Catalina Cruiser

VERSAILLES, KY--With the foal crop of 2020 beginning to gradually dot the paddocks of the Bluegrass, excitement and anticipation are running high, perhaps even more so for a stud farm with a stallion celebrating its first arrivals. For Lane's End Farm, the feeling is threefold, with the farm set to welcome the first crops of Grade I winners Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), City of Light (Quality Road) and West Coast (Flatter). In a media-only event at the farm's stallion complex Tuesday evening, Lane's End's Sales Director Allaire Ryan said she...

It was back in 1988 that John Sadler began his stake race winning spree at Del Mar, when the mild-mannered speedball Olympic Prospect took the then-$75,000 Bing Crosby H., prompting jockey Alex Solis afterwards to breathlessly exclaim, "I never rode a horse that fast in my life." When given this little factoid at his Del Mar barn one recent morning--a full 31 years after the event--Sadler assumed the look of someone who'd just been told that water wasn't wet. "I wouldn't think so--it's got to be before that," he said...

Hronis Racing's Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags), undefeated in two starts to that point, had his coming out party with a 6 3/4-length romp in the GII San Diego H. on opening weekend last summer at Del Mar. He will attempt to repeat that feat as a heavy favorite in Saturday's renewal of the seaside oval's annual prep for the GI Pacific Classic. Debuting in October of 2017 with a sharp off-the-pace success, the chestnut proved both his talent and versatility when annexing a Santa Anita optional claimer in front-running fashion...