Kevin Attard

If only those walls could talk. There's a room from a bygone era within the press box at Aqueduct Racetrack where members of the media congregated between races. The space's counter is still there, but you have to use your imagination when it comes to what the scene looked like in the old days. The latches on the windows that are now worn with time would be thrown open to let in the sounds of the oval below, while the crisp white shades from the fixtures would have adequately illuminated...

After the Australian farm Yulong Stud paid $4.3 million to acquire GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare winner Moira (Ghostzapper) at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, it was widely assumed that she would be immediately retired and join the farm's broodmare band. But while that remains a possibility, so does a return to racing, perhaps in North America. The story was first reported in the Canadian Thoroughbred. Yulong Stud's General Manager Vin Cox told the TDN that the farm has yet to decide what's next for Moira. "We haven't made any...

It was quite a few days for Canadian-based trainer Kevin Attard. On Saturday, he won his first Breeders' Cup race with Moira (Ghostzapper) in the GI Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf and some 48 hours later she went through the ring for $4.3 million. Knowing he'd have plenty to say, we invited Attard to join us on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He admitted that saying goodbye to the best horse he has ever trained was difficult. "Well, right now it's extremely difficult, no doubt...

Kevin Attard already knows it will be difficult, going back home to his barn at Woodbine and seeing an empty stall where stable star Moira (Ghostzapper) has been a steady presence for the past four years. The Canadian Horse of the Year and millionaire will perform in what will likely be her last dance in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Saturday before she goes through the ring on Nov. 4 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. "This is probably one of the hardest things I've done in...

Perhaps done in by a two-week turnaround when just beaten in the July 20 Woodbine Oaks, Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach) proved possibly the biggest beneficiary of the six-day postponement of the C$1-million King's Plate, clawing her way past heavily favored My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) in the final 40 yards. The $375,000 OBS April breezer was off at 9-1 in the King's Plate--a race in which the fillies had more than held their own against their male counterparts--and took up a forward position from between horses...

Mark Casse has only won the Queen's Plate/King's Plate three times, which is a little surprising when you consider how he dominates racing at Woodbine. But when 13 Canadian-breds line up for Saturday's first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown Casse will hold a clear upper hand. Among his three horses are 7-5 morning line favorite My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) and 2-1 second choice Essex Serpent (Honor Code). He will also send out long shot Midnight Mascot (Army Mule), who is 10-1 in the line. He believes this year's...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- It's a tossup as to what is the biggest sporting event this weekend for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. The choices are these: the $175,000 GIII Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday or the Vermont Lacrosse Classic two and a half hours away in the town of Essex. Come again? Englehart will do double duty because three of his five kids are in the lacrosse travel tournament. He wont miss that. And he can't be absent from the Spa because he has to to saddle Mo...

1st-Woodbine, C$83,428, Msw, 10-29, 3yo/up, 1 1/8m (AWT) (off turf), 1:52.46, ft, 6 1/4 lengths. LOOSE WIRE (c, 3, Street Sense--Dance With Doves, by A.P. Indy) topped the '21 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale when he was purchased for $925,000 by Mike Repole and St. Elias Stable. Debuting around two turns as the 2-1 second choice here, the hooded bay colt with Lasix exited the outside gate cleanly, raced mid-pack into the first turn and traveled well up the backstretch. Given his cue before the far turn, Loose Wire took control,...

A touch chilly on the board at 9-2 from 5-2 favoritism, Al and Bill Ulwelling's Pennick (f, 2, Hard Spun--By Golly Mis Molly, by Vindication) was pinched back at the break, but saw off her rivals by the time they'd reached the turn and shot clear through the final eighth of a mile to become a new 'TDN Rising Star' at Woodbine Saturday afternoon. The May-foaled bay, a $200,000 purchase out of last year's Keeneland September Sale, was bounced around just after the start, but was ridden along thereafter by...

3rd-Gulfstream, $70,000, Msw, 2-11, 3yo, 6f, 1:10.35, ft, 2 3/4 lengths. GOLD MAGIC (c, 3, Good Magic--Golden Amber, by Gemologist), dismissed on the board at 9-1 in a field of majority first-time starters, tracked off the pace in third as Mr. Peeks (California Chrome) led the field through an opening quarter in :21.91. Still third but just off as the field swung around the bend, he began to move up to take command inside the final eighth of a mile. With the most left late, Gold Magic gained separation close...

Moira (Ghostzapper), the dominant winner of this year's Queen's Plate over males, will start Saturday at Woodbine in the GI E.P. Taylor S. It will be her first try against older horses and her first on the turf. Trainer Kevin Attard had also been considering the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S., a turf race at Keeneland restricted to 3-year-old fillies. "The race is at home and at a distance of a mile and a quarter," Attard said. "She had a work over the turf course [five furlongs in...

X-Men Racing 2 LLC and SF Racing's Last Call (English Channel) broke her maiden in style with a 21-1 upset in the GI Natalma S. at Woodbine, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in November at Keeneland. Second on debut at this venue July 23, Last Call was fourth last out going seven panels over this course Aug. 20. Dismissed by the bettors while shedding blinkers here, the $30,000 KEESEP acquisition was unhurried early, racing in second last off the rail as Star...