Accelerate

The first foals by Grade I-winning multimillionaire Collected (City Zip--Helena Bay, by Johannesburg), have been reported at leading nurseries Airdrie Stud, Anderson Farms and Trackside Farm, Airdrie announced Tuesday. Airdrie Stud resident Believe You Can (Proud Citizen), winner of six stakes including the 2012 GI Kentucky Oaks, foaled a colt by Collected Feb. 1. "We bred the most important mare on our farm to Collected and he has greatly rewarded our faith in him," said Airdrie's Bret Jones. "Believe You Can's colt is an absolutely exceptional foal with the presence...

Over the coming days and weeks, we will be touched by the customary pictures of first foals tottering onto the gawky limbs that must someday propel them around the racetrack, and so determine the viability of their sires' new careers. That's the idea, at any rate. Sadly, we know that the auctioneer's gavel will expel some of these stallions from Kentucky--and just to reiterate, we will be surveying regional sires at the end of this series--before their stock gets any meaningful opportunity to test the heritability of the talent that...

"Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland" is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale who have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages. Trainer John Sadler does a lot of things well. But give him a chance to get a feel for a horse, what it needs and let it develop at its own pace and there may be no one better. It's probably no coincidence that the two best horses he's ever trained, Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky) and Stellar Wind (Curlin) both had their...