insights

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-DMR, $70K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, post time: 8:06 p.m. ET DANCE TO THE MUSIC (Maclean's Music) was a work in progress when Walnut Stream Enterprises, a partnership led by 2-year-old consignor Paul Sharp, snapped her up for a mere $40,000 at Keeneland September last fall. Seven months later, the long-striding chestnut was hammered down to Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal for $575,000 at OBS this past April after breezing in a bullet :10 flat. "We were looking for horses with nice physicals...

5th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 3:21 p.m. ET Split divisions of juvenile filly sprinters get the Saratoga baby race season underway on opening day Thursday, with this latter half appearing to be clearly the saltier spot on paper. Heads turned when a filly by thus-far unheralded freshman sire Valiant Minister hammered for $360,000--120 times the Bridlewood Farm resident's stud fee--at OBS April, but one viewing of OUTFOXED's breeze-show effort quickly explains why. The dark bay barreled through a powerful :20 4/5 quarter-mile work, sparking a bidding war that...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 9th-IND, $34K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, post time: 6:33 p.m. ET STING LIKE ABBY (Flatter) debuts for trainer Ignacio Correas IV and cost Kingsport Farm $375,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale, making her the second most-expensive filly sold that year by her successful sire. Flatter's daughter Search Results--also bred at Machmer Hall--was a game runner-up in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks before going one better in the GI Acorn S. at Belmont Park last month. The March foal is the second produce out of...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-CD, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 5f, post time: 1:43 p.m. ET A Winchell Thoroughbreds/Steve Asmussen coupled entry receive a tepid 3-1 morning line nod in this salty looking special weight. Totalizer (Candy Ride {Arg}) is out of GSP Taxable (Tapit) from the family of GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Summerly (Summer Squall). Chileno (Gun Runner), co-owned with co-breeder Three Chimneys, was a $375,000 Keeneland September yearling. His MG1SW dam Wapi (Chi) (Scat Daddy) was Chile's champion 3-year-old filly of 2016. Wapi's now 3-year-old Curlin colt, who remains...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-SA, $61K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5f, post time: 4:35 p.m. ET A pair of stablemates acquired about three hours apart at this year's OBS March Sale face off Saturday at Santa Anita. EDA (Munnings), bred by one of the sire's most fervent supporters Nate McCauley, was knocked down for $240K as a Keeneland September yearling last fall and was snapped up by Susan and Charles Chu's Baoma Corp. for $550K in Ocala after breezing an eighth of a mile in :10 flat. The Apr. 5...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-SA, $65k, Alw/Opt. Clm, 3yo/up, 6f, 5:31 p.m. ET DR. SCHIVEL (Violence), a Grade I winner at two, will make his sophomore debut in this allowance/optional claimer sprint Friday at Santa Anita. Placing in a pair of tries to start his career with Beyers of only 57 and 52, the bay jumped way forward with an 86 when romping to a 5 3/4-length graduation last August at Del Mar, a race that included three next-out winners as well as future Grade II victor Spielberg (Union...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-BEL, $92K, Alw, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 4:09 p.m. ET Spendthrift Farm made waves when it announced, following the failed drug test of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), that it would be moving some horses out of trainer Bob Baffert's barn. One of the most intriguing of those horses, 'TDN Rising Star' FOLLOWING SEA (Runhappy), will make his first start for the Todd Pletcher barn in this first-level allowance sprint early on Thursday's card. Unveiled at 9-10 Mar. 6 at Santa Anita, the homebred...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-BEL, $96K, Alw/Opt. Clm, 4yo/up, 1m, 2:02 p.m. ET Wertheimer and Frere's undefeated Grade I winner HAPPY SAVER (Super Saver) is slated to make his first start since October in this one-mile allowance/optional claiming affair early on Friday's card at Belmont. Debuting last June with a powerful 5 1/2-length score going seven local furlongs that earned 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Repeating with a four-length success when stretched out to two turns at Saratoga, the homebred passed his first stakes test in annexing the Federico Tesio...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-SA, $61K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1m, post time: 6:50 p.m. ET Dixiana Farms-bred AMERICAN ADMIRAL (American Pharoah) was purchased by Hunter Valley Farm for $340,000 at Keeneland November in 2018 and fetched $1.3 million from Jamie McCalmont on behalf of M.V. Magnier and Sarah Kelly at KEESEP the following fall. That price was the richest of 70 of his sire's second-crop yearlings to sell in 2019, bar the sales-topping $8.2 million Mandy Pope paid for the half-sister to Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday)....

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-CD, $100K, Msw, 2yp, 5f, post time: 5:29 p.m. ET ANNA AND MIA (Cupid) becomes the first starter for her Grade I-winning sire and is out of a stakes-winning full-sister to MSP Breathethefire (Valid Expectations). The deeper female family also includes the flashy MGSW/GISP Phantom On tour (Tour d'Or). A $50K purchase at Fasig-Tipton February in early 2020, the February foal fetched $45K at FTKOCT in the fall and was most recently hammered down for $160K at the OBS March Sale after breezing an eighth...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, post time: 4:38 p.m. Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables has successfully shopped the Tattersalls October sale over the past several years, using the services of Mike Ryan to acquire MGISWs Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and GISW Digital Age (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). INFINITE POTENTIAL (IRE) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was purchased by Ryan for 300,000gns at the 2018 October sale, a handful of months after her half-sister Ejtyah (GB) (Frankel {GB}) finished...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-BEL, $80K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6fT, post time: 4:19 p.m. ET CROWDING OUT (Street Boss), a $55K in utero purchase at Keeneland November in 2017, fetched $37K as a KEESEP yearling in 2019, but blossomed into a $230K OBS April breezer after working an eighth of a mile in a slick :9 4/5. That price was the second most expensive of this sire's 20 juveniles sold last year. The chestnut's dam Pride of Place (A.P. Indy)--who sadly passed away in 2020--is a daughter of French...