Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa

Otto the Conqueror (Street Sense) picked up a black-type feather for his cap with this gutsy victory in the Remington Springboard Mile S., and picked up 10 points for the Road to the Kentucky Derby. A dominating four-length winner last out over a Churchill allowance optional claiming group which included next out GII Kentucky Jockey Club winner Honor Marie (Honor Code) and SW Just Steel (Justify), he'd broken his maiden two back over that track by a neck and ran a length second on unveiling Aug. 13 at Ellis Park...

Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa stallion Violence (Medaglia d'Oro--Violent Beauty, by Gone West), the sire of last year's champion 2-year-old Forte, has had his 2024 stud fee reduced from the previously announced $60,000 to $40,000 live foal. In announcing the reduction Sunday evening, Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa president John Sikura explained, "At the end of last breeding season, Violence had a period where he was missing  too many of his mares. We raised his fee to, not only reflect his race track success, but to lessen demand for the...

2nd-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:20p.m. ET From the family of GISW Acoma (Empire Maker) and her half-brother, the late, great GISW Arch (Kris S.), CONQUEST WARRIOR (City of Light) will be the priciest unveiling on the afternoon in New York, carrying a princely $1 million tag from the 2022 KEESEP sale. Racing for Courtlandt Farms under the tutelage of Shug McGaughey, the colt is a half-sibling to a series of winners out of dam MSW Tea Time (Pulpit) including unraced 3-year-old filly Soul Play (Union Rags), who was also...

'TDN Rising Star' and GI Starlet S. winner Faiza (Girvin--Sweet Pistol, by Smart Strike), five for six lifetime, hammered for $4 million to Godolphin LLC at Tuesday night's Fasig-Tipton November sale. Sold as hip 228, Faiza was bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones and fetched $725,000 as a 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old. She raced for Michael Lund Petersen and was trained by Bob Baffert. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent as a broodmare prospect, the bay 3-year-old is out of a half-sister to MGSW Thousand Words (Pioneerof...

The 2022 Canadian Horse of the Year Moira (Ghostzapper--Devine Aida, by Unbridled's Song) fetched $3 million to the phone bid of DM Racing, an anonymous racing partnership, to lead the early results of the broodmare and racing prospect section at Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton November sale. Moira was the winner of the fastest Queen's Plate in history last year and was last seen finishing third in Saturday's GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf behind Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent, consigned the Canadian champion, who...

LEXINGTON, KY- The Fasig-Tipton November Sale, which has surpassed $100-million in gross the last two years, returns with another typically glitzy renewal Tuesday at Newtown Paddocks. Bidding on the first of 271 catalogued offerings begins at 2 p.m. "We are very excited about the overall quality of the catalogue," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "I think our in-foal mares are definitely stronger than they've been in the past and we have some exceptional younger horses that are going to be offered. It's a tremendous group of young racing and broodmare...

1st-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 12:20p.m. ET The lone firster in the field, Team Spoor's CURLIN'S GIRL (Curlin) will open her tab in this maiden baby dash on the back of a string of bullet works. Starting Oct. 7, when she went five furlongs in 1:01.88, she flashed speed Oct. 14 going five panels in :59.44 (1/6); Oct. 23 in company with $475,000 KEESEP grad Shop Lifting (Into Mischief)--who ran second by a head on her debut at Saratoga to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies victress Just F Y...

Midnight Lute gave a masterclass in devastating closing speed in his back-to-back Breeders' Cup Sprint wins, with his 4 3/4-length score in 2007 an eye-popping performance visually and his 1:07.08 time in 2008 still holding the Sprint record. Veteran yearling-to-juvenile reseller Eddie Woods broke the champion, who was a $290,000 RNA at OBS March in 2005 as a 2-year-old. "He was a wonderfully big, good-looking black horse," said Woods. "Tom McGreevy bought him to pinhook him to OBS. It's shameful to say for a champion sprinter, but he didn't work...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale, which produced record-setting renewals in 2021 and 2022, opened Monday with solid, if less spectacular figures, than a year ago. A total of 257 yearlings grossed $11,224,800 Monday. The session average of $43,676 was down 10.5% from last year's opening day and the median of $20,000 was down 25.9%. "It was a solid opening session," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. "I think the results were basically in line with expectations and what we are seeing throughout the marketplace in 2023. There...

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup with Living Legends There are great racehorses and there are great sires. One doesn't always equal the other. Sometimes, but not always, a horse is equally adept at both. "It's rare for world-class racehorse to become a world-class sire. It's two different resumes, two different achievements," said John Sikura, owner of Hill 'n' Dale. Rarely, ever so rarely, a top racehorse becomes a sire so good and so prolific in generating top-class horses that his own championship race record becomes almost an afterthought....

Spendthrift super sire Into Mischief had been on fire during the first two days of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and Day 3 proved no exception as the action moved into Book 2. The early leader was Hip 451, a Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa-consigned filly out of Belle of the Hall (Graeme Hall), purchased by Dottie Ingordo on behalf of Lee and Susan Searing's CRK Stables for $875,000. The Jan. 29 bay filly, bred in Kentucky by Seclusive Farm, is a half-sister to MGSW Share the Ride (Candy Ride...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale gained momentum throughout its opening session, ending with figures ahead of last year's opening session after a brisk evening of just 100 catalogued head. A colt by Violence brought the night's top price when Chris Baccari, bidding alongside trainer Ken McPeek, went to $380,000 on behalf of country singer Toby Keith. The yearling was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. A total of 53 yearlings sold Sunday for $5,999,000. The average of $113,189 was up 5% from last year's...