Raging Sea

Is Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) the 2024 Horse of the Year? That will undoubtedly be the most-asked question in racing from now until the Eclipse Awards in late January. In a year where Thorpedo Anna's name has seemingly never been far from any racing conversation, the brilliant 3-year-old filly showed why she absolutely should be under heavy consideration for Horse of the Year honors with a sublime victory in Saturday's $2-million GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar. The race was hers to lose and the task made considerably less...

Chad Brown was trackside Saturday to watch eight of his Breeders' Cup hopefuls breeze over the Belmont Park dirt training track, including GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and the dual Grade I-winning GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile contender 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie). The four-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner is well positioned for more main-track success heading into next weekend's World Championships with Sierra Leone, Domestic Product (Practical Joke) (Dirt Mile), 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) (Filly & Mare Sprint), Raging...

With the Del Mar Breeders' Cup officially less than two weeks away, trainer Chad Brown is continuing to oversee his string's preparations at Belmont Park, while the accomplished MGISW Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) puts in her final works for conditioner Ken McPeek upstate at Saratoga. Over the training surface in Elmont, Brown sent out two juveniles for half-mile works in 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie) [:48.01] and Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) [:48.63], who are targeting the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf,...

Though one or two made a more blatant impact-above all Juddmonte, either side of the water, while McKinzie will be receiving due attention from colleague Jill Williams in her Saturday Sires series-let's start by celebrating a less obvious contribution to a fabulous weekend of racing. It is now 30 years since the birth in Florida of a filly by Medieval Man, a sprinting son of Noholme II (the Australian sire recalled principally for his hard-knocking son, Nodouble). She was out of a hardy campaigner by Never Bend's son Distinctive, and...

Raging Sea, who upset champion Idiomatic (Curlin) in the GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga last time out, will likely head next to the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff after outbattling a stubborn Batucada in the GII Beldame Stakes at Aqueduct Sunday. The 1-9 favorite was allowed to settle into stride and was unhurried while racing off the early pace. She rushed up into contention on the bend and came with a full head of steam as longshot Batucada turned for home with a one-length advantage. Raging Sea eyeballed the gray...

Continuing an important weekend as next month's Breeders' Cup World Championships rapidly approach, Keeneland's GI Juddmonte Spinster Stakes headlines Sunday's graded stakes action spanning from coast to coast. A 'Win and You're In' for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, the Spinster has six contenders signed on, including last season's champion older mare Idiomatic (Curlin), who draws the rail under regular pilot Florent Geroux. The winner of a trio of Grade I stakes in 2023--capped off by the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita--the Juddmonte homebred has proven consistent at...

Meet racing's newest millionaire. Raging Sea (Curlin), closing in an all-out stretch drive, just got up to nail pacesetter Idiomatic (Curlin) in the shadow of the wire to win Friday's GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga. Billed as the renewed rivalry between Idiomatic and her GI Ogden Phipps upsetter Randomized (Nyquist), the Personal Ensign featured four runners from that June 8th race--all four finishing inside the top five and missing only the recently-retired Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief). In fact, this is a group of fillies and mares who have taken...

Friday is shaping up to be quite a stakes-laden slate as the rescheduled King's Plate card from last weekend at Woodbine joins the GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga and a pair of pricey Grade IIs from Charles Town. TDN's full coverage of the races that were forced to move because of a deluge in Toronto can be found in Patrycja Szpyra's preview, plus a piece on the King's Plate by Bill Finley. As for the Spa feature, it boasts a set of intriguing match-ups between four of the runners...

If there has ever been a quintessential Saturday afternoon sire--as well as Breeders' Cup sire and champion sire--Curlin would have to be at the top of the list. He tends to churn out top-level horses at a dizzying rate. "Not to take anything away from other great stallions, but I don't believe Curlin is second to anybody when you speak of Grade I performers and accomplishments," said John Sikura, who stands the 2007-08 Horse of the Year at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. "If you think of the Breeders' Cup,...

In a race that changed dramatically when expected speed Venti Valentine (Firing Line) stumbled to her knees not once but twice out of the gate, it was Raging Sea (Curlin) who took advantage and pulled away late to win the GII Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga Sunday. A talented juvenile who hit the board in both the GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes and the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Raging Sea struggled to regain form as a 3-year-old, contesting mostly optional claimers at Keeneland and Saratoga before ending her season a winner...

When Jon Clay first got started in the Thoroughbred business, he launched Alpha Delta Stables with ambitious goals in mind. Step one: breed a stakes winner. Step two: breed something good enough to make it to either the Kentucky Derby or the Kentucky Oaks. Nearly two decades later, Clay has checked off every one of those goals, having bred both a Derby and an Oaks starter. Plus, his program has produced something he never could have dreamed up back when he was compiling that wish list of accomplishments. In world-class...

Given a cozy inside trip from gate one by Flavien Prat, Alpha Delta Stables' Raging Sea (Curlin) went on the offensive in the stretch and powered clear to make a victorious seasonal return in Friday's GIII Baird Doubledogdare S. at Keeneland. Sent off as the 5-2 second choice while making her first start since annexing last year's GIII Comely S. in November at Aqueduct, the homebred fell into the box seat in the early going as Loved (Medaglia d'Oro) cut out even fractions while tracked along by Hidden Connection (Connect)...