Morello

They call it "pilot error." It's just that you have all the correction of perspective, right there, that anyone could possibly require. If a jockey makes a mistake, the consequences obviously tend to be a good deal less drastic than for a guy flying a plane. Besides, I have never liked the kind of blame culture that unites handicappers and horsemen in casting jockeys as the villains of their woulda-coulda-shoulda world. To be fair, perhaps that's rather more common in my native environment, racing on turf in Europe, where the...

The New York road to the GI Kentucky Derby concludes with Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S., featuring the winners of Aqueduct's GII Remsen S., GIII Withers S. and GIII Gotham S., respectively. Morello (Classic Empire) brings a perfect three-for-three record to the table for Steve Asmussen following sharp, press-and-pounce victories in the Jimmy Winkfield S. Feb. 6 and one-turn mile Gotham Mar. 5. He is the 8-5 morning-line favorite for this first test around two turns. "We're excited. The horse is doing well, he's super sharp and we think we...

It was a jam packed weekend of action from coast to coast. Here's a small, bite-sized sample of its impact on the bloodstock world. All The Time... Few sires are hotter right now than Taylor Made's Not This Time, who has the fewest crops of any of the top 10 sires on the 2022 general sire list. In addition to his one-two finish by Simplification and In Due Time in the Fountain of Youth, his Epicenter is also on the GI Kentucky Derby trail. McGrath's Seal Of Approval... Not This...

Morello (Classic Empire) looks to take his perfect record to three-for-three and take his first steps down the GI Kentucky Derby trail in Aqueduct's GIII Gotham S. Saturday. A dominant debut winner going six panels at this oval Nov. 27, the $250,000 EASMAY purchase ran to the money with a five-length score in the Big A's Jimmy Winkfield S. Feb. 6. "Morello looks like he could potentially be something special," Dave Lyon of Blue Lion Thoroughbreds said. "I think it's just a perfect race set up for a horse like...

If the early trials have produced a Derby horse to "rise without trace," then that might well turn out to be Morello (Classic Empire). As winner of two sprints round Aqueduct this winter, he obviously still has a long way to go--in every sense. But there's no mistaking his raw talent, nor the fact that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg even in that very stylish exhibition in the Jimmy Winkfield S. Certainly Morello looks eligible to restore some deserved attention to his sire. Though they're all...

Morello obliged as the 7-5 favorite in Sunday's Jimmy Winkfield S. to become the third black-type winner from his sire (by Pioneerof the Nile)'s first crop. A $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile off a good-looking :10 1/5 breeze, the chestnut opened his account with a clear-cut victory going a furlong shorter here Nov. 27 and was flattered when the runner-up came back to win well himself while improving by 17 Beyer points. With an upbeat interim worktab on display, Morello broke alertly from the outermost five post before being allowed to...