Shanghai Bobby

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,...

Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby), a winner of four of five career starts in Japan, will make his next start in the GI Santa Anita Derby Apr. 8 at Santa Anita. Mandarin Hero races on the National Association of Racing (NAR) circuit, comprised of regional tracks predominantly offering dirt racing and widely considered to be a cut below the Japan Racing Association circuit. Mandarin Hero will be the first NAR horse to compete in the U.S., though Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) was a four-time black-type winner at NAR tracks...

Frank Brothers will retire from his roles as a bloodstock agent and a member of Keeneland's yearling inspection team, he announced Friday morning in a press release. "I'm fortunate that my health is good," he said. "I'm 76 years old and quite content to take a seat in the viewing area and watch the game for a while." After training horses from 1980 to 2009, Brothers moved into his current role of selecting horses for a few clients before ultimately partnering with Starlight and StarLadies Racing for the past 13...

Graded stakes winner Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby--True Kiss, by Is It True), who was retired from racing Thursday, will stand at Buck Pond Farm in Kentucky for a fee of $7,500 in 2021. "We're excited to stand Shancelot in Kentucky where we recently purchased a farm close by," said Al Crawford of Crawford Farms Racing. "We feel his incredible speed will attract a lot of breeders and we are very actively purchasing mares at the Keeneland January Sale to support him ourselves." A history-making sprinter when winning the GII Amsterdam S....

1st-Tampa Bay Downs, $20,000, Msw, 4-25, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:18.28, gd. BOURBON REBELLION (f, 3, Shanghai Bobby--Soul of Bourbon, by Perfect Soul {Ire}). The Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-94 was mostly a Pennsylvania affair, but only because no one was found to collect the infamous tax on whiskey in Kentucky (the state was admitted to the Union in 1792, very much in medias res). So a BOURBON REBELLION could be defined as a win in a no-contest situation and is an excellent name for a winning filly from a breeding...

A Daredevil colt (Hip 640) breezed the fastest quarter at the third and final day of the OBS March Breeze show Saturday, covering the distance in :20 3/5. Two others tied for the fastest furlong at :9 4/5. Hip 640 is consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, which also sent out Friday's fastest quarter-mile worker in Hip 237, a daughter of American Pharoah, who went in :20 2/5. Dunne purchased the Daredevil colt for $30,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale. The fastest furlong workers were Hip 477 (video) and...