Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint

About a year before Drayden Van Dyke won the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint aboard Soul of An Angel (Atreides), no one would have thought he was about to win any sort of major race. His career in shambles, he went 5-for-136 in 2023, and he knew it would not be easy to bounce back. But the story changed. It's now about perseverance. Van Dyke is in Florida, getting ready for the Championship Meet at Gulfstream. His mental health has improved dramatically and, most importantly he is winning...

Irad Ortiz, Jr. has withdrawn his appeal of a three-day suspension for "for failure to maintain a straight course in the stretch and causing interference" aboard 11-10 favorite Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper), who successfully defended her title by winning the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park. There was no stewards' inquiry posted after Goodnight Olive's win. The Equibase chart noted that Goodnight Olive "drifted in, taking the path of Society [Gun Runner] near the three-sixteenths pole" before she "quickly opened clear and held safely."...

Prior to this year's Keeneland September Sale, John Stewart was largely unknown in racing circles. That changed when Stewart, the founder and managing partner of MiddleGround Capital, a private equity firm, spent $8.425 million on 13 horses. He was just getting started. Stewart returned to the fall breeding stock sales at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland where he once again opened his check book, purchasing 11 mares and weanlings for a total of $17.35 million. The list included the two-time GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper). Stewart...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY - Three Witches (Into Mischief) provided the highlight of a workaday Book 2 section of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale when selling for $1.7 million Friday in Lexington. Book 2 opened with a uneven session Thursday at Keeneland, but activity was more consistent throughout Friday's Book 2 finale. "It was a solid day of trade," said Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. "From start to finish, it felt a little more consistent and healthy today. Yesterday was a little bumpy,...

The GII Honorable Miss H. at Saratoga is named after the highly-successful multiple stakes-winning mare from the 1970s. Owned by Edith Bancroft's sons who carried on the family tradition established by their grandfather, William Woodward Sr., the pair founded Pen-Y-Bryn Farm after their own mother's passing. With only four entered, this year's edition is highlighted by the Saratoga return of '21 champion 2-year-old filly and MGISW Echo Zulu (Gun Runner). The Steve Asmussen trainee won her juvenile debut at the Spa when she soared to become a 'TDN Rising Star'...

Joe Peacock, Jr.'s Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), who earned a berth in the field for next Saturday's GI BigAss Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile via his mild upset in the GIII Ack Ack S. at Churchill Downs Oct. 1, tuned up for that engagement with a 'solid' five-furlong work in the company of his GII Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-bound stable companion Sheriff Brown (Curlin) beneath jockey Francisco Arrieta at Keeneland Thursday morning. "We got what we wanted," trainer Todd Fincher said. "Senor Buscador started about six lengths back and got to the...

New York-bred Fingal's Cave (Carpe Diem), perfect in four career starts in the Big Apple, takes on graded stakes company for the first time in Saturday's GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland. The bay cuts back in distance to seven furlongs after capturing her stakes debut in Saratoga's Fleet Indian S. versus state-breds going 1 1/8 miles in the mud Aug. 26. "At some point, we will challenge her and this seems to be a good spot," trainer David Donk said. "The Raven Run is for straight 3-year-olds, it's...

They say that some poker players have a "tell," a change in their behavior that can give away how they feel about their chances of winning a particular hand. Hall of Fame rider Victor Espinoza says that the 2021 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner, Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) is no different. "Most of the times I ride her, I know before I get to the gate what kind of a race she's going to run," he said. "So, did you know in the Breeders' Cup?" I asked eagerly....

Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), last seen upsetting the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar Nov. 6, returns to launch her 6-year-old campaign in Saturday's GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita. The 2020 GI Apple Blossom H. and GI Beholder Mile S. heroine focused on races going around one turn during her 2021 campaign. In addition to her victory at the Championships, her season also included strong wins in the GII Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream July 3 and GIII Chillingworth S. at Santa Anita Oct....

Lloyd Madison Farms IV LLC's homebred filly Sconsin (Include) is on track for a second straight appearance in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint following her tough, half-length defeat of Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) in Saturday's Open Mind S. on the Downs After Dark program at Churchill. A pace-compromised fourth, just a half-length behind Bell's the One, in last year's Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland, Sconsin was winning for the second time in six starts this term, having taken the course-and-distance GIII Winning Colors S. by 3...

Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), a multiple Grade I winner going two turns, will look for her first sprint stakes score when shipping cross-country for a try in the GII Princess Rooney S., a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" qualifier, Saturday at Gulfstream. Laid up after a fourth-place run in the GI Acorn S. as a sophomore in 2019, the homebred returned last February at Santa Anita with a sharp allowance score and kept it rolling with back-to-back top-level tallies in the Beholder Mile S. and Apple Blossom...

Lothenbach Stables' Bell's the One (Majesticperfection), who became the first Grade I winner for trainer Neil Pessin in last year's Derby City Distaff ahead of a third-place effort to champion 'TDN Rising Star' Gamine (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60 (9/36) at the Fair Grounds Feb. 28. Pessin confirmed that the GI Madison S. at Keeneland Apr. 4, in which his charge was a pace-compromised third in the coronavirus-delayed 2020 renewal last July, is the jumping-off spot for the mare's...