Ghostzapper

Quarter cracks have plagued Spirit of Makena (h, 5, Ghostzapper--Win for M'lou, by Gilded Time) this spring, but they're only a memory after the speedy chestnut captured Saturday's GII Triple Bend S. at Santa Anita. It was his second consecutive graded score following a win in the GIII San Carlos S. in March. MGSW and two-time Breeders' Cup runner-up C Z Rocket (City Zip) and multiple statebred SW Desmond Doss (Grazen) followed him home. MGSW and one-time Derby horse Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) set the :22.86 early pace while Spirit...

A graded stakes trio, led by the GII Triple Bend S. at Santa Anita, will kick off Memorial Day weekend on Saturday afternoon. The lightly raced 5-year-old Bruce Chandler homebred Spirit of Makena (Ghostzapper) looks for his third straight victory for trainer George Papaprodromou following a 1 1/2-length score over the re-opposing Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) in the GIII San Carlos S. last time Mar. 11. Spirit of Makena is the 8-5 morning-line favorite. The field of seven also includes last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up and popular 9-year-old...

Woodbine Entertainment has released the nominations for the 2023 OLG Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, consisting of The King's Plate, the Prince of Wales and the Breeders' S. Totaling 124 3-year-olds foaled in Canada, the list of nominees includes star performers from last season, winners south of the border over the winter and many preparing for the upcoming Woodbine meet. Contested over three different surfaces at two courses, the Canadian Triple Crown will kick off Sunday, Aug. 20 at Woodbine with the 164th running of The King's Plate followed...

Reigning Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) made light work of four rivals to make a successful return to the races in Saturday's GI Madison S. at Keeneland, the site of her victory in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Eased back off an early duel between Yuugiri (Shackleford) and Society (Gun Runner), the prohibitive 1-4 chalk was steered out into the three path to deliver her challenge and made the front under an Irad Ortiz, Jr. hold a good five-sixteenths of a mile from home....

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-GP, $84K, Msw, 3yo, 1mT, 12:40 p.m. Just a $100,000 Keeneland September purchase, ODE TO WAR (War Front) is a son of MG1SW Odeliz (Ire) (Falco), Italy's high-weighted older mare who RNA'd for $1.5m at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Already the dam of a pair of winners, Odeliz is a half to SW Pamplemousse (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) and traces back to MGSP Uncoiled (Fr) (Giant's Causeway) and MGISW Amorama (Fr) (Sri Pekan). Trainer George Arnold has tagged Luca Panici for the ride. The...

For owner/breeder Bruce Chandler, patience was a virtue rewarded when his eye-catching Spirit of Makena captured the GIII San Carlos S. in just his four career start. A head shy from perfection in his spaced-out career, Spirit of Makena debuted late in his 4-year-old season; not seen until an Aug. 5 maiden special at Del Mar last season. He was hounded every step of the way on his step up to allowance optional company Sept. 11 in his first trip at the mile and just couldn't hold off Holden the...

With the 2023 season upon us, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Here is what Tracy Farmer had to say about his broodmare band for 2023. We had a great few years on the track and we retired our GI Belmont Stakes Winner Sir Winston to Crestwood Farm in Lexington, KY this year, so we will offer him a lot of support both in the stallion barn now and in the sales...

Visitant (Ghostzapper--Peppermint Lodge, by Distorted Humor), a five-time stakes winner and twice placed at the graded-stakes level, has been retired and will enter stud this season at Arroyo Vista Farm in California. A homebred owned by Henry Williamson of Williamson Racing LLC, the 7-year-old was an 11-time winner from 20 starts overall including the 2021 Kentucky Club Classic, and he was also on the board behind Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man) in the GIII Affirmed S. and was runner-up to Maxfield (Street Sense) in the GII Alysheba S. Visitant retires...

Flightline was clearly the star among stars at the Eclipse Awards ceremonies held Jan. 26 in Palm Beach, Florida, but a trio of stallions that call the rustic environs of John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa home stole the show from a sires' perspective, accounting for half of the evening's 10 winners among the Flat divisions. Success at the Eclipse Awards is obviously directly correlated with horse racing on its biggest stages, and the results from the first weekend of November, not far away from Xalapa at Keeneland Race...

The first week of January doesn't have much in common with the first Saturday in May--with the exception that the inaugural TDN Top 12 has arrived to herald the coming of the seemingly far-off GI Kentucky Derby season. Get tied on and enjoy the ride. 1) ARABIAN KNIGHT (c, Uncle Mo--Borealis Night, by Astrology) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Corser Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $250,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $2,300,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $86,025. Last start: 1st Keeneland Maiden Special Weight, Nov. 5....

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 2:14p.m. ET Manzanita Stables LLC went to $300,000 at KEESEP in 2021 to acquire LUCKY COMBINATION (Ghostzapper), a price tag likely aided by her dam being out of a half-sister to GISW & MGISP Girolamo (A.P. Indy) and his full-siblings MGISP & MGSW Daydreaming and GISP Accelerator. Dam Lucky Number herself claims GISW Got Lucky (A.P. Indy)--responsible for MGSP Overtook (Curlin)--as a half-relation and has produced two other winning fillies. This is the female family of GISW Chocolate Gelato...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 12th-CD, $120k, Msw, 3yo/up, 7 1/2f, 6:24p.m. ET Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, and Woodford Racing LLC partner-up on this $500,000 KEESEP procurement in PATOU ROAD (Quality Road), who will be getting a late start to the races for his powerhouse connections. In the barn of Pletcher, who has had a notably great year with the ownership group, the colt is out of Patou (Ghostzapper), herself a half-sister to GSW Moulin de Mougin (Curlin)--the dam of GSP Spicer (Quality Road); GISP Vionnet (Street Sense)--dam of...