Scottish Lassie

If it stays like this, a single maiden winner might settle it. Because all that separates McKinzie ($2,294,679) from current leader Tiz the Law ($2,339,575) in the freshman table is $44,896. But wait, there's more. McKinzie isn't even second. Between the pair lurks Vekoma ($2,306,457), ensuring a desperate three-way contest for the prized laurels of champion first-season sire. It's even closer than this time last year, when four stallions were divided by barely $200,000. In the end, Mitole actually extended his lead down the stretch. But the fact that the...

DEL MAR, CA - Immersive (Nyquist) capped a perfect four-for-four championship season with a powerhouse performance in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar. Off as the 2-1 favorite, the Godolphin homebred was away in good order from post three. The GI Spinaway Stakes and GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes heroine settled in mid-pack beneath Manny Franco, racing inside of impressive GI Frizette Stakes winner and second-choice Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) as $1.8- million OBS March breezer and 'TDN Rising Star' Nooni (Win Win Win) sped off through fractions of...

Take Charge Babe (Take Charge Indy), a half-sister to this year's GI Frizette Stakes winner Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) has been supplemented to the Nov. 4 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, the auction company said in a press release on Thursday morning. A multiple winner herself, Take Charge Babe is catalogued as hip 317 and will be consigned as a broodmare prospect by Paramount Sales, agent. Scottish Lassie, who broke her maiden by nine lengths in the Frizette Oct. 5, is scheduled to start in the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on...

Despite never having raced on the dirt in his two seasons at the races, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was assigned gate three as the 5-2 morning-line selection in a full field of 14 and will be ridden by Ryan Moore in Saturday's $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. Deemed by trainer Aidan O'Brien--a two-time runner-up in the Classic (Giant's Causeway, Declaration of War)--'the best he's ever trained,' the son of G1SW Together Forever (Ire)...

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...

Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish, Corms Racing Stable and trainer Jorge Abreu's Grade I-winner Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) worked Sunday at Belmont Park in preparation for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The 2-year-old filly was among the first to breeze after the training track reopened at 7:30 a.m., and was guided through her exercise by jockey Jose Lezcano, who piloted her to victory last out to the graduate in the GI Frizette Stakes Oct. 5. Scottish Lassie worked outside of Jody's Pride (American Pharoah),...

Four years ago this week, McKinzie was retired to Gainesway after a stellar racing career that netted four Grade I wins and 11 triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. While it may have been difficult at the time for many to see past the ravages of the COVID pandemic--it was 2020, after all--those far-sighted breeders who patronized McKinzie the next spring are looking positively clairvoyant in 2024. As is becoming blatantly obvious, McKinzie isn't just starting strong as a freshman sire. Instead, McKinzie's beginning as a young sire has been the stuff...

It was another banner weekend for Godolphin as the stable swept the two Grade I races for 2-year-olds at Keeneland. The filly Immersive (Nyquist) won Friday's GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes and finished things off with a very impressive win by the colt East Avenue (Medaglia d'Oro) in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. Both will appear next in the Breeders' Cup where they could garner favoritism in their respective races. Leading the cheering section for Godolphin was its Director of Bloodstock, Michael Banahan, whose duties include overseeing the U.S.-based Godolphin runners....

What a way to tally a first career graded stakes. Both trainer Jorge Abreu and his charge, who entered Saturday with only a third-place finish under her girth, broke their graded maiden with a runaway score in the GI Frizette Stakes at Belmont at the Big A. Now Abreu and Scottish Lassie (f, 2, McKinzie--Bodebabe, by Bodemeister) have earned a fees-paid berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in four weeks. Abreu, a former assistant to Chad Brown, brought a longshot filly to the Juvenile Fillies last year and...