Gina Romantica

Saturday's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland, the final stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, offers a path to Churchill Downs for the first Saturday in May for D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran's Hades (Awesome Slew). Currently on the outside looking in, Hades sits in 24th place on the leaderboard with 30 points. The GI Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters. The Lexington offers 42 points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. With a victory, Hades would be in the top 20. A runner-up finish would put him...

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com My favorite memory of 2023 (other than me bawling my eyes out standing there watching Cody's Wish enter the winner's circle with Cody Dorman waiting for him at Santa Anita, which still makes me cry) was being at Keeneland with Liz Crow to watch our homebred and Liz's purchase Gina Romantica win her second Grade I there at 11-1 odds (I bet her, too!) AND then...

Godolphin homebred Proxy (Tapit) had his final serious drill Sunday for an expected start in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The 5-year-old breezed 5 furlongs in 1:02 on the fast track with regular jockey Joel Rosario in the saddle. The plan was to go in company with Godolphin's unraced 2-year-old colt Surveyor (Medaglia d'Oro), but the duo was unexpectedly joined by workers from other trainers. Despite the surprise, trainer Mike Stidham, Godolphin Chief Operating Officer Dan Pride and Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan were all smiles watching from the Grandstand....

The next best thing to the Breeders' Cup is a weekend filled with Breeders' Cup preps. That was the story last week as 31 graded stakes races were contested, many of them races that would help shape the fields for the Breeders' Cup races. Who were the big winners? Who were the big losers? Here's our reports card: Up to the Mark: A+ It had been a depressing year for North American-based turf horses, who lost race after race to European shippers, including some whose credentials were rather modest. Saturday's...

Easily the least-preferred of a Chad Brown-trained threesome in Saturday's GI First Lady S. at Keeneland and the lesser-fancied of two runners in the race for owner Peter Brant, Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) came with a stinging final-furlong flurry and ran down her commonly owned stablemate and heavily favored defending champion 'TDN Rising Star' In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) to post an 11-1 upset. Hammered into 2-5 favoritism, In Italian made the lead and while the early fractions of :23.40 and :46.80 weren't overly taxing, the 5-year-old was allowed no...

NEW KENT, VA--Fev Rover (Ire) is headed West. With a win in Saturday's GI Beverly D. S., another line of history was written in the storied legacy of thoroughbred racing in Virginia. Colonial's first Grade I race attracted a field of just five going 1 3/16 miles over the famed Secretariat turf course. And with the Friday night defection of her main rival Didia (Arg) (Orpen), Fev Rover took full advantage and asserted her dominance. In doing so, she booked herself a fees-paid spot in November's GI Breeders' Cup Filly...

While the $150,000 Pegasus S. (more on that below) serves as the local feeder into next month's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational S., the graded events on Saturday's Haskell Preview Day at Monmouth Park are set to mark the seasonal debuts for a pair of Chad Brown-conditioned Grade I winners from last term as well as a 'TDN Rising Star' from the same shedrow looking to kick start what connections hope will be a productive 4-year-old campaign. Peter Brant's Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) makes her first appearance since taking out the...

Probably you know Carrie Brogden. The way her ideas, opinions, memories, emotions come tumbling out, one on top of the other. And how even after a few minutes she will have shared way too much of this torrent of vitality for the narrow channel of paragraphs that follows here. Except you don't know Carrie Brogden. For instance, did you know that she's only here because of Einstein? Seriously. We'll come to that, and to the Beanie Babies, too, who have a more immediate role in her story. But how are...

Trainer Chad Brown and owner Peter Brant were represented by the 1-2 finishers in last week's GI First Lady S. at Keeneland, and were right back at it again in Lexington Saturday as Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) scored a breakthrough win in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. Presented by Dixiana. The $1,025,000 KEESEP yearling was the only runner in the race carrying Brant's silks, but Brown completed the exacta himself with Klaravich Stables, Inc.'s odds-on GISW McKulick (GB) (Frankel {GB}). It was a record fifth win for...

Klaravich Stables' Faith in Humanity (Fr) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), the lightest-raced filly in Sunday's GIII Pebbles S. at Belmont at the Big A, proved her inexperience was no issue as she led home a Chad Brown trifecta in just her third career start. Debuting as a 7-5 favorite going two turns on the Monmouth turf July 24, the bay pressed the pace and edged away late for a 1 1/4-length graduation. Stepped right into stakes company, she went clear in the stretch of the restricted Riskaverse S. Aug. 25...

A field of seven sophomore fillies who made their most recent starts in Florida, New York, Kentucky and Louisiana converge at Keeneland for Sunday's GIII Beaumont S. Godolphin's Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) was second in last November's Fern Creek S. at Churchill Downs to the now five-for-six Marissa's Lady (Violence) and then completed the exacta (albeit 8 1/4 lengths back) behind leading GI Kentucky Oaks candidate Secret Oath (Arrogate) in a one-mile Oaklawn allowance on New Year's Eve. She most recently shortened back up to a sprint to air in...

This week featured three busy days of profiled runners, with Into Mischief's Gina Romantica the undisputed headliner of the "Insighted" horses. Two others to keep an eye on are a pair of Upstart fillies: Micro Share, who won at Santa Anita, and Green Up, who was victorious at Gulfstream. Micro Share had been a subject of Insights earlier in her career and Green Up was named a 'TDN Rising Star' based on a facile romp. Friday's Insights: Into Mischief Filly Stretches Out for Baffert 4th-Santa Anita, $67,000, Msw, 3-11, 3yo,...