Quality Road

Today we conclude our survey of Kentucky stallion options with a look at the apex of the pyramid, comprising a couple of dozen standing between $60,000 and $250,000--besides whatever it might take to secure your mare an audience with Justify. It feels presumptuous enough to offer counsel even on cheaper sires, when each mating should boil down to you finding an optimal fit for an individual mare that you know inside out. Still greater hesitation, then, must precede any attempt to discover "value" among this lot. No stallion has any...

Racing fans didn't have to wait long for the New Year's first 'TDN Rising Star' as Juddmonte homebred Impel (Quality Road) sat off hot early fractions and pounced into the lane to graduate at first asking Monday. Facing a field of mostly first-time starters, all making their 3-year-old debuts, Impel took money into the teeth of race favorite Tipsy Tammy (Arrogate), breaking at 7-2 and going right out to be three wide with that rival along with Golden Degree (Goldencents) on the rail. That trio sped through an opening quarter...

6th-FG, $52K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 4:15 p.m. Starting the New Year off in Louisiana, WHO'S TICKET (Quality Road) is a daughter of champion 2-year-old filly Take Charge Brandi, a mare who has changed hands for sums of $6m, $3.2m and most recently in 2021 when Three Chimneys Farm went to $1.15m for her. Who's Ticket, herself a $450,000 weanling, is a half to SW Courvoisier (Tapit). Take Charge Brandi has seen her branch of the family tree grow more fruitful recently with the success of her half-brother, freshman sire...

Track Phantom (Quality Road) had 10 points deposited into his Road to the Kentucky Derby account by winning Saturday's featured Gun Runner S. at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. After a pair of good efforts to try and break his maiden in October at Churchill Downs, the bay got his picture taken with a front-running score by 4 3/4 lengths under the Twin Spires Nov. 25. As a 9-2 shot here, the colt came out firing from his outside post and dueled into the first turn with GISP Next Level...

7th-LRC, $45K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 6:28 p.m. ET. MARCH OF TIME (Justify) debuts for the ownership group of Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor. The Bob Baffert trainee is out of GIII Sorrento S. winner Untouched Heart (Storm Cat), who is also responsible for the runner-up in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, Bodemeister (Empire Maker), and GII Summertime Oaks heroine Under the Stars (Pioneerof the Nile). A half-sister to the dam of GI La Troienne S. victress She's a Julie (Elusive Quality), Untouched Heart...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Chukyo Racecourses. The latter is the site of this weekend's Group 1 action, the Champions Cup, featuring US-bred Lemon Pop (Lemon Drop Kid). Look for the preview in Saturday's TDN Europe: Saturday, December 2, 2023 6th-HSN, ¥13,720,000 ($93k),...

Heavily favored to run his unbeaten streak to three, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing's Integration (Quality Road) made his off price of 4-5 look like an early Christmas gift, as he parlayed a perfect trip into a dominating victory in Saturday's $250,000 GII Hill Prince S. at Aqueduct. Away without incident from the three hole, the $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga graduate fell into the ideal spot from third, racing in clear air, as 65-1 Laurel Valley (Laoban) set a solid pace in advance of a headstrong Equitize (GB) (Kingman {GB}),...

After announcing its presence with authority as a first-time seller on day one of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, the fledgling Case Clay Thoroughbred Management signed for Friday's top two lots--a pair of last-out maiden winners for $350,000 apiece--at Keeneland's single-session Horses of Racing Age Sale Friday. The co-topping Double Dream (Curlin), a winning 3-year-old half-sister to MGISW Verrazano (More Than Ready), GSW El Padrino (Pulpit), et al, will be heading to Australia for a client of Arrowfield Stud's, Clay said. Consigned by ELiTE, the Peter Brant homebred earned...

West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing's Integration (Quality Road), a fast-closing upset winner of the GIII Virginia Derby at second asking Sept. 9, will put his perfect record on the line in Saturday's GII Hill Prince S. at Aqueduct. The $700,000 FTSAUG yearling graduate earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure while defeating GI Saratoga Derby Invitational winner Program Trading (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the Colonial Downs centerpiece. "I thought he ran really good [last time]," trainer Shug McGaughey said. "I didn't know what to expect. It's not my...

It was 12 years ago this week that a young bloodstock agent found a mare for one of his first clients, deep in the November Sale at Keeneland. Mesa Fresca (Sky Mesa) had won a Belmont maiden in a light career, and Larkin Armstrong knew her family inside out. In fact, her own bloodlines ran almost parallel to his own, his father being a cousin of her dam's breeder Emory Hamilton. Raised the way he was, Armstrong could not fail to recognize this mare as King Ranch royalty, and was...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wedneday's Observations features a son of six-time American Grade I winner Abel Tasman (Quality Road) at Dundalk 15.30 Dundalk, €15,000, Mdn, 2yo, 7f (AWT) Aidan O'Brien trainee HALLOWED (Galileo {Ire}) is a son of six-time Grade I heroine Abel Tasman (Quality Road), who was knocked down for a sale-topping...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Sunday's Observations features a son of Quality Road returning at Leopardstown seeking an initial stakes win. 14.10 Leopardstown, Listed, €40,000, 3yo/up, 8fT CAIRO (IRE) (Quality Road) makes his return to the track after a five-month absence in this Listed Bahrain Turf Club Knockaire S., with his last start being...