Keeneland September

Passionate about the sport and determined to win at the highest level, partners Vinnie Viola and Mike Repole have come up with a formula they hope will mean lasting success. It's not just about quality, but quantity. Attack the game with an army of well-bred horses, most of them colts, send them to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and sit back and wait for good things to happen. In what amounts to a historic buying spree, Repole and Viola's St. Elias Stable bought 43 yearlings at Keeneland September, paying...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Tokyo Racecourses. Click here for a preview of Sunday's G1 Longines Japan Cup at Tokyo, which has drawn four of the last six winners of the course-and-distance G1 Tokyo Yushun. Last year's Triple Crown hero Contrail (Jpn) (Deep...

4th-ZIA, Zia Park Juvenile S., $50K, 2yo, 6f, post time: 3:21 ET After New Mexico trainer Todd Fincher signed the winning ticket at $870,000 on a colt by Quality Road at last year's Keeneland September Sale, Bob Baffert was overheard saying to Fincher and his owner Lori Owens, "You bought my horse." The gray, now named BYE BYE BOBBY gets going in Tuesday's Zia Park Juvenile S., the first of seven stakes on the Zia Park Derby undercard. Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, the April foal is out of...

The late Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) turned in arguably the most impressive effort in a G1 Dubai World Cup by a horse not named Dubai Millennium (GB), dropping back to last after being roughed up at the break, rallying wide on the turn and galloping past none other than Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) to win the 2017 renewal in jaw-dropping fashion. Taking Names became the first starter in Dubai for his GI Breeders' Cup Classic-winning stallion in Thursday's second race at Meydan, and while much more straight-forward, was similarly impressive...

Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}--Charm the Maker, by Empire Maker), who defeated GI Kentucky Derby winner and GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Medina Spirit (Protonico) in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby in his first start on the dirt, has been retired from racing and will enter stud in 2022 at Spendthrift Farm. The nursery had previous announced the acquisition in last April. The handy winner of a six-furlong turf sprint on career debut at Santa Anita Jan. 1, the $650,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase took the one-mile...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. There is one Group 1 on each of the remaining seven weekends in 2021, kicking off with Japan's version of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup for fillies and mares, a race that would have attracted Loves...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Hanshin and Tokyo Racecourses, featuring the much-anticipated debut of one of this year's breeze-up sales toppers: Sunday, November 7, 2021 2nd-TOK, ¥9,680,000 ($85k), Maiden, 2yo, 1400mT WALKER TESORO (f, 2, Speightstown--January Jones {Brz}, by Shirocco {Ger}) is the second foal...

Quality Road (Elusive Quality--Kobla, by Strawberry Road {Aus}), whose 'TDN Rising Star' son Corniche figures one of the favorites for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 5, will remain at $150,000 for the upcoming breeding season at William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm, which released its stud fees Monday. The 15-year-old stallion is in the midst of another outstanding season, with nine stakes winners to his credit. Three of those have come at the graded level, led by the aforementioned Corniche, who topped this year's OBS April Sale on a...

Baoma Corp's Eda (Munnings) made light work of four fellow juvenile fillies to post her first stakes success in facile fashion in Sunday's Anoakia S. at Santa Anita. Away without incident from the inside stall, the bay was beaten for speed, then angled away from the fence to stalk the pace outside of Shes Bout a Mover (Mastery) through a quarter in :21.90 and a half in :44.98. Pressing past the front-runner with a minimum of fuss at the head of the lane, Eda was under very little urging from...

8th-Santa Anita, $63,000, Msw, 10-15, 2yo, 1m, 1:37.55, ft, 1/2 length. BAROSSA (c, 2, Into Mischief--Bouquet Booth {GSW, $527,279}, by Flower Alley) was sent off the lukewarm 14-5 favorite in a strong-looking two-turn maiden Friday at Santa Anita got just the better of a race-long tussle with Durante (Distorted Humor) to graduate at third asking. The latter, drawn the inside for his first try at a distance of ground, was aggressively ridden and led into the first turn, but was joined immediately to his outside by Barossa and the two...

There are folks who sound like broken records when it comes to first-crop sires, complaining that breeders who use them and buyers purchasing those yearlings at auction are about as foolish as dunk-tank clowns. However, when one of those sires succeeds with his first 2-year-olds, those same people are usually the first to wax eloquent with platitudes, forgetting what they'd said earlier. That's human nature, I suppose. What they forget is that all sires start out with first crops, and there are people on the other end that wildcat for...

The silks of Lee and Susan Searing's CRK Stable have been a formidable presence in California in recent years thanks in large part to MGSWs Express Train (Union Rags) and Midcourt (Midnight Lute). Both stable stars have excelled in their division for trainer John Shirreffs with Midcourt taking last year's GII San Pasqual S. and Express Train claiming winning honors in the same race this year before also adding the GII San Diego H. to his growing resume. While separated by two years in age, the stablemates also share the...