Gift Box

Lane's End Farm-based first-season sire Gift Box was off the mark in Europe on Monday when his son Ironico took the six-furlong conditions event for colts and geldings on the card. Runner-up over this trip at Deauville last month, the Fabrice Chappet trainee who carries the colours of Blu Racing travelled strongly held up off the early pace by Cristian Demuro. Staying on to get to the front with 150 metres remaining, the 9-10 favourite had 3/4 of a length to spare over Belvedere Palace (GB) (Calyx {GB}) at the...

There were two Grade I races last weekend in North America, one at Saratoga and one at Del Mar. One was on the dirt and one was on the turf, one at 10 furlongs and the other at nine furlongs. Other than both being carded for 3-year-old fillies, what did they have in common? Each was won by a daughter of a Lane's End sire. Union Rags captured the GI Alabama Stakes with Power Squeeze, while Twirling Candy took the GI Del Mar Oaks with Iscreamuscream. To add to the...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Tuesday's Observations features runners with American connections as well as the half-sister to dual Group 1 heroine Integral (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}). 14.58 Deauville, Mdn, €30,000, 2yo, c/g, 6fT Repole Stable's 280,000gns Craven Breeze-Up acquisition BENNY THE WAITER (IRE) (Blue Point {Ire}), who first went through the ring for €72,000...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Tuesday's Observations features a son of an American stallion from the family of a Canadian champion. 14.23 Deauville, Mdn, €30,000, 2yo, c/g, 6fT Fabrice Chappet trainee IRONICO (Gift Box) will become the first European runner for his Lane's End Farm-based freshman (by Twirling Candy), whose two prior winners made...

Trudy Veinot's Dreamcatcher consignment makes its second auction appearance in the Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings and, while a son of Gift Box (hip 107) is the veteran horsewoman's sole entry in the sale, she is excited about the colt's prospects in the ring Tuesday. Veinot, a transplanted Canadian now living in Lexington, purchased the colt for $30,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale. "I liked his frame," Veinot said of the weanling's appeal. "There wasn't a lot of meat on those bones, but there was a beautiful frame....

6th-Tampa Bay Downs, $32,000, Msw, 3-12, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.35, gd, 1 1/4 lengths. GINA ROMANTICA (f, 3, Into Mischief--Special Me, by Unbridled's Song) left the gates as a heavy 4-5 favorite in this debut for powerhouse connections. Rating from seventh early on, the $1.025 million KEESEP purchase watched the pack in front jostle for position down the backstretch and through the final turn. Called on for her rally coming into the lane from the far outside, Gina Romantica swooped by her rivals under a confident ride to win by...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-AQU, $80K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:20 p.m. WITH BELLS ON (American Pharoah) starts her career for owners Bass Stables LLC and Cheyenne Stables after realizing $300,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The dam, a juvenile stakes winner on the turf by Giant's Causeway, has already produced two winners on the dirt including Princess Mo (Uncle Mo). Second dam Marylebone (Unbridled's Song) was also a stakes winning juvenile, taking the GI Matron S. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 11-36 over the last five...

With the 2022 breeding season underway, we continue to feature a series of breeders' mating plans. Today we have Jake Bennett of Pike Place Farm. "My wife, Jaclyn, and I have just recently moved to Kentucky to start up our breeding operation," said Bennett. "We have a small farm in Georgetown with four broodmares (three that we will get bred this year), a retired gelding (that I joke is my wife's horse), one yearling that we are preparing to sell this fall after acquiring him at the Keeneland November sale,...

'TDN Rising Star' Gift Box (Twirling Candy--Special Me, by Unbridled's Song) was represented by his first foal when the 12-year-old Chelsea Road (Speightstown) delivered a colt at St. Simon Place Wednesday, Jan. 19. The colt was bred in partnership by St. Simon Place and Machmer Hall, who teamed to purchase Chelsea Road--the dam of SP Go Big Blue Nation (Animal Kingdom)--for $65,000 with the colt in utero at last year's Keeneland November Sale. St. Simon Place's Tommy Wente said of the foal, "He's a big attractive colt. I'm very pleased....

Candy Ride (Arg), by Ride the Rails from Candy Girl (Arg), by Candy Stripes, came from Argentina, where he was a champion miler, and quickly established himself as both a high-class racehorse with a win in the Gl Pacific Classic and as a sire here in a similar way that Forli (Arg) and Lord At War (Arg) did before him. Make no mistake, it was quite a feat, because South American-bred racehorses, no matter how successful they are on the track in North America, most often whiff at stud in...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton Generally speaking, when your horse is parked near last for most of the trip, fanned six wide on the far turn, fifth with a furlong to go, and still third 100 yards from the wire, your chances of winning are slim. Unless Joel Rosario is riding, of course. That was the exact scenario facing Idol (Curlin) in deep stretch of Saturday's GI Santa Anita H. at Santa Anita Park. Yet "Judicious Joel," who at age 36 is without fanfare blossoming into the absolute...

The first mare has been confirmed in foal to Lane's End's first-year covering sire Gift Box (Twirling Candy). Winner of the 2019 GI Santa Anita H., as well as two editions of the GII San Antonio S., Gift Box retired a millionaire for Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler. He is the first son at stud by Twirling Candy. Millennium Farm's Chelsea Road (Speightstown) is the first mare scanned in foal to Gift Box. When he retired, the gray joined his sire and his grandsire--Candy Ride (Arg)--in the Lane's End...