Liam's Map

The three-day under-tack show ahead of next week's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale kicked off Wednesday under picture perfect conditions with temperatures hovering in the low 70s as the first of seven sets hit the track shortly after 8 a.m. Originally scheduled for May, the breeze show attracted a good-sized crowd to the Maryland State Fairgrounds, with bloodstock agents such as Liz Crow, Patti Miller, David Ingordo, Donato Lanni, Gary Young, Tom McGreevy, Steve Young, Gary Contessa, Joe Brocklebank and Alan Quartucci in attendance, as well as trainers like...

If someone new to our business asked you to pick a single race in 2015 that might explain the passion that consumes us, you probably wouldn't pick the processional exhibitions of a first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. You'd show them the GI Whitney S. In a summer when hardly anyone will be able to renew the Saratoga pilgrimage, you may find the jolt of nostalgia too poignant to revisit the video yourself. But gosh, that was a horserace. Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song), flying just that fraction too close...

A colt by Lemon Drop Kid and a filly by Majesticperfection turned in the fastest furlong works and fillies by The Big Beast and Liam's Map shared the fastest quarter-mile time during Wednesday's fourth under-tack preview for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Randy Miles sent a son of Lemon Drop Kid (hip 701) out to work a furlong in :9 4/5 Wednesday in Ocala. The gray colt is a half-brother to stakes placed La Dame Blanche (Point of Entry). His unraced dam Adjudication...

Not his time yet, surely. Can't be. A son of two-turn titan Giant's Causeway; a half-brother to late-blooming Liam's Map. Yet there it is, in black and white: three starters, two winners. Hopeful Princess hurtling just 4 1/2 furlongs at Churchill last week; and Swaggy George at Gulfstream the next day, circling the field into the stretch and sprinting four lengths clear. So while these remain the very earliest of days, Not This Time could not have made a more auspicious start to his stud career. On the one hand,...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-GP, $46K, Alw/OC ($75K), N1X, 3yo, 1mT, 4:25 ET ERJ Racing and Gary Barber's PATROL (Liam's Map) takes on an experienced group of foes as he looks to remain unbeaten in his turf debut Sunday. A $190,000 KEESEP yearling, he was the second-priciest juvenile to sell at Keeneland April last term at $360,000 off a co-quickest furlong breeze in :10 flat. Turned over to Mark Casse, he made a successful debut sprinting at Aqueduct Feb. 15. He has a right to handle the surface switch...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency WELL-BRED CURLIN FILLY DEBUTS AT OAKLAWN 5th-OP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 3:41p.m. Steve Asmussen unveils a blue-blooded filly in Hill 'n' Dale and Stretch Run homebred CASUAL (Curlin). Out of MGISW and millionaire Lady Tak (Mutakddim), the chestnut is a half-sister to SW & GSP Japanese runner and millionaire A Shin Spartan (Zensational and SW Melody Lady (Unbridled's Song), who is the dam of SW & GSP Buy Sell Hold (Violence). TJCIS PPs   PLETCHER UNVEILS EXPENSIVE LIAM'S MAP 8th-GP, $45K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1mT,...

When Ron Ellis sent the quirkily named Drop the Chalupa (Liam's Map) out for his first start earlier this month, the trainer admitted he had modest expectations for the 16-1 longshot. After all the gelding, who Ellis had purchased for $35,000 on behalf of Richard Templer's Doubledown Stables at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, was up against a pair of well-respected runners from the power-packed Bob Baffert barn in the 6 1/2-furlong special weight. "I liked him and I knew he had talent," Ellis said of Drop the Chalupa....

A filly by American Pharoah breezed the fastest quarter-mile of :20 2/5 Friday, while seven juveniles tied for the quickest eighth-of-a-mile breeze of :9 4/5 during the second of three under-tack shows ahead of next Tuesday and Wednesday's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The American Pharoah filly is consigned to the sale by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Inc. as hip 237. The half-sister to MSP My Sweet Stella (Eskendereya) was a $70,000 KEENOV weanling and $165,000 KEESEP yearling. The following horses breezed in :9 4/5: Hip...

2nd-Gulfstream, $43,000, Msw, 3-8, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.67, ft. FOUR GRANDS (f, 3, Honor Code--Taylor S {SW & GSP, $121,519}, by Medaglia d'Oro), backed down to 8-5 favoritism into the face of a pricey Todd Pletcher firster, ran to her backing Sunday for a facile debut victory at Gulfstream against a field of all fellow first timers. Off a half-step slowly from the outside six slot, the bay was pushed along by Luis Saez to chase in third outside of aforementioned Pletcher representative Maggie Fitz (Ghostzapper). She made an early...

3rd-Gulfstream, $43,000, Msw, 2-22, 3yo, 7f, 1:24.21, gd. LIAM'S POINT (c, 3, Liam's Map--Kittery Point, by Include) entered his Saturday unveiling with about as much buzz as a firster can garner, and while he had to work harder than his 3-5 off odds suggested he might, he got the job done while giving the impression of one who should improve with experience and maturity. Scrubbed along by Irad Ortiz, Jr. as he struggled some to find his stride early, the bay settled into a three-deep stalking spot down the backside...

1st-AQU, $68K, Msw, 3yo, 6.5fT, 1:00 p.m. ET Gary Barber and ERJ Racing LLC's PATROL (Liam's Map) debuts for trainer Mark Casse. The second highest-priced juvenile of 2019 for Liam's Map (the sire's third highest-priced 2-year-old overall last year), the grey was secured for $350,000 at Keeneland last April. Dylan Davis gets the mount. TJCIS PPs 2nd-FG, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 9f, 1:29 p.m. ET Triple Crown nominated AIRSTREEM (Tapit), a half-brother to champion and Classic heroine Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro), closed from off the pace to be fourth going six...

Vinnie Viola has been elected to the board of stewards of The Jockey Club, filling the expired position of William S. Farish, Jr. Viola and his wife, Teresa, have campaigned the likes of GI Kentucky Derby hero Always Dreaming (Bodemeister), GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile victor Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song), GI Carter H. winner Army Mule (Friesian Fire) and more. He is also the owner of the Florida Panthers of the NHL and a governor on the NHL's board of governors. In addition to Viola, the board of stewards consists...