Bolt d'Oro

Today we'll consider some of the sires standing between $10,001 and $19,999. For a long time, I called this the Lookin At Lucky zone. But don't worry, we won't be deploring his neglect yet again: he's staying in Chile, where they evidently appreciate him rather more. Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the...

The long-running battle to decide whether or not Justify (Scat Daddy) should have been disqualified from his win in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby seems to have come to a conclusion last week when the team representing Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of runner-up Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), obtained an order from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff, directing the California Horse Racing Board Stewards to set aside their Dec. 9, 2020 decision and issue a new ruling disqualifying Justify from the 2018 Santa Anita...

A decision may have finally been reached in the long-standing legal skirmish over the results of the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, won by Justify (Scat Daddy), according to a release issued Friday afternoon by the connections of Ruis Racing, who campaigned runner-up Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro). Ruis Racing has sought a disqualification of Justify by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), as the winner tested positive for scopolamine following the race. After it was revealed in a report that Justify had tested positive for scopolamine, Ruis began that quest...

Spendthrift Farm's homebred Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), a daughter of Hall of Famer Beholder (Henny Hughes), has been sidelined with a fractured splint bone in her left hind leg, the farm revealed in a Facebook post on Monday. The 2-year-old filly most recently finished seventh as the favorite in the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday. "Richard Mandella has informed us that Tamara came out of the Breeders' Cup with a small fracture of the splint bone in her left hind leg that will not require surgery," the post...

ARCADIA, CA - As the unbeaten Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) looks to emulate her legendary dam Beholder (Henny Hughes) with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, the duo have something else in common that you won't be able to find in Friday's program at Santa Anita. Before heading out to join Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella in Southern California, they were both broken and trained on behalf of Spendthrift Farm at Raul and Martha Reyes's King's Equine in Ocala, Florida. Like mother, like daughter? "Actually, Tamara was...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale concluded Thursday with a solid renewal which very nearly kept pace with its record-setting 2022 version even in the midst of a softening yearling market and a backdrop of uncertainty in the global economy and geo-political landscape. "It was a very successful 2023 Fasig-Tipton October sale," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said after the last horse went through the ring Thursday evening. "The results were very similar to last year and very similar to the 2021 results, which is pretty remarkable when...

Coming late in the proceedings, Hip 353, a daughter of Bolt d'Oro, realized the top price of $135,000 during the opening session of the OBS October Yearling Sale in Ocala Tuesday. Offered by agent Richard Kent's Kaizen Sales, the half-sister to recently stakes placed Yatta (Yoshida {Jpn}) is out of Final Reward (Arch), a half-sister to MSW Leadem in Ken (Sky Mesa), SW Prissy (Unbridled's Song) and GSP Hint of Roses (Tapit). The filly was purchased by de Meric Sales, who also led the session as its leading buyer. An...

"Her dad should have shot me," says Tim Hamlin wryly. Needless to say, he had met Nancy at a horseshow. She had just started out on her veterinary studies. "And she quit school to come to a little town in northwest Iowa to help me," Hamlin recalls. "This was '84, we were kids, had no money. We lived in a single wide trailer house for seven years. Nancy would get up at 4 a.m. to make donuts, so we could buy horsefeed." Eventually they found a filly that emboldened a...

Spendthrift Farm's Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), winner of the GI Del Mar Debutante S. Sept. 9, returned to the Santa Anita work tab Wednesday for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. With fellow Hall of Famer Mike Smith in the irons, the homebred out of four-time champion Beholder went three furlongs in :36.0 seconds. "It was an easy three-eights," Smith said. "She went around there nice and happy." Tamara is expected to make her next start in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Nov. 3. Tamara earned TDN...

When You Ain't Poppn (Bolt d'Oro) fought his way to a first-out victory at Churchill Downs Saturday night, it was no surprise to longtime Mulholland Springs farm manager Jesus Pinales, who had already witnessed the colt overcome much more than his 4-1 debut odds. Bred by Carlos Rafael and out of Eyepopnruby (Take Me Out), the 3-year-old was born at Mulholland Springs, but what started as a normal foaling on the evening of Apr. 5, 2020 soon took a dramatic turn. "I called Martha Jane and John Henry [Mulholland] and...

A filly by Bolt d'Oro brought $127,000 from Choctaw Racing to lead the way during Thursday's Book 5 finale at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. A son of Frosted was the highest-priced colt on the day and the session's second-highest priced yearling, realizing $110,000 from the Korea Racing Authority. Ten yearlings brought $100,000 or more during the session while 13 hit that mark last year. Keeneland sold a total of 289 yearlings through the ring Thursday for $9,276,500, good for an average of $32,099 and a median of $25,000. The...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale continued to produce steady, competitive bidding as the 12-day auction's Book 3 section concluded Sunday in Lexington. A total of 562 yearlings sold during the two Book 3 sessions for a gross of $86,894,000. The Book 3 average was $152,251--down 4.0% from last year's corresponding figure--and the median fell 8.0% to $115,000. During last year's Book 3 section, 573 yearlings grossed $90,919,500 for an average of $158,673 and a median of $125,000. A colt by Constitution brought the section's top price when...