My Eye On Nyquist

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I get no sleep for Nyquist!  For the second week straight I have roused myself from my bed to attend the morning workout to see our beloved Thoroughbreds at Keeneland in Lexington, KY.  Nyquist certainly is a fan favorite and one of mine as well.  I had my weary but enthusiastic eyes upon him before 7 a.m. EST today.

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After arriving at the Track Kitchen I ran as fast as I could up the hill, towards the track, to catch today’s first sight of Nyquist.  As I approached the barn, where he has been living since the Florida Derby, I saw a large crowd assembled.  I though it was odd since he had no other visitors when I saw him just last week but then again, this is Nyquist!  Of course he has a snowballing fan base.  He is the current Kentucky Derby favorite to win!  I stood with the crowd to see Nyquist exit the shed row and followed like a happy lemming as he headed to the track with exercise rider Jonny Garcia mounted.  The sun was peaking through the clouds and it was warm for a Spring morning in the Bluegrass.

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Nyquist is a bay colt, sired by Uncle Mo.  His dam is Seeking Gabrielle by Forestry.  Nyquist was bred in Kentucky Summer Hill Farm and born on 3/10/13.  He is owned by Paul Reddam of Reddam Racing and trained by Doug O’Neill.  Mario Gutierrez is his jockey.  Nyquist is undefeated with 7 career wins and an Eclipse Award for 2015 Champion 2 Year Old Colt.  He broke his maiden on 6/5/15 at Santa Anita.  He has raced only graded stakes since.  He won at both Grade 2 races, the Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar and the San Vincente Stakes at Santa Anita.  He captured 1st place at four Grade 1 races too, the Del Mar Futurity at Del Mar, the Front Runner Stakes at Santa Anita, the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland and the Xpressbet.com Florida Derby at Gulfstream.  The $1 million dollar Florida Derby took place on 4/2/16.  Today marked Nyquist’s first breeze since that race.  He is now training for the Kentucky Derby to take place on 5/7/16.  He will continue to live at Keeneland and he will have 2 more workouts here before he ships to Churchill Downs on 4/30/16.  He breezed 5 furlongs today and galloped out to a 6th.  He clocked 1:02.60 for the breeze.  His connections were very pleased.  I though he looked marvelous.  I heard another trainer, not in connection with the horse, say she thought he made the workout look easy.

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The smile on Garcia and the look on Nyquist’s adorable face lead me to believe, they too were very pleased with the work.  The large assembly of fans and media continued to follow Nyquist off of the track and back to the barn.  Everyone was overjoyed with the experience.

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The fun was far from over.  Nyquist was changed out of his tack and into his lovely BC blanket.  He cooled off with several turns around the barn.  He is quite calm in the presence of all of the paparazzi.  Many people huddled up close to hear the words of his connections and to catch a look or a picture.

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Then it was bath time!  I particularly enjoy watching the baths.  Steam rolled off his back end as he was sponged off.  Nyquist kept his fancy blanket on.  He looked marvelous!   His handler booped his nose gently.  This horse was very well behaved.  Nyquist is stunning and I am so happy I have had the opportunity to have seen him now on two occasions.  I know he has what it takes and I wish him well in his next race, the Run for the Roses, the 142nd KY Derby!  He certainly looks appropriate flanked in roses!

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I visited several other barns and will be at Keeneland the rest of today and all weekend.  I am very hopeful to spend some time with Tepin and bring that story to you.  She races here tomorrow, 4/16/16.  Please, keep reading and tell your friends about this page and my posts on Twitter and Facebook too.  Thank you and have a great weekend!

 

 

 

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Keeneland Kickoff

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It’s a chilly start to Spring here in the Bluegrass but it still brings warmth to my heart that my favorite track, Keeneland, in Lexington, KY opens tomorrow!  The Spring Meet is open from April 8 to 29, 2016.  Live racing takes place on Wednesdays thru Sundays throughout those dates.  I have to work all weekend so I made sure I got to participate in some of the pre-race events.

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Yesterday morning I arrived before 8 a.m. EST and headed to the Racing Office.  The horses enter the race track through an opening, “the gap”,  right next to this building.  Slowly, a large group of horses and exercise riders assembled.  They were mounted and waiting for as far as I could see.  The fans, connections of the horses and photographers were looking on with anticipation.  At about 8:30 the horses took to the track.  Some Thoroughbreds went at a leisurely pace while others sped around like they were floating.  I love to catch the pictures with all four hooves in the air.

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After the excitement of the workouts I headed to the newly renovated Track Kitchen.  I had biscuits and gravy.  If you haven’t had Southern food like this you are really missing out.

Next,  I went to Kellyn Gorder’s barn.  He had just recently returned to the grounds after having a nice season at Turfway and ongoing at Oaklawn race track.  I visited with his horses and he was very busy on the computer, phone and with office visits in preparation for more races.  Some of his nice horses are pictured below.  I gave these cute noses some petting.

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After the Gorder barn I  went to see the remaining stable area.  Keeneland has 57 barns with the capacity to hold 1,951 horses.  Horses aren’t the only animals you will find on the grounds.  In addition to birds, pet dogs and barn cats I met two busy goats along my adventure.  I also saw some cool tack including Nyquist’s bridle and Tepin’s Breeders’ Cup blanket that has been refurbished with silk flowers.

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The best part of my trip was looking for our favorite race horses.  I went to the Casse Racing barn hoping to find 2015 Eclipse Award Champion Grass Mare and winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile, Tepin, but she had moved to Churchill Downs.   I was not disappointed in meeting Airoforce, 2nd in the 2015 BC Juvenile Turf, Catch a Glimpse and her teddy bear, 1st in the 2015 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf and Noble Bird, graded stakes winner, pictured below in order on the top row.  I went to most of the barns to see what I could but unfortunately several trainers do not label their stalls so I just had to appreciate the unknown beauties as they were.

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Saving one of the best for last I finally found the undefeated and 1st place winner of the 2015 Sentient Jet BC Cup Juvenile, Nyquist.  He is the favorite for the Kentucky Derby with 5/2 odds currently and he is second on the leaderboard for points behind Gun Runner.  He was happily snacking during my visit.  I was going to return to see him train this morning but his white blood cell count was slightly elevated so he is going to rest up for now and perhaps train on Friday or Saturday.  See how sweet he looks below.

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Post time begins at 1:05 p.m. EST on Friday.  There are 10 races that day.  On Saturday post time is 12:35 p.m. with 11 races.  5 of those are stakes races, numbers 6 thru 10.  The 9th race, the 15th running of the Madison Grade I stakes, for fillies and mares 4 and older is packed with multiple graded stakes winners.  The 10th race is the 92nd running of The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes.  It is a Grade I race with a million dollar purse.  The 9 furlong dirt race for 3 year olds posts at 6 p.m.  This race gives 100-40-20-10 points to Kentucky Derby Contenders based on a 1st to 4th place finish respectively.  There are a lot of great races at Keeneland this meet.  I hope each of you has a chance to get in on the action.  Catch my blog next week here and on Facebook and Twitter for more Thoroughbred news and events.

 

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Lucky 13

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I am on pins and needles about all of the fun things going on this weekend.  I am a marshal in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this Saturday!  It is March Madness time and I love the Kentucky Wildcats, go Big Blue Nation!  Finally, we have 2 of the 13 remaining Kentucky Derby prep races this Saturday too!

On March 12, 2016 we have the Tampa Bay Derby and the San Felipe Stakes.  We can watch some of our favorites and plenty of our less well known 3 year olds battle it out for KY Derby points to become one of the 20 contenders.  Each of these races will reward 50 points to the winner, 20 points for 2nd place, 10 points for third place and 5 points for the 4th place finisher.  Currently, Mohaymen is at the top of the leaderboard with 70 points followed by Gun Runner with 51 points and Shagaf with 50 points.  That being said, the winner of these races will take a nice jump near the top of the leaderboard.

The 36th Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, Grade II,  will be held at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, race 11,  at 5:24 P.M EST on 3/12/16.  The purse is $350,000 and the race is 8 and 1/2 furlongs on the dirt.  This race was inaugurated in 1981.  Last year’s winner, Carpe Diem, was my 2015 KY Derby pick.  However, he ran 10th and American Pharoah kept on winning!  In 2007 Street Sense won both the Tampa Bay and Kentucky Derbys.  Street Sense still holds the speed record for the Tampa Bay Derby.  This year, the Tampa Bay Derby has 10 horses in competition.  Riker and Brody’s Cause competed against each other before, as seen in the photo above, in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2015.  Currently, Destin has 1 point on the leaderboard.  Riker has 10 points and Brody’s Cause has 14.  The full field, by post position, followed by jockey and trainer, is as follows:

  1. Morning Fire – Daniel Centeno – Keith Nations
  2. Rafting – Edgar Prado – H. Graham Motion
  3. Outwork – John Velazquez – Todd Pletcher
  4. Economic Model – Irad Ortiz,Jr, – Chad Brown
  5. Star Hill – Julien Leparoux – George Arnold, II
  6. Riker – Florent Geroux – Mark Casse
  7. Destin – Javier Catellano – Todd Pletcher
  8. Brody’s Cause – Corey Lanerie – Dale Romans
  9. Tale Of S’avall – Joe Bravo – Barclay Tagg
  10. Awesome Banner – Antonio Gallardo – Stanley Gold

As a side note, tune in earlier, at 3:54 P.M. to see Silver Magnolia in the Florida Oaks, race 8 and at 4:54 P.M. to watch Tepin in race 10, the Hillsborough Stakes, both at Tampa Bay.  Neither are  KY Derby prep races but Silver Magnolia won by 8 and 1/2 lengths in her last race at Tampa Bay.  While, Tepin is 5 years old and she is awesome.  She has won multiple graded stakes including the Breeder’ Cup Mile.  I really enjoy watching her.  The entire race card at Tampa Bay on Saturday should be fun.  It will be the biggest day of racing ever at that track.  Saturday is Festival Day at Tampa Bay with a total purse of $760,000.

Switch over to the West coast for the next KY Derby prep race at 6 P.M EST.  Watch the San Felipe Stakes, Grade II,  at Santa Anita in California, part of Big ‘Cap Day!  This is the 7th race on the card for Santa Anita on 3/12/16.  The purse is $400,000.  This 8 and 1/2  furlong race on dirt has 7 horses entered.  The San Felipe was inaugurated in 1935.  Consolidator owns this race’s speed record, established in 2005.  Dortmund won the San Felipe stakes in 2015 and then showed third in the KY Derby.  In 2014 California Chrome won both the San Felipe and the KY Derby!  Right now, I Will Score has 2 points towards the KY Derby.  Uncle Lino has 4 points, Exaggerator has 16 points and Mor Spirit already holds 24 points.  Exaggerator was in the pack photographed above as well.  I focused on Exaggerator and Mor Spirit in my last story, seen here:

A Pinch Of Luck

There are some strong contenders in the San Felipe Stakes field, listed here:

  1. Uncle Lino – Fernando Hernandez Perez – Gary Sherlock
  2. Danzing Candy Mike Smith – Clifford W. Sise, Jr.
  3. Mor Spirit -Gary L. Stevens – Bob Baffert
  4. Cupid – Martin Garcia – Bob Baffert
  5. I Will Score -Rafael Bejarano – Jerry Hollendorfer
  6. Smokey Image – Victor Espinoza – Carla Gaines
  7. Exaggerator – Kent J. Desormeaux – J. Keith Desormeaux

I am thrilled to see how these last lucky 13 KY Derby prep races resolve.  I hope you all have a great weekend at the races.  If you are lucky enough to see these races live, tell us about it.  I would love for you to share your stories.  Please, follow and like my pages on Facebook and Twitter.  Thank you in advance!

Update: Cupid has scratched.

 

 

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Phavorite Pharoah

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Congratulations are in order again as American Pharoah sweeps in one award after another.  My last post was on the morning of January 16th.   That evening we had the Eclipse Award Ceremony and today we received news of the Longines Awards.  American Pharoah won at each event.

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The 45th annual Eclipse Awards were held at Gulfstream Park in Florida this past weekend.  Winners were chosen in 17 horse and human categories.  The finalist were announced on January 6th.  All the nominees can be seen in my prior story.

A Tepin Time

Here are the winners:

  • Horse of the Year: American Pharoah
  • 2 Year Old Filly: Songbird
  • 2 Year Old Male: Nyquist
  • 3 Year old Filly: Stellar Wind
  • 3 Year old Male: American Pharoah
  • Female Sprinter: La Veridad
  • Male Sprinter: Runhappy
  • Female Turf Horse: Tepin
  • Male Turf Horse: Big Blue Kitten
  • Older Dirt Female: Beholder
  • Older Dirt Male: Honor Code
  • Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan
  • Jockey: Javier Castellano
  • Apprentice Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
  • Trainer: Bob Baffert
  • Owner: Zayat Stables
  • Breeder: Zayat Stables

As you can see, American Pharoah and his connections won Horse of the Year, 3 year Old Male, Trainer, Owner and Breeder.  Pretty impressive but there is more…

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American Pharoah has long been acknowledged as a national champion but today he was recognized internationally!  On 1/19/16 American Pharoah was named Longines World’s Best Racehorse 2015 at the Claridge’s Hotel in London, England.

Longines is a Swiss watchmaking company.  They have historically been associated with sporting events including world equestrian sports.  They made their 1st chronograph (a stopwatch) engraved with a mounted jockey in 1878.  3 years later, those chronographs were in use at tracks everywhere to time performance measures.  Longines is the official partner and watch of the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities (IFHA).

The IHFA had it’s earliest beginning in 1961 when horse racing authorities from the United States, Ireland, Great Britain and France came together to form standards to select the best horses.  They held the 1st annual International Conference in Paris, France in 1967 with representation of world wide racing authorities.  By 1977 the International Classifications were published.  In the 1990s North and South America, South Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand came together with racing officials and handicappers to develop the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, which in 2012 became the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.  The best horse that is 3 years old and up from participating countries, where it was raced or trained, is selected annually.  The season runs from 1/1 thru 12/31.  The top Grade/Group 1 international races are rated.  These ratings are not the same ratings used in many other horse ranking systems.  American Pharoah won with an 134 rating.  He is followed by Golden Horn (130), Shared Belief (126), Treve (126), Able Friend (125) and Solow (125).  Best race and best jockey are selected as well.  The Longines World’s Best Horse Race 2015 is the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France followed by the Breeders’ Cup Classic.  Further race categories are chosen by surface and distance.  The top jockey is Lanfranco Dettori of Great Britain followed by our Victor Espinoza and 5th for Javier Castellano, which is quite different from the Eclipse Award results.  To enjoy some of the excitement, see the great new YouTube below.

Congrats again to American Pharoah, Victor Espinoza, Bob Baffert and Zayat Stables for all the amazing races and accolades.  American Pharoah is not racing anymore but he has an exciting new career as a stallion.  I am looking forward to his progeny.  I love seeing everyone’s #APandMe photos on Twitter and Facebook.  Please, keep sharing and hopefully I will go meet the champ soon!

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A Tepin Time

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With just a few days/steps in time, this year is off to a fantastic start!  I had a great response to my post I wrote on New Year’s Eve and there are so many good things going on in the Thoroughbred racing industry.  I am so thrilled that today brings the return to racing for California Chrome at Santa Anita.  At this same track and this same day,  Mrs. Penny Chenery will present the Secretariat Vox Populi Award to the connections of American Pharoah.  We have had several new Thoroughbred babies born in the last week.  The January Keeneland sale starts Monday and I made it out to the barns to see some of those horses today.  Also, the finalist for the Eclipse Awards were announced on January 6th and on the 16th the winners will be announced.  Shew, there is just so much to enjoy.  Speaking of enjoyment,  I’m pretty happy to see that Tepin is up for an Eclipse Award and I hope she wins!

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The 45th annual Eclipse Awards will be presented to the winners of 17 horse and human categories including 6 media categories, Horseplayer of the Year and a lifetime achievement/award of merit winner.  The awards dinner will be held at Gulfsteam Park.  The 6 media winners have been chosen.  They are;  Jennie Rees, Mary Simon, Tim Sullivan, NBC Sports, Scott Serio and Brad and John Hennegan.  The Horseplayer of the Year Award goes to John O’Neill.  Leonard Lavin takes the Eclipse Award of Merit.  The other 17 categories are up for grabs!  Here are the nominees:

  • Horse of the Year:  American Pharoah, Runhappy, Beholder
  • 2 Year Old Filly: Rachel’s Valentina, Songbird, Catch a Glimpse
  • 2 Year Old Male: Airoforce, Nyquist, Mohaymen
  • 3 Year Old Filly: Found, Stellar Wind, I’m a Chatterbox
  • 3 Year Old Male: Dortmund, Runhappy, American Pharoah
  • Female Sprinter:  Lady Shipman, LeVerdad, Wavell Avenue
  • Male Sprinter: Rockfall, Private Zone, Runhappy
  • Female Turf Horse: Found, Stephanie’s Kitten, Tepin
  • Male Turf Horse: The Pizza Man, Big Blue Kitten, Cold Horn
  • Older Dirt Female: Sheer Drama, Beholder, Stopchargingmaria
  • Older Dirt Male: Honor Code, Liam’s Map, Tonalist
  • Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan, Demonstrative, Bob Le Beau
  • Jockey: Victor Espinoza, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Javier Castellano
  • Apprentice Jockey: Angel Cruz, Eric Cancel, Tyler Gaffalione
  • Trainer: Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Chris Brown
  • Owner: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc.
  • Breeder: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Darley

I can’ t blog on forever so I picked the Female Turf Horse category.  I am crazy about all 3 entries, heck I love all these Thoroughbreds.  I had the pleasure of watching Tepin, Stephanie’s Kitten and Found on the last day of the Breeders’ Cup this past year.   Read on to see the pictures I took and a small bio on each horse.

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Found is a lovely Irish filly.  She was born in March of 2012.  Her sire is Galileo and her dam is Red Evie, both are Irish as well.  She won 1st place in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf.  This is the first time a 3 year old filly has won this race.  She has not raced since but she has had 11 career starts in which she won 4 times, placed 5 times and showed 1 time.  Found has over $2 million dollars in earnings and is ranked 9th in earnings for 2015.  Her jockey is Ryan L. Moore.  Found is trained by Aidan O’ Brien and owned by Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith.  Her breeders were Roncon, Wynatt and Chelston.  She is up for 3 Year Old Filly too!  Last I read, she should race again in 2016.

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Stephanie’s Kitten was foaled in March of 2009.  She is the progeny of Kitten’s Joy and Unfold the RoseStephanie’s Kitten is now at Northern Farm in Japan.  She was formerly Kentucky bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey.  She won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2015.  This horse had Irad Ortiz, Jr, for her jockey and was trained by Chad C. Brown.  She was 2nd in the same BC race in 2014 and won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011.  She ranked 8th in earnings in 2015.  She has earned over $4 million dollars.  Stephanie’s Kitten has had 25 career starts.  She won 11 times, was second 4 times and came in third 4 times.  I hope she has a happy life as a broodmare in Japan and perhaps she can someday retire back home in Kentucky.

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Tepin was also born in March but in 2011.  She is the Kentucky bred daughter of Bernstein and Life Happened. Tepin was owned by Robert E. Masterson when she won the BC Mile in 2015.  She is second in earnings for 2015.  She has gross earnings of over $2 million dollars.  During her career she has 7 wins, placed 3 times and showed once in 15 starts.  I saw her win on October 3rd this past year at Keeneland in the Grade 1, First Lady Stakes.  She has not raced since the BC win but she had a nice workout at Palm Meadows Training Center yesterday.  Julien R. Leparoux is her jockey.  Machmer Hall is Tepin’s breeder and she is  trained by Mark E. Casse.  I’m hoping she has a nice 2016 career and I’d like to see this Eclipse Award granted to her.  I thinks it is Tepin’s time!  Click the link for Disney’s Mary Poppins song, “Step In Time”.

Step In Time

I like all the choices for Female Turf Horse as well as the other award candidates.  I am looking forward to the reveal on the 16th.  I hope some of you have a great time live at Santa Anita today and I wish others will join me at the Keeneland Sales starting on 1/11/16 but already bustling in the barns, see below.  I will share with you all about the auction.  Have a great weekend!

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Firsts, Favorites, Famous and Fun

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Breeders’ Cup 2015 was held for the 1st time ever in Lexington, KY at Keeneland this past week.  The track featured a Prelude to the Cup on Thursday with 9 live races followed with 2 more days of graded stakes races with 4 Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and 9 BC races on Saturday.  The dates spanned October 29th thru 31st of 2015.  I was present for all 3 days.  The events were wonderful!

For the Prelude to the Cup the weather was gorgeous.  I walked the grounds and marveled at the sea of purple that had taken over and all of the new and temporary structures.  It was a quiet event and a good day for mingling with my friends, old and new.  All the photos above except for the program and lanyard collection were taken that day.

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The BC Juvenile Turf was the 6th race on the 30th but the 1st BC race of the series.  Hit It a Bomb, #14, won the race.  He is seen above as is the 7th place finisher, Manhattan Dan, in his coat.

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Race 7 was the Las Vegas BC Dirt Mile.  Liam’s Map shown in the top picture above won.  Two of my personal favorites ran this race as well.  Mr. Z, #4, I met and petted following my birthday, earlier this year.  I shouted out my love to him from the rail pre-race and I got his attention.  #8, wearing pink, is 4th place finisher Wicked Strong.  He was the barn friend of  Twitter’s favorite horse, JubaWicked Strong has now retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, KY.

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Catch a Glimpse, #4 above, won the 8th race.  This was the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.  Last year’s winner was Take Charge Brandi.  I petted her too this past summer at D. Wayne Lukas’ barn at Churchill Downs.  She is for sale at the Keeneland November Sale that starts today.  I hope she has a long happy life as a broodmare.

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Friday’s BC races wrapped with race 9, the Longines BC Distaff.  Stopchargingmaria won.  She is wearing #4 in the picture above.  She is trained by Todd Pletcher and has had an amazing year winning multiple grades stakes.  This was her third Grade 1 stakes win in a career of 16 starts.  There was one more stakes race that day as the sunset.

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On the final day of the BC the 1st BC race was  race 3, the 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies race.  This race was won by Songbird, #10 above.  I fell in love with Rachel’s Valentina, # 9 in the above photo, who placed 2nd in this race, when she won both of her only other races at Saratoga this summer.

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Race 4 was the Twin Spires BC Turf Sprint.  This race was won by Mongolian Saturday.  The rail made it hard to see him wearing #14 in the photo above.  His connections were dressed out and seated in the loge box behind me during the BC Classic. They were having fun with a selfie stick in the middle photo.  Lady Shipman placed 2nd.  She was a pretty girl as seen from the Enclosure, a temporary spot near the walking ring.

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Wavell Avenue wearing orange #7 managed to fight her way up from middle of the pack, as seen above at the turn, to 1st place.  She was ridden by Joel Rosario.  Race 5 was the TwinSpires Filly and Mare Sprint.

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In the 6th race, the BC Filly and Mare Turf, a local favorite won.  #11 Stephanie’s Kitten is owned by Sarah and Ken Ramsey, Keeneland’s leading owner award winners.  This is the third BC win for Stephanie’s Kitten.  She is seen in the paddock area and winning her race above.

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A new track record was set by Runhappy when he won the TwinSpires BC Sprint.  This was race 7.  He is shown about to cross the finish in the green #5 above.  Runhappy won a graded stakes race at Keeneland the same month for opening weekend of the Fall meet.

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Tepin was a fast filly that beat out the males to win the BC Mile.  She is seen taking the title above, in race 8.  She won a grade 1 stakes race at Keeneland on the opening weekend of this last Fall meet at Keeneland too!

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Nyquist, #13, barely beat Swipe, #12, to win the the 9th race.  This race was the Sentient Jet BC Juvenile.  Neither horse had the lead from the start, in fact they were plenty behind but Nyquist held out his nose to win.  Look how close they are in the photo above!

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Found is the beautiful Irish filly that beat her male counterparts to win the Longines BC Turf.  She is definitely an international champion.  Race 10 had a $3 million dollar purse.  She is one lucky and talented filly.  See her two paddock pics above.

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Then, in Race 10, the BC Mile, I’m pretty sure we all know who our star is, above.  That is American Pharoah.  I gave him his very own BC story in my post Grand Slam? Yes, Ma’am!

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Plenty of celebrities were on hand to witness history in the making as well.  I got photos of Jean Cruguet (top right), Seattle Slew’s Triple Crown jockey, and Ritchie Sambora (middle left), the rocker from Bon Jovi.  I also saw Bobby Flay, famed chef and caught word that Kate Upton, a model, was there too.  My parents recognized Kenny Mayne, from Dancing with the Stars (top left).

Finally, I just want all of you to know that there were no break downs and all the horses, their connections and the fans really had a lot of fun at the Breeders’ Cup.  I will always remember my time at BC 2015.  I have literally thousands of pictures and so much to share but this is a blog post, not a novel.   Keep following for an upcoming post on my Kentucky Horse Park visit from yesterday.

 

 

 

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