Mike Maker

Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will (Declaration of War) came from off the pace to win his main track debut in an off-turf renewal of the GIII With Anticipation S. at Saratoga Wednesday. Sent off the 3-1 second choice behind the Wesley Ward-trained Blame the Booze (Blame), Fire At Will was allowed to ease back to last of four, well behind the favorite, who carved out opening splits of :22.60 and :45.61 on the sloppy and sealed track. Kicking into another gear passing the five-sixteenths marker, the colt gained the...

When it comes to Grade Is on the turf in New York, it is typically Chad Brown who has three or four strong entries. However, in Saturday's GI Sword Dancer S. at Saratoga--a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf--Brown is surprisingly absent and it is Mike Maker saddling a strong trio. Cross Border (English Channel) appeared to come up up a neck short of likely race favorite Sadler's Joy (Kitten's Joy), who won the 2017 renewal of this race, in this venue's GII Bowling Green...

The seven-year itch, in the current racing herd, represents the best kind of mid-life crisis: reinventing yourself as a champion. An Eclipse Award would certainly be a credible aspiration for Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) should he derail the Volatile (Violence) express in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga Saturday. Next weekend, another flourishing 7-year-old, Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike), will seek to consolidate his ascent to the top of his own division in the GI Whitney S. Over the past two weeks, meanwhile, their contemporaries Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire})...

Mike Maker's incredible success with turning claimers into graded winners on the turf is well documented, but that didn't stop Aquaphobia from getting lost on the board and upending Saturday's GI United Nations S. at 10-1 off a 9-2 morning line. Taken for $62,500 out of a fourth-place run at Gulfstream Jan. 26 for Drawing Away Stable and Robert Falcone, Jr., the bay immediately began repaying his new connections' investment when he bested future stablemate and fellow UN competitor Muggsamatic (Any Given Saturday) in a Gulfstream starter stakes race Feb....

A mostly well-matched group of nine turfers line up in Saturday's GI United Nations S. at Monmouth Park. With a somewhat surprising lack of even one Chad Brown trainee signed on, conditioner Mike Maker owns the lone chance to complete an exacta. The 2017 UN winner sends out reformed claimers Aquaphobia (Giant's Causeway) and Muggsamatic (Any Given Saturday). The former was scooped up for $62,500 in January and promptly took a Gulfstream starter stake over Muggsamatic--then trained by Jason Servis--in February. He was fourth in the GIII Mervin Muniz Memorial...

OXO Equine's $1.8-million Keeneland September yearling Vintage Print (Curlin) returns to Lexington for Sunday's GIII Kentucky Utilities Transylvania S. The Chad Brown trainee didn't show much in a pair of main-track efforts in New York last fall, but looked like a different horse when trying turf to graduate at Gulfstream Feb. 22. The son of GISW Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper) ran down speedy Mike Maker pupil Fancy Liquor (Lookin At Lucky) to clear his first-level allowance condition at Churchill June 11. Another Transylvania pair who made up a Churchill exacta last...

Ken and Sarah Ramsey extended their record number of Churchill Downs wins with their milestone 500th victory at the Louisville oval Sunday. The Ramseys, the all-time leading owners at Churchill Downs ahead of Overbrook Farm in a distant second with 206 victories, won Sunday's third race with Spanned (Arch). The Nicholasville, Ky. couple have won a record 32 owners' titles at Churchill: 13 Spring Meet championships, 15 Fall Meet championships and four September Meet championships. "We've won a lot of races for the Ramseys over the years," trainer Mike Maker...

The next chapter in the saga of Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis will begin Thursday at Gulfstream Park when the first of more than 100 horses that had been under the care of the two trainers before they were indicted will start for their new barns. Now trained by Mike Maker, Admiral Lynch (Super Saver) has been entered in Thursday's ninth race. The 4-year-old had been trained by Servis. On Thursday, Todd Pletcher will send out two horses that had previously been trained by Navarro. Three days after Navarro and...

Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}), an impressive come-from-behind winner in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. Jan. 25, is the clear-cut horse to beat in Saturday's GII Kitten's Joy Pan American S. at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Mike Maker had originally planned to give the Michael Hui colorbearer some time off following the 7-year-old gelding's repeat victory in the GII Mac Diarmida S. in Hallandale Feb. 29, but had a change of heart due to the evolving racing landscape in the coming months due to the coronavirus outbreak. "He...

When Fitri Hay's Zipaway (City Zip) took a $5,000 maiden claimer at Turfway Park Mar. 21, it gave trainer Wesley Ward a tiebreaking 19th winner from 53 runners and secured leading trainer honors at the meet, cut short by Governor Andy Beshear's directive to close non-essential businesses in the coronavirus outbreak. Ward's victory left Mike Maker on 18 winners from his 70 starters. It was the third consecutive title for Ward at the winter/spring meet at Turfway. He also shared the top spot with Maker during the 2018 holiday meet....

Saturday's GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks is one of just two Kentucky Derby points races in this country to be held over a synthetic racing surface and while only half of the 12 entrants hold nominations to the Triple Crown series, an interesting betting affair looms. Invader (War Front) figures a lukewarm favorite, as he enters this graded-stakes debut perfect in two tries over the local Polytrack--a towering 12 3/4-length maiden victory going a mile last Dec. 4 followed by a 6 1/4-length success in the John Battaglia Memorial S. Feb....

Already a smashing success story as a former claim turned multiple graded stakes winner, Michael Hui's Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}) enjoyed a dream run along the rail to earn his first top-level score in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. last out, and the hard-knocking gelding is right back in the entry box as he attempts to defend his title in the 1 3/8-mile GII Mac Diarmida S. Saturday at Gulfstream. Haltered for $80,000 out of a dominant optional-claiming victory in the summer of 2018 at Churchill,...