GI Breeders' Cup Sprint

DEL MAR, California--History can be a sprint from one anachronism to the next, but every now and then it hands us spectators something unique across generations. You know, one of those full circle moments where we can witness a learner transforming into a future master. A little over 40 years ago at the inaugural Breeders' Cup World Championships hosted by Hollywood Park, Monsieur Alain de Royer-Dupre saddled Lashkari (GB) (Mill Reef) for His Highness The Aga Khan. The 3-year-old took home the very first Breeders' Cup Turf, which was one...

Breeders' Cup Limited has formed a new partnership with Cygames, Inc. as an official partner of the 2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships, the company said in a release late Tuesday. Cygames is a Japanese video game publisher and developer that provides video games, comics and animations. Under the agreement, Cygames becomes the name-in-title partner of the GI Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint, which will be held Nov. 2. The partnership with Cygames, arranged in collaboration with leading media rights and sponsorship sales firm JMI Sports, will mark the upcoming launch of...

Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's GISW Mullikin (Violence) will train up and point to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, according to trainer Rodolphe Brisset. The 4-year-old dark bay is 4-for-4 this year, including his biggest score to date last-out in the GI Forego Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 24. Since returning from upstate to Brisset's base at Keeneland, Mullikin had his first breeze back on Thursday morning, covering a half-mile in 49 flat. "He's doing very good. We are just going to go straight to the Breeders' Cup," said...

HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas--He got the call. They needed him and he was all too ready to oblige once again. Just like any serious athlete, you never really get comfortable with that dreaded word--retired. The chance to strut your stuff in front of the home crowd is just too enticing and probably most of all it is the opportunity to relive the good ole days. For Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), who won three editions of the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H., a GI Breeders' Cup Sprint--which earned him Eclipse honors--and took home...

After emerging in good form from his GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. victory, MGSW Skelly (Practical Joke) will look to climb the class ladder with future targets including the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, announced trainer Steve Asmussen Sunday morning. Having posted the meet's best time for six furlongs at 1:08.82 in that Count Fleet effort, beating the prior mark of 1:09.38, which he also set in his 2024 debut, the Oaklawn star will be setting his sights on bigger prizes this summer and...

The Chosen Vron's (Vronsky) story will continue in 2024. Trainer Eric Kruljac will bring the 5-year old gelding back for another year he announced Thursday. The gelding started an eight-race win streak at Los Alamitos in September of 2022 which ended with his fifth-place finish in this year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. "I've put the Breeders' Cup behind me," said Kruljac. "He was kind of covered up. He might have had a little trouble getting out. I think he was behind a couple of horses and when they took off...

Two-time GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Elite Power (Curlin--Broadway's Alibi, by Vindication) has arrived at Juddmonte Farm in Lexington, Ky, and will be available for inspection during the farm's annual open house, which gets underway on Wednesday, Nov. 8 and continues through the last day of the Keeneland November Sale on Thursday, Nov. 16, the farm announced on Tuesday. The open house will get underway daily at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 3:00 p.m. Elite Power, who was retired after his second consecutive Breeders' Cup win on Saturday, will stand...

Mill Ridge Farm will host a stallion open house every day from Tuesday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 12, the Lexington, Ky, farm announced on Tuesday. The farm will showcase their two Breeders' Cup-winning stallions--Oscar Performance (Kittens Joy) and Aloha West (Hard Spun)--every day from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Lunch will be served. Oscar Performance, who won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in 2016, will stand for a fee of $25,000, live foal in 2024. He currently is a top second-crop stallion with five black-type winners and two...

Eclipse Award-winner and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Amazombie (Northern Afleet) was euthanized on Monday, Sept. 18, at Old Friends in Georgetown, KY, due to a fractured ankle. The 16-year old gelding had lived at the retirement facility since 2014 thanks to his owners, trainer Bill Spawr and Thomas Sanford. "Amazombie was a lot of fun," Spawr said. "He was so much fun, you just can't imagine. And, you know, he died doing what he loved to do--run! You guys [at Old Friends] did a great job. We appreciated that."...

The hometown hero got it done. Facing an exceptionally deep field of sprinters in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar, it was the California-bred The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) who got the money. He, however, is not nominated to the Breeders' Cup and would have to be supplemented for this fall's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. With the victory, the 5-year-old gelding matched a bar set earlier in the day by Eclipse champion male sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) with both horses stretching their respective winning streaks...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) has won three Grade Is and earned an Eclipse Award, but in Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss H. the 4-year-old filly added to her resume when she posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 112--the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year. "I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it," Asmussen said. "I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday....

by Bill Finley & Patrycja Szpyra On paper, Saturday's seventh race at Saratoga looked wide open and loaded with talent. All the major players had horses in the race, Wayne Lukas, Chad Brown, Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox , Bill Mott and Todd Pletcher, who had two starters in the six furlong maiden special weight event. The race figured to be fought all the way to the wire. Instead it was the Asmussen horse, Valentine Candy (Justify), who ran them off their feet right out of the gate. Sent off at...