Ceiling Crusher

Mr. Big (Dynaformer--Fashion Delight, by Fappiano) died Tuesday due to complications from laminitis. Sire of 12 black-type winners, including California-bred champions Big Fish and Ceiling Crusher, Mr. Big was 21. Mr. Big was campaigned by George Krikorian, who purchased the bay as a weanling for $220,000 at the 2003 Keeneland November sale. Krikorian then developed him into one of California's leading sires. "I'm heartbroken--Mr. Big was a very special horse," Krikorian said. Mr. Big had stood the past two seasons at Pete and Evelyn Parrella's Legacy Ranch in Clements, California,...

The 2023 California-bred Horse of the Year will be announced at the CTBA Awards Dinner and Annual Meeting on Tuesday, Mar. 12 at Le Meridien Hotel in Arcadia, CA. The finalists for Horse of the Year are (in alphabetical order) Ceiling Crusher (Mr. Big), Kings River Knight (Acclamation) and The Chosen Vron (Vronsky). For ticket information for the Awards Dinner and Annual Meeting, click Annual Meeting & Awards Dinner | CTBA or contact Christy Chapman at Christy@ctba.com.   Other Cal-bred champions to be recognized at the banquet:   Champion Two-Year-Old...

The one-day Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings and Horses of Racing Age sale, which has firmly established its spot on the calendar for West Coast buyers, will get underway Tuesday, Sept. 26 at the Fairplex Sales Pavilion near Pomona. Expectations for the sale, now in its fifth edition, continue to grow every year. "If you race in California, you have to have Cal-breds in your barn," said Fasig-Tipton's California representative and former California-based trainer Mike Machowsky. "You need a balance in your stables and a lot of trainers and owners realize...

On paper, it appeared that Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), coming into Parx's GI Cotillion S. off three consecutive Grade I victories for Godolphin and Brendan Walsh, held her rivals over a barrel. Despite that fact, Ceiling Crusher (Mr. Big) took full advantage of the soggy, sealed track by going to the front and never looking back enroute to a narrow victory over the 2-1 Classic winner. Breaking to the immediate inside of Pretty Mischievous, the 3-1 co-second choice flashed her usual early speed, leading Majestic Creed (Jimmy Creed) and Hoosier...