Practical Joke

3rd-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:42 p.m. PARTY FAVOR (Practical Joke) debuts at Gulfstream Park for WinStar Farm and Siena Farm. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the $520,000 KEESEP purchase comes from a female family that includes MGISW Zazu (Tapit) and her full-brother, GSW Flashback. The bay filly will break from post four with Leonel Reyes in the irons. TJCIS PPS 1st-AQU, $80K, Msw, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:20 p.m. A Keeneland November Sale buy for $375,000 as a weanling, MAJESTIC MICHAEL (Justify)'s second dam counts GISWs Discreet Cat (Forestry) and Discreetly...

One of the most progressive horses to race during this year's meet at Oaklawn Park, Red Lane Thoroughbreds' Skelly (Practical Joke) took Saturday's $500,000 GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. by the scruff of the neck and never gave any of his rivals a chance, as he led past every pole for an impressive first victory at the stakes and graded stakes level. Having earned the right to contest a race of this caliber off big-figure allowance scores in the slop Feb. 25 and over a fast strip Mar. 17, the...

A new kingpin graces the No. 1 slot after a wild, final weekend of 100-point preps. The rankings below are independent from the "Road to the Derby" leaderboard Churchill Downs uses to determine starting berths, with several horses included here who are currently below the cut.   1) PRACTICAL MOVE (c, Practical Joke--Ack Naughty, by Afleet Alex) O-Leslie & Pierre Jean Amestoy & Roger Beasley; B-Chad Brown & Head of Plains Partners (KY); T-Tim Yakteen. Sales history: $90,000 RNA yrl '21 KEESEP; $230,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: GISW, 7-4-1-2,...

Even-money favorite Practical Move (Practical Joke) solidified his role as California's best GI Kentucky Derby hope as he parlayed a ground-saving trip into a narrow victory in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby over fast-charging Japanese raider Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby). Seeking his third-straight victory off of clear-cut successes in both the Dec. 17 GII Los Alamitos Futurity and Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S., Practical Move was unhurried early and worked his way down to the fence and into a joint third around the first bend. He tugged...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - With plenty of activity at the top of the market, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training concluded its three-day run with increases in average and median over last year's two-session renewal and five juveniles selling for seven figures, led by a co-record $2-million son of Good Magic. "I thought it was a really good sale and it held strong all the way through," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "There were quality horses on each...

Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr. has never been to the Kentucky Derby. Not even as a spectator. However, the 2023 renewal may very well change that fact after Practical Move (Practical Joke), who he owns in partnership with his wife Leslie and Roger Beasley, stamped himself a major Classic contender with a victory in last weekend's GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita. "My wife and I were very emotional after the win," said Pierre Amestoy. "It was phenomenal. It was exhilarating. We're just elated." "I guess we're heading to the...

With commercial sires nowadays represented by such enormous cavalries, it's unsurprising that they should encounter random statistical clusters. These tend to even themselves out, so that a stallion that "hits form" with a sudden spate of stakes performers will also endure barren spells that naturally receive rather less attention. What every farm covets, then, is for a horse to get on a roll while there are still mares out there with mating decisions pending for this spring--and there's no better way to do that than making some noise on the...

Trainer Tim Yakteen had five of the 11 entrants in Saturday's GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita--four of which were transferred from the Bob Baffert barn--but the horse who had been with him from the start, Practical Move (Practical Joke), emerged victorious in the GI Kentucky Derby prep. With new stablemate and morning-line choice National Treasure (Quality Road) forced to scratch with a foot issue, Practical Move was backed at 4-1, having not been seen since annexing the GII Los Alamitos Futurity decisively in December. He worked his way...

With her undefeated record on the line, Shidabhuti earned 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with a win in the  Busher S. at Aqueduct Saturday. Dismissed at 5-1 behind heavily favored Asset Purchase, she was forced back after contact at the break to track that favorite from third. Racing alongside Capella up the backstretch, Shidabhuti loomed four wide between rivals as the field swung around the bend and outdrove Asset Purchase down the lane, assuming command with a sixteenth to run and clearing off nicely for the...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-GP, $84K, Msw, 3yo, f, 5fT, 3:07 p.m. A $560,000 2-year-old purchase by China Horse Club out of the 2022 Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale, TACTICAL JOKE (Practical Joke) debuts Friday for trainer Wesley Ward. Already a half-sister to a trio of stakes  horses in MSP Afleet Accompli (Afleet Alex), GSP Desert Dynamo (Desert Party), and GSP Ambusher (Stephen Got Even), the filly is out of a half-sister to the dam of GI Central Bank Ashland S. winner Sailor's Valentine (Mizzen Mast)--who brought $1.25m...

As we approach the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Up this week, Jim Connor. GIBBET (m, 8, War Front--Cross, by Mighty), in foal to Liam's Map and going to Practical Joke in 2023 I own this mare in partnership with my cousin Vincent Colbert, who bred Chocolate Gelato, so he is a big Practical Joke fan...didn't take much to convince me. We take turns picking the...

Richard Mandella's Ice Dancing (Frosted), the only filly in a scratched-down field of five with a graded-stakes placing already to her name, will seek her first win since breaking her maiden in Sunday's rescheduled Santa Ynez S. at 'The Great Race Place.' The Grade III event, which was originally scheduled for last Sunday's New Year's Eve program, carries Kentucky Oaks points to the tune of 20-8-6-4-2, which will go to the top five finishers that are not associated with Bob Baffert. A homebred for Bass Stables LLC, the newly minted...