Justify

Most Irishmen that go to Kentucky didn't plan to stay there. And yet, the story seems to be ripped from a template that is repeatedly recycled: they knew someone working on a farm there and decided to go for six months to a year. And then made it another year. Then 10 or 20 more. Many end up staying their whole lives. Dr. Michael Hore may have followed a well-trodden path from his birthplace in County Wexford to Lexington, but in the ensuing 15 years he has set himself apart...

Fresh off a dominant weekend at Oaklawn Park in which he swept both divisions of the GI Arkansas Derby, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland this week for a wide-ranging video interview. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Baffert talked about plans for his undefeated trio of Charlatan (Speightstown), Nadal (Blame) and Authentic (Into Mischief), why it was important to support California backstretch workers at last week's protest, taking over the training of Maximum Security,...

He might not want to answer the question, but among his 1-2-3 Derby prospects, Nadal, Charlatan and Authentic, who is the best? Bob Baffert joins the writers on the Writers' Room podcast to try to answer that question.

Entries have been announced for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, which honors long-form pieces on horse racing and offers $10,000 in prize money. Winners have traditionally been announced each April at a reception held in the historic stallion barn at the Ryan family's Castleton Lyons farm near Lexington, Kentucky. This year will be different due to the broad reach of COVID-19; the springtime celebration honoring the winner and finalists has been postponed for now, with plans to reschedule as a possibly scaled-back event in the fall. Each of these...

Secretariat has been established as the horse to beat in Saturday's Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown by odds maker Mike Battaglia. The Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown is an animated race created by Inspired Entertainment Inc. using computer-generated imagery that will feature the 13 past Triple Crown winners in a 1 1/4-mile race at Churchill Downs. The virtual race will air around 5:45 p.m. as part of NBC's broadcast of "The First Saturday In May: American  Pharoah's Run to the Triple Crown" Saturday from 3-6 p.m. Secretariat landed post position...

The Thoroughbred Charities of America will host an online auction of halters worn by Triple Crown and Kentucky Derby winners during the upcoming virtual "Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown." The halter auction is set to open Friday at 9 a.m. and will conclude Saturday at 9 p.m. EST. All proceeds will benefit TCA. "As the 13 Triple Crown winners face off in the virtual running of the Derby, we are excited to offer halters worn by the only two living Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify, as well as...

In times of incredible uncertainty, the arrival of new foals allows breeders the excuse to steal a few moments to hope and dream. This can be especially true when the first crop of new sires arrive on the scene, and one of the most anticipated stallions with first foals this year is the unbeaten American Triple Crown winner Justify, who has already had plenty of quality first-crop representatives pop up across the Northern Hemisphere. Justify was raced by a powerhouse partnership including China Horse Club, and it was that group's...

On the last day of 1990, T. Murray McDonnell made his regular call from the United States to Ireland. "David," he said. "We're going to have the best year ever. I can feel it." The next day, a call from McDonnell's son instead. They had found him that morning on the kitchen floor. David Hanley flew out for the funeral. He was reserved a spot in the second row, next to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. McDonnell had never had the best of health, so his heart attack couldn't be the biggest...

Stage Magic (Ghostzapper-Magical Illusion, by Pulpit), dam of champion Justify (Scat Daddy), produced a half-sister by Curlin to the Triple Crown winner in the early hours Tuesday at John Gunther's Glennwood Farm in Versailles, Kentucky. "We are quite excited to have a filly," Gunther's daughter Tanya said Tuesday morning. "We don't fetal sex our mares, so we never know what we are going to get. We were very keen to get a filly since we don't have one out of the mare. So that was very good news. And just...

The first foal by GSW The Lieutenant (Street Sense--Stage Magic, Ghostzapper) was a filly born Feb. 1 at Keane Stud for breeder Meadow Hill Lane Farm. She is out of Keysong (Songandaprayer). A half-brother to Triple Crown hero Justify (Scat Daddy), The Lieutenant was one of four stallions killed by intruders at Peru's Haras Barlovento in late December. "We will cherish every foal we get by The Lieutenant and are very happy that the first one came to one of our favorite New York breeders, Meadow Hill Lane Farm," said...

January can be cold, bitter, and snowy in Lexington, but the weather was unseasonably warmer during Keeneland's Horses of All Ages sale, which made life easier for inspecting broodmares and short yearlings on the sales grounds and stallions at the nearby stud farms that power the industry here. Most of the major farms offer daily lunchtime stallion shows during sales week--the food, by the way, varies from farm to farm--but decent weather means outdoor showings and greater flows of traffic, which add some conviviality absent from the proceedings when shows...

Trainer Mick Ruis filed a petition against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Monday in the Los Angeles Superior Court for writ of mandate and damages. The petition concerns Justify (Scat Daddy)'s victory in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, in which the Ruis-trained Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) finished runner-up to the Bob Baffert-trained runner. In a post-race urine sample, Justify tested positive for scopolamine--a prohibited substance--as revealed by The New York Times in a bombshell story September of last year. Scopolamine is found in jimsonweed, which is known to...