Bolt d'Oro

Thanks to Winter Storm Elliott and numerous cancellations of racing cards in the East late last week, the tight battle between Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), Good Magic (Curlin) and Justify (Scat Daddy) to claim the title of 2022's leading first-crop sire went from a boil to a chill over the Christmas holiday weekend. However, with three days remaining on the calendar this year, both the temperatures and the competition are heating back up, none of the top three willing to claim victory or concede defeat just yet. Bolt d'Oro kicked...

Off as the heavy chalk in Monday's $97,000 Sugar Bowl S., Stonestreet Stables LLC's Corona Bolt (Bolt d'Oro) led not long after the start and kicked away in the final furlong to become a sixth black-type winner for his leading freshman sire (by Medaglia d'Oro). Adding Lasix off strong one-length debut score at Churchill Downs Nov. 19 (82 Beyer Speed Figure), the $225,000 Keeneland November weanling speared through from between rivals to lead and covered the opening couple of furlongs :22.24 under an easy Florent Geroux hold and turned them...

by Margaret Ransom A quiet week for the top-three stallions battling it out to earn the crown as 2022 leading first-crop sire--Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), Good Magic (Curlin) and Justify (Scat Daddy)--has led to a busy pre-Christmas week with Justify and Good Magic each picking up a winner and all three having multiple runners both here in the U.S. and abroad over the next two days heading into the quiet holiday weekend. Justify scored first on Wednesday with his daughter Diamondsareforever breaking her maiden at first asking at Dundalk in...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-FG, $50K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 5:45 p.m. Purchased for $650,000 out of the OBS April Sale after a sharp :9.4 breeze, ROXY'S BALL (Bolt d'Oro) was the most expensive filly and the second-most expensive overall by her freshman sire (by Medaglia d'Oro) from the sale. From a heavily-Australian influenced family, her third dam produced MG1SW Toledo (Aus) (At Talaq). Closer up, her own dam is a multiple stakes winner and multiple graded-stakes placed in her native Australia before being imported in 2018. Conditioned by...

by Margaret Ransom A one-two finish from Communication Memo and Two Rocket in Friday's 6th race at Oaklawn Park and their combined earnings of $72,000 helped Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) extend his lead over Good Magic (Curlin) and Justify (Scat Daddy) in the first-year stallion earnings race heading into the weekend. Not willing to wave the white flag just yet, Good Magic's Almurtajiz, a $290,635 ARQMAY purchase earlier this year, finished second in the G3 Ministry of National Guard Cup at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on Friday and picked up...

by Margaret Ransom It's been a quiet week so far for the top stallions brawling it out to claim the title of 2022's leading first-crop sire, but the numbers for all three are likely to move with each having a number of runners over the next few days before the quiet of the Christmas holiday week sets in. On Thursday, Bolt d'Oro's (Medaglia d'Oro) daughter Bullock captured a $25,000 maiden claiming event at Gulfstream Park by a length and picked up a check for $28,400. In doing so, the filly...

by Margaret Ransom It was a busy weekend for one of the top three stallions battling it out for the crown as the best first-crop sire of 2022 as Justify was represented by a pair of winners and another two to hit the board, leaving Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) and Good Magic (Curlin) winless from just a single runner each. Justify's two winners on American soil both came on Sunday and started with Don Alberto Stable's homebred Alpha Bella, who graduated with a hard-fought victory by a head at Gulfstream...

First-crop leading earner Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) continues to stride forward. Atop TDN's board, the sire had a half-dozen chances on Friday to extend his lead over chasers Good Magic (Curlin) and Justify (Scat Daddy). Named for a Spanish golfing legend, 2-year-old colt Olazabal ratcheted up the pressure with a tee-to-green victory in the fifth race at Turfway Park. Looking to move up in the standings, Justify found the rough when his filly Prove My Love did not make the cut in the race prior as an also-eligible. Across the...

by Margaret Ransom Since neither of the top three first-crop sires battling it out to win the 2022 division title had a runner on Thursday, their numbers remain unchanged. The focus now turns to a busy Friday with Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) in a solid position to pull away from both Justify (Scat Daddy) and Good Magic (Curlin) with six runners total--three in the fifth race at Turfway Park, two in the sixth at Woodbine and another at Oaklawn Park. Good Magic's lone runner on Friday--Zia Park Juvenile S. winner...

by Margaret Ransom Only Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) was represented by any runners on Wednesday and of the two to make the gate, one successfully reached the winner's circle and helped pad his sire's earnings total lead over rivals Justify and Good Magic. Halfway around the world, Tempesta d'Oro received a ground-saving trip at Abu Dhabi and slipped through a hole up the rail to win a one-mile Msw turf test going away in 1:38.67. He banked 48,000 Dirham ($13,070) bringing his sire's total to $2,481,778 At Turfway Park on...

A three-horse match race for the 2022 first-crop sire crown is on! The TDN will continue to publish our earnings list on a nightly basis with data streaming in for Northern Hemisphere-born foals from stallions standing in North America. Note that Japanese earnings are added every Sunday night, and there may be delayed reporting from other countries, which could postpone the final results in a very tight race into early January. We will also be providing a preview of 2-year-olds entered the next day in North America and beyond. Let...

As we saw in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, if there's anything more exciting than a duel to the wire, it's the intrusion of a third nose. And that's pretty much the way a remarkable contest for the freshman sires' title is playing out entering the stretch. The first thing to stress is that it really shouldn't matter which of the stallions involved happens to bank the critical extra cents to claim the crown. That won't be how the marketing teams of their respective farms are viewing things, naturally, but...