Loggins

And so another cycle opens, bringing all the usual dilemmas. To assist their resolution--albeit the exercise seldom fails to entail a degree of provocation, sometimes even offense--today we commence our annual quest for value among Kentucky stallions. This time round, value feels likely to prove quite elusive. With the middle market increasingly porous, stud fees overall are at a challenging level. If they were driven up by a long bull run in international bloodstock, that appears to be tapering away and there's evidently going to be quite a lag before...

After hearing from Chris McGrath in his 2024 Value Sires Part I, we thought we'd ask several breeders who they thought offered particularly good value this year. Here's what they said: Jody Huckabay The horses I have chosen are expensive, but I think they are good value. GOLD: Elite Power (Curlin--Broadway's Alibi, by Vindication), Juddmonte Farms, $50,000. The first horse I like for his body of work, race record, and pedigree is Elite Power. To me, he's on top of the list, with everything being considered. I look at it...

GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity runner up and 'TDN Rising Star' Loggins (Ghostzapper) will stand alongside his sire at Hill 'n' Dale it was announced Monday. "Loggins was a brilliant two year old, breaking his maiden in hugely impressive fashion at Churchill and narrowly beaten by Champion Forte in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity in only his second start. It is too bad he got hurt as I am certain he was a Grade I talent. I love the influences in his pedigree and he is a stunner to look at....

GISP Loggins (Ghostzapper-Beyond Blame, by Blame), a TDN Rising Star following an 8 1/2-length victory at Churchill Downs last September, has been retired from racing. Stud plans are pending. Purchased for $460,000 at Fasig-Tipton in Saratoga, the Popatop-bred colt was campaigned by a partnership consisting of Spendthrift Farm LLC, Steve Landers Racing LLC, Martin S. Schwartz, Michael Dubb, Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing Stables, Kueber Racing LLC, Big Easy Racing LLC, and Winners Win. Agent Liz Crow, reflecting on the purchase of Loggins in Saratoga, said, "When we...

They were already through the show ring and into the Keeneland pavilion, circling for their turn. Jody Huckabay knew that the dam's only previous foal, a Ghostzapper colt, had coincidentally been declared to make his debut at Churchill the same afternoon. Still more fortuitously, the rate of selling that session last September had now conspired to let him advertise their genes even as his half-sister by Flatter was strolling the back ring. "I couldn't see the race but had people watching," Huckabay recalls. "And suddenly my phone was going off,...

GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity runner up Loggins (Ghostzapper), who hasn't had a recorded work since before the Breeders' Futurity, was officially removed from Kentucky Derby consideration by trainer Brad Cox Monday. "He's not here," said Cox in reference to where the colt is currently training. "He's off the Derby trail. He's in light training. At this point, it's too late in the season to bring him here (Fair Grounds). We will get more serious with him when we get back to Kentucky."

For the Brad Cox stable, the road to the GI Kentucky Derby will make a stop Saturday at Oaklawn where Verifying (Justify) will run in an allowance race. It will be his first start since finishing sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Cox will also send out Judo (Street Sense), who will not be among the favorites in the race. But even if the Cox pair falters, he'll still be loaded. The trainer, whose Mandaloun (Into Mischief) was placed first in the 2021 Derby with the disqualification of Medina...

The first week of January doesn't have much in common with the first Saturday in May--with the exception that the inaugural TDN Top 12 has arrived to herald the coming of the seemingly far-off GI Kentucky Derby season. Get tied on and enjoy the ride. 1) ARABIAN KNIGHT (c, Uncle Mo--Borealis Night, by Astrology) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Corser Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $250,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $2,300,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $86,025. Last start: 1st Keeneland Maiden Special Weight, Nov. 5....

'TDN Rising Star' Loggins (Ghostzapper), who is coming off a game second-place finish in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, will not run in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, reports his trainer, Brad Cox. Though beaten by fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) last out at Keeneland, Loggins showed that he is one of the top juveniles in training. He was part of a three-horse battle for the early lead before being passed in the stretch by his rival only to fight back gamely in the late going to...

Saturday's pair of Grade I dirt routes for 2-year-olds solidified intriguing subplots while establishing the three likely favorites for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Cave Rock (Arrogate) cemented kingpin status with a thorough shellacking of the GI American Pharoah S. field at Santa Anita. But fellow 'Rising Stars' Forte (Violence) and Loggins (Ghostzapper) might have delivered the more nuanced performances with their length-of-stretch slugfest in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland, which supplied both colts with valuable race-over-the-track experience heading into the Nov. 4...

Loggins (c, 2, Ghostzapper--Beyond Blame, by Blame) had a trio of bullet workouts on display for trainer Brad Cox and ran to the money as the 4-5 favorite with an impressive 'TDN Rising Star' performance on debut Saturday at Churchill Downs. Away in good order from a middle gate in a field of 11, the bay raced in between rivals in a tightly bunched group. Third and traveling smartly on the far turn, he launched a three-wide bid approaching the five-sixteenths, took control under his own power at the top of...