Liz Crow

Bloodstock Agent Liz Crow joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to share what she looks for in prospects at the sales and discuss what champion Monomoy Girl has meant to her career.

by Jessica Martini and Christie DeBernardis The four-day Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale opened with a workmanlike session in Lexington Monday as the industry continued to adjust to the market's new pandemic-induced reality. "I think it was a continuation of the November sale," said Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell. "I think people have adjusted to the marketplace and I think it was a good, steady start to the January sale. Consignors are very happy because they have adjusted to the new normal." From a catalogue of...

Bradley Weisbord is expected to be released from Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York City on Saturday, Dec. 19, after a successful six-hour surgery Tuesday to remove a benign cavernous malformation symptomatic hemorrhage in the left temporal lobe of his brain, according to his father. "The surgery went well, but it was difficult and complex," said Barry Weisbord. "Brad will recover for six to eight weeks before returning to work in February." The surgery was performed by Dr. Philip Stieg, who has been the Neurosurgeon-in-Chief at New York Presbyterian/Weill-Cornell for...

LEXINGTON, KY--The European-trained runners may have been shut out on opening day of the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland, but there would have been plenty of smiling faces in Ireland, France and England on Friday evening as 'TDN Rising Star' Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) kept her perfect record intact with a powerful front-running score in the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf under Frenchman Florent Geroux for trainer Brad Cox. Aidan O'Brien's Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) made up significant ground late to grab second, mowing down the Ringfort Stud-bred...

by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--With four of the day's nine million-dollar-plus horses selling in the final dozen or so hips to be offered, the second and final session of Book 1 of the Keeneland September yearling sale finished strong. The session topper and likely sale topper was hip 435, a son of Tapit out of the GISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song) offered by Eaton Sales on behalf of Stonestreet Bred & Raised and acquired by a partnership between Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners,...

Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) went straight to the lead and never looked back, coasting home to become the newest 'TDN Rising Star' on opening day of Churchill Downs' abbreviated GI Kentucky Derby meet. Dispatched as the 9-5 second-choice in this career bow, the 280,000gns TATOCT purchase seized the early advantage, coasting along through opening splits of :24.27 and :48.21. Turning for home in front, the bay sailed clear with ease under a hand ride from Florent Geroux to win by five lengths. Gam's Mission (Noble Mission {GB})...

Ever since Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) surged past the Churchill Downs finish line to take the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, fans have eagerly awaited her return. It's been a long road over the past year and a half, but the now 5-year-old Eclipse champion is slated to make her 2020 debut beneath the Twin Spires Sat., May 16. The five-time Grade I winner will be the star of Churchill Downs' opening day, facing six other fillies and mares in a one-mile $80,000 allowance optional claimer. Her competition includes dual stakes...

In a Classic season blighted by the coronavirus pandemic, Oaklawn rounds out its winter meet with not one but two renewals of the GI Arkansas Derby. Facing a tough group of contenders in Saturday's second division of the Classic prep, including undefeated Nadal (Blame), winner of the GII San Vicente S. and GII Rebel S., and GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero King Guillermo (Uncle Mo), defending juvenile champion Storm the Court (Court Vision) will try to recover some of the sparkle from his 2-year-old season. This year, he...

Wells Bayou (Lookin at Lucky) returned to the work tab for the first time since his Mar. 21 GII Louisiana Derby victory with a four-furlong drill in :49.80 (32/56) at Oaklawn Park Monday. With the GI Kentucky Derby postponed until September and no new date yet released for the GI Preakness S., the bay colt could make his next start in the May 2 GI Arkansas Derby. "We'd love to win the Arkansas Derby," co-owner Lance Gasaway told the Oaklawn Park media team after watching Wells Bayou train Saturday morning....

Two weeks ago, the bombshell indictments of trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis, et al., sandwiched between a volatile stock market and the spread of the coronavirus, were the talk of the industry, leading to renewed calls by some for the passage of the Horseracing Integrity Act in Congress. At the time, the doping scandal promised to upend racing's precarious standing, but with hindsight, the plunge of the markets and the rise of the virus may cost the racing and breeding industries greater long-term harm than what's alleged in the indictments....

I will go with Outwork as my top freshman sire. He won at 4 1/2 furlongs in April of his 2-year-old year and is by Uncle Mo, who has proven to be a very prolific 2-year-old sire. I have seen a lot of quality from Outwork's first crop. I bought three fillies by him at the yearling sales. The nicest filly we've ever had in four years of pinhooking with Paul Sharp is an Outwork filly out of Starship Warpspeed, a half to recent Grade III winner Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil). She...

Mr. Monomoy (Palace Malice), whose win in the GII Risen Star S. signaled that he was a major threat for the GI Kentucky Derby, has suffered a mild injury and won't return to the races until this summer. "He came out of a gallop two days ago with some heat in his ankle," trainer Brad Cox said. "We took some x-rays and found that there was some roughening in the P1 (first phalanx) area. He'll need 60 days off and is on his way to WinStar to recuperate. He is...