Early Voting

5th-Churchill Downs, $123,375, Msw, 11-1, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.25, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. SPEED KING (c, 2, Volatile--Athenian Beauty, by Corinthian) defied the betting public's 22-1 odds here with a frontrunning score in this unveiling beneath the Twin Spires. Bumped leaving the gate, but able to recover quickly enough to step forward to set the pace, the grey put space between himself and the field via :22.25 and :45.78 opening fractions. Entering the lane with a 2 1/2-length margin, he greenly but gamely hung on to win despite lingering on his...

Taylor Made Stallions has set its 2025 stallion roster and fees for the upcoming breeding season, headed by Not This Time, who will stand for $175,000 S&N. Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) is the sire of Grade I winner and North American record-setter Cogburn and multiple graded stakes winner Next, a dominating winner of seven straight. Both are headed to the Breeders' Cup. Not This Time ranks second by percentage of stakes horses at 15.2 percent. He is the third-ranked sire by stakes horses with 31; and is fourth by...

Early Voting (Gun Runner), who was taken out of stud duties after one season at Ashford while suffering from Anejaculatory Syndrome, has had his first mare test in foal since resuming his stud career at Taylor Made Farm this year, according to a press release from the Early Voting Consortium and Taylor Made. Dr. Paddy O'Casaigh, who treated the 2022 GI Preakness S. winner, confirmed a heartbeat which he described as, "spot on, embryonic development." Early Voting stands at Taylor Made at a fee of $20,000. "This attractive breeding opportunity...

Spendthrift Farm's Mo Donegal, the classic-winning son of Uncle Mo, sired his first reported foal this week when a colt was born at WinStar Farm in Versailles, the stallion's farm said in a release Friday afternoon. Bred by Alfredo Gastaneta, the bay colt is out of the Declaration of War mare Andavete, a half-sister to 2020 GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News (Giant's Causeway) and hailing from the immediate family of champion sire Saint Ballado. "This is a good size colt with good bone and leg underneath him,"...

To many horsepeople and fans, the news that 2022 GI Preakness S. winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) had been cured of a syndrome that initially--apparently--spelled doom to his stud career was a complete surprise. To New Zealand-born veterinarian and scientist Dr. Padraig (Paddy) O'Casaigh, it was just another day at the office O'Casaigh, the 'brain and chief researcher/inventor' behind the 'unique' product Chaperonze (his birthplace a contributor to this intentional misspell), has treated 'about 100' stallions with breeding problems. "My experience in my 35 years," he said, "is that I've...

Early Voting (Gun Runner), who got 120 mares in foal during his first season at stud last season before a rare condition led to his being removed from stud duties on the advice of veterinary experts, has been cured and will continue his stud career at Taylor Made Stallions in 2024. He covered his first book of mares in 2023 at Ashford Stud. Winner of the 2022 GI Preakness S. for Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown, Early Voting retired with three wins from six starts and earnings in excess of...

10th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 4:34 p.m. ET. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has a pair of newly-minted 3-year-old fillies heading to the post for their debuts over the turf in the Sunday finale in Hallandale. First, EL MEGEETH (Constitution) makes her first start for Shadwell Stable. Bred by Three Chimneys, the $750,000 Keeneland September purchase is out of Amour d'Ete (Tiznow), who Borges Torrealba Holdings acquired as the third topper at the same sale back in 2013 for $1.75 million. Her most notable produce is GI Preakness...

Early Voting, who was not on the roster of stud fees when Coolmore America announced their 2024 lineup Tuesday, has been "removed from covering duties at Ashford Stud for the 2024 breeding season due to an inability to breed, according to veterinary experts," Coolmore said Wednesday. The farm said that the stallion, a son of Gun Runner, was subject to an ongoing insurance claim. Early Voting got off to a successful start at stud in 2023, and did get mares in foal, but experienced problems midway through the season. Those...

Among Ashford Stud's new stallions for 2023, two members of the Coolmore quintet boast standout sire-making families. GI Preakness S. hero Early Voting (Gun Runner - Amour d'Ete, by Tiznow) is out of a half-sister to perennial top sire Speightstown while Jack Christopher (Munnings - Rushin No Blushin, by Half Ours), a 'TDN Rising Star' who raced to three Grade I victories, is out of a half-sister to Darley's Street Boss. Jack Christopher is also the first son of Munnings to join his sire at Ashford Stud. After carrying the...

With 159 winners from 587 starters (27.09%), trainer Chad Brown secured an eighth consecutive year-ending training title at the tracks of the New York Racing Association (NYRA). Over the course of 196 racing days, Brown's runners finished in the top three 59.28% of the time. It was the Mechanicville native's best season on the NYRA circuit, surpassing the 154 he recorded in 2018. He completed the year with total New York purse earnings of just over $17.9 million. "It means a lot and I'm so proud of my team," said...

Welcome to our annual assessment of Bluegrass sire prospects for the approaching covering season. As last year, we're going to confine our focus largely to a "Value Podium" for each intake--rather than attempt, as in the past, an exhaustive (not to say exhausting) assessment of every stallion in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Believe me, it wasn't always easy to find something adequately civil to say about every last one! But the fact is that this is only ever one person's opinion and, as such, a hopelessly subjective exercise. By restricting...

Uncle Mo will once again top the Coolmore America roster at $150,000 for the 2023 breeding season, the same fee at which he stood in 2022, according to a press release from Coolmore Wednesday morning. The 14-year-old stallion was the sire of 10 black-type winners in 2022, including the GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal. Justify, who had four black-type winners from his first crop in 2022, will stand for the farm's second highest-fee, at $100,000, the same as in 2022. He is currently the third-leading first-crop sire by earnings....