Flavien Prat

National Treasure (Quality Road), last year's front-running GI Preakness S. hero and a latest painful second to Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita Nov. 4, gave trainer Bob Baffert a third victory in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. and his sire a second Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park. "I'm proud of him. He ran his race. He showed up," said Baffert by phone from Southern California. "That's all you can ask for as a trainer. He was...

Spendthrift stallion Omaha Beach got the first graded win of his nascent sire career with a blowout victory by Kopion (f, 3, Omaha Beach--Galloping Ami, by Victory Gallop) in Santa Anita's GIII Santa Ynez S. Sunday. Three of the four fillies in the gate were by first-crop sires, but it was the least experienced of the newly minted sophomore fillies whom the public pegged at 1-5 and who put herself firmly in the early GI Kentucky Oaks conversation. The Santa Ynez was worth 10 points on the Oaks trail on...

Favored Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) led home a one-two finish for Bob Baffert in the GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Tuesday, putting away stablemate Hejazi (Bernardini) down the lane to give the trainer his record-tying sixth win in the race--and third in the last four years--and longtime owners Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson their first victory in the Arcadia track's traditional opening-day feature. "Turning for home I knew I was going to win it," Baffert said. "I wasn't sure which one it was going to be, I...

Denied as the heavy favorite at Colonial Downs by the undefeated Integration (Quality Road) in the GIII New Kent County Virginia Derby last time out Sept. 9, Program Trading (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) got back on track to take his fourth win in five starts in the GI Hollywood Derby. A winner of his first three starts, the Chad Brown trainee reached the pinnacle two starts back with a narrow victory over Webslinger (Constitution) on a lucky on-the-turf weekend in Saratoga in the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational Aug. 5....

Shaping up to be nothing more than a public workout, TDN Rising Star Nysos (Nyquist) appeared to scare off much of his competition in the GIII Bob Hope S. Holding true to form, the Baoma Corp. runner roared home a much-the-best winner in Sunday's feature at Del Mar. Getting blinkers off while trying to remain undefeated, the colt wasn't particularly hurried exiting Post 5, settling kindly at the back of the short four-horse field as Tejon Pass (Justify) and Mission Beach (Curlin) cut out a :22.34 opening quarter while Stronghold...

1st-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:00 p.m. A Gary and Mary West homebred, HOLLYWOOD ENDING (Curlin) makes the races Friday for trainer Brad Cox. The colt is the fifth foal out of Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Milwaukee Appeal making him a half-brother to MGSW Actress (Tapit), herself the dam of GIII Withers S. winner Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}). On a steady work tab at both Turfway Park and, more recently, Churchill Downs, Hollywood Ending comes in with a good foundation and picks up Flavien Prat for his debut. TJCIS...

If the saga over the supposedly pending sale of now-closed Turf Paradise was a soap opera, its title would surely be "AZ the World Turns." The state's racing is hanging in the balance amid an increasingly acrimonious long-term feud between the track's owner and horsemen, leading one trainer at last Thursday's Arizona Racing Commission meeting to liken the horse community's predicament to children "being used as pawns in a divorce battle" by vindictive parents on the verge of a nasty split. Although TDN's original story about that Oct. 12 commission...

After getting brushed and shuffled in the early stages of Saturday's GI Travers S. while losing momentum and position, Javier Castellano decided to wing his trip aboard 2.7-1 second choice Arcangelo (Arrogate). He would later explain with a laugh--in the way that only winning jockeys can find humor when their riding tactics go off-kilter--that "it seemed to me that everybody had a plan, except myself." Sometimes no plan ends up being the best plan, as demonstrated by Arcangelo's artful dissection of a "loaded" Midsummer Derby that brought together not only...

It's a bit of Christmas in August Saturday at venerable Saratoga Race Course, which plays host to no fewer than five Grade I events for horses of all ages--on dirt and on turf--topped by the main event on the summer calendar, the $1.25-million GI Travers S. While the fields are short on numbers, they are long on quality, as three of the races have attracted reigning Eclipse Award winners, none of whom are anything close to a cinch in their respective heats. Champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has...

Jockey Luis Saez, who went down during the running of Wednesday's John's Call S. when his mount Burning Bright suffered a fatal cardiac event, was dignosed with a dislocated collarbone and slight fracture in his left wrist, according to a tweet from former trainer and current agent Kiaran McLaughlin, but was released from Albany Medical Center. He will be out of the saddle for an undetermined period of time. After Javier Castellano committed to GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers S., Saez was named by...

Klaravich Stables' Program Trading (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) showed grit and determination that belied his relative inexperience and dug down deep to stave off a bid from tough-trip Webslinger (Constitution) to win Saturday's GI Saratoga Derby Invitational over a Mellon Turf Course left yielding by torrential rains that spelled doom to the final four races on Friday's program. Favored Far Bridge (English Channel) plugged on at one pace to be third. It was a second Saratoga Derby for Seth Klarman's operation following on from Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB})...

Nobody was going to rain on Elusive Princess (Fr) (Martinborough {Jpn}--Elusive Action {Fr}, by Elusive City)'s parade as she emerged from the bog that was Saratoga's lawn Friday to score her first stakes win in the GIII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational S. With pouring rain that led to an abandoned post parade and eventually cancelled the rest of the card, the field for the Saratoga Oaks went straight from the paddock to the gate. Selenaia (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) controlled the pace through :23.55 and :48.57 early fractions while...