Gun Runner

The number that best sums up this year's Breeders' Cup is :44.96. That's the sizzling opening half-mile split for the GI Classic, and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) utilized it to the utmost advantage on Saturday, propelling himself to the winner's circle with one of his customary, locomotive-like late kicks that had come up just shy of victory in three previous attempts at 10 furlongs. As a relentless long-strider with a penchant for leaning in and being a magnet for trip trouble during his stretch runs, Sierra Leone...

1st-GP, $65k, Msw, 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT, 12:00p.m. ET Sumdge (Quality Road) debuts in Florida on Breeders' Cup Saturday, tabbed at 4-1 odds on the morning line for owner D J Stable and trainer Mark Casse. Sold at KEESEP in 2023 for $525,000, she is a half-sister to the ill-fated GISW Mongolian Groom (Hightail) as well as five-time winner Ice Bar (Keen Ice) and one other winner. Dam Bourbonesque (Dynaformer) is a half-sister to SP Cologne (Horse Chestnut {SAf}), who is the dam of MGSW Dragon Bay (Parading). The is...

Champion juvenile and 'TDN Rising Star' MGISW Fierceness (City of Light) will join the ranks at Ashford Stud upon his retirement from racing, the farm announced via release Sunday. The champion juvenile from 2023 is a leading GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender and will likely be one of the favorites at post-time. Of the others, Coolmore will have two other rooting interests as well with 'TDN Rising Star' GISW Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and 'TDN Rising Star' MG1SW-Eng City of Troy (Justify) in the race. That group accounts for three...

Chad Brown was trackside Saturday to watch eight of his Breeders' Cup hopefuls breeze over the Belmont Park dirt training track, including GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and the dual Grade I-winning GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile contender 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie). The four-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner is well positioned for more main-track success heading into next weekend's World Championships with Sierra Leone, Domestic Product (Practical Joke) (Dirt Mile), 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) (Filly & Mare Sprint), Raging...

7th-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:55p.m. ET RESTLESS RENEGADE (Into Mischief), a homebred for Three Chimneys Farm and Fern Circle Stables, debuts here for Kenny McPeek on a busy Sunday coast to coast for well-bred juveniles. Out of GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes victress and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up--among three placings at the highest level--Restless Rider (Distorted Humor), the colt has three works over the Churchill Downs track since moving there in early October from Saratoga. This is the immediate female family of MGSW Private Vow (Broken Vow). TJCIS...

Three Chimneys has released its 2025 roster and fees and topping the list is Horse of the Year Gun Runner (by Candy Ride {Arg})--the sire of 13 millionaires and 10 Grade 1 winners--who after being listed privately in 2024 will stand for a fee of $250,000 LFSN, the farm said via a release on Friday. Currently second on the General Sire list in North America with almost $16 million in progeny earnings, Gun Runner is the sire of four Grade I winners this year including Sierra Leone, Vahva, Society and...

Multiple Grade I-placed 'TDN Rising Star' Ferocious (Flatter) was out on track at 7:30 a.m. at Keeneland following the first harrow period and had Javier Castellano in the irons for the morning session as he continued preps for his scheduled start in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Castellano had spent nearly two months on the sidelines with a fractured hand, but made a trip from New York to Lexington specifically for the half-mile work. In the first move since Ferocious finished second in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, the...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner), an impressive winner of last fall's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and most recently third as the favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Nov. 3, returned to the races in style with a runaway victory in the opener at the Big A Saturday. Favored at 2-5 and racing with first-time Lasix, he was ridden by John Velazquez to keep pace in second, set his sights on Gun It (Tapit) approaching the quarter pole...

1st-BAQ, $95k, OC/N2X, 3yo/up, 7f, 12:10p.m. ET LOCKED (Gun Runner) will make his return to the races here after not being seen since suffering a knee injury which knocked him off the Triple Crown trail this past spring. Racing with first-time Lasix, and made the 4-5 morning line favorite, he's been working steadily over the Saratoga training track with two of his last three moves being bullet efforts. Last year's GI Breeders' Futurity winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile third will have John Velazquez in the irons. TJCIS PPs 3rd-KEE,...

7th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 4:12 p.m. ET. SERAPHIA (Gun Runner) makes her first start for owners Twin Creeks, Jackpot, Whispering Oaks and Rick Ortyl. Initially, the filly was taken home for $675,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale before going for $1 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the juvenile is out of Temptress (Tapit), who was acquired for $400,000 by Avenue Bloodstock at the Keeneland November Sale while Seraphia was in-utero. A half-sister to GSW Donegal Moon (Malibu Moon), Temptress...

Three Chimneys's Gun Pilot will take up stud duty alongside his sire, Gun Runner, for the 2025 breeding season, the farm said in Wednesday press release. A five-time stakes entrant, Gun Pilot's highest achievement came this year on the Derby undercard where he took home the GI Churchill Downs Stakes. The homebred will be making his final start in the GI Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar, which comes off a runner-up performance in the GI Forego at Saratoga. A stud fee will be announced following the Breeders Cup. "I...

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner) (hip 301) topped the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale when selling for a record-tying $230,000 in upstate New York Tuesday. The weanling, out of D'Fashion (D'wildcat), is a half-sister to stakes winner and graded-placed Strategic Dreams (Archarcharch). She was consigned by Gracie Bloodstock on behalf of her breeder, Dr. Jerry Bilinski's Waldorf Farm and was purchased by Diamond I. "We always liked the filly," said consignor Chris Gracie. "I saw her over the summer and worked...