Michael Stidham

The span between Memorial Day and the third leg of the Triple Crown is often a quiet one in the racing world. Not this year, though. Here's a shaking-out of a reporter's notebook from a week that generated some unexpected headlines. Louisiana's move to more lenient medication rules: TDN's survey of seven trainers--Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Michael Stidham, Tom Amoss, Al Stall, Dallas Stewart, Cherie DeVaux--spoke volumes about the announcement by the Louisiana Racing Commission that it would be implementing "emergency" standards that softened a number of drug-regulating standards as...

Thursday's TDN contains a story by Bill Finley discussing the set of more lenient medication rules that the Louisiana Racing Commission has recently enacted. Louisiana is not a state governed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, and the new rules, which replace the ARCI model rules previously used, are scheduled to go into effect on June 8.  In Thursday's story, HISA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Lazarus suggested that there might have to be additional scrutiny on horses coming out of Louisiana races in the spring because of the more...

Minutes after a $40,000 claimer named Jack a Rose (Midshipman) broke down in an Apr. 3 race at Parx Racing, part owner Lisa Novak got a call and was told she had two choices, have the gelding euthanized or go through with an expensive and complex surgery that may or may not save his life. She didn't see it that way. There was only one choice. She would do whatever it took to save Jack a Rose's life. "I have so much love for him," Novak said. "You can't just...

They call it "nominative determinism." Your name suggests your path in life: like the world's fastest man being a Bolt. On that basis, you would say that being born a Goodman raises expectation enough--without then going ahead and buying yourself a farm named Mt. Brilliant. The last year or so, however, suggests that things are playing out much as they should. Last September, TOBA presented Greg Goodman with the Robert N. Clay Award for his work in preserving horse country around Lexington from development. In April, the KTA/KTOB honored him...

1st-CNL, $60K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:30p.m. Lael Stables' BUBBLING UP (Vino Rosso) marks her career debut at Colonial Downs for trainer Michael Stidham. Out of  GSP Shaken (Uncle Mo), the Mark Stansell-bred filly brought $550,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Select Sale last summer. The top-priced offspring by the champion Vino Rosso last season, the filly's pricetag far surpassed the Spendthrift sire's 2022 yearling average of $94,287 for 112 head sold. TJCIS PPs  

With the most starts in the field at 41 and the most claims under his girth in the last year with three, Therapist (g, 8, Freud--Lady Renaissance, by Smart Strike) may not have appeared to be the one most likely headed back to the barn after Monmouth Park's GI United Nations S. as the winner. But like fine wine, he has improved with age, winning his first graded race earlier this year and adding his first Grade I score in Monmouth's Haskell undercard highlight. Therapist is 8-years-young. Off at 12-1...

Sometimes Proxy (h, 5, Tapit--Panty Raid, by Include), the GI Clark H. winner, shows up and sometimes Proxy, the last-place finisher in the GI Stephen Foster S., makes an appearance. Saturday in Monmouth's $400,000 GIII Monmouth Cup S., it was the former, as the gutsy bay and 2-5 choice called on his class to uncharacteristically set the pace and turn back stiff challenges from Whelen Springs (Street Sense)--the only horse in the field with a recent win over the surface--and last-out GII Brooklyn S. runner-up Calibrate (Distorted Humor). "He really...

Godolphin's Proxy (Tapit) had his last major workout at the Fair Grounds Saturday in preparation for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Jan. 28. The 5-year-old official time for the six-furlong move to the seven-eighths pole was 1:13.20, the fastest of two works at the distance Saturday morning. Working in tandem with stablemate Global Sensation (Into Mischief), the pair covered five-eighths in 1:00.40, with Proxy working an additional eighth-mile past the wire. With a crush of horses working right after the track's renovation break, exercise rider Arturo Aparicio...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-WO, $123K, Msw, 3yo, f, 7f (AWT), 2:49 p.m. ET Godolphin and trainer Michael Stidham unveil 3-year-old filly AIOLI, a daughter of Darley's Medaglia d'Oro. She is out of a half-sister to Loving Vindication (Vindication), who has produced Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro) and GISW Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun). Aioli is a half-sister to GISW Secret Spice (Discreet Cat), who sold at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale for $1.4 million to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida. Aioli most recently worked...

In advance of the April Horses of Racing Age sale, the writers ventured to Keeneland this week for in-person chats with Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy and Grovendale Sales' Chance Timm. Trainer Michael Stidham was also featured on the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland. The upcoming sale features a number of new concepts, including dropping a requirement that horses in the sale be present at Keeneland. The sale will also take place on a racing day, after the conclusion of the card on Friday, the last day...

Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), who kick-started his career as a second-out 'TDN Rising Star' and most recently won the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at the end of March, is preparing for a late summer and fall campaign. After having spent the last few weeks at trainer Michael Stidham's Keeneland barn, he will ship to Maryland's Fair Hill Training Center this week to resume serious training. "Since he's been back, I've been shocked and amazed with how well he's handled that whole experience, from all the traveling to the stress of...

Six-time graded stakes winner and Pin Oak Stud homebred Synchrony (Tapit--Brownie Points, by Forest Wildcat) has been retired from racing. The Michael Stidham trainee sustained a minor injury in his last out, an off-the-board finish in Monmouth Park's Oceanport S. Aug. 9, and it was determined the required time to fully recover would cause him to miss the major fall racing. Over six years of campaigning, Synchrony recorded his finest years in 2018 and 2019, when his wins included the GII Muniz Memorial H. at Fair Grounds and the GII...