Matt Schera

A lithe, dappled bay daughter of Pioneerof the Nile, whose striking features and poetic stride make her easy to pick out on the main track at Churchill Downs, GI Kentucky Oaks contender Southlawn has certainly caught the attention of many leading up to her Run for the Lilies this Friday. But what many may not know is that trainer Norm Casse's stable pony, who escorts the filly to and from the track each morning, is also a star in his own right, as he is none other than multiple stakes...

Matthew Schera's stakes-winning and MGSP 7-year-old Vorticity (Distorted Humor--Tar Heel Mom, by Flatter) has been retired. A $220,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile purchase in 2015, and later that year annexed the Marylander S. before seconds in the GIII Jerome S. and GIII Withers S. as an early season 3-year-old. He added a third in the 2018 GII Pat O'Brien S., and retires with a record of 18-4-6-3 and earnings of $347,040. "I look at a lot of stride data, and Vorticity had a very large stride and he had a very...

Matthew Schera's Glorious Empire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}--Humble And Proud {Ire}, by Pivotal {GB}), who won the 2018 GI Sword Dancer S. a handful of races removed from a victory in a Saratoga $50,000 claimer, has been retired from racing, according to trainer James F. 'Chuck' Lawrence II. The 9-year-old gelding left the Fair Hill Training Center early last month for a farm owned by Lawrence's mother in Marshall, Va., about an hour and a half west of Laurel Park. "He seems quite happy with his new lifestyle," Lawrence...