Eclipse Champion

It continues to be a strange year on the road to the GI Kentucky Oaks. It's been a division where no one seemed ready to step to the front and become a clear leader of the group. That, sort of, changed Sunday in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Sunday at Santa Anita. Faiza (Girvin) stayed undefeated in four starts with a 2 1/4-length win and, under normal circumstances, would have gone to No. 1 on this list. But the filly, who is trained by Bob Baffert and owned by Michael...

Is the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) good for horsemen and, by extension, good for racing? Representing the National HBPA, lawyer Peter Ecabert doesn't think that it is, and he was invited to join the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to explain why. Ecabert was one of two guests on this week's podcast as Len Green, the founder and chairman of the Green Group, came on to share some tax advice and to talk about his soon-to-be-named champion 2-year-old filly Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief). When asked...

Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine (Into Mischief) has been booked to Lane's End stallion Quality Road for 2022, bloodstock agent Donato Lanni confirmed Sunday. "We had a meeting with Michael to decided what to do and we all agreed that Quality Road was the right horse to start off her broodmare career," Lanni said. "You really can't go wrong with Quality Road--he's a very good sire." Acquired for $1.8 million at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Gamine won nine of 11 starts, including the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup...

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...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY-Some 15 hours after he suffered a career-ending injury, Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) was being Whitmore Sunday morning. Acting like he was quite ready to run in another Grade I at Saratoga Race Course, the 8-year-old was positioned in the front of this stall, alert, active and on the prowl for a carrot or a piece of candy. During the gallop-out past the wire of the GI Forego S. Saturday afternoon, jockey Joel Rosario noticed something didn't feel right and pulled the champion up. As a precaution, he was...

Pulling up to the gates of Hurricane Place Farm, you can't miss the large white and blue sign with a bold headline reading, "Birthplace of Authentic-2020 Kentucky Derby winner." The farm, located just outside of Cynthiana, Kentucky, has been run by Bridie Harrison along with her husband and sons Jonathan and Daniel for the past six years. Together, the family manages the broodmare band for their sole client, breeder Peter Blum. Bridie isn't quite yet fond of the attention that comes with raising a Horse of the Year, preferring to...

Coolmore's Ashford Stud welcomes a trio of new stallions to their program for the upcoming season. Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and Echo Town (Speightstown) will start off their stud career at the Versailles, Kentucky-based farm, while Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) will stand his first year in the States since relocating from Coolmore's headquarters in Ireland after spending two seasons there. Today we sat down with Adrian Wallace to discuss their two first-season sires. [tdn_vimeo_embed title="Echo Town and Maximum Security at Ashford Stud" admp4="https://player.vimeo.com/external/488087819.sd.mp4?s=902aa8d5fc7cddb1f9c4423d869f0f3bd1bc6402&profile_id=165" videomp4= "https://player.vimeo.com/external/488102033.sd.mp4?s=88e78676766612a22d9a36a5a2d5fd493be0cd34&profile_id=165" thumbnail= ""]   Maximum Security...

What was it, many have asked, that drew Jeff Bloom to Midnight Bisou at the 2017 OBS April 2-Year-Old Sale? While it surely wasn't her unmet reserve from the Keeneland September Sale, where bidding stalled at $19,000, perhaps it was her three-time stakes-winning dam. Diva Delite (Repent) had yet to produce a winner, but as a racehorse she had claimed the GIII Florida Oaks and earned over $300,000. On the other hand, maybe something in the filly's :10 1/5 breeze at the sale had caught his eye. [tdn_vimeo_embed title="Midnight Bisou:...