Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) had always shown potential, but making good on it had become a problem. After he won last year's GII Louisiana Derby to remain undefeated in three career starts, he struggled to duplicate that performance. He did win the GIII Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland, but his record still lacked that all-important Grade I win.
That's no longer a problem. Kingsbarns defeated a strong field to win the June 29 GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs. To discuss that win and other matters relating to Spendthrift Farm, Spendthrift's GM Ned Toffey joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast, which is sponsored by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of the Week.
“This is a horse with a lot of a stamina and really good tactical speed,” Toffey said. “But can he sustain a run? I think things set up better for him in the Stephen Foster. And Luis [Saez] rode a great race. So hopefully that's what we see going forward.”
That he's now won a Grade I race means that Kingsbarns will some day set up shop in the stallion barn at Spendthrift.
“So what does the win mean? Grade I, Stephen Foster, son of Uncle Mo, out of a Tapit mare. The future of Kingsbarns is in a stallion barn,” Toffey said. “This win means we can order him a nameplate for his stall in the stallion barn. He's earned a spot.”
Spendthrift has not had a top 3-year-old colt so far this year, but that may change as Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso) showed some promise when winning the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth, a prep for the GI Haskell Stakes to be run July 20 at Monmouth Park.
“We sort of thought he was this year's Kingsbarns,” Toffey said. “He was two-for-two going into the Wood Memorial. We were hoping for a big performance there to springboard us into the Derby. It just wasn't there, for whatever reason. But he's bounced back. He's always been a good workhorse. He tends to finish off his works really well, gallop out really well. We'll be as eager to see what he can do in the Haskell as everybody else is. We're going to find out along with everyone else.”
Toffey also provided an update on Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), who is out of Beholder (Henny Hughes). Trained by Richard Mandella, she looked like a superstar in the making when winning the GI Del Mar Debutante. But she then finished seventh in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and hasn't been heard from since.
“Richard had started her back and he was originally pointing her to the Test,” Toffey said. “But there have been a few little, just ticky tacky issues. Nothing major. But he's just had to back off on her training, so I think we probably won't see here until after Del Mar. But we do very much expect to see her at some point late this year. We're still very excited about her future.”
In our breeding spotlight section we took a look at the WinStar stallion Constitution.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar, XBTV.com and the KTOB, the team of Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley talked about the Stephen Foster and the record handle that was produced at the Churchill Downs spring meet. There was also a discussion of NYRA's announcement that once the new Belmont is open all racing in the winter will be conducted on the Tapeta surface that is being installed.
Click here for the video of the podcast or here for the audio.
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