Curlin

Well-Bred Curlin Filly Debuts for Pletcher at Big A

1st-AQU, $80k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1m, post time: 12:50 p.m. ET WEATHER DELAY (Curlin), the first foal out of MGISW American Gal (Concord Point), kicks off her career for Repole Stable and trainer Todd Pletcher. The 3-year-old was a $500,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. Carrying the colors of Kaleem Shah, American Gal captured the 2017 GI Longines Test S. at Saratoga and the following term's GI Humana Distaff S. at Churchill Downs. She was also third as the favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. American Gal brought $3...

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Sunday's Racing Insights: Leslie's Humor Debuts At Gulfstream Park

4th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:38 p.m. ET. Bred by Stonehaven Steadings & Leah O'Meara, LESLIE'S HUMOR (Kantharos) makes the races for LSU Stables. Initially sold for $125,000 at the Keeneland September Sale, the chestnut RNA'd for $110,000 at OBS April before going for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in June. The second to race for La Titina (Distorted Humor), the 3-year-old filly's younger half-brother by Not This Time was purchased for $310,000 last September at Keeneland by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds. Granddam and MGISW Ask the Moon (Malibu...

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Value Sires For 2024 Part 7: The Big Guns

Today we conclude our survey of Kentucky stallion options with a look at the apex of the pyramid, comprising a couple of dozen standing between $60,000 and $250,000--besides whatever it might take to secure your mare an audience with Justify. It feels presumptuous enough to offer counsel even on cheaper sires, when each mating should boil down to you finding an optimal fit for an individual mare that you know inside out. Still greater hesitation, then, must precede any attempt to discover "value" among this lot. No stallion has any...

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Million-Dollar Mares Pace Keeneland January Opener

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, which hadn't had a million-dollar mare since 2019, had two reach seven figures during its opening session Monday in Lexington, with 19-year-old Tom Wachman making the day's highest bid of $1.6-million to acquire the broodmare prospect Prank (Into Mischief) on behalf of his grandfather, John Magnier's Coolmore. Late in the session, Tomoyuki Nakamura of K I Farm purchased Curlin's Voyage (Curlin) for $1 million. "I think we've got to be very happy with...

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Otello A Narrow Winner In Mucho Macho Man

After upsetting his maiden field at 5-1 odds Nov. 24, Otello shipped south from Aqueduct to Gulfstream to make a successful jump into stakes company Monday, taking the Mucho Macho Man S. under Luis Saez. Favored this time around at 8-5 for Christophe Clement, the newly-turned 3-year-old executed a very similar race plan than that of his debut, sitting off the pace in fifth as longshot Everdoit (Gary D) was intent on the early lead. In a field that remained rather tightly bunched, Otello sat patiently through a :46.63 half...

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Sunday Insights: Well-Bred Son Of Tapit And Lady Take Charge Debuts At Oaklawn

5th-OP, $115K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 3:22 p.m. ET. A $700,000 Keeneland September purchase by Willis Horton Racing and trained by Eddie Milligan Jr., WILL TAKE IT (Tapit) is the first to the post out of unraced Lady Take Charge (War Front). The latter was the top-priced foal at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale when she was hammered down to Whisper Hill Farm for $3.2 million. Eclipse Award winner Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway), a daughter of Lady Take Charge's half-sister Charming (Seeking the Gold), was the overall topper when...

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Quality And Quantity Together Secure Mischief Fifth Title

By this stage, we can really talk about living in "the Into Mischief era." Not just because the Spendthrift phenomenon ends 2023 by sealing a fifth consecutive general sires' title, but also because he has become the definitive stallion of our times. In some respects, New Year's Day is a more literal turning point for our sport than other walks of life. For bureaucratic purposes, the weanlings of today become the short yearlings of tomorrow; and Into Mischief himself takes one step closer to veteran status, as he enters his...

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Saturday Insights: Pletcher Duo Kicks Off Pegasus Preview Day At Gulfstream

1st-GP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:10 p.m. A pair of Todd Pletcher trainees headlines the action Saturday for Gulfstream's Pegasus Preview Day led by $700,000 2-year-old BAIL US OUT (Lookin At Lucky). Picked up at OBSAPR by Repole Stable off a breeze in :10 flat, the bay is a son of a stakes-winning dam from the family of MGSW/MGISP Topicount (Private Account). Bail Us Out will break from the inside under Jose Ortiz. Stablemate Born Noble (Constitution), himself a $725,000 KEESEP yearling for St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds,...

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Beholder's $4 Million Baby Learning the Ropes in Ocala

A son of two fan-favorite Hall of Famers, the impeccably-bred colt by champion Curlin and out of champion Beholder was sure to bring the house down when he entered the ring this summer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and the striking chestnut did not disappoint as the hammer dropped at $4 million to Donato Lanni on behalf of Zedan Racing, making the Spendthrift-bred, Taylor Made-consigned colt the highest-priced horse to sell at Saratoga in over two decades. Since then, the youngster's pedigree has grown even more impressive as his elder...

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Constitution's Legalize Too Much for Sugar Bowl Rivals

Taking home his first black-type win this Saturday at Fair Grounds, Legalize (Constitution) broke his maiden at second asking in gate-to-wire fashion by 1 1/2 lengths at Churchill Downs Nov. 25. Sent on his way as the 8-5 second choice here, the chestnut raced to the outside of two others up the backstretch and clung to that spot around the far turn. At the top of the lane, the 2-year-old colt geared up, grabbed the lead at the eighth pole and never looked back to win by 2 3/4 lengths...

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What Was Your Favorite Moment of 2023: Mark Taylor

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com.  There are so many great moments from 2023. It really is hard to choose. I would say that from a "Taylor Made'' perspective it has to be selling the highest-priced yearling in North America. The Curlin colt out of the legendary Beholder was raised and prepped beautifully by the team at Spendthrift. Having the opportunity to represent Spendthrift on a horse of that quality was a...

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Dec. 2 Insights: $1M Son of City of Light Looks to Shine in Big Apple

2nd-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:20p.m. ET From the family of GISW Acoma (Empire Maker) and her half-brother, the late, great GISW Arch (Kris S.), CONQUEST WARRIOR (City of Light) will be the priciest unveiling on the afternoon in New York, carrying a princely $1 million tag from the 2022 KEESEP sale. Racing for Courtlandt Farms under the tutelage of Shug McGaughey, the colt is a half-sibling to a series of winners out of dam MSW Tea Time (Pulpit) including unraced 3-year-old filly Soul Play (Union Rags), who was also...

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