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As is the custom, the summer ushers in the yearling sales season, headed by Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings at Newtown Paddocks. Beginning at 10 a.m., the sale features a trimmed-down catalogue of 286 yearlings, once again highlighted by a selection of first-crop sires, making up roughly a third of the catalog. Featuring 370 head one year ago, this season's offering of yearlings points not only to availability, but to the ongoing drive toward quality. "It's always a function of the type of horses that you're exposed to...

Following a 12 3/4-length victory by New Jersey-bred Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in the seven-furlong Pasco S. at Tampa on seasonal debut back in January, trainer Derek Ryan got social media all fired up by almost blasphemously suggesting that a trip down the Triple Crown trail--one he'd traversed before with Musket Man (Yonaguska)--was not necessarily an appropriate course to chart for his trainee. "I have no Derby dreams," Ryan told TDN's Bill Finley at the time. "I think the Derby is overrated, but that's just me. We were never really considering...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--It didn't seem possible for trainer Kenny McPeek to be any more confident in his filly, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), as he was prior to her win in the GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs five weeks ago. But a short chat with the Kentucky-based trainer earlier in the week spoke volumes as to her ability to repeat in Friday's GI DK Horse Acorn S. Giving the afternoon's 27,529-strong crowd no real cause for concern at any point during the race, she unleashed a tour-de-force...

7th-Saratoga, $110,000, Alw, 6-7, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.08, ft, 2 lengths. MUNNYS GOLD (f, 4, Munnings--Haraawa, by Medaglia d'Oro), making her 4-year-old debut and her first start since finishing third in last year's GI Test S. at this venue last August, flaunted her considerable speed en route to a facile, pillar-to-post victory as the prohibitive 3-4 favorite. Immediately in front for Irad Ortiz, Jr., whose status for Friday's card was up in the air owing to a Thursday ankle injury, the Florida-bred took her rivals along through quick splits,...

A well-backed 5-1 while making his stakes debut in Friday's GIII Pimlico Special S. over the Preakness S. course and distance, Blue Heaven Farm homebred Pyrenees (Into Mischief) was delivered in the nick of time by Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. to complete a memorable stakes three-timer for the Cherie DeVaux barn. The beautifully bred 4-year-old, who capped a three-race winning streak--with Hernandez, Jr. aboard each time--courtesy of a three-length allowance victory over a sloppy Keeneland main track Apr. 12, was eased back and settled not far from a...

In the few days after Mystik Dan (Goldencents) pulled an 18-1 upset in the GI Kentucky Derby, there was the real possibility that none of the 20 horses that competed in the first leg of the Triple Crown would press on to Saturday's GI Preakness S. By Sunday afternoon, any such concerns had abated--the Derby winner had been confirmed by trainer Ken McPeek and Derby fourth Catching Freedom (Constitution) was also given the green light by Brad Cox, joining a field that had already included two each from Hall of...

LOUISVILLE, KY -- Trainer Ken McPeek told anyone who would listen after Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks victory with Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) that his GI Kentucky Derby aspirant, Mystik Dan (Goldencents), could very well jump up and win, too. It seemed a bit far fetched given the last time a trainer had won the Kentucky Derby and Oaks in the same year was back in 1952 when Ben Jones accomplished the feat with Real Delight and Hill Gail. Defying the odds, and history, the Kentucky horseman completed the double Saturday...

Chad Brown has selected Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride his GIII Tampa Bay Derby winner Domestic Product (Practical Joke) in this year's GI Kentucky Derby. The mount opened up when Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) won Saturday's GI Blue Grass S. with Tyler Gaffalione aboard. Gaffalione, also the regular rider of Domestic Product, will stick with the highly regarded Sierra Leone, who could be the second choice in the Derby. "We were lucky enough to pick up Irad Ortiz on (Domestic Product). So he's going to ride him in the Derby,...

Ken Ramsey finished the Gulfstream Championship meet atop the owner standings with 27 winners. A perennial leading owner, Ramsey previously led the standings at Gulfstream in 2021-2022, 2019-2020 and from 2012-2013 to 2017-2018. His wins during the meet included Be My Sunshine (Frosted) in the Tropical Park Oaks and Abrumar (Divisidero) in the Colonel Liam S., both from the barn of leading trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

The Gulfstream Park Championship Meet ended Sunday with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. and trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. defending their respective titles. Ortiz finished the meet with 119 winners, a mark that saw him top the rider's standings for the fifth time in the last six seasons. "It went very good for us," said Ortiz. "It means a lot to win another title here. They make me feel at home here. The owners, everybody training here, the whole organization-- security and the people who work here--they make me feel good. I...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- To coin a phrase uttered by the actor John Houseman from the Smith Barney television commercials of the mid-1980s, Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) has really 'earrrrrned it' as he approaches his second straight appearance in an eight-figure horse race, Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse. "Yeah. I mean, it's been pretty crazy," admits owner and breeder Joey Peacock, Jr. Peacock, a resident of San Antonio, and his family have been in the horse business for the better part of 5 1/2 decades, but...

In the previous four runnings of the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, American-based horses have--surprisingly--passed the post in first on a single occasion while finishing second on each occasion. That 'victory' came in the much-discussed inaugural running in 2020, a result that seems likely to soon be overturned, albeit to the benefit of another American horse. So, even though the U.S. is the epicenter of world dirt racing, its five representatives this year arguably still have something to prove when a field of 14 loads the gate around 12:40 p.m. ET...