Champion

Tickets for the 51st annual Eclipse Awards dinner are on sale now. The Eclipse Awards will be held on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., the first time racing's night of champions will be held on the West Coast since 2012. Eclipse Award tickets are available for $425 each or $4,000 for a table of 10. For additional information, log on to the NTRA website at https://www.ntra.com/eclipse-awards/. The "black-tie optional" Eclipse Awards dinner and awards ceremony will be held in an expansive chalet adjacent to...

In just a few weeks, champion Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil - Expo Gold, by Johannesburg) will sell at the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' Sale. On an evening heralded for its abundant opportunity, her trip through the ring will be marked with anticipation for what is to come as she begins her broodmare career. But until then, there's just a bit of melancholy for her fans in looking back on her remarkable racing career. What was it, exactly, that made Swiss Skydiver so unforgettable? It could have been her extraordinary toughness...

Two-time Breeders' Cup Champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar--Drumette, by Henny Hughes) arrived at Spendthrift Farm on Monday, shortly after noon, from Churchill Downs, and the farm announced "unofficially" that she will be bred to perennial leading sire Into Mischief in 2022. The six-year-old mare was retired from racing last week after she was discovered to have sustained an injury during training. Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey was on site for the arrival and spoke on their decision to send her to Into Mischief. "It's not a tremendous amount of pedigree research...

Two-time champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar--Drumette, by Henny Hughes) has been retired from racing after she was discovered to have sustained an injury during training Tuesday at Churchill Downs, co-owner Spendthrift Farm announced Wednesday. "Monomoy Girl went out for a routine gallop Tuesday morning and came back a little off in her right front leg. We had it x-rayed and found a non-displaced fracture of the sesamoid. Obviously, we're very disappointed," said trainer Brad Cox. "She's walking sound today and it's not anything that will require surgery. It's just unfortunate that...

With the Keeneland September Sale fast approaching, Gray Lyster of Ashview Farm is looking forward to showcasing his colt by Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy-Devine Actress, by Theatrical {Ire}). Bred by Colts Neck Stables, the bay catalogued as Hip 892 is a half-brother to the talented MGSW Venetian Harbor (Munnings). The sibling duo is out of the stakes-placed mare Sounds of the City (Street Cry {Ire}), who hails from the family of champion sprinter Safely Kept (Horatius). "He's actually the fifth generation of the family that we've raised here at Ashview,"...

Champion Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) crushed her competition on her last trip to the west coast for the GII Santa Anita Oaks last spring and looks to repeat that performance Saturday when she returns to Santa Anita for the GI Beholder Mile. Capturing the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and GIII Fantasy S. prior to the Santa Anita Oaks last term, the chestnut took on males next out in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. July 11, finishing a respectable second to Art Collector (Bernardini). Returning to winning ways next out in...

Champion and dual G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) was scanned in foal to Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Juddmonte announced via Twitter on Monday. The 7-year-old was retired in October last year after ending her career with a sixth in the Arc earlier that month. She was covered by the fellow Juddmonte homebred just over two weeks ago. "Fifteen days after cover, champion Enable was this morning successfully scanned in foal to Kingman," Juddmonte tweeted. "Hopefully an exciting new chapter in this remarkable mare's...

Mother Nature did her level best over the last couple of weeks to try to wreak havoc with the seasonal debut of Godolphin's undefeated Eclipse Award winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit). An atypically cold and snowy stretch of weather in and around Hot Springs left the track closed for several days and set maintenance crews the monumental task of first clearing the better part of a foot of snow, then caring for the strip which bore a resemblance more to a construction site than it did Thoroughbred...

Reigning Eclipse Award-winning juvenile filly Vequist (Nyquist) was bet like she could not lose her 3-year-old debut in Saturday's GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream Park, but she never so much as truly reached contention, as Wholebodemeister (Bodemeister) got loose and brave on the lead and scampered clear to cause a 52-1 boilover. Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map) was a bit hesitant to load, but closed off decently for second ahead of 53-1 Competitive Speed (Competitive Edge) in third. Drawn the fence with Edgard Zayas calling the shots, Wholebodemeister put herself...

Spendthrift Farm's Vino Rosso (Curlin--Mythical Bride, by Street Cry {Ire}), the champion older dirt male and winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 2019, was represented by his first foal Jan. 5 when the 6-year-old mare Shine Time (Malibu Moon) produced a filly at Jim and Pam Robinson's Brandywine Farm in Paris, Kentucky. "I tell you what, you could not ask for a better foal. She is just beautiful and very smart," Pam Robinson said. "Physically, she is a strong filly with good bone. I cannot say enough positive...

Champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) arrived at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa Thursday afternoon after completing her final phase of rehabilitation at WinStar Farm. The five-time Grade I winner will visit Hill 'n' Dale flagbearer Curlin. Midnight Bisou was preparing for her Breeders' Cup bid this fall when she incurred a sesamoid fracture during a work at the end of September that forced connections to retire the mare prematurely. The champion shone as one of brightest stars at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale Nov. 8. Co-owner Chuck Allen of Allen Racing...

Champion fillies were rarely sold at public auction when owner/breeders dominated the sport for a good part of the last century. All of that changed from the 1980s onward when the industry became more commercialized and highly charged at the top end with international bidding wars for yearlings and breeding stock. Back then, folks like Robert Sangster and partners and Sheikh Mohammed and his brothers made the market, and in November of 1983--the same year that Sheikh Mohammed's Aston Upthorpe Stud outgunned Sangster at Keeneland July for the $10.2-million yearling...