Share This: Lawn jockeys decorated with the winners of previous stakes decorate Keeneland.
It’s been exactly one week since things really heated up at Keeneland racetrack in Lexington, KY. The October meet opened Friday, October 5th and served up some hot temperatures and hotter stakes races. Fall Stars Weekend delivered 10 stakes races. Since then they have held another stakes as well. What has sire power meant to Keeneland’s racetrack so far and who may we expect to win this weekend’s stakes?
Share This: Uncle Mo has sired many stakes winners and his yearlings are in high demand.
The site of a Thoroughbred always leaves me wanting More! As the 13 session long, Keeneland September Yearling Sale has 3 more days to go we have one Mo weekend to see Mo yearlings, spend or make Mo money and meanwhile enjoy some Mo racing. Uncle Mo was well represented at Keeneland’s sale and he has a couple more hips in the final 3 sessions. Additionally, he has sired several horses racing word-wide over these next 3 days. If you are looking for something Mo, please, read on.
Share This: Hip 69, a filly sired by Tapit, her dam is Pretty n’ Smart, was 2017’s top priced yearling sold in North America, at the Keeneland September Sale!
Suddenly it’s sales time! I love attending the September Yearling Sales at Keeneland in Lexington, KY. You never know what you’re looking at the first time you see it. Justify, our latest Triple Crown winner, is a Keeneland September sales grad. Today’s yearlings are classic champions in as little as 2 years time. Be sure I will follow up with results, pictures and tales from the sales. For now, I’ll keep it simple with the sales stats and story.
Share This: WinStar super stud, Pioneerof the Nile
On the Monday preceding the Thanksgiving holiday, I seized the day (a little Carpe Diem pun) and took a tour at WinStar Farm. This modern but magnificent horse farm has been on my to do list since I began my website nearly three years ago. Good things do come to those who wait because WinStar just keeps adding champions to their sire roster. At over 20 stallions there was so much to see so I’ve selected some to share.
Share This: Stellar Wind strikes a $6 million dollar pose
The 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale concluded yesterday, 11/18/17. It was a spectacular sale with high demand for the best quality weanlings, mares and horses of racing age. With so much to say in the recap, I think it might be best to let the numbers speak for themselves.
Saratoga Springs is serving up a sweet stakes on Saturday! The 137th running of the Alabama Stakes posts at 5:40 P.M. EDT tonight and with a competitive field of 9 stakes winners there will be some surprises.
Here we go, racing fans! Up next, is the second jewel. Will we get a Triple Crown winner? History would predict it is unlikely but the fans know what they want. The early favorite for the Preakness Stakes is no other than, AlwaysDreaming, winner of the Kentucky Derby. Check out his competition here.
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.
Share This: Spoiler alert: You are looking at the two time Horse of the Year and the Older Dirt Male winner of the 2016 Eclipse Awards, California Chrome!
The results are in! Last night, the 2016 Eclipse Award winners were announced. Congratulations to the connections of all the 46th annual award winners.
The Eclipse Awards were originated in 1971. These awards are given to the most elite of North American Racing in 17 horse and human categories as well as media and people worthy of lifetime achievement recognition. The name Eclipse was derived in honor of the great sire Eclipse. Eclipse was foaled during a solar eclipse in 1764. He was sired by Marske and his dam was Spilletta. Eclipse did not race until he was 5 years-old. He was undefeated. He won 18 races consecutively and then retired because he had no one to race with. 8 of his 18 wins were walkovers. He simply had no competition entered in his races because no one dared to try to match him. Therefore, he retired to stud in 1771. He was an amazing stallion. His offspring, of up to 400 winners, have gone on to make him part of the pedigree in most Thoroughbred horses. Secretariat and Phar Lap got their oversized heart from the Eclipse line.
On January, 21, 2017 the 2016 Eclipse Awards winners were announced beginning at 8 P.M. EST at Sport of Kings Theater, part of Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Tickets to attend were $425 or it could be watched via TVG2 or multiple streaming services. Last night’s awards were presented to the best horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, breeders, racing media, handicapper and 2 awards of Merit. The panel of judges was appointed by the Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA). The awards were organized by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and presented by the Breeders’ Cup, the Daily Racing Form and the Stronach Group.
Prior to last evening’s presentation the recipients were announced in the following categories:
Merit – Andrew Beyer and Steven Crist. Beyer is retired from writing for the Washington Post. He is the creator of Beyer Speed Figures as detailed in his best selling book, “Picking Winners”. Crist is a retired writer from the New York Times. He was the founder, chairman and publisher of The Racing Times and chairman/publisher of The Daily Racing Form. He created the category for the horseplayer of the year. He has served on New York’s advisory commission on racing and he was the vice-president of the New York Racing Association.
National Horseplayer of the Year – Paul Matties, winner of the National Handicapping Championship
Media Awards – NBC, ESPN, Jay Houdey, Barbara Livingston, Molly McGill, Todd Marks, The Paulick Report, John Scheinman and Natalie Voss. NBC won for television and live programming, ESPN for television and feature programming. Houdey, Livingston and McGill won together for the Daily Racing Forms multimedia. Marks won for photography. Paulick and Scheinman won for feature commentary. Voss was awarded for news/enterprise.
Last night we discovered those honored with the remaining awards:
Horse of the Year: California Chrome, at 6 years-old Chrome has one more race, the Pegasus World Cup, before he retires to stud at Taylor Made Farm. He has won 16 of 26 starts in his lifetime. He won 7 of 8 races in 2016. He was the winner of the Dubai World Cup last year. He won the horse of the year in 2014 too. He also received the fan voted award for the NTRA Moment of the Year for his Dubai World Cup race.
3 Year-Old Filly: Songbird, winning 11 of 12 races this filly is special. Her only loss was her photo-finish to Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her votes were unanimous.
3 Year-Old Male: Arrogate, the only horse to beat Chrome in 2016. He has won 5 of 6 races. He won the Travers Stakes and the BC Classic. He will compete again in the much anticipated Pegasus World Cup on 1/28.
2 Year-Old Filly: Champagne Room, has won twice from 5 starts. She won the BC Juvenile Fillies Stakes in her last race of 2016. She is ranked number one on the Kentucky Oaks leader board.
2 Year Old Male: Classic Empire, has won 4 of 5 career races. His only loss was actually due to the fact he tossed his jockey. His final race of 2016 was the BC Juvenile, which he won. He holds the top spot on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leader board.
Older Dirt Female: Beholder, she now has 4 Eclipse Awards, she won as a 2YO and a 3YO and now twice for older in 2015 and 2016 consecutively. Beholder has won 18 of 26 starts. She won the BC Distaff in 2016 and is now retired as a broodmare. Hopefully she will have an Uncle Mo foal in 2018.
Older Dirt Male: California Chrome, now has 4 Eclipse Awards. In 2014 he was Champion 3 Year-Old Colt.
Female Sprinter: Finest City, is 5 years-old and has won 5 of 15 starts. She won the BC Filly and Mare Sprint in 2016. Yesterday, she won the Santa Monica Stakes.
Male Sprinter: Drefong, is a 4 year-old colt who has won the last 5 of 6 races including the BC Sprint.
Female Turf Horse: Tepin, is one of my favorites. She is 6 years-old and she is still racing. She will be entered on 2/11 in Tampa Bay Downs Endeavor Stakes. She won the Turf Horse/Grass Mare in 2015 too.
Male Turf Horse: Flintshire, is a 9 year-old with 8 wins in 24 starts. Only his first two races were not graded stakes and in 21 races he has finished in the money. Flintshire has placed second in the BC Turf twice.
Steeplechase Horse: Rawnaq, is a nine year-old and deserves congratulations. He does not flat race.
Trainer of the Year: Chad Brown earned his first Eclipse Award. He trained New MoneyHoney for her win in the BC Fillies Turf in 2016. He has won many BC races over the years. He trained for 763 races in 2016 and won 182 of those.
Breeder of the Year: WinStar Farm won this award for the first time. They made the most in earnings this year, collecting over $10 million dollars. They also had the most graded wins in 2016.
Jockey of the Year: Javier Castellano won his 4th consecutive Eclipse award last night. He was New Money Honey’s jockey in her BC win. Castellano was ranked 4th by wins in 2016.
Apprentice Jockey of the Year: Luis M. Ocasio won his first Eclipse Award last evening. He was 93rd in earnings in 2016. He will be keeping busy at Parx Racing and Penn National this week.
Owner of the Year: Juddmonte Farms, owner of Arrogate, took this Eclipse for the third time. They ranked second in earnings in 2016.
Thank you for all the award recipients for their contributions to the Thoroughbred industry. Also, thank you for the money they raised last night at the live auction during the ceremony. Over $80 thousand dollars were collected for Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. I am proud of all the fine people and horses that make my favorite sport better.
Thank you for continuing to read and share my webpage. My next post will get us up to speed on the upcoming Pegasus World Cup.
A dream was fulfilled yesterday when I finally got to meet American Pharoah. I was lucky enough to be present at Keeneland, this past October, when Pharoah worked his way thru the paddock and then flashed past me to win his final race. He won the first and only Grand Slam, the combination of all 3 legs of the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. With that, Pharoah retired just a few miles further down the road at Ashford Stud in Versailles,KY.
Ashford Stud is the American division of Coolmore. Coolmore America acquired the Ashford farm in the 1980s. The land was developed for cattle farming around 1912 and was called Hereford Farm until the late 1970s. As the cattle were replaced by stallions some great bloodlines began to prosper here. I was very impressed from the time I traveled thru the gated entry and down the tree lined car path passing lush fields that led us to the start of the tour. Everything we saw was built with beauty and there is a lot of stone work.
Coolmore added Thunder Gulch to the roster in 1996. He still lives there today, having retired last year. He serves as a calming factor to American Pharoah in the paddock now. Thunder Gulch is the offspring of Gulch and Line of Thunder. Thunder Gulch was born in March of 1992. He won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1995. He was 3rd in the Preakness Stakes that year. He was the Eclipse Award winner for Champion 3 Year Old Colt that same year. By 2001 he was the top sire. He has produced many fine Thoroughbreds.
A farm favorite and North America’s leading sire in lifetime earnings, still standing at Ashford, is Giant’s Causeway. He shares a barn with American Pharoah but it is Giant’s Causeway’s large statue that is featured just outside of the barn door. He is accredited with producing 31 Grade 1 winners. He is the son of Storm Cat and Mariah’sStorm, born in 1997. Giant’s Causeway had a nice career as a runner but the stud life is for him. He earned the champion sire title in 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Shanghai Bobby said it was much too pretty to look inward towards the barn. He was enjoying the view of the lovely farm. His very 1st crop of yearlings are selling now and he has had some nice prices on his Keeneland September Sale grads. Shanghai Bobby won the BC Juvenile and and Eclipse Award for Champion 2 Year Old Colt both in 2012. He himself is the son of Harlan’s Holiday and Steelin’. He was foaled in 2010.
Munnings wasn’t having it either. He left the hamming to American Pharoah. Munnings is the 2006 offspring of Speightstown and La Comete. Munnings was a nice race horse and he is producing great foals. I’m A Chatterbox is one of my favorite of his progeny.
Uncle Mo is having a very significant impact on the industry right now. He is the sire of our last KY Derby winner, Nyquist. Indian Charlie and Playa Maya produced UncleMo in 2008. He was the winner of the 2010 BC Juvenile and subsequently the winner of the Eclipse Award for Champion 2 Year Old Colt that same year.
Declaration of War was born to War Front and Tempo West in 2009. His sire, War Front along with Tapit took the lead at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale as they have for years. Declaration of War’s first crop are currently yearlings.
Lookin At Lucky wasn’t necessarily looking at me. This 2007 son of Smart Strike and Private Feeling was a nice racehorse. Lookin at Lucky won the Preakness in 2010. In 2009 and 2010 he took the Eclipse Award for Champion Colt. Madefromlucky is one of his many graded stakes winning offspring.
The name plaques on the walls and the gravestones in the cemetery remind us of the great horses that have called Ashford Stud home. Cigar and Scat Daddy are among those memorialized. Scat Daddy died way to soon. His last crop of yearlings are making there way through this year’s sales. Hip 454 at the 2016 Keeneland September Sale was his son. He was the sale topper hammering $3 million dollars.
The property is stuffed with awards and memorabilia affiliated with the champion sires that have called Ashford home. Pictured here are just a few of the wonderful collection I saw.
The least fancy building on the tour holds the most important rooms. This is the breeding shed where every live mount at Coolmore America takes place.
I’ll conclude the tour recap with a few more photos of Ashford’s and America’s champ. American Pharoah brought an end to our 37 year quest for a Triple Crown Winner. He is our only living champion horse of just 12 Thoroughbreds to ever win the series. AmericanPharoah was born in 2012. He is the son of Pioneerof the Nile and Littleprincessemma. Pharoah began breeding for the 1st time this year. I can not wait to see his foals. I hope they inherit every bit of his talent. He has put on a little weight and he seemed calm and comfortable for a stallion. To arrange for your own tour go to Horse Country Tours
In other news, California Chrome races again Saturday. Look for my Chrome story any day now.
