Lady Speightspeare

Ready for Shirl (More Than Ready), a daughter of GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf upsetter Perfect Shirl (Perfect Soul {Ire}) from a wildly productive female family beautifully nurtured over the last 20 years by Charles Fipke and his team, jumped at odds of nearly 8-1 in a two-turn maiden over the Keeneland turf course Saturday afternoon. 8-1? 'Shirl'-y you must be joking, but the March-foaled bay rewarded her backers in becoming the second 'TDN Rising Star' out of the mare and the fourth from the first two dams...

5th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 3:08 p.m. ET. SCARLET POPPY (IRE) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) makes the races after she was purchased by Stonestreet Stable and M.V. Magnier for 800,000gns at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. The Wesley Ward trainee has a trio of gelding half-brothers who have won stakes in Europe, including Ross Castle (Ire) (Bushranger {Ire}), Snazzy Jazzy (Ire) (Red Jazz) and Ten Year Ticket (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar (Ire). Also drawn is Ready for Shirl (More Than Ready), who is out of GI Breeders' Cup...

5th-Woodbine, $111K, Msw, 3yo/up, 7fT, post time: 6:52 p.m. ET    Ready Shakespeare (More Than Ready), a half-brother to three-time Canadian champion and GI Natalma S. heroine Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), gets his career started for trainer Roger Attfield. The Charles Fipke homebred, listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite, was produced by two-time graded winner Lady Shakespeare (Theatrical {Ire}). This is also the loaded female family of GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Perfect Shirl (Perfect Soul {Ire}), MGISW Shakespeare (Theatrical {Ire}), et al. TJCIS PPs

Moira (Ghostzapper), dominant winner against males in last year's Queen's Plate S., took home both Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old honors at the 48th Annual Sovereign Awards ceremony hosted by the Jockey Club of Canada on Thursday. The evening began with a commemoration of the club's 50th anniversary and recognition of the founding members from 1973. The top three finalists in each category are determined by the online ballots of the Jockey Club of Canada's voters. The media category award finalists were determined by professionals within the industry...

The Jockey Club of Canada has announced the finalists for the 2022 Sovereign Awards recognizing Canada's outstanding achievements in Canadian Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding. The winner of each category, along with Canada's Horse of the Year for 2022, will be announced during the 48th Annual Sovereign Award ceremony held Thursday, April 13 at Universal Eventspace in Vaughan, Ontario. The finalists in each of the following categories are listed in alphabetical order. Champion Two-Year-Old Female: Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince), Last Call (English Channel), Renegade Rebel (Nyquist). Champion Two-Year-Old Male: Philip My...

For Chuck Fipke, Saturday could have gone better. His Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown) finished fourth in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. and with a better trip might have been closer. "That's the way horse racing is," the owner and breeder said. "I was kind of disappointed. For every time you do well in this sport, it seems that you are disappointed 50 times." Not that Fipke was complaining. With his having nearly died just 15 days before the race, it's easy to keep things in perspective. On Jan....

With the recent retirement of two-time winner Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), MG1SW Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}) was named the narrow 5-2 morning-line favorite for the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf. A winner of three of 12 starts in the U.S.--topped by the 2020 GI Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland--he has run in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile each of the last three years, running third in 2021 and fourth in 2020 and 2022. "I think his [last] race was very good," said trainer Paulo Lobo. "He lost to a...

The news last week of P. Noel Hickey's death Aug. 8 at 94 was a reminder of how much racing has changed over the years. Hickey owned a stud farm in Ocala, Irish Acres; stood his own stallions that he patronized; bred the runners he raised and raced; and trained them, including one Eclipse Award winner and another near champion, both foaled in Illinois and from stock far off the perimeter of prevailing fashion. Who does that these days? Back in the day, it wasn't unusual to see regional areas...

Holiday weekends are often synonymous with exciting race cards and this Fourth of July weekend is no exception with a dozen graded events on tap Saturday that include some of racing's best. The highlight of the day's action is the return of 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief), who is making his first start back since finishing fourth in the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 26 in Belmont's GII John A. Nerud S. A dominant winner of last year's GII Kelso H. and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile...

Speak of the Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) makes her first start for Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown in the GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S. Saturday. The 5-year-old mare, who just missed when second in the 2020 G1 French 1000 Guineas and again when third in last year's G1 Prix Rothschild, was purchased by Brant for €1.95 million at last year's Arqana December sale. Brant and Brown will also be represented in the Distaff Turf Mile by In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). The 4-year-old was a flashy wire-to-wire...

Since its inaugural running in 2017, the Pegasus World Cup Invitational has become one of the marquee events during Gulfstream's Championship Meeting. Its 'Turf' equivalent, which was added in 2019, was won by that season's Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, and three years later, a division for the fairer set is added to the card, the GIII TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational S. Formerly the Marshua's River S., the 8 1/2-furlong test for older fillies and mares features a pair of Grade I winners--morning...

'TDN Rising Star' Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown) made a successful transition to the Tapeta track Saturday, racing away to a convincing score in the GII Bessarabian S., remaining unbeaten from four starts in the process. The Fipke homebred, whose prior victories include the GI Natalma S. over the local turf course last season, wired a Sept. 6 turf allowance over 8 1/2 furlongs, but was scratched after becoming fractious in the gate ahead of the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Oct. 16 at Keeneland and was a trainer scratch prior...