled’s Song was a stallion on their farm, in Kentucky, for 17 seasons. Before that, this grey horse was born in February of 1993 to Unbridled, the winner of the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Trolley Song. Unbridled’s Song had a nice racing career. He won 5 of 12 starts including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Florida Derby, the Wood Memorial and the Olympic Handicap. The Olympic was his last race due to a broken cannon bone. He was training to go on to the Donn Handicap. For racing fans, it is probably best that he made it to the breeding shed as quick as he did. He has created so many powerful stakes winners. Names like Arrogate, Midshipman, Will Take Charge and so many more winners are his offspring. Unbridled’s Song was credited with siring his 100th stakes winner the day his son, Graydar, won the Donn Handicap.
Fortunately, not only can Unbridled’s Song’s offspring race, they are doing well as sires and broodmares themselves. His lineage lives on and there is a lot of hope that his grey son, Graydar, may be the best to carry on those great genes. Graydar was born to Sweetest Smile in May of 2009. He won 5 of 6 starts including the Donn, the New Orleans and the Kelso Handicaps. He went to stud in 2014 and he has had 2 crops of offspirng thus far. His first crop is eligible to race this year. He has produced 157 foals and 99 of those just became of racing age. The other 58 are yearlings. His fee is a mere $12,500 for a live foal. His next crops will sell at the Fasig-Tipton 2017 Winter Mixed Sale and the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company 2017 Winter Mixed Sale. I expect great things of his 2 year-olds and I think his price will sky rocket once he is proven. I feel very lucky for those who are buying into Graydar now. He is a beautiful and sweet horse. He lives in the same two stall barn as California Chrome. I had the pleasure of meeting Graydar twice when I visited Chrome while he was recovering from a cannon bone bruise. I also, briefly part owned a colt by Graydar and Heavenly Ghost. I am looking forward to following that colt’s racing career.
Please, enjoy the pictures I took while I was visiting Graydar at Taylor Made Farm. He has a tale to tell with a swish of his tail. I hope his progeny sweep the races this year and he keeps on bringing us more of that great Unbridled’s Song legacy. Between these two and Tapit the whole industry may be turning up grey!
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It’s another cold day in the Bluegrass. In fact, it is a frigid day here and in most of the United States. Unfortunately, I am not the most weather adaptable person so I have a tendency to stay in my warm home when faced with tough weather. Then I get the blues considering the opportunities I am missing. Thankfully, through television and a variety of social media I have kept myself mildly entertained and educated. Tomorrow we’re are expecting a break in the freezing temperatures. This is convenient timing for the start of Keeneland’s January Horses of All Ages Sale.
Keeneland, in Lexington Kentucky, will host it’s annual Horses of All Ages Sale from Monday, January 9th thru Friday the 13th! Each day starts at 10 a.m. I love going to the sales and I will make it for some of the dates this year as well. I had intended to go on a Keeneland’s Behind-The-Scenes Sales Tours that kicked off yesterday but alas the single digit temps kept me down. I’m hoping to get in on a tour mid week when it’s wetter but warmer. All of the pictures in this post are from when I first started Thoroughbred U at the Keeneland January Sale. I feel I have come a long way since. I hope you are picking up on some information in my stories. The Thoroughbreds have definitely matured since. Practical Joke was sold at KEEJAN in 2015. He has since won the G1 Hopeful Stakes, the G1 Champagne Stakes and finished 3rd in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He has over $700K in earnings. Not bad for a $135,000 original sale price.
This 59th edition of the sale has 1,893 horses catalogued. Being an all ages sale, they have over 700 yearlings, nearly 300 horses of racing age, almost 900 broodmare and broodmare prospects and 7 stallion and stallion prospects. The broodmares are in foal to over 170 stallions. That provides a nice variety with a lot of strength. There is proven sire power, ex. Tapit, Pioneer of The Nile, Distorted Humor, Union Rags to freshman sires with big hopes, like American Pharoah. In unfortunate news, some horses won’t make the auction due to the ban on Thoroughbreds from Fair Grounds Race Course and training center in Louisiana. A few horses there have developed equine herpes virus so in the interest of safety no horse with potential exposure may ship to Keeneland. Let’s pray for the health of these horses.
The new babies of 2017 have definitely warmed my heart over these last cold days. Since many horses in the sale are in foal, some may give birth prior to the sale and then they walk thru the auction with their mother. I’ve only seen it a few times but it is so cute when I catch it. Carpe Diem had his first foal on New Year’s Day. American Pharoah had his first on 1/3/17. Can’t wait for all the excitement that the new babies bring and I hope to see one at the sale.
Have a warmer and safe week. I’m looking forward to the break in cabin fever and a nice trip to the Keeneland sale. Drop a comment if you will be attending as well.
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Christmas came early for 8 lucky Thoroughbreds yesterday. Two races held at Los Alamitos, in California, on December 10th were the end of the road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks for this year. Fortunately, on 1/7/17 prep races continue as they will until mid April.
I covered the top of the KY Derby leaderboard in my last post. The Grade 1 CashCall Futurity held yesterday awarded 10 points to Mastery, 4 points to Irap, 2 points for Dangerfield and 1 point to Bobby Abu Dhabi. This resulted in some changes in the top of the leaderboard bumping Mastery into 5th place and knocking Klimt out of the top ten. The KY Derby top ten as 2016 ends:
Changes in the top ten KY Oaks contenders were similar. The Grade 1 Starlet Stakes gifted 10 points to Abel Tasman, 4 to American Gal, 2 to Mopotism and 1 point for Tapped. This moved Farrell from the 8th to 9th position as Abel Tasman took over the 8 spot and Ever So Clever fell to 12th as American Gal filled in the 11th position. The current KY Oaks contenders:
Unlike the KY Derby where the favorite is my favorite, Classic Empire, I’m uncertain as to which filly in this field I’m a fan of? The KY Oaks was inaugurated on 5/19/1875. The 143rd Oaks will be held 5/5/17.
Champagne Room won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and that is where she picked up 20 of her 21 points. Valadorna was second, American Girl was third , Daddys Lil Darling finished fourth, Noted and Quoted was 7th, Dancing Rags ran 8th and Yellow Agate finished 10th. Therefore, Champagne Room beat many in this field once but she didn’t win it by lengths. She has finished in the top 4 in her 5 career races, 4 of which were graded stakes. She got just 1 point when she finished fourth in the Chandelier Stakes. Noted and Quoted won that race.
Daddys Lil Darling has worked hard for her 20 points. She has finished in the top 4 of 4 KY Oaks prep races. She was 1st in the Pohahontas, 2nd in the Alcibiades and the Golden Rod and 4th in the BC Juvenile.
Miss Sky Warrior has finished 1st in the last 3 of her 4 starts. The last 2 were graded stakes and she took her Oaks points when she won the Demoiselle Stakes.
Dancing Rags won the Alcibiades but finished near the back in the BC Juvenile. She has won 2 of her 4 starts.
Yellow Agate has only raced 3 times. She won the Frizette Stakes grabbing 10 points but then did poorly in the BC Juvenile.
Shane’s Girlfriend is undefeated in her 2 starts. She won the Delta Downs Princess Stakes less than a month after breaking her maiden.
Noted and Quoted has raced 5 times. She got her Oaks points when she won the Chandelier but she did not excel in the BC Juvenile.
Abel Tasman won the Starlet yesterday. It was her 1st graded stakes race. She has won 3 of her 4 lifetime races.
Farrell is my homegirl, LOL. All 4 of her starts have been at Churchill Downs. I saw her there this Fall. It is her picture at the top of the post. She broke her maiden that day. The following month she won the Golden Rod Stakes.
Valadorna broke her maiden her 2nd time out. That was on opening day at Keeneland. Her next race was the BC Juvenile Fillies where she took 2nd place. She has not raced since.
With just 9 preps finished and 21 to go I have a while to go before I pick my favorite KY Oaks horse. 2017 is going to be very interesting! Keep checking my page out as we continue down the road. Who do you like?
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Classic Empire, takes to the dirt at Churchill Downs for the Bashford Manor Stakes.
In the days leading up to the 2016 Kentucky Derby some 2 year-old Thoroughbreds were already in training for 2017’s big race. 3 days short of the 142nd Run for the Roses, on May 4, 2016, Classic Empire broke his maiden at Churchill Downs.
Classic Empire was foaled to Pioneer of the Nile and Sambuca Classica on 3/21/14. Classic Empire has an outstanding pedigree. He is the half brother of American Pharoah by his sire. His dam carries Secretariat in her genes. Classic Empire was bred in KY by Steven and Brandi Nicholson. He is owned by John C. Oxley who purchased him for $475,000 in the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Oxley’s silks are gold and blue blocks with white stripes on the sleeves and a gold cap. This colt is trained by Mark E. Casse and his current jockey is Julien R. Leparoux.
Classic Empire parades out before the 2016 Bashford Manor Stakes.
Classic Empire is at the top of the leaderboard for the $2 million dollar, Grade 1, 143rd KY Derby. The KY Derby selects its field of 20 horses using a tiered point system they apply to certain qualifying races. Most of the early races award 10 points to win, 4 to place, 2 to show and 1 point for a finish at 4th place. Some important stakes and the later races carry more points, except for the final prep. Nine of these 37 races have already taken place. The first race was held at Churchill on 9/17/16. The last will be held at Keeneland on 4/15/17 and the KY Derby will take place on 5/6/17.
Classic Empire has 30 points. In second, on the leaderboard, is Practical Joke with 14 points. The next 5 horses have half as many points as Classic Empire. I first saw Classic Empire when I went to Churchill Downs for my extended birthday celebration. On 7/2/16, Classic Empire won the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes. He has finished 1st in 4 of his 5 career starts. He did not finish the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes when he was stopped by the outriders after unseating his jockey, Irad Ortiz, Jr. That allowed Practical Joke to win the Hopeful. Classic Empire got his 1st 10 points when he won the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on 10/8/16. He gathered a whopping 20 points when he won the Grade 1 Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Classic Empire blurs through the finish in the Bashford Manor.
The next KY Derby prep race in on 12/10/16. 5 preps take place throughout January. Trainer Casse has reportedly said that Classic Empire will winter in Florida. He will be stabled at Gulfstream Park. The Holly Bull, another KY Derby prep race, takes place at Gulfstream on 2/4/17. Perhaps that will be Classic Empire’s next race?
In the mean time, I will be looking forward to racing at Los Alamitos, in Cypress, California. The 12/10/16 Grade 1 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity is a one and 1/16th mile race that carries a $300,000 purse and KY Derby points. It is a dirt race for 2 year old colts. Who will pick up the next 10/4/2/1 points and how will the leaderboard change? Then on 12/17/16, California Chrome, who has stabled at Los Alamitos for 3 years will race there himself for the first time. This was a tremendous surprise to Chrome’s fans, after the BC Classic, as we thought his next and last race would be the Pegasus World Cup in January. The Winter Challenge is a race that Los Alamitos developed specifically to attract Chrome to race there once before he headed off for the Pegasus and following retirement. I can never get enough of California Chrome. Check back, you know I will roll out a nice story for my fellow Chromies!
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