Distorted Humor

Distorted Humor (Forty Niner--Danzig's Beauty, by Danzig), sire of 2003 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. hero Funny Cide from his first crop and an additional 17 Grade I/Group 1 winners to date, was pensioned from stud duty by WinStar Farm Monday at the age of 28. WinStar also announced it is pensioning stalwart Congrats (A.P. Indy--Praise, by Mr. Prospector) at the age of 21. "We all owe Distorted Humor a debt of gratitude for all he has done for WinStar Farm, my family, and the many breeders who...

His Highness The Aga Khan's 4-year-old filly Ebaiyra (Distorted Humor) made light of a seven-month absence to collar Raabihah (Sea the Stars {Ire}) by a neck in the May 2 G3 Prix Allez France Longines at ParisLongchamp on seasonal return and doubled up on that rival in Wednesday's G2 Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud. Her sophomore campaign highlight reel also includes victories in the G2 Prix de Pomone and G3 Prix de Royaumont, as well as a sixth-place effort in last year's G1 Prix de Diane, and she claimed a fourth...

6th-Churchill Downs, $100,000, Msw, 5-23, 3yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2fT, 1:04.51, fm, neck. TOWN AVENGER (f, 3, Speightstown--Unavenged, by Empire Maker) was crunched into 7-2 at post time from a morning line of 12-1 and was up in the shadow of the post for a good-looking victory at first asking. Settled behind midfield, but trapped out wide after departing the 10 hole, the $380,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase looped rivals four deep on the turn and carried a full head of steam into the lane despite the significant ground loss. The...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY DISTORTED HUMOR COLT DEBUTS 3rd-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6fT, 2:02p.m. Jeremiah Englehart unveils $500,000 KEESEP buy ASKIN FOR A BASKIN (Distorted Humor). His second is MSW Our Fantene (Touch Gold), who is the dam of GSW Javerre (Outflanker.) The gelding has been working well for this debut, including a best-of-35 five panels in 1:01 1/5 over the Belmont training track two back Apr. 10. TJCIS PPs

By Christie DeBernardis & Jessica Martini The four-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale got off to a strong start Tuesday. A colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Hip 118) was the day's hottest commodity, bringing $850,000 from Donato Lanni, acting on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen. Hip 118 was one of 181 juveniles to sell for a gross of $17,829,500. The average was $98,506 and the median was $50,000. Of the 304 catalogued, 225 were offered with 44 horses leaving the ring unsold...

The card for the 84th GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby produced all-sources pari-mutuel handle of $24,282,400 Saturday. This was the largest Santa Anita Derby day handle since 2007. In addition, fans returned to the Arcadia oval on a restricted basis, with 8,246 on-track for the 12-race program. It was the first time in over a year that fans were allowed back at Santa Anita since the COVID-19 pandemic began last winter. Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) saluted in the day's feature event, the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby for...

Stepping up into graded company fresh off a debut maiden victory over six furlongs, SOOTHSAY (f, 3, Distorted Humor--Spellbound, by Bernardini) was given a tremendous ride by leading jockey Flavien Prat, met the late-stretch bid of favored Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro), and went on to a gutsy victory in Saturday's GII Santa Anita Oaks in Arcadia. While Beautiful Gift and Moraz (Empire Maker) took the bulk of the betting and battled up front in a rematch of the GIII Santa Ysabel S., Soothsay tracked those two from behind. The opening quarter...

6th-Santa Anita, $62,000, Msw, 2-26, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.19, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. SOOTHSAY (f, 3, Distorted Humor--Spellbound {GSW, $231,750}, by Bernardini) prepped for this with a :59.40 best-of-32 breeze from the gate Feb. 19, and while she didn't show much speed from the blocks here, she had plenty of zip when it mattered. The 3-1 shot seemed to be climbing a bit in the early stages as she had just one beaten while racing out in the clear. She began to take closer order while still with plenty of work...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 3:10 p.m. Todd Pletcher sends out a pair of flashy firsters in what looks like a particularly salty maiden event. Dupuis (Distorted Humor) will carry the same Robert and Lawana Low silks as his stablemate Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), winner of last month's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. A $165,000 FTKOCT yearling, Dupuis topped the OBS July 2-year-old sale at $700,000 off of a :10 flat work. The Apr. 30 foal hails from the family of Florida speedsters...

GEORGE ADAMS, Housatonic Bloodstock Instagrand (Into Mischief), $7,500, Taylor Made    Of the first-years, Instagrand is a really interesting horse and priced competitively at $7,500 at Taylor Made. If he'd retired after his first two starts, folks would have knocked him on soundness but they'd have bred to him because of that brilliance and the Into Mischief factor, and his fee would've been higher. Nothing he did after that changes anything about his juvenile campaign, and physically he's a beast. Plus, Into Mischief has only gotten hotter. I think the commercial...

Kudos to whoever was creative and subtle enough to name GERVAIS a horse by DISTORTED HUMOR. The winner of a handicap race at Meydan last week has just that almost risqué name. English actor Ricky Gervais is the creator of The Office, a TV program that stretched the borders of mainstream humor in the UK and in the US. Moreover, Ricky Gervais has presented the Golden Globes five times, always under the threat of being fired because of his outrageous sense of humor and his cutting, take-no-prisoner jokes. With Gervais...

Matthew Schera's stakes-winning and MGSP 7-year-old Vorticity (Distorted Humor--Tar Heel Mom, by Flatter) has been retired. A $220,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile purchase in 2015, and later that year annexed the Marylander S. before seconds in the GIII Jerome S. and GIII Withers S. as an early season 3-year-old. He added a third in the 2018 GII Pat O'Brien S., and retires with a record of 18-4-6-3 and earnings of $347,040. "I look at a lot of stride data, and Vorticity had a very large stride and he had a very...