Curlin

by Alan Carasso & Patrycja Szpyra Displaying some single-minded ways in the post parade, where he proved himself quite the handful, St Elias Stable, Ken Langone, C. Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable's Deterministic (Liam's Map--Giulio's Jewel, by Speightstown) was off slowly on top of his pre-race antics, but he overcame it all to relentlessly grind his way to 'TDN Rising Star' honors in Saturday's fifth race from Saratoga. Clearly last from the stalls, the dark bay colt lingered at the back of the field for a time, then was content...

4th-Colonial Downs, $60,000, Msw, 8-12, 3yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.17, fm, 6 1/2 lengths. INTEGRATION (c, 3, Quality Road--Harmonize {GISW, $827,860}, by Scat Daddy) earned even-money favoritism in his first start since bringing $700,000 as a yearling at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton New York Select Yearling Sale. 30-1 longshot Elon (Great Notion) was eager to go on with it and surged ahead to open up nearly five lengths on the field through a half in :47.58. Integration, though caught a bid wide throughout, easily took over into the far turn as the...

4th-CNL, $60K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 3:00 p.m. A $700,000 Ylg FTSAUG purchase, INTEGRATION (Quality Road) debuts for Shug McGaughey. Out of 2016 GI Del Mar Oaks heroine Harmonize (Scat Daddy), who was campaigned and bred by Larkin Armstrong, this 3-year-old colt hails from a deep, extended female family which includes MGSWs like Al Khali (Medaglia d'Oro), Cappuchino (Capote) and Hungry Island (More Than Ready), plus GI Diana S. heroine and MGSW Somali Lemonade (Lemon Drop Kid) and MGISW Verrazano (More Than Ready). TJCIS PPs 5th-SAR, $136K, Msw, 2yo, 7f,...

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte (Violence) and Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's Tapit Trice (Tapit), both 'TDN Rising Stars', worked in company over the main track Thursday in preparation for the GI Travers S. August 26 at Saratoga. Forte, with regular pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr. up, worked without blinkers to the outside of Tapit Trice, who was guided through the half-mile breeze by exercise rider Fernando Rivera. Both workmates stopped the clock in :48.33. "I thought both horses worked extremely well--both were moving really well and good...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings, which looked to have a tough task to live up to its record-smashing 2022 renewal, proved more than equal to that task and, when a fast and frenetic session concluded Tuesday night, the auction had once again set high-water marks for gross and average and tied its record median. "We have experienced some magical nights in Saratoga in the past and you've heard me talk about the Saratoga magic, but we ain't seen...

The explosive start to Tuesday night's second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale continued when a colt by two Hall of Famers--Curlin and Beholder (Henny Hughes)--led all yearlings thus far when he sold for $4 million to Amr Zedan. Donato Lanni, agent for Zedan Racing, signed the ticket. The much-anticipated offering, recently featured in TDN, was bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency. The Apr. 6-foaled chestnut is the first-ever sales offering out of his champion dam, who was represented by her first stakes...

by Jessica Martini and Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - With bids ricocheting from all directions both inside and outside the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings opened with a strong session topped by a pair of million-dollar babies Monday night in upstate New York. "I thought it was a tremendous start to the 2023 Saratoga Yearling Sale," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said at the close of business Monday. "The numbers are essentially on par with last year's opening session, which was a remarkable,...

A Denali Stud-consigned Curlin filly became the second horse to cross the million-dollar threshold Monday at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga when agent David Lanigan paid $1.05 million on behalf of Heider Family Stable. A Jan. 12 foal, the chestnut is the first foal from Lady T N T (Justin Phillip), a $335,000 purchase by Scott and Evan Dilworth out of the 2018 OBS March Sale. A second-out maiden winner at Saratoga for the Dilworths and trainer Joe Sharp, Lady T N T recorded the biggest victory of her career when upsetting the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - A year after a record-smashing 2022 edition, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings returns to Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs with a two-session auction beginning Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. The sales grounds were a scene of wall-to-wall activity on a cloudless Sunday morning as trainers, agents and principals all vied for prized show spots for the 235 catalogued yearlings. "The traffic has been outstanding," consignor Dave Anderson outside his Barn 3. "Coming in with the economy being a little suspect, it was...

Welcome back, Babe. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., on the sidelines for more than 10 years after having his license suspended by New York State racing regulators, enjoyed by far his biggest win since returning in the spring courtesy of White Abarrio (Race Day), a jaw-dropping 6 1/4-length, stalk-and-pounce winner of Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. Zandon (Upstart) completed the exacta while the heavily favored Cody's Wish (Curlin), looking for his first career win beyond one mile while drawn widest of all in post six, had...

2nd-SAR, $136K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:07 p.m. The action kicks off with a heavily-loaded maiden race on the Whitney undercard Saturday. A quartet of colts, all first-time starters, take to the dirt led by the inside draw BE YOU (Curlin), the first of a pair of starters for Todd Pletcher. Out of the graded-stakes winning mare Jacaranda, herself a $2,000,000 purchase by this colt's breeder Alpha Delta, Be You already has a stakes-placed full-sister in American West, a $925,000 Keeneland yearling herself. Jacaranda is out of the Distorted Humor mare...

Cody's Wish (Curlin) will be heavily favored over five rivals to add another chapter to racing's feel-good story in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. The Godolphin homebred, winner of last term's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park June 10, seeks his first career win beyond one mile in the nine-furlong Whitney, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita. The 1-2 morning-line favorite, named after Cody Dorman, who was born with the...