Munnings

The 56th annual WTBOA Summer Yearling and Mixed Sale was held Tuesday, Aug. 22 at the WTBOA Sales Pavilion located at Emerald Downs racetrack in Auburn, Washington. After seven outs, 75 yearlings went through the sales ring. Topping this year's venue was Hip 71, a colt by first-year stallion Barkley (Munnings), winner of the 2018 GIII Longacres Mile before retiring to Nina and Ron Hagen's El Dorado Farms in Enumclaw. The colt sold for $55,000. The Hagens bred the saletopper, who was one of a trio of yearlings purchased by...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The two-day Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale concluded with a day of brisk trade Monday in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion which produced--from a significantly larger catalogue--the auction's highest-ever gross. "We concluded another successful New York-bred Yearling sale today," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. "It continued the strength and momentum that we have witnessed at this sale in recent years, and also the strength that we saw at the selected sale last week. There was very good activity and lots of outstanding horses on the...

The unbeaten New York-bred filly Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic--City Gift, by City Place), well on her way to a powerful, front-running win in Saturday's GI Test S. at Saratoga, tragically broke down in the shadow of the wire and had to be euthanized on the track. The GI Kentucky Oaks winner and 9-5 favorite 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), racing one from last for most of the seven-furlong journey, crossed the wire first, a head in front of longshot Clearly Unhinged (Into Mischief). 'Rising Star' Munnys Gold...

Texas businessman Craig Singer, a veteran with over four decades in the breeding business, will look to capitalize on recent additions to his broodmare band when he sends three yearlings through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale next Monday. Through the Taylor Made Sale Agency consignment, a filly by Gun Runner out of Baby Go Far (Brz) (Elusive Quality) will kick off the two-day auction when selling as hip 1. Singer purchased Baby Go Far, with the filly in utero, for $150,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton February sale. Just...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Lamorna (f, 2, Munnings--Freudie Anne, by Freud) kicked off her career for Hall of Famer Bill Mott with a better-than-it-looked fourth-place finish sprinting over the Saratoga grass July 20. Last of 10 after getting squeezed at the start, the 7-1 chance was immediately under a ride from jockey Luis Saez and caboosed the field through an opening quarter in a sharp :22.02. She began to catch the...

by Bill Finley & Patrycja Szpyra As he often does with his 2-year-olds, trainer Wesley Ward started Sam's Treasure (Munnings) off in a grass race, in this case a five-furlong maiden on May 11 at Belmont. She finished second, 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner--Cynane (Omaha Beach) had the distinction of being her sire's first winner and made an unfruitful trip to Royal Ascot--but there was nothing about the performance to suggest that she could develop into a top horse. Maybe Ward should have been thinking dirt all along. In...

by Bill Finley & Patrycja Szpyra On paper, Saturday's seventh race at Saratoga looked wide open and loaded with talent. All the major players had horses in the race, Wayne Lukas, Chad Brown, Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox , Bill Mott and Todd Pletcher, who had two starters in the six furlong maiden special weight event. The race figured to be fought all the way to the wire. Instead it was the Asmussen horse, Valentine Candy (Justify), who ran them off their feet right out of the gate. Sent off at...

Clarence and Dorothy Scharbauer built Valor Farm outside of Dallas 30 years ago after Dorothy and their daughter Pam campaigned Hall of Famer Alysheba in the late 1980s. Their son Doug continues the blue-and-white silk tradition as his unbeaten homebred Closing Act (Munnings) takes on 10 other 2-year-old fillies in Thursday's GIII Schuylerville S. on opening day at Saratoga. The Steve Asmussen trainee, listed at 10-1 on the morning line, is coming off her first stakes win in the Astoria S. June 11 at Belmont Park after breaking her maiden...

People took notice when Carlos Estrada and wife Sarah Estrada-Brok built a steady drumbeat of pinhooking successes and the couple's C&S Thoroughbreds consignment, which began a few years ago as just one or two of their personal pinhooks prepared on rented farms in the Bluegrass, has turned into a barnful of 18 sales-bound yearlings prepped on their own farm in Georgetown. C&S Thoroughbreds makes its second appearance at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale next Tuesday with a five-horse consignment. The Estradas ran their first consignment in 2017 under the...

2nd-ELP, $120K, MSW, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 2:20p.m. BC Stables's Cowboy Code (Into Mischief) gets a start for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Bred by Aaron and Marie Jones, the grey was a $1-million yearling purchase out of the Taylor Made Sales consignment at Keeneland last September. Out of Not In Jest (Unbridled's Song), the filly is a granddaughter of MGISW Stop Traffic (Cure the Blues). OXO Equine's Balta (Munnings) debuts for trainer Paulo Lobo. Working sharply at The Thoroughbred Center, the half to SW Opus Forty Two is...

Closing Act (Munnings) put it all together here to secure the first black-type victory of her young career in the Astoria S. as the 3-5 favorite. A step slow on debut May 11 beneath the Twin Spires, she showed a good turn of foot in the lane to run down rivals for a neck win over an experienced rival. Brushing with Living Magic after leaving the blocks, she was urged along to keep pace from the outside of rivals and went as far as four wide into the final bend. Gaining...

Ever since she was a young girl, Chelsie Raabe had dreamed of reaching the pinnacle moment in her career as an equestrian, where she envisioned one day standing atop the Olympic podium or making the victorious walk out following a clear cross-country round at the Land Rover Three-Day event. But it wasn't until the evening of March 25 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, as she looked up at a bustling grandstand that echoed with the crescendo of excited fans awaiting the start of the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on...