Air of Defiance

2nd-KEE, $100k, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, post time: 1:32 p.m. ET One need look no further than the rail for the fanciest pedigree in this field of 12, as SCORPIUS (Into Mischief) is the full-brother to Mandaloun, who overcame an eventful trip on his six-furlong debut at this track to become a 'TDN Rising Star' during the fall meeting in 2020 and went on to win the GII Risen Star Stakes before going on to be promoted to the victory in both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Haskell Stakes in...

Gold Square's Air of Defiance (c, 2, Quality Road--Faypien, by Ghostzapper) ran to the money with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance for trainer Brad Cox at second asking at Keeneland Wednesday. Drawn wide in post 10, the 3-5 favorite was away in good order and forced the issue while three deep through an opening quarter in :22.62. Racing out in the five path, he hit front approaching the top of the stretch and took off impressively from there to score by six widening lengths over Nyquist Frequency (Nyquist). Air of...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. After working in company with his elder graded stakes-placed stablemate Slip Mahoney (Arrogate) in an Aug. 19 move for trainer Brad Cox over the Oklahoma training track, there was plenty of chatter behind Air of Defiance (c, 2, Quality Road--Faypien, by Ghostzapper) heading into his Saratoga debut. Despite proving no match for the jaw-dropping 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) across Union Ave. six days later,...