Brad Cox

With 'TDN Rising Star' Nash (Medaglia d'Oro) bypassing the GIII Matt Winn S. at Churchill Downs for the GI Woody Stephens S. at Saratoga, the new headliner for Sunday's race under the Twin Spires is Who Dey (Liam's Map). Installed as a 5-2 shot on the morning-line in the Matt Winn, trainer Tom Drury opted to scratch his colt from Friday's Best of Ohio Green Carpet S. at Belterra Park for a chance to return to Churchill. The 3-year-old was last seen finishing fourth behind GI Preakness S. hero Seize...

7th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 3:51 p.m. ET. Coteau Grove homebred and first-time starter EYE OF THE PHARAOH (American Pharoah) is out of unraced dam You Caught My Eye (Can the Man), who the farm purchased for $230,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November Sale with the filly in utero. Trained by Brad Cox, the 3-year-old's second dam, MSW Halo River (Irish River), is responsible for Canadian Horse of the Year Catch A Glimpse (City Zip) and north of the border multiple-leading sire Old Forester (Forestry). Also set for her...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Hosting a slew of top-shelf graded stakes action at the Spa is not a new concept. However, doing it the first weekend in June is. The ongoing construction at Belmont Park necessitated a venue change for the next two years, creating a unique opportunity to host a Triple Crown jewel in upstate New York. Admittedly, the decision has sent local accommodation rates into the stratosphere, to the point of hilarity. But, for the diehard fans that want to get a glimpse of history, this year's shift was welcomed....

All four of the stakes winners on the Thursday card at Saratoga exited their respective races in good order according to their conditioners. The Grey Wizard (Ire) (Caravaggio) took home the GII Belmont Gold Cup S. with a timely surge at the wire, which earned the 5-year-old the Golden Ticket for the G1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Nov. 5. Trainer Graham Motion said, "He looks really good, this morning. I'm very happy with him. He scoped clean and he looks really well." Motion said he will speak with [owner] Aron...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Given his choice, trainer Brendan Walsh would rather not see it wet on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. That's because the big horse in his barn, Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) is scheduled to run in the GI Ogden Phipps S. on the GI Belmont S. undercard at Saratoga Race Course. "The less rain we get, the better," Walsh said while sitting in his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. Owned by Godolphin LLC. Pretty Mischievous has seen off-tracks before and has run okay....

Almostgone Rocket (Into Mischief) made good on a promise of 1-2, leading home a 'TDN Rising Star' exacta as a much-the-best winner of Thursday's Jersey Girl S. at Saratoga. A $250,000 Keeneland September purchase, Almostgone Rocket decimated a field of Oaklawn maidens by nearly a dozen lengths on debut Apr. 5 to become a 'TDN Rising Star', but instead of going for a race like the GII Eight Belles S., for which she would have been well-fancied, opted for a first-level Churchill allowance May 3, and she duly obliged by...

6th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 3:35 p.m. ET Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out a pair of debuting 3-year-old fillies by Into Mischief for Bass Stables as the 6-5 morning-line favorite entry. The homebred CHANTEUSE is a half-sister to GI Arkansas Derby winner Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon), while AUDACIOUS, a $700,000 Keeneland September purchase, is a granddaughter of multiple graded winner Yell (A.P. Indy). Yell also produced the dams of multiple graded winner Tax (Arch) and multiple Grade I winner Elate (Medaglia d'Oro). TJCIS PPs 1st-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, 5...

MGISW Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) broke her maiden at first asking under the Twin Spires by just over three lengths and that is how her younger 3-year-old half-brother Star of Wonder (Uncle Mo--Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats) tackled a sloppy Sunday afternoon at Churchill Downs. For his efforts, the homebred rose into the 'TDN Rising Star' heavens. Well-backed as the 2-1 second choice here, he bided his time toward the back as the frontrunners set a hot pace of :22.65 for the first quarter mile and :45.35 for the initial half-mile. Keeping off...

The span between Memorial Day and the third leg of the Triple Crown is often a quiet one in the racing world. Not this year, though. Here's a shaking-out of a reporter's notebook from a week that generated some unexpected headlines. Louisiana's move to more lenient medication rules: TDN's survey of seven trainers--Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Michael Stidham, Tom Amoss, Al Stall, Dallas Stewart, Cherie DeVaux--spoke volumes about the announcement by the Louisiana Racing Commission that it would be implementing "emergency" standards that softened a number of drug-regulating standards as...

8th-CD, $120k, Msw, 3yo/up, 1m, 4:22p.m. ET Debuting from the outside and underneath a set of spires where his half-sister won the nation's greatest race for fillies, STAR OF WONDER (Uncle Mo) will go to post for the WinStar and Siena Farm partnership. A half to the aforementioned GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil), the colt is also a half-sibling to GSP Mojovation (Quality Road). This is the extended family of multiple Grade I-placed Crafty C. T. Brad Cox will send Star of Wonder out for the mile on the...

He may not have had a black-type win to his name coming into Saturday's GIII Blame S. at Churchill Downs, but some strong efforts and a 104 Beyer figure in his last out, a runner-up performance in the Apr. 20 GII Oaklawn H., were enough to convince the betting public HIGHLAND FALLS (c, 4, Curlin--Round Pond, by Awesome Again) belonged. They were right. The 4-5 choice got rolling late to catch last-out Keeneland allowance winner Cagliostro (Upstart) just before the wire, while former $975,000 Keeneland yearling and GI Pennsylvania Derby...

Thursday's TDN contains a story by Bill Finley discussing the set of more lenient medication rules that the Louisiana Racing Commission has recently enacted. Louisiana is not a state governed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, and the new rules, which replace the ARCI model rules previously used, are scheduled to go into effect on June 8.  In Thursday's story, HISA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Lazarus suggested that there might have to be additional scrutiny on horses coming out of Louisiana races in the spring because of the more...